StarHub's digital loyalty marketing lead Sheralyn Yap departs after nearly 22 years

Sheralyn Yap has left her role as StarHub's head of digital loyalty marketing and partnership after close to 22 years and is currently taking a break. In a LinkedIn post, Yap said she is thankful to have met so many wonderful people and without them, she would never have been able to accomplish this much as a team. Some of her accomplishments with StarHub include the transformation of four loyalty programmes and multiple partnerships with AirAsia, OCBC Bank, ShopBack, Shopee, NTUC Link, Resorts World Sentosa, Grab, and DBS Bank, among others. 

Yap began her career with StarHub in 1999 as a marketing executive and rose up the ranks to helm roles including assistant marketing manager, assistant CRM and loyalty marketing manager, and most recently head of digital loyalty marketing and partnership. "I would like to thank StarHub for giving me numerous opportunities that have allowed me to bring loyalty work to a high," she told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE.

As a result of its Hello Change strategy which the telco pushed out in 2018, Yap said the team had to rethink its loyalty moving forward to ensure it is in line with digital and consumer trends to create value and relevance for consumers. "As a team, we weathered through all the ups and downs together and it has been a privilege working alongside and leading my team. They will always hold a special place in my heart," she added.

In her latest role, Yap charted the transformation of StarHub’s loyalty programmes. Some of her key focus areas included revitalising the entire loyalty framework to improve customer experience and stickiness, building partnerships with merchants, and driving continuous engagement with customers based on data insights. Before joining StarHub, Yap was a marketing and communications officer at financial services company CIBC.

Meanwhile, Maneesh Varma, StarHub's VP of customer lifecycle management, said Yap played an instrumental part in the team’s quests to build innovative services and partnerships to reward customers for their loyalty.

"We appreciate Yap’s contributions. The good work continues, and the team’s commitment to our customers is as strong as ever. Operating agilely, we have developed talent from within to drive exciting ongoing initiatives, one of which is the major transformation of our loyalty programme to better meet customer needs," he said. Varma added that StarHub is in the final stages of launching its new loyalty programme and remains fully focused on delivering the best experiences its customers deserve.

Separately, StarHub shifted creative duties from BLKJ Havas to The Secret Little Agency (TSLA) just this month, following a three-month pitch process. StarHub's spokesperson told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE previously that the TSLA team impressed the brand with its collaborative culture, enthusiastic curiosity and fresh approaches.

"We are now working on becoming an integrated team, with a keen focus on transforming our brand and our customers’ experiences for the better. Stay tuned; joint work is expected to start next month, and we look forward to bringing you exciting updates," the spokesperson added. 

The telco also refreshed its brand in April this year, moving away from its iconic green, blue and yellow logo after more than 20 years, and adopting a neon spring green shade. It also embraced a new graphic branding element on its advertising and platforms which it called "The Portal".  

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