Nicola Stockmann’s Post

In the ever-evolving world of creativity and innovation, it's rare to find moments that truly reshape your perspective. While I may not have been present in the room, listening to the recording of the session with Kevin Koh and Noveri Mandey from MullenLowe Singapore was one of those transformative experiences. Their insights into the art of pitching, honed through years of leading in the advertising industry, offered a treasure trove of wisdom right into my headphones. 🎧✨ Understanding the core problem we aim to solve was highlighted as the cornerstone of a successful pitch. This approach resonates deeply with me, reinforcing the idea that creativity thrives on challenging norms and daring to redefine boundaries. It's about embracing the beautiful complexity of creative work, where there's no definitive right or wrong, but a canvas awaiting our unique strokes. Kevin and Noveri emphasized the critical importance of connecting with our audience on a human level. A reminder that beyond the strategies and pitches, it’s the emotional resonance that truly leaves a mark. This principle is something I aim to embed deeply into my own creative pursuits. Though I absorbed these insights through a screen, the impact was no less significant. It underscores the power of technology in bridging gaps, allowing us to learn and grow, even from afar. A huge thank you to Pei Wen Wong for making these learning opportunities accessible and to Kevin Koh and Noveri Mandey for sharing their invaluable expertise. With the D&AD submission deadline on the horizon, my team—Ashley Koh, Meg-Gayle Dean, and I—are more inspired and motivated than ever to push our creative limits. Let’s bring our ideas to life, break some rules, and make our audience feel something profound. Onward to the finish line! 💪🎨 #CreativeThinking #Pitching #Advertising #TeamWork #DandAD #NTUSG #WKWSCI #MMC

It’s taken years of hard work, but our phenomenal team can now call themselves “Employer Branding Agency of The Year”💥 Since I joined Wiser 3 years ago, we have: 🚀 Grown from 40 to 150+ smart, ambitious creatives 🎥 Delivered work across 100s of cities around the globe (🌍 from Yokohama to Portland to Amsterdam) 🤝 Worked with incredible companies to craft their employer brand and talent strategy - Kraft Heinz, L’Oreal, Worldpay, KFC, SoHo House, OnRunning to name just a few But there is one special mention that I have to make. Meg Ackroyd switched careers from design to brand marketing with me over 2 years ago. At the time, we had no awards strategy. The team were doing incredible work but we always fell short at the last hurdle when it came to our submissions. She made it her mission to change this. 🥇She got herself onto judging panels at industry awards to learn how the best in the business were submitting 🥇She created an awards hit squad to work on killer submissions 🥇She levelled up the copy and design of all our entries with the help of our creative & design teams 🥇She organised regular meetings with the leadership team to get their input before final submissions But most importantly, she never gave up. There were plenty of near misses where she could have been easy to be disheartened but she kept pushing 🙏 This is not the end, just another step on the way to reaching our full potential as an agency 💜 If you have missed out on an award If you have been hit by the market downturn If you have lost out on a big pitch If you have questioned yourself … keep going! I promise it’s worth the wait 💪 #EmployerBranding #Talent #Motivation

Anyone in the creative industry, especially in Singapore, knows exactly how competitive business is. While we spend a lot of time announcing the wins, and rightly so, I believe that it is just as important to acknowledge our losses and start to build a healthy relationship with both sides of the coin. Having lost more than winning over the years, I have learnt through time that it is extremely important to 1. Never take the decisions personally as an agency. We learn and fight another day. 2. Celebrate knowing that the better agency has won and encourage from the side for better work. That's the only way for our industry to regain legitimacy and growth. Better work equals growth in the sector. 3. It is the perfect time to reflect and make surgical adjustments to understand better and create greater value within your lost category. 4. This is a great moment to reach out to the clients even in defeat. It's a small industry, and we do better when we learn from each other. From us MullenLowe Singapore, congratulations GOVT Leon Lai Tim Chan Alvina Seah Aaron Koh for retaining Sentosa. We can't wait to discover your work ahead with them! MullenLowe Singapore We go again 💪

