Standard Chartered appoints Australian-born Philips CMO as digital marketing chief

Standard Chartered has appointed Philips Asia-Pacific marketing leader, Damien Cummings, as its new global head of digital marketing.

Australian-born Cummings is currently vice-president and CMO of Philips ASEAN and Pacific with responsibility for the vendor’s consumer lifestyle, lighting and healthcare brands, and has held the role for 18 months.

He is credited with instituting significant changes to marketing strategy at Philips, including a new marketing command centre focused on driving customer advocacy through content and digital channels.

Prior to Philips, Cummings was the regional marketing director for digital and social media at Samsung Asia. He has 20 years’ experience in marketing and digital fields across Australia and Singapore including stints with Coca-Cola, NRMA, Dell, Ogilvy and Citibank.

In a statement, Standard Chartered said Cummings had been hired to drive the bank’s digital marketing strategy and will report directly to global CMO and group head of brand, Sanjeeb Chaudhuri. He will be based in Singapore and replaces Gowri Mukherjee, who left eight months ago to co-found CreditMantri. She is also the credit service company's CMO.

“As a strategic hire for the marketing team, Damien will drive innovation and transformation in all aspects of digital and mobile marketing,” Chaudhuri stated. “I am confident that the appointment of an executive of this calibre will further strengthen the bank’s brand and marketing leadership capabilities in the digital era.”

Standard Chartered said Cummings will be responsible for digital and mobile marketing thought leadership in the business as well as strategy formulation and execution.

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