Winnie Pau started antics@play, a brand and PR agency in 2009
What’s your story?
A creative soul at heart, since a young age I have learnt dance, visual arts, writing and drama. Armed with a B.A. in International Relations and a Masters in Marketing, I lived the marketing, corporate, warrior life for two decades in telecommunications, hospitality and real estate.
Retrenched from Dubai World in 2008, I tried designing furniture and baking and ended up starting antics@play, a brand and PR consultancy in 2009 from my kitchen table.
What excites you most about your industry?
It demands you to be creative, never repeating the same work. There are always new things to learn, more to unlearn and in the process, deepen our own foundation in understanding human motivation and designing communications.
What’s your connection to Asia?
Besides being Singaporean, my first regional job in O2 APAC was a Senior Brand and Marketing Manager. This allowed me to see business growth from 4 to 17 markets over 4 years. We even had to change company name to O2 APME (Asia Pacific and Middle East). I enjoyed immersing in the local culture, understanding consumers, designing brand growth strategies and working with local teams.
Favourite city in Asia for business and why?
Bangkok. Creativity is embraced and the clients, creatives and the media are open to new formats and new marketing antics. This makes the work fun and imaginative.
What’s the best piece of advice you ever received?
Opportunity presents itself to people who are well-prepared
Who inspires you?
People who want to leave the world a better place. The optimism, positivity and drive in creating a different world for others is infectious.
What have you just learnt recently that blew you away?
A bingsu can contain 900 calories. Something so good shouldn’t be so bad.
If you had your time again, what would you do differently?
I would dress less adventurously. Too many (past) incidents of fashion faux-pas.
How do you unwind?
Early morning brisk walks and time spent in absolute silence are moments I treasure.
Favourite Asian destination for relaxation? Why?
Japan. It houses a museum of my favorite architect, Tadao Ando, my favorite animated studio, Ghibli Museum and my favorite dessert, green tea ice cream.
Everyone in business should read this book:
I find that a vivid imagination not only helps with creative idea creation, it enables us to visualise business visions, dream big and aim high. I enjoy fiction genres especially fantasy literature.
I subscribe to Harvard Business Review journals and believe that it hones critical thinking as it questions status quo and modus operandi.
Shameless plug for your business:
At antics@play, we do branding, design and PR. We use play-based strategies in all we do; from idea generation to story-telling. We play to create new realities for brands.
Find out more about us, our work and people, or read our thoughts on anticsatplay.com, or join our community on facebook/anticsatplay and on LinkedIn/antics@play.
How can people connect with you?
[email protected] or via LinkedIn/winniepua
—
This interview was part of the Callum Connect’s column found on The Asian Entrepreneur:
Callum Laing invests and buys small businesses in a range of industries around Asia. He has previously started, built and sold half a dozen businesses and is the founder & owner of Fitness-Buffet a company delivering employee wellness solutions in 12 countries. He is a Director of, amongst others, Key Person of Influence. A 40 week training program for business owners and executives.
Take the ‘Key Person of Influence’ scorecard <http://www.keypersonofinfluence.com/scorecard/>
Connect with Callum here:
twitter.com/laingcallum
linkedin.com/in/callumlaing
Get his free ‘Asia Snapshot’ report from www.callumlaing.com