Striking a pose and taking a much needed inspirational breather at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity What I personally loved the most except for the great work presented, and meeting sooo many amazing old and new friends, is how my old world as CMO and my new world as Chief Magnificent Officer blend so well. As shared by the incredible Deepak Chopra MD (official) and my CMO friends Michelle Crossan-Matos, Najoh Tita-Reid and Raquelle M. Zuzarte summarised so well during the great Procter & Gamble Allumni panel event hosted by Gary Vaynerchuk & Jim Stengel 🙏 As a CMO you know that core to your work is - ⭐️Creativity- stretching the box, ⭐️Curiosity (especially with the transformative technologies) ⭐️Analytical skills to master marketing KPi’s and ⭐️Strategy to pre-empt consumer needs and competitive moves, but probably THE most important driver of your success as CMO is ⭐️Culture- inclusive, psychologically safe and nurturing culture- because culture eats strategy for breakfast! This was also the theme shared by so many of the amazing panels at the The Female Quotient CMO are best positioned to change their org culture as they understand that - 💛Without #Happinessatwork there is no creative marketing work. 💛You can’t create if you don’t create the #psychologicalsafety that is proven pre requisite to inspire team-work and out-of-the-box thinking. 💛Employees who are able to create the magical #Goldenlink between their personal #Purpose and their team and company #Purpose are those who deliver brilliance. 💛You can’t innovate if you don’t have the #empathy to truly understand your consumers unmet needs and walk in their shoes. 💛Return on interaction and relationships are the real drivers of ROI- non of us is as creative as all of us- creative brilliance is an iterative team effort. 💛When you communicate from the head you stay in the head, but when you communicate from the heart- you land in the ❤️ 💛True Creativity requires data yet some leap of faith that comes from connecting left and right brain. 💛#Gratitude and #Generosity are core strategies- generosity to our planet, generosity to other, give back to the less privileged and also generosity towards ourselves- as your can’t pour from an empty jug. Bottom line -You can’t lead if you don’t know to connect both your positive masculine (Data, logic direction) and positive feminine (empathy intuition teamwork giving) leadership traits and todays culture requires this much needed shift towards more feminine energy - psychological safety, purpose, empathy, team work and relationships as the true drivers of bottom line success- hence the my mission for all leaders- men as well as women - to #LeadLikeAGirl 💛 Grateful to connect with all my amazing pips and even more excited about my mission to humanise the workplace so all leaders thrive and continue to reinvent a better workplace and a better world ♥️🫶 P&G Alumni Network - Official Page VaynerX

As the new APAC Regional Director for The One Club for Creativity, I’m excited to strengthen collaboration across our region and elevate the ONE Asia Creative Awards. By nurturing talent and building a more connected creative community, I’m committed to pushing boundaries and inspiring the next generation of creative leaders. In my previous roles, I’ve gained diverse perspectives working in numerous global network agencies and contributing to the Asia and Worldwide Creative Councils. Serving as a judge for more than 30 different award shows—from global to local—has given me unique insights into how creativity is interpreted across cultures. These experiences have broadened my view, teaching me to see things differently and collaborate with people from various backgrounds. I’ve learned to identify the common threads that connect us, which is key to fostering creative growth in our industry. As I look to the future, I’m eager to exchange ideas with many of you and explore how we can develop fresh, innovative initiatives that will shape the future of advertising together. Speak to you soon. Thanks, Besteverad, for the coverage. #creativity #leadership #oneclub #APAC #advertising #weekendvibes #APACCreativity #ONEAsiaAwards #CreativeLeadership #InspiringCreatives #GlobalPerspectives #CulturalCreativity #NurturingTalent #PushingBoundaries #InnovativeAdvertising #CreativeCollaboration #FutureOfAdvertising #CreativeCommunity #LeadershipInAdvertising #CrossCulturalCreativity #NextGenCreatives

