Subbaraju Alluri: Postcard from Singapore
For the benefit of adfolk considering a move to the Singapore market ,Subbaraju Alluri, Grey Group, Area Director and CEO for Singapore & Thailand (pictured) discusses why Singapore is a home worth earning.
What seems like a lifetime ago, I left a little place called home and traveled far and wide to a land that was a hybrid of both, city and country. I gave up countless comforts to come here and start from scratch.
And here’s why I never regretted it even once.
If you’ve shared a journey like mine, I need say no more. But for the benefit of those who haven’t, let me break down Singapore’s charm, bit by bit.
The story of how I fell for Singapore, oddly enough, began before even getting here. And that’s because Singapore made sense. Living here made more sense than most places. Everything I read had done a good job of tempting me. And when I reached, what happened was like a surgical strike on any doubts I had left.
Firstly, I never felt far from home. You see, there’s a little India here, which in some ways is more ‘desi’ than the Motherland itself. There’s also a Chinatown, a Korean hub and a Japanese hub too. And if there isn’t a part of town dedicated to you, there’s a thriving community to make up for it.
After putting my homesickness in its place, Singapore stunned me with its global lifestyles and healthy paychecks. I saw clean roads, met congenial strangers and for the first time, kept pace with the rest of the world. And my career did too, I was working with cross-regional teams on cross-continental projects. My portfolio was growing quickly and I felt a sense of worth unlike one I had ever felt before.
I was hooked. Which was cue for Singapore to start the second phase in its plan. Now that it had charmed me, it began to change me. It made me understand the value of punctuality. I was surrounded by a people that woke up, ate and slept on time, every time. Everything here, from the work culture to the public transportation closely followed the clock. And who was I to challenge the benefits of a healthy work-life balance.
Then one day I realized what a deep sense of security I felt living in Singapore. I was living in one of the safest countries in the world, and although I often took that for granted, it’s something I was truly grateful for.
Now once I had finished swooning over this country, I noticed the million and one flashy distractions Singapore was offering me. Be it exotic food, world-class shopping experiences, breathtaking views or just an adrenalin rush, there were multiple options for each. Because here, the establishments went beyond the call of duty to help me have fun.
So there I was, coming into my own, in a land where I still couldn’t pronounce every street name perfectly. And that’s when it hit me. I had fallen in love with Singapore, and in a brief, enlightened moment, I understood why.
You see, the true strength of Singapore is not it’s many incentives and benefits. It’s that I had travelled to a foreign land to work hard for my future, and here, the foreign land was working hard for me too.
Singapore tirelessly strives for the betterment of its people, regardless of whether they are local or foreign, whether they’re planting roots or just passing by.
That’s why the average Singaporean isn’t necessarily Singaporean. They’re Chinese, Malay, Indian, and European. Because at the end of the day, what made Singapore magical for me was its ability to not be my home, and yet become my home.
10 Comments
You were the CEO of the agency when it was caught in the biggest scam episode of recent time, yet all you did was transfer out your CCO to an arguably better job closer to mecca.
We should resist the urge to eat our own.
If you knew this guy you wouldn’t write about a regretful period.
You’d write more encouragingly and certainly avoid sounding like Mumbrella.
This person could have written something inspiring and enlightening, that’s what CEOs are hired for. But he chooses to write a piece encouraging more and more foreigners to come to work in singapore. At one of the most challenging times for the local employment scene. No prizes for guessing which county his words are targeted at. Why? What’s the game plan?
I understand the urge to pay people peanuts and charge clients the sky is good business for some….but does this create advertising that meets the standards Singapore has been known for? Since he loves travelling so much, I would urge the global leadership of grey to fulfil his desire and get