Building Brands and Breaking Barriers in Global Marketing

Tiffany Tang, Marketing Director of Health and Hygiene Msia, Spore, Vietnam at Reckitt

Tiffany Tang, Marketing Director of Health and Hygiene Msia, Spore, Vietnam at Reckitt

Tiffany Tang is an accomplished marketing director overseeing the health and hygiene portfolio, previously including nutrition portfolio for Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam at Reckitt. With a wealth of experience spanning local, regional and global roles in commercial and innovation development, Tang has established herself as a leader in the marketing industry. Her notable accolades include the prestigious Malaysia Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Award in 2023 and the Malaysia Women Leader Award in 2024. A passionate advocate for brand building and marketing effectiveness, Tang has earned multiple awards for her impactful strategies, including the Gaviscon Silver Effie Award and the Durex Academy Gold & Silver Effie Award in Malaysia and Asia Pac.

In an interview with MarTech Outlook, Tang emphasizes the need for agility, data-driven approaches, effective collaboration and a focus on innovation to succeed in global marketing roles.

Reflecting on Past Roles

I began my career as a management trainee at Colgate-Palmolive, starting as a van salesperson in traditional trade. This hands-on experience honed my commercial and financial skills, particularly in go-to-market models, trade marketing and understanding the shopper’s path to purchase. Even now, I regularly meet with the sales team to gather market insights, ensuring our marketing strategies are both practical and actionable.

At Reckitt, I transitioned across brands like Enfa infant/children nutrition, Dettol, Durex, Gaviscon and Strepsils, which broadened my expertise in managing diverse portfolios. This experience taught me adaptability and the importance of learning agility, especially in a fast-evolving consumer landscape. Embracing new challenges has been crucial to my growth.

A pivotal moment in my career was managing medical marketing for over-the-counter (OTC) brands, which sparked my ability to interpret scientific data. This skill became invaluable when leading innovation projects for Reckitt’s global nutrition team, where data-driven approaches were essential to revitalizing the business. Each experience—whether in sales, brand management or science-driven marketing—has shaped my career and highlighted the need for adaptability, resilience and continuous learning.

Key Insights and Challenges in Global Marketing

A global marketing role is all about building an innovation pipeline for long-term growth—from ideation to executing actionable strategies. I’ve had the opportunity to work with teams and agencies worldwide, utilizing expertise in category vision, growth trends, portfolio management, R&D capabilities and brand positioning to drive business success.

Agility is essential in this role—both in adapting to change and rapidly acquiring new skills. For example, I had to quickly learn about nutrition and medical sciences to support product innovation. Managing time is another challenge, as we work on 30 to 50 project ideas annually, navigating through different time zones and cultures.

A key part of global marketing is narrowing down projects in the innovation funnel to focus on the most scalable and profitable ideas. Prioritization is critical, especially in dynamic markets like China and the U.S. and collaborating effectively with Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) markets, which have diverse consumer needs, further highlights the role’s complexity.

Key Principles for Effective Marketing Strategy Development

When it comes to marketing strategy development, it’s a standard part of the annual brand planning cycle. This includes a thorough business diagnosis—looking at categories, competitors, consumer trends, trade and regulatory factors. We also dive into consumer insights to identify and overcome any barriers to growth.

For me personally, I focus on a few fundamental principles to create a competitive edge. Be curious—understand your consumers and competitors deeply. Be conscientious—stay on top of your brand and category performance. Then, be consistent in your strategies and execution. Finally, be courageous—embrace bold, innovative ideas and make sure you get buy-in from internal stakeholders to push them forward. These principles help shape robust and effective brand plans.

Breaking Barriers with Durex Academy: A Bold Industry-First

A recent significant achievement is the launch of Durex Academy, a groundbreaking program designed to educate youth on sexual well-being and intimate wellness. This initiative created a safe, engaging space for young people to learn and anonymously ask questions, with support from well-known influencers—including an adult entertainer—which sparked conversation and broke taboos.

Be curious-understand your consumers and competitors deeply. Be conscientious—stay on top of your brand and category performance.

This project required close collaboration with our insights and analytics teams, brand team and creative agencies. Together, we ensured that everyone understood the target audience’s concerns and tensions.

The success of Durex Academy was recognized with multiple awards, including one gold and two silver at the Malaysia Effie Awards and silver at the APAC Effie Awards—an impressive achievement considering the competitive entries from India, Australia and Southeast Asia.

Essential Leadership Qualities for Driving Marketing Success

From a leadership perspective, when managing a local marketing team, it’s crucial to focus on business and brand growth. A solid commercial and financial understanding is key, as we are essentially running a business.

Additionally, being entrepreneurial and solving problems creatively is vital. The market dynamics, competitive landscape and evolving consumer behavior—especially with the rise of social media influencers and content creators—require adaptability and consumer-centric strategies.

I’ve built an in-house infrastructure for consumer insights and regularly collaborate with agencies to conduct workshops focused on consumer understanding. We also integrate semiotics and cultural codes into campaigns for more resonant messaging. Being conscious and data-driven is essential. I established operating model, use a KPI dashboard to drive organization effectiveness by tracking brand performance, competitors and consumer insights to stay competitive and agile in our marketing efforts. These leadership qualities—commercial savvy, entrepreneurship, curiosity and conscientiousness—are fundamental to leading a successful marketing function.

Lastly but not least, key to also drive test and learn mentality and now we are driving AI experimentation in marketing function.

Advice for Industry Peers

In today’s rapidly evolving industry landscape, it’s essential to remain open-minded and cultivate high learning agility. Embracing new skills and capabilities can be challenging at first, but overcoming those hurdles transforms the experience into a rewarding journey of continuous learning.

Building a solid network of industry leaders and veterans is vital for mutual learning and support. Finally, take the time to define and develop your brand—know how you want to be recognized in your field. For me, it’s about being a commercial leader and nurturing talents within my team.