Joyce Gan

My journey started from the bottom as a fresh eyed graduate trainee in FMCG. When I popped my cherry and attended my first TVC shoot, I learned a valuable marketing lesson. Lesson #1 : Choose the production house that provides the best catering :P From FMCG, I moved into the telco landscape. There was a point in time where the internet was considered “new business”. In 2008, this was that time. With the internet came the introduction of user generated content: blogs, social platforms, influencers, YouTube. Not only were we marketing the internet, we were also constantly learning how to market on the internet. As part of the ‘new business’ department, our budgets paled in comparison to the long established business of prepaid/postpaid, I was every agency’s worst nightmare: HIGH IMPACT, tiny budget. VIRAL! But I learned how to be creative. Buy me a pint and I’ll tell you how I hacked and created my own media space in East Coast. Or how I hijacked and increased Happy’s (Digi’s MVNO) share of voice on radio. Lesson #2: Creativity is not just for art directors. (And the only guaranteed way a brand can go viral is with a scandal). I have had plenty of experience managing people from all the times I have “managed” my two sisters at home. But my first real foray as a people manager came at my final stint in Digi as the Head of Marcomm for Digi Internet. Having associates report to me enlightened me on the working styles of people. I learnt that not everyone responds to the same managing style. Hence why I’m upfront on all Fishermen job ads: Pros- working with me, Cons- working with me My last endeavour in the corporate world lies in Carlsberg as the Head of Premium Brands. After landing the job in a bar, I embraced my role as head of promoter girls and professional cai mui player to launch Asahi and Kronenbourg 1664 Blanc in Malaysia. Finally, the hustle behind Fishermen Integrated started when the four of us realised that there were no agencies in Malaysia specialising in digital advertising. We witnessed too many print ads being resized into a digital banner. No one was thinking social or digital first. Ten years into Fishermen, I can now proudly call myself the Chief Everything Officer, Kak Pantry and Aunty Thelma to a 70-men (and women) team in Malaysia and Singapore. Life Lesson #3: write down your achievements so that you can update your linkedin accordingly. The internet cannot remember all if the internet didn’t exist back then.