Asia-Pacific Power List 2023: Joanna Flint, Mandarin Oriental

Joanna Flint joins Campaign’s Power List this year belonging to a new breed of CMOs, bent on effecting change and charged with a much wider mandate beyond marketing.

In 2021, Flint left Google after 12 years to take up a new transformational commercial strategy role at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, overseeing all aspects of its customer experience, involving global marketing, sales, distribution and digital development. It had been a difficult decision since Flint had long been a prominent member of the tech community, joining Google as one of its first 50 employees in Singapore before eventually becoming managing director and leading its multi-billion dollar media partner business across the region.

But as Google grew, it inevitably became harder to effect change individually, and at Mandarin Oriental Flint relished the opportunity to drive change at a global scale out of Asia and use her experience to really make an impact.

Already, change is evident. Under Flint’s guidance, the luxury hotel group has consolidated brand creative and media duties under two Stagwell agencies to give customers more consistent and coherent brand engagements that can be scaled to its global ‘fan’ club. The new marketing approach has won admiration locally in Singapore, where the Mandarin’s cheeky yet complimentary campaign to entrust its customers to neighbouring competitors while under construction has won kudos from this publication.

Meanwhile, Flint is forging ahead with positioning the hotel group’s newest commercial ventures, including residences, alternative accommodations and retail operations as the hospitality and travel industry evolves and adapts to market challenges.

Flint began her marketing career in the airline industry, first as a global communications and commercial manager at British Airways in London before moving to Singapore Airlines in 2001 as global sales and digital marketing lead. In 2004, she joined Ogilvy as a principal consultant and strategist for more than four years where she authored and published white papers on emerging trends such as brand social media engagement.

Flint has been a strong supporter of women in technology and the workplace, speaking out at industry events and podcasts, collaborating with Campaign’s Women Leading Change conference and serving as a board member at the IAB, SG Tech, National University of Singapore among other organisations.