Tribal SG content strategy lead Benjamin Lee joins independent creative agency

Benjamin Lee, head of content strategy at Tribal Worldwide Singapore, will be moving on at the end of the month to lead the creative teams at PROTOCOL its new content platform Gen X Singapore, and its subsidiary Unmastered as creative director. Lee, who is also famously known as Mr. Miyagi, told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE that he is looking to help spark as many attention-grabbing and effective ideas for clients. He is also looking to excite clients, both current and prospective ones, about the possibilities of the communications they put out.

"I am excited by how much our creative and communications guiding principles were aligned, and happy to be able to add to this dynamic group’s creative output," he said. According to Lee, Protocol's ability in being able to adopt and master communications trends, understand and participate in audience conversations puts it in a good place in whatever climate.

Lee has been with Tribal for more than four years, first joining as creative director, social media in 2016, according to his LinkedIn. During his time at Tribal, he has worked with brands including McDonald's, DBS, Volkswagen, the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth, and the Ministry of Communications and Information, among others. Lee was also one of the masterminds behind Tribal's recent effort to have potential content strategists pitch for a job at the agency via invite-only audio app Clubhouse.

He was also a creative director at Tango5, an agency under DDB which specialises in championing social impact. Some of the works undertaken by Tango5 included National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre’s corporate philanthropy programme "Company of Good", Singapore International Foundation's "Our Better World", as well as campaigns for Breast Cancer Foundation and Bone Marrow Donor Programme, his LinkedIn said.

When asked about the type of talent and skills necessary in today's day and age, Lee said: "I sound like a broken record when I keep saying cultural awareness. It is been something I have helped to foster among the teams I worked with at Tribal. Audiences align themselves with values and culture, and we need to be able to codify what these are for our clients."

Meanwhile, he also said that health will be wealth. "Brands will need to champion wellness to stay relevant. That also means finding their niches in this very broad sphere of influence," Lee explained.

At the same time, founder and CEO of PROTOCOL Kelvin Kao told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE that it is looking for people with diverse interests in different fields of creative expression that may not, at first glance, necessarily seem related.

"I find the concept of juxtaposition; the hard cut of two dichotomous concepts or visual frameworks fascinating. it makes the work provocative and interesting. Quite frankly, Lee’s background in writing plays for the traditional stage alongside his work in cutting-edge social media content exemplifies this rather perfectly," he added.

According to Kao, Gen X Singapore is a content hub that covers everything Generation X cares about, from hard-hitting features covering relationships and money to lifestyle stories spanning entertainment, pop culture, tech, fitness, places to go and dining. It is helmed by supervising editor Theresa Tan who has over 20 years of editorial experience, including stints as the editor of Female Magazine and editor-in-chief of Elle Singapore, and Daphne Ling, PROTOCOL's content creator and COO.

"We are still in the soft launch phase building our base and will only start commercialising it in the second half of the year. Indeed, the intent here is to provide a content distribution platform for our clients to reach the underserved 35 to 55-year-old audience, that has a whole different set of needs and interest from the millennial and Gen Z audience," he added.

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