"As a former creative director, what do you think you can bring to The One Club for Creativity, particularly the ONE Asia Creative Awards?" Guan Hin Tay: This role is the culmination of my passion for creativity and leadership. Years of working with global brands, leading creative teams, and judging over 30 award shows have taught me how creativity transcends cultures. ONE Asia Creative Awards provides the ideal platform to share these experiences and foster collaboration. Creativity thrives when we learn, challenge, and celebrate each other. It’s not just about awards; it’s about empowering creatives across APAC to take risks and push boundaries. I want to help make APAC a hub for limitless creativity by mentoring talent, building connections, and ensuring the region’s creative voices are heard globally. "What are your aims and priorities for The ONE Club over the next 12 months? Apart from ONE Asia, are there any other programs you want to introduce or expand in the region?" Guan Hin Tay: My focus is on mentorship, nurturing young talent, and expanding opportunities across APAC. I aim to bring Portfolio Night to more countries, offering young creatives direct access to industry leaders. Practical workshops and masterclasses, like the one recently launched in Manila, will help bridge gaps between emerging and seasoned professionals. Building school partnerships to engage students early and expanding programs like Next Creative Leader, which promotes inclusivity and diversity, are key priorities. We’re also planning a Creative Leaders Retreat with two tracks: one for C-suite leaders and another for CDs and ACDs to recharge and collaborate. These initiatives aim to build skills, spark fresh ideas, and shape the next wave of creative leadership across Asia-Pacific. While only some ideas may come to fruition, I am committed to dedicating my best efforts to make them a reality.

Introducing Common Ground, a series of panel discussion brought to you by Andpeople that brings business and cultural leaders together to talk about a new era of brand relevance. We're inviting some of the country's most accomplished professionals to explore how brands and culture can not only co-exist, but thrive together. If you're interested, RSVP via the link or hit me up!

⏰ Only 2 days to go! The countdown is almost over, and we can’t wait to see you at Brands&Culture London this Thursday at the iconic Ministry of Sound! This isn’t just another event—it’s a unique space for real conversations about how brands can truly connect with culture, lead with purpose, and shape the future. Join us and 300 industry leaders ready to make a difference. Here’s what we’ll dive into: 🌍 Building brands that don’t just follow trends but create lasting impact. 🚀 How to adapt marketing teams to the fast-paced, ever-evolving cultural landscape. 🔍 Learning directly from the visionaries who are setting the standard for cultural relevance. It’s all happening in just two days. Don’t miss out on this chance to be part of something big. 🔗 Register now if you haven’t yet: https://lnkd.in/eE3MiE7a #2DaysToGo #BrandsAndCulture #CulturalImpact #MarketingLeaders #CountdownToThursday

Nearly 17 years ago I walked into the Digital River office for the first time with an oversized dress-shirt I’d borrowed from my dad and an overwhelming feeling of uncertainty about officially starting my professional career. More than a decade and a half later, I end my journey with a slightly better fitting dress-shirt and an overwhelming feeling of gratitude for the colleagues and customers I’ve had the opportunity to work with during my time at Digital River. From helping innovative, enterprise brands that I am personally a fan of, to employee soccer tournaments that brought broad, global teams together, the experience I’ve gained is immeasurable. And most importantly, the leaders (and in some cases, lifelong mentors) I’ve had the fortune of learning from, have shaped both my career and life outside of work in ways I am deeply thankful for. Today, I walk into my new role as SVP, Sales at THG Ingenuity with an overwhelming feeling of excitement – about the team I am joining and the world-class solutions we are delivering to brands. I've already had the pleasure of spending time with leadership at their offices in Manchester, where the energy is infectious. In this new chapter, I will be helping THG Ingenuity leverage the success we’ve had in Europe to accelerate our presence in the US market, bringing proven solutions to brands who are looking for growth, expansion and efficiency in their DTC eCommerce businesses. Here’s to the journey ahead! #NewBeginnings #THGIngenuity #SalesLeadership #CareerJourney