CEO Insights Magazine

Launching a product without advertisements is like walking into a room with lights. Advertising is the best way to communicate your product to customers. It drives business and amplifies reputation just by creating awareness about the product through various campaigns. Having the combination of innovation, data, technology, and professional expertise, Pixel Group aims to strategize and help its customers to achieve the highest visibility across markets. Pixel Group has appointed David Leong as the Director of the company to provide the best advertising and media solutions.

Having completed his Postgraduate Diploma in Strategic Management and Leadership, David Leong has also obtained his Master in Communication and Media Studies. David Leong always takes a targeted and creative approach to strategizing advertising and media campaigns. Before joining Pixel Group, he was attached to several multi-national advertising groups such as Starcom Worldwide, DIGI Telecommunications, Kinetic Worldwide, and Zenith Media Malaysia. His passion for the media industry and his hard work have brought various laurels to the companies he has worked with. We recently engaged in a one-on-one interaction with David Leong. Let’s hear from him.

What were the challenges you had to overcome to mold yourself into the leader that you are today? What makes you passionate about marketing leadership?

Being in the advertising industry for close to two decades has its ups and downs but the celebrations and challenges that come with it are what keep my passion going.

I value the relationships with the team, business partners, and clients that drive me to be better at what I do. It also comes with challenges in managing and ensuring that I have the best relationships with them. I believe that this could be overcome by having good conversations and discussions on a professional, and sometimes personal level. We are full of emotions and feelings, so it is important to be on the right foot before starting a conversation.

Define Pixel Group as an organization. What makes the company stand unique from its peers in the industry?

Pixel Group first started as a digital printing company two decades ago under the leadership of Ibu Christine Tjahjadi. Her vision brought a successful business expansion in the year 2015 when Pixel have departments of the Out-of-Home Media Agency, Media Owner, Asset Management, and Research. Since last year, our latest innovation is a new Digital & mobile (Online) advertising division. As Pixel Group sees the potential in Indonesia airport advertising, Pixel Group is the first company in Asia to be awarded sole exclusivity to manage the newly built Soekarno Hatta International Airport, Terminal 3 with 100 percent Digital OOH mediums in 2017. In subsequent years, we won more airport tenders and are managing airports in Semarang, Surabaya, Yogyakarta & Bali exclusively and also have a presence in other Indonesian airports. Now, we are proud to be the biggest Media Owner for airport OOH advertising. At Pixel Group, everything we do is with a clear strategic purpose in mind, which is to develop the best out-of-home solution for our partners backed by good research data. All this data helps us build our advertising panels at the most strategic locations at the airport, which maximize investments by our partners and clients for the most effective advertising campaigns.

Tell us about a time you had to deal with a complex scenario when marketing a product. What was your strategy and how were you able to draw successful outcomes?

Providing the best media and advertising solutions to clients is what I do best. Many times, clients offer us a budget for a BMW and expect the result of a Lamborghini and this is a very complex scenario to deal with. But my expertise is always to find a solution with an understanding of target audience insights where we can reach them at the most strategic spots and reduce wastage to maximize the client’s advertising budget.

As the marketing landscape is dynamic, how do you ensure to stay on top of the changes? Have you acquired any new tactics and what have you learned from them?

At Pixel Group, to stay on top of change, we participate in both international and domestic events or conferences pertaining to advertising. Last year, we attended the World Out-of-Home (WOOH) Conference in Kuala Lumpur.

Externally, Pixel and other OOH media owners in Indonesia, have been in discussion to create a standard currency for Indonesia OOH mediums. Internally, we are further looking for more data to justify our partner’s investments and make OOH advertising campaigns more effective than what we are already currently doing.

Tell us about your leadership approach.

I always believe in teamwork and for an organization to meet the KPIs is always a team effort and not an individual. I allow my teammates to explore and deliver their work on their own according to the guide or SOP that the organization has set. I also believe that good leadership is ethical leadership, which includes values of respect, integrity, trust, and transparency.

David Leong Mun Yew, Director, Pixel Group

An award-winning out-of-home media specialist, David Leong has a proven track record in the media industry. He has Masters in Communication & Media Studies.

Quick Facts:

Hobbies: Travel and Spend Time with my three sons

• Favorite Cuisine: Malaysian Food

• Favorite Book: Harvard Business Reviews & News

• Favorite Travel Destination: Japan & Hong Kong