BEN MAHMUD

HEAD OF RETAIL MARKETING SHELL MALAYSIA TRADING SDN BHD

On how social media has impacted or promoted your business brand.

It’s an important medium to connect and build one-on-one relationships with consumers. It allows us to engage in twoway conversations, thus making the brand more approachable and relatable. Meanwhile, social listening provides valuable insights to gauge the “health” of our brand.

On the company’s digitalisation efforts and how it has helped in branding.

We’ve embraced digitalisation as a key lever in connecting and building relationships with consumers. Contextual and relevant content, such as #StationStories has uplifted our brand scores. Also, we can measure outcomes more effectively, helping us design better campaigns.

Challenges faced by your company in a challenging economic environment.

The challenge lies in creating differentiation for fuels in a largely undifferentiated market. Thus, we’re continuously diversifying our offerings beyond fuels, such as upgrading shops to the Food Oasis format to provide customers a wider selection of food and beverages.

On strategies put in place to boost the company’s brand image.

In 2015 we launched “Welcome to Shell”, a transformational programme to humanise the brand and improve the customer experience. We’ll continue to perfect our offer through 3 pillars: better products and services, a better retail experience, and better people and communities.

The importance of a meaningful connection between a brand and a consumer in brand-building.

We believe a sustainable relationship is built on winning hearts, not wallets. Today’s consumers prefer brands that engage them, and we actively do this on social media. Getting consumers excited and involved with the brand is necessary to remain relevant.