HappyTribe’s #HappyJourney
Happy Marketer is now, Merkle Singapore!
Exactly 10 years ago, we at Happy Marketer, had hired Siljith Kandyil as our first employee outside Singapore ~ over the last decade he has & continues to transform our operations across our multi-city organization structure by donning different hats to ensure that the #happytribe remains relevant, efficient & effective!
#happyAlumni such as Tricial Lim is driving internationalization growth at Love Bonito; Kanchan has gone onto do impactful work at organizations like Flipakart & Papa John’s Pizza; Khyathi is a digital specialist at McKinsey & Company; Colin is heading the digital growth efforts at The Learning Lab, a premier education institute in the region; Richa Dayal is in London casting her B2B MarTech magic with promising startups; Nikhita is part of the CRM & Loyalty team at Sephora; Joe & Rina are on their own, respective, entrepreneurial journeys; Srotoswini is a successful management consultant at Accenture; Owen & Soumik, our SEO gurus are doing their magic at early stage startups; Joelyn is exploring new opportunities in the world of adTech; Rachael Shana leads marketing at HPB Singapore after successful stints at Guardian & Shangri-La; Su-Ann drives digital at Allianz Insurance Singapore.
Rima is a senior management leader at the Brave New World & Belmond has driven growth across multiple digital roles across IQuanti & Neil Patel’s organization; Riya continues to weave magic with her design and art work at an unicorn called Insider; Srishhty-Shreya-Roshan are ruling the roost at global agency groups; Arjun is nailing it as a rainmaker at CleverTap & Sumanth has become a master at employer branding with experiences at Gojek & now at Rippling.
Divya has set the stage ablaze with her charismatic dance performances across India & the UK; from designing mesmerising social posts, Anshu has gone onto paint & sculpt some inspiring structures; Damini is spreading goodness in the world through Yoga; the voracious reader & eloquent wordsmith in Sanhita continues to charm clients and publishers as a freelance writer.
As part of our on-boarding, we always suggested and encouraged everyone to think of Happy Marketer as a stepping stone and a launchpad for 3–5 years, where they can learn, experiment, fail in the process but focus on growth ~ the growth of our clients but more importantly their personal growth, sanity and happiness.
We always believed that if one and one’s family is happy, satiated and grows, clients, revenues, retention and everything else will be taken care!
To see these folks spread their wings and make their impact across the world in their own meaningful way is the true legacy of the Happy Marketer brand that we have lovingly nurtured since June 2009
As this brand sunsets today & evolves into Merkle Singapore, we look back and celebrate our tremendous growth journey that started as a two-people company at a small shutter shop on Craig Road and then has gone onto move from small office spaces in Maxwell Road to shop houses on 1 Neil Road & River Valley to eventually graduating to a skyscraper at Guoco Towers.
From serving Spring Singapore & Starhub as our earliest clients to going onto to bagging multi-million dollar accounts across some of the largest banks, telcos, B-Schools, airlines, F&B outlets, insurance and venture-backed unicorns in the region.
To have done all of the above organically without a cent of loans or funding does feel special; to have gone from zero to double digit millions of revenue and still growing a very fast paced with high margins is a testimony to the strength of the #happytribe, our culture that encourages everyone to be curious, hungry, initiators, to never box oneself into fixed categories & to constantly reinvent oneself, to be kind and of service and to play the long game!
A huge credit for this goes to some of our core members, such as Sanchit, Emily, Awadesh, Terrence, Mela, Hima, Trishe, Kah Min, Vishal, Shaurya, Melissa, Shushanta, Jiani, JJ, Chrysta, Isha, Jean, Nurlina, Joel, Stephanie, Raziah, Ekta & Geetha who have stuck through thick and thin; through massive client wins & devastating losses; through celebrating highs like winning the most awards as an agency in Singapore to surviving past low $200 bank balances; to being there for weddings, hospital visits and funerals.
We are equally indebted to our strategic alliance partners like Google, The Boston Consulting Group, Facebook, Salesforce, HubSpot, Adobe, Insider, Tealium, Appsflyer amongst others ~ we have seen further & grown by standing on the shoulder of these global giants.
It’s been 3 years since we were acquired by Merkle and been part of the dentsu International network and our integration & transformation from an independent company to being part of a MNC has been a great learning journey for many of us ~ from being able to pitch to a global client base, to teaming up with colleagues across time zones to bringing sophisticated Customer Experience Management (CXM) solutions to our part of the world has been rewarding.
And this was only possible thanks to our dear friend, Shivanu introducing us to Ted Bray, who worked with Sam, Hattie (our bankers at SI Partner), Karthik, a dear friend & lawyer from Gibson Dunn & Crutcher and us to patiently make this deal happen; year long discussions and negotiations with Simon, Nick & team; David William’s inspiring pitch; Z & Min’s leadership, sponsorship & guidance on the integration but most importantly, due to Prakash’s vision for joined up thinking, patience and a collaborative attitude to bring people together to solve problems.
Without Prakash & the support of his wonderful colleagues at dentsu such as Phil, Carol, Yvonne, Hayley, Prerna, Stan, Carl, Sing Ling, Fauzi, Thiri, Ashley, Sharan, Dominic, Rhys, Pippa, Abigail, Rachel Ooi & Anthony our journey would have been way harder ~ wish we could gather together in person for a big celebratory cheer
Behind every professional journey, there are tons of silent & vocal contributions from family and friends and this was all the more critical over the last two pandemic years and I want to thank Dipti, Ayaan, my Maa & Baba, my Mummy & Papa, Rohit, Bishwajit Kaku, Yogesh uncle & Vandana Aunty, Renu aunty, Sayaka, Kanika, Surbhi, Aaron and my close friends in Singapore, Bangalore, Pune, Jakarta & Kolkata for their relentless patience, love, encouragement and guidance at ever step, mis-step and milestone.
For me, personally, this #happyjourney has been synonymous to my professional identity, has blessed me with some of my most satisfying moments of my adult life and has given me the launchpad for my growth and development and I will be eternally grateful for that.
Hopefully, 30 years later when the #happytribe & I look back at our career, we do so with joy, respect, gratitude and love for this opportunity to co-create and nurture this platform that has allowed us to discover & shape ourselves; provided opportunities to contribute and create impact and most importantly allowed us to learn and develop.
Rachit ~ kudos to your vision, your steadfast and determination right from 2004 in our NUS days to create, build & grow something; for pulling me in on this journey and for everything that we have shared along the way.
For now, it’s time to reflect, rejoice and look ahead and grow the Merkle brand & business by manifolds in the region.
Our re-branding story was covered by Marketing Magazine here:
https://www.marketing-interactive.com/dentsu-happy-marketer-rebrands-merkle
