Viu SG hires Esplanade's former digital head to turn digital strategy up a notch

Viu Singapore has appointed Ken Ling as its digital marketing director. He was formerly head of digital at The Esplanade. In his new role, Ling leads and manages the digital growth strategy and customer lifecycle marketing for Viu Singapore, reporting directly to Cheryl Lim, head of brand, marketing and communications, Singapore. According to Viu's spokesperson, Ling's in-depth marketing experience and a passion for digital technologies makes him well poised to drive all digital marketing efforts to achieve Viu’s business objectives. MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to The Esplanade for comment.

Prior to joining The Esplanade, Ling was associate director at Standard Chartered Bank, where he managed owned and social media platforms and campaigns, and implemented end-to-end digital marketing acquisition plans across aggregators, search, display, programmatic and paid social channels, according to his LinkedIn. He was also tasked with driving digital performance marketing for the company's retail banking product segments such as credit cards, deposits, business banking, and loans and mortgages.

Other responsibilities included driving digital performance marketing for retail banking product segments, and collaborating with the broader digital team to improve overall customer user journey, onsite SEO performance and build data-driven capabilities.

Ling was also previously digital marketing manager at AXA, managing owned and earned media for the company's life insurance business and general insurance business, his LinkedIn stated. In addition to heading digital marketing campaigns, Ling oversaw web publishing and UX optimisation for AXA's corporate website, led content strategy for its social media assets and content hub, as well as managed AXA’s social media listening and response framework.

According to his LinkedIn, Ling has taken up several managerial and directorial roles in the digital space during his career as well, working in companies such as UBS, Sport Singapore, Interuptive and VINTEDGE.

Ling said that the OTT industry is such an exciting and highly competitive space to be in and he believes that the strong consumption trends will continue to sustain and grow. "The OTT industry has grown in leaps and bounds over recent years. In the past year and a half in particular, we’ve all seen and experienced the boom in terms of growth in viewers and surge in streaming time. Today, Viu is Greater Southeast Asia’s second largest streaming service based on our subscriber base that grew by 62% to seven million this year. I look forward to being part of the team to accelerate Viu’s growth across the full spectrum of digital strategy and acquisition," he added.

Separately, Viu Singapore donned a new look and tagline “No one knows Asian entertainment like we do” in June this year; to encapsulate and showcase the breadth of its library of content it carries. To make the brand modern, relatable and memorable to viewers, Viu went with a sleek look with an accent of yellow, which is also the company’s corporate colour. The new look and tagline is currently piloted in Singapore and will roll out regionally at a later date. Lim  told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE during an interview then that the majority of its consumers are between the ages of 18 to 35, and this particular look and feel suits their taste.

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