Iain McMullan · Singapore · APAC and the Middle East
The range of a full agency, brought in-house: strategy, brand, content and AI, accountable to the number.
Best fit forHead of Creative Studio · Brand & Marketing Director · Head of Communications · Strategy Director
Each file sets out the brief, the call I made and why, what it took, and what moved.
USD 2M+
The briefMy own idea: a new single customer view showed thousands of members within 2 flights of their next tier, most of them unaware.
The callThe right incentive and the exact distance: how many Miles each member needed, on the routes they already flew, updated after every flight.
Emirates Skywards Tier Advancement · loyalty marketing & CRM lead · incremental revenue from 1,500+ members who moved up a tier, 2014–2015
Read the entry98%
The briefThe most memorable, best-communicated event Hilton had ever run for APAC. An event nobody remembered was the failure to avoid.
The callHilton’s own tagline, held to its brand guidelines across 8 touchpoints, with a companion app at the centre that gave delegates a reason to keep opening it.
Hilton APAC GM & Commercial Conference · strategy & communications lead · app engagement across 1,300 senior leaders
Read the entry100%
Emirates Flight Training Academy · brand & go-to-market lead · of the first cadet cohort filled within 2 months, owned client-side from agency selection to rollout
Read the entry1,200+
Emirates: Adventure Awaits · campaign & production lead · pilot applications from a global recruitment campaign
Read the entry+23%
Casillero del Diablo: Legendary Pairings · strategy lead · online sales, from a place at the Singapore hawker table for a Chilean wine
Read the entrySelected clients and employersEmirates · Malaysia Airlines · British Airways · Hilton · IHG · Pan Pacific Hotels · UOB · AIA · Microsoft · The Dubai Mall · Global Schools Group · Dole · Cetaphil · AHC
The full portfolioAnyone who gets him on a project is getting someone who will fight for the work until it’s actually right.
I build brands from inside the business and alongside it. I have led communications strategy and marketing for brands like Emirates, Hilton, Malaysia Airlines, UOB, and AIA, usually on the challenges that look commercial first and creative second. I uncover the ideas that hold up in the boardroom and in market, and do what it takes to see them through. I also read more ancient history than is strictly useful, which shows up in the work more often than you would expect.
Singapore-based. Open to senior brand, marketing and communications leadership across APAC and the Middle East, and to site builds.
2 decades across Asia and the Middle East taught me one thing above all others: strategy is only ever as good as the team that executes it.
A plan that doesn’t survive contact with execution isn’t a strategy. It’s a wish. I close the gap between what’s decided in the room and what actually reaches the market.
Ambiguity is the enemy of great work. Clear direction, clear feedback, clear expectations: these aren’t management ideals, they’re the conditions that let creative people do their best work.
The difference between good and exceptional is almost always found in the details others didn’t think to check. I’ve directed more than 100 campaigns, over 80 of them for Emirates, across more than 20 markets. The brief matters. And so does the kerning.
Brand love and business results are not conflicting things. I’ve spent more than 20 years proving it, building campaigns that move people and move the needle. Creative ambition with commercial discipline. Both of them. Always.
The fastest way to see how I actually think. Short, opinionated essays on brand, loyalty, AI and the craft of marketing leadership, drawn from 20+ years of building them. If you want to know how I would approach your problem, start here.
Brand & MarketingAn Event is Your Brand, with Nowhere to Hide.There’s no medium more honest and emotionally engaging than a live experience. Every other channel gives you editing rights. You can…
AI & CreativityAI is a tool. Like a spanner. But lighter. “Did you use AI to write this?” is the wrong question, asked by people who think they’re protecting standards. It’s like asking a designer…
Strategy & LeadershipStrategy is Not a Plan. Thucydides Knew This. Most Decks Don’t.The word ‘strategy’ has increasingly become the label we lazily smear across thinking we want to sound serious about. That’s a problem…“AI won’t replace marketers. It will replace the marketing that was already replaceable.”
If you’re building something that needs serious marketing leadership and cross-functional capability, we should have a chat.
The best conversations start with a brief. Or sometimes just a coffee. Either works.
Set in Archivo and IBM Plex Sans. Singapore.
