I'm joining Standard Chartered as Global Head of Digital Marketing

I'm incredibly excited to announce that I'm joining Standard Chartered, based in Singapore, as the new Global Head of Digital Marketing. I'm sad to be leaving my Vice President/regional CMO role at Philips, but it's an exciting new journey I'm starting out on. In fact, I've even graduated to having my own media release!

Here's the official media release:

Standard Chartered appoints new Global Head of Digital Marketing

Damien Cummings from Philips hired to drive the Bank’s digital marketing strategy

 

Singapore, 19 May 2015 – Standard Chartered Bank today announced the appointment of Damien Cummings as Global Head of Digital Marketing. He will join the Bank in June 2015 and be based in Singapore, reporting directly to Sanjeeb Chaudhuri, Group Head of Brand and Chief Marketing Officer.

 

Damien is currently Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Philips ASEAN and Pacific. He has over 20 years of experience in digital and marketing transformation. He is currently responsible for brand, communications and digital marketing across Philips Consumer Lifestyle, Philips Lighting and Philips Healthcare.  Prior to joining Philips, he was the Regional Marketing Director, Digital and Social Media at Samsung Asia. Damien has also worked at major global corporations in Australia and Singapore including Dell, Ogilvy, Citibank, Coca-Cola, NRMA and McKinsey & Company.

 

Sanjeeb Chaudhuri said: “I am delighted to welcome Damien to Standard Chartered. As a strategic hire for the marketing team, Damien will drive innovation and transformation in all aspects of digital and mobile marketing. I am confident that the appointment of an executive of this calibre will further strengthen the Bank’s brand and marketing leadership capabilities in the digital era.”

 

Damien will be responsible for providing digital and mobile marketing thought leadership as well as strategy formulation and execution. He will work with business partners to achieve our business aspirations across the Bank.

 

Damien is a much sought after speaker and blogger on marketing transformation and digital strategies and actively participates as a thought leader on international industry bodies including the Mobile Marketing Association, CMO Council and World Federation of Advertisers.

- Ends -

For further information please contact:

 

May Meere

Head of External Communications

Group Functions

Standard Chartered Bank

Tel: +65 9366 2351

Email: May.Meere@sc.com

 

 

Note to Editors

 

Standard Chartered

We are a leading international banking group, with more than 90,000 employees and a 150-year history in some of the world’s most dynamic markets. We bank the people and companies driving investment, trade and the creation of wealth across Asia, Africa and the Middle East, where we earn around 90 per cent of our income and profits. Our heritage and values are expressed in our brand promise, Here for good.

 

Standard Chartered PLC is listed on the London and Hong Kong Stock Exchanges as well as the Bombay and National Stock Exchanges in India.

 

For more information please visit www.sc.com. Explore our insights and comment on our blog, BeyondBorders. Follow Standard Chartered on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. 

My new adventure – I’m joining Philips!

I’ve been blessed with a great career at some of the most amazing brands in the world. In 2012, I joined the biggest brand in Asia and the world’s largest technology company, Samsung. It was a great ride. I had the great pleasure of working with some of the best and brightest minds in marketing on some of the best products ever created. My role matched my passions – leading marketing transformation in Asia, doing great work in digital, changing the game in social business, introducing e-commerce to the region (for Samsung) and building a great brand. Unfortunately, at the end of 2013, I was retrenched by the (at the time) new regional leadership at Samsung as part of a management restructure. The move was widely reported in the media including Campaign Asia, Mumbrella and Marketing Magazine.

It’s tough going through such a sudden change, both professionally and personally. For the last couple of months I’ve taken time out to reassess and focus on what’s important in life – friends, family, being healthy, giving back to the community and sharing my knowledge. It also gave me a unique opportunity to focus on finding a new role at a company that was more closely aligned to my values – a company that focuses on helping people and improving people’s lives.  I was fortunate to be approached by Philips. I’ve always been a huge fan of the Philips brand, which I believe is one of the most innovative and caring companies in the world. It’s a brand that is helping the world, as you can see from their company profile:

“Royal Philips of the Netherlands is a diversified technology company, focused on improving people’s lives through meaningful innovation in the areas of Healthcare, Consumer Lifestyle and Lighting. The company is a leader in cardiac care, acute care and home healthcare, energy efficient lighting solutions and new lighting applications, as well as male shaving and grooming and oral healthcare.”

I’ve accepted the role of Regional Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer for Philips ASEAN & Pacific. I'll be part of the regional management team, reporting to the well respected CEO of Philips ASEAN & Pacific, Harjit Gill. It’s a big role, focused on three key areas – building the Philips brand in the region (it’s already number 40 in Interbrand’s top 100 global brands), implementing best-in-class communications and social media practices, and making Philips a digital marketing leader. I’m very excited as I strongly believe three key things:

• Brands are not built by a 30-second TVC or by advertising. Brands are built by engaging customers and driving advocacy. I’ve had a lot of experience in brand storytelling and engaging influencers and advocates – a discipline that I’m surprised that more brands aren’t embracing.
• Social media has fundamentally changed how brands engage customers, shareholders, media and other stakeholders. Brave brands, like Philips, are embracing this tectonic shift in communications and are investing into social media. This is an area I will dedicate myself and my team to becoming a best practice leader in.
• Digital marketing is the future. I’ve worked in digital my entire career and I’m very honoured to be one of the few digital marketers to breakthrough into a senior level marketing/CMO role. While I appreciate and support specialists, I personally don’t understand the need to have separate digital teams as part of the wider marketing organisation – I want Philips to become the best digital marketing organisation in the world. I plan to bring my extensive experience in this area to my new role.

I start my new, very exciting role in February 2014. If you're interested in working with Philips and joining me on this adventure, please check out the Philips Career website here: http://www.careers.philips.com.sg/

I’m only one person but I believe in the power of networking and value the ideas of others. If you have any thoughts on Philips, specifically on what I can do to help grow the brand, improve communications or drive digital transformation across the region, I’d love to hear from you. Please let me know what you think in the comments section below or feel free to email me directly (damiencummings@gmail.com).