40 Under 40 2021: Diane Chua, Tribal Worldwide

Diane Chua

Managing director
Tribal Worldwide
Philippines

Born to a family of advertising greats in the Philippines, Diane Chua has only continued that great legacy with her own career. Firstly as a national athlete, having ranked No. 1 in the country and twice representing the Philippines in the World Martial Arts Festival, and secondly through pulling no punches as an award-winning digital marketing leader both in the Philippines and the wider region.

Beginning her career as a copywriter at DDB Philippines, Chua then moved to Australia, where she did stints for DDB Sydney as one of its first integrated planners and later for Telstra Australia as a senior marketing strategist.

Returning to the Philippines in 2012, Chua joined Tribal Worldwide Philippines, where with her diverse experience and expertise she has led the evolution of Tribal PH to become the ‘total experience’ agency. A passionate creative problem solver, Chua has helped clients solve varying challenges, introduced new offerings, and excelled in project leadership. Her work leading both strategy and implementation for Telco Smart Communications led to an unprecedented 395% growth in revenues versus targets during a campaign period.

In the last 12 months alone, Chua achieved 100% client retention and an excellent new business record with a 90% winning average. Chua leads a diverse team of 51 with her mantra being people, product and profit—always in that order. Beyond her day job, Chua has trained thousands of small business owners and entrepreneurs in the Philippines across industries such as tourism, telecommunications, and health on digital marketing. She’s also an active advocate fighting violence against women and children. And she leads the National Nutrition Council in creating localised digital and mobile plans that help to prevent 85 Filipino children from dying each day due to malnutrition.