Snakk shifts new sales boss into Asia

As part of its strategy to accelerate growth in the fast-growing mobile ad market in Southeast Asia, Snakk Media has appointed Katie Birch to the newly created position of Head of Commercial for the Asia Pacific (APAC) region. Katie will shift from Melbourne to Singapore before the end of year.

Ms Birch joins Snakk following 12 years of direct and agency media sales experience with companies including Southern Cross Austereo, EYE Corp Media, Sensis Digital Media, Mi9 and Big Mobile.

The explosive growth of smartphone users in Southeast Asia has led to increased advertiser demand for mobile creative and advertising technology services, and Snakk expects revenues from this region to be key to its future success.

Group CEO Mark Ryan says: “Katie will lead our sales teams, develop strategic trading partnerships and help us grow share across Australia, New Zealand, and in particular Southeast Asia. She’s got the drive, personality and the rare mobile media experience we need to grow Snakk in a burgeoning regional mobile advertising market.

“This appointment is part of our commitment to shift Snakk’s ‘centre of gravity’ to this region over the next 12-24 months. Our small team in Singapore is currently servicing an enormous Southeast Asian population that is over 25 times the size of Australia and New Zealand. There is a large and untapped opportunity there for Snakk, and the time is right to have Katie’s role based out of these markets.”

Ms Birch says: “I'm excited to be joining Snakk at this stage of their growth. They have a great business in Australia and New Zealand, with fantastic potential in new Asia Pacific markets. I joined Snakk because I am attracted to its innovative mix of mobile ad technology and creativity. Most importantly the team has a real focus on giving brands and agencies the best mobile ad products and services, something which is so important in our very competitive sector. I can tell already it’s going to be quite a ride with Snakk!”

Research recently released by London-based Edison Investment Research indicates that Asia Pacific mobile ad spend is forecast to outpace global trends. The mobile and tablet advertising spend in some Southeast Asian markets is currently about 11% of all money spent on digital advertising. By comparison, the US mobile advertising spend is predicted to surpass desktop for the first time this year and account for more than half of the total digital ad spend for 2015.

Snakk’s Singapore-based headquarters has run campaigns for global brands including Unilever, Visa, Ikea, McDonald’s and Airbnb. These campaigns extended into Asian regions as diverse as Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, India and Macau, as well as venturing into Brazil, Mexico and the United Arab Emirates.