Marketing & advertising strategist · Melbourne

Brand ideas that move the numbers.

I find the human insight, build the idea and measure what it moves. 10+ years of campaigns for Microsoft, Pepsi, Telekom Malaysia and OPPO, most recently as Growth Lead at an Australian fintech. Engineer by training, so I'm as comfortable in a dashboard as in a brainstorm.

Get in touch → Résumé (PDF) Why I'm the perfect fit →
+62%growth in Bless Payments' user community
27knew telco users in two weeks for Giga Singapore
100kGen Z users for Microsoft's AI chatbot, in half the expected time
23MMalaysians reached with an AI face-and-voice platform for Telekom Malaysia

Brands I've worked with Microsoft · Xbox · HP · PepsiCo · Diageo · OPPO · Reckitt · Lenovo · Pantene · Takeda · Burger King · Changi Airport · Telekom Malaysia · Giga · Schneider/Luminous · NEA Singapore · KWSP · Bless Payments

Hi, I'm Salil.

I've spent 10+ years on every side of the brief. At agencies (Grey in India, Malaysia and Singapore), at startups (a SaaS founding team, then my own esports venture) and in-house, building a fintech's marketing function from scratch.

I moved to Melbourne in 2024. I bring a habit of starting with the audience, an eye for cultural moments, and a Computer Science degree that lets me make data and new tools do real work.

Off the clock I'm usually bouldering, cooking or filming something.

What I do

Four things I bring to a marketing team, each backed by work you can see below.

01

Audience & market insight

Finding the human truth that unlocks a brief.

See: Bless · Takeda

02

Campaign & content strategy

Platforms, creators, launches and cultural moments.

See: OPPO · Telekom Malaysia

03

Growth, CRM & performance

Acquisition, activation and lifecycle, measured on KPIs like CAC, ROAS and LTV.

See: Bless

04

AI & creative tech

Tech-led ideas shipped, from AR activations to generative-AI platforms.

See: Giga · Telekom Malaysia

Brand Match · built with AI

See me in your brand.

Enter your company's name, website, job link or paste the entire job description directly into this text box to watch the magic happen. My website will personalise itself with your colours and type, put my most relevant work first, and drafts a cover letter explaining how my experience fits your needs. Save it as a PDF to share with your team.

Built by me with Claude. The letter and the reordered page use only facts from my own experience notes. Colours and fonts are matched from your website or logo where possible, and no logos are used.

Selected work

Each one started with a business problem and a human insight. Open any card for the full story.

Growth, CRM & content / Bless Payments / 2026

Growing a fintech for migrant communities

As Growth Lead at a remittance and Visa travel card app, I built the marketing function from scratch and owned acquisition, activation and retention across several corridors.

My role: Growth Lead reporting to the CEO, and first marketing hire. I owned strategy, CRM, campaigns and creative production.

+62%user community, via paid & organic
+40%active users, via a retention playbook
CRM selection & CleverTap rollout "Blessed Cards" travel card giveaway Canada, Lebanon & Ramadan launches Creator & UGC ad engine AI-assisted email production
The story
Problem
Bless, a remittance app and Visa travel card built by migrants for migrants, was getting downloads. It needed users who actually transact, in Australia and in new corridors.
Insight
Migrant communities trust their peers more than ads. Growth would come from community voices and real moments of using money, not generic fintech messaging.
What I did
  • Built the marketing function from zero: hiring, tools, processes and playbooks.
  • Ran the CRM selection with the CEO and CTO (CleverTap, MoEngage, HubSpot, Freshworks), then rolled out CleverTap for lifecycle messaging.
  • Mapped the customer journey to find where sign-ups stalled before their first transaction.
  • Led Blessed Cards, a travel card giveaway (download, verify, claim a card), from creative territories and scripts to casting and production.
  • Set up in-house UGC ad production with creators for paid social.
  • Built an AI skill that produces on-brand HTML emails, left as a handover asset for the team.
Results
+62% user community · +40% active users · marketing function built from scratch
Digital strategy / Giga, Singapore / 2024

Every E is an eSIM

An AR activation, powered by AI letter recognition, that turned every letter "e" in Singapore into an ad for a challenger telco.

My role: Led the digital strategy and the AR activation idea as Head of Digital & Social at Grey.

27kusers in 2 weeks
+23%eSIM switches
The story
Problem
Giga launched 5G months behind its bigger competitors, with millions less to spend.
Insight
Telco sign-up in Singapore was stuck in-store: paperwork and long waits. Giga's eSIMs activated instantly.
Solution
We built the campaign around one letter. People scanned any "e" they saw, online, on the street or even on rivals' logos, to unlock an eSIM and prizes.
Results
27k users in 2 weeks · +15% daily sign-ups · +23% eSIM switches · +47% engagement
Creative strategy / Microsoft India / 2017

Who is Ruuh?

We launched Microsoft's first Indian AI chatbot as a social media personality, not as a piece of tech.

My role: Led the launch and meme strategy, and wrote the copy and content.

100kusers in half the time
40%of budget saved
The story
Problem
Get 100,000 Gen Z users talking to Ruuh within a month.
Insight
Testers liked Ruuh's personality far more than her next-gen capabilities.
Solution
We positioned Ruuh as social media's newest sensation, someone everyone wanted to talk to.
Results
100k users in half the expected time · 40% of budget saved
Digital & creative-tech strategy / Telekom Malaysia / 2024

AIdentiti Kita

An AI face-and-voice platform that let Malaysians sing their national-day anthem in languages they'd never spoken.

My role: Led digital strategy and creative technology research at Grey.

23MMalaysians reached
5×Kancil awards
The story
Problem
Malaysia's largest telco wanted to reposition from "telco" to "techco" on National Day.
Insight
Many Malaysians were wary of AI, and most had never tried it, because tools weren't built for non-English speakers.
Solution
We chained 7 AI APIs into a face-and-voice platform, so anyone could sing a beloved patriotic song in 17 Malaysian languages and dialects.
Results
23M unique Malaysians reached · 65% first-time AI users · 5 Kancil Creative Festival awards
Creative strategy / OPPO India / 2021

India's first live-commerce launch

A lockdown phone launch turned into a live talk show people could shop from.

My role: Creative Director & Strategist at Grey India. Concept and launch of a shoppable live talk show.

2×opening-week sales
+169%engagement vs past launches
The story
Problem
OPPO's market share depended on retail stores, and lockdown had closed them.
Insight
Buyers missed hands-on demos and on-the-spot deals more than instant purchase, which e-commerce already offered.
Solution
A live talk show with real-time demos and deals viewers could redeem as they watched.
Results
2x opening-week sales · +169% engagement vs past launches
Social strategy / Takeda, Thailand & Indonesia / 2024

Humans Against Dengue

A celebrity-led movement that made dengue prevention feel like a cause, not a warning.

My role: Led social strategy and the celebrity-led movement.

50×engagement vs owned
3×video views
The story
Problem
Drive awareness of and conversation about dengue vaccination across two markets.
Insight
Every past dengue campaign in the region was grim and fear-based.
Solution
We created the "Humans Against Dengue" platform, fronted by singer Metawin, who invited millions of fans to join.
Results
3x video views vs brand videos · 50x engagement rate vs owned channels

Full work history, 2010 to now: Résumé (PDF) → · LinkedIn →

How I use AI

I use AI the way I'd use a sharp junior team: for speed and range. The insight, the idea and the final call stay with me.

01

On-brand email at Bless

What AI does: An AI skill I wrote (brand tokens, typography, layout, briefing flow) turns a brief into a finished HTML email.

What I decide: The message, the offer and who gets it.

02

Gen-AI platforms for clients

What AI does: For Telekom Malaysia, seven AI APIs chained into a face-and-voice platform.

What I decide: The digital strategy and creative tech research behind it.

03

Prototyping, not decks

What AI does: Claude Code turns an idea into a working prototype, like this site, instead of a slide.

What I decide: What's worth building, and when it's good enough to show.

04

Brand Match, on this site

What AI does: Restyles the page and drafts a cover letter in your brand's voice.

What I decide: Which work leads, and the voice rules it follows.

Hiring me

The practical questions, answered up front.

Where can you work?

I'm in Melbourne, available now, and open to relocating anywhere in Australia for the right role. I'm comfortable in hybrid and remote teams.

What roles are you after?

Marketing and advertising strategy, in-house or agency, across brand, campaign, content and social, and growth and CRM. Roles like marketing lead or manager, head of digital or growth, senior strategist, advertising or marketing specialist, and social media manager.

What would my team get in the first 90 days?

A clear read of your audience, a prioritised plan, and at least one campaign or growth experiment in market, measured so we know what worked.

Do you need visa sponsorship?

Yes. I'm looking for an employer to sponsor me, either through the Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186) or the Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482), and my skills assessment is in progress. I'll handle the paperwork on my side and can walk your team through what's involved.

Home Affairs: subclass 186 → · Home Affairs: subclass 482 →

Let's make something that moves the numbers.

Email is the quickest way to reach me. I usually reply within a day.

Email me → LinkedIn Résumé (PDF)

I designed, wrote and built this site myself with Claude Code, from first sketch to deploy, Brand Match included. It's a small example of how I work: a clear brief, fast iterations and my judgment on every call.