Women to Watch Greater China 2024: Amanda Ma, EssenceMediacom

Amanda Ma

Business director, China
EssenceMediacom
Shanghai

Amanda Ma of EssenceMediacom embodies a relentless drive to push boundaries within the marketing landscape. Her exceptional leadership and creative prowess have not only elevated the Sprite brand in China but have also served as a beacon of inspiration for both her team and emerging talents in the industry.

At the helm of the end-to-end experience for Sparkling Flavours (Sprite, Fanta, and Schweppes) with the WPP Open X team, Ma seamlessly orchestrates collaboration between creative, media, social, and shopper teams. Her adeptness at shaping campaign ideas into comprehensive strategies has not gone unnoticed, as evidenced by the remarkable performance of the E2E function, which surpassed global averages in recent client satisfaction surveys.

Her innovative approach is evidenced in the transformation of the 1982 Sprite meme that drove over 7.5 million engagements on social media for the brand, garnered record sales into the millions (RMB) in social commerce through Douyin’s live-auction in a single day, and earned recognition as one of the best campaigns of 2023 by Yi Magazine. The viral meme campaign is pinned to a 2014 Chinese New Year TV Gala comedy sketch in which Sprite was compared to a $25,000 bottle of Chateau Lafite-Rothschild red wine as a more affordable alternative to relax in style.

It's to little surprise then that Ma’s contributions are punctuated by a string of accolades, with five Sprite campaigns earning a total of 25 awards, including prestigious honours from M&M Global, Festival of Media APAC, and Campaign's Digital Media Awards, among others.

Beyond her professional achievements, Ma's leadership is distinguished by her inclusive and nurturing demeanor. An advocate for people, culture and commercial success, Ma possesses a unique ability to inspire and unify diverse functional teams and foster a culture of collaboration and innovation. Her "nine-grid" approach has revolutionised talent development within the agency, empowering individuals to identify their strengths and areas for growth within complex work environments.

In addition to her day job, Ma is dedicated to knowledge sharing and mentorship, conducting training sessions and presentations on industry insights and campaign successes. Her commitment to empowering women in the field is exemplified by her participation in International Women's Day events and her advocacy for female talent within EssenceMediacom and beyond.

Ma's journey from being the first in her family to attend university to her multifaceted career trajectory that took her through the ranks at GroupM, OMD, Carat, and UM where she worked on renowned accounts like Estée Lauder, Friso, Mizone, The Coca-Cola Company, underscore her determination and passion for advertising. With a foundation built on language proficiency, a penchant for innovation, and the zeal to give back, Ma continues to shape the future of marketing in her own ways, and for that, she deserves a spot in the class of Women to Watch Greater China, 2024.