VMLY&R Asia elevates Nick Pan to Chief Commerce & Strategy Officer role based in Singapore

VMLY&R continues its focus on Commerce capabilities across Asia Pacific, appointing Nick Pan as Chief Commerce & Strategy Officer, VMLY&R Asia. Based in Singapore, Pan reports directly to Yi-Chung Tay, Chief Executive Officer VMLY&R Asia.

Pan now leads VMLY&R Asia’s strategic thrust in combining Commerce & Strategy, leveraging Brand Experience (BX) and Customer Experience (CX) to drive business growth and commercial outcomes for brands, in a customer-centric world that is challenged by fragmented channels and touchpoints.

The evolution of VMLY&R Commerce and the expansion of CX and Commerce capabilities have been a major part of the network’s considerable growth trajectory over the past two years, which saw revenues double and headcount triple. Pan’s new role is a commitment to Commerce as a continued catalyst for growth and is strategically aligned with Camellia Tan’s recent elevation to Chief Network Growth Officer, VMLY&R Asia.

VMLY&R’s Commerce success in Asia Pacific include the iconic innovation with ‘Oreo Music Box.’ Rolled out from China into the rest of Asia and North America, the buzz-worthy gadget exponentially increased store traffic and led to record sales. More importantly, it prompted an experience and product rethink for Oreo that led to a total brand management partnership with VMLY&R. Similarly for Crayola, having delivered record breaking initiatives like ‘My First Crayola’ as the brand’s primary Commerce & Marketing partner in China, VMLY&R then drove Crayola’s E-Commerce expansion into fragmented Southeast Asia markets.

Other successful Commerce initiatives for VMLY&R in Asia include FMCG Subscription Models with more than 300,000 subscribers for large, multi-national clients, and Revenue Share partnerships which see VMLY&R working with brands on share of prosperity models that help brands find areas of new incremental growth. And now leading the trend as the world moves into a hybrid space following the pandemic, VMLY&R Commerce’s V-Commerce (Virtual Commerce) taps into the Metaverse to drive Commerce and brand experience with Virtual Shibuya.

Pan has been with VMLY&R Asia for 13 years, having started in Strategy, Planning and Intelligence, now assuming the responsibility to drive Commerce capability for the region. He has also driven digital marketing excellence with social media and digital discoverability specialisation across the region. Since joining the network in 2009, he has handled varied portfolios across Project Delivery, Digital Strategy, Business Consulting and Commerce.

Yi-Chung Tay said: “The expansion of CX and Commerce capabilities have played a major part in VMLY&R Asia’s exponential growth over the past two years, reaping benefits most importantly for our clients and in turn for our network. It’s the ultimate proof of effectiveness, closing the ‘infinity loop’ of BX, CX & Commerce to deliver sales that are a direct result of communications.”

Pan said: “Creating connected brands is the essence of VMLY&R’s ethos and has always been what motivates me to deliver the right strategy and solutions for clients. Advancements in Commerce offer so many exciting opportunities for clients and ramping up our capabilities means we can meet our clients’ evolving and varied needs to drive growth.”