Spotlight The Brave: GOVT Singapore’s Aaron Koh and Tim Chan on starting an agency and the up-coming Singapore AdMarCom Festival
The Singapore AdMarCom Festival 2024 with be held January 18th. In the lead up to the festival we are spotlighting sone of the ‘Braves’ who have made a significant impact in the Singapore AdMarCom space. Here is GOVT Singapore’s Founder / Chief Creative Officer, Aaron Koh and Partner / Executive Creative Director, Tim Chan sharing their insights in this exclusive interview.
1. Who are you? – What holds dear to you? Can you share a defining moment or experience in your career that has shaped who you are today?
Chan: Like most people I stumbled upon advertising and copywriting, thinking it’s a great way to earn a keep, compared to a “regular” 9 to 5 desk job. When I was a young, insecure copywriter, I remember reading a quote somewhere that said “perseverance is stronger than talent.” It stuck with me because it made me a little more optimistic about the future.
Koh: In school, I wasn’t great at one single thing. So I kind of figured out that Advertising would be one of those career choices that would suit me as there are so many different facets to the job, and I could still explore them and be a master of none. I attended a talk where David Droga was the guest speaker, and he said this, “In what world do you get paid to imagine?” And that kept me going and it stuck with me till this day.
2. Starting an agency in Singapore must be difficult. What are some of setbacks / difficulties you both have faced?
Chan: Starting is actually the easiest thing. You just need a couple of laptops. Growing it and keeping it running in the way you’d like it to is the difficult part. And over the years we’ve made more than our fair share of mistakes so it’s hard to call out a few of them (because there were so many). But I’d say one of the biggest struggles was learning how to be an effective creative leader. There’s no guidebook out there, and I started out trying to be a cheap, foolish impersonation of my ex- bosses. I’d argue that I’m still learning how to be a good one today.
Koh: I’m grateful we made so many mistakes. We started out not being CEOs or CCOs, so without that experience, most decision making were made from the gut, and sometimes not the most logical thinking. The difficult part for me was to separate myself from being a friend and a colleague. The professional vs personal issue comes up a lot, and there was a lot of balancing that needed to be done, from a people management point of view. So drawing that line in the sand from day one of the relationship is the important lesson I’ve learnt.
3. Was it worth all that trouble? Why?
Chan: I might have said something different back then, but today, yes, it’s definitely been worth the trouble. Not because I think we’re massively successful now or whatever. It’s because this whole journey has shown me what exactly brings fulfillment to my career, and it’s made me chase the right things in life.
Koh: There were moments when you see your guys stepped on stage to receive an award or burst out in joy when a job is done, or even when they share a piece of work that they did on their social platforms. All these moments made it worth while. The sense of accomplishment makes all the troubles go away. And the more important thing is that we did it our way.
4. Where do you see GOVT in 5, 10 years?
Chan: Hopefully, we’d see GOVT in the able hands of a new generation of leaders who can steer it to greater heights than we’ve managed to. And for them to put their own signature on where the agency can go next. That would be nice to see.
Koh: The plan was always about succession. We never wanted GOVT to be a Aaron/Leon/Tim agency. We may be the founders, but we are not the faces. We need to give our people a chance to believe what we believed in the first place, which is to manage the company as if it was their own. To build and support the next generation of leaders, is that plan.
5. When is the Singapore AdMarCom Festival 2024? & Why should people care about being part of this collective, joyous occasion?
Chan: I think the entire industry has always been proud of what they bring to the table individually. And we’ve always celebrated our own disciplines in our own award shows and conferences. But it does take a village of different practitioners to come together and create something meaningful for our clients. So the AdMarComm Festival 2024 is a great way to recognise that — we’re all good at what we do individually, but the sum of each of our parts is the most important thing.
Koh: At an industry festival such as AdMarCom, it is important to celebrate local pride. Coming together, putting all egos aside and just being there in person with a common goal, pushing the levels of creativity up. Like it or not, there will always be that competitive nature in the room, but that’s what fuels the fire to do better work for the coming year. I would say celebrate creativity when you arrive. But leave hungry knowing you could do better.
6. The Singapore AdMarCom Festival 2024’s theme is to ‘Spotlight the Brave’, how did you come up with the idea & theme?
Chan: We thought that bravery is the one key theme that ties every aspect of the festival together – whether you’re a student in Crowbar, a seasoned creative in The Gong Show or a media practitioner in the SMMA. Every piece of work that eventually wins at these shows is made with a sprinkling of bravery.
Koh: It’s the easiest thing in the world to settle and be safe. So as a theme, we needed to go against that notion and tell everyone that bravery is the first step to anything great. Of course, you may not be successful at your first try, but you got to have a taste of it before the “addiction” kicks in. The theme is a reminder to students and even veterans in the industry, that we should never settle I would say celebrate creativity when you arrive. But leave hungry knowing you could do better.
7. Last, What advice would you give to someone starting their career in the AdMarCom field today?
Chan & Koh: Always be yourself, but be the version of yourself that works hard. Because good things won’t just happen magically overnight. It requires you to dig deep, make mistakes, move out of your comfort zone and be humble to learn from everyone around you. And all those things require a little bit of sweat.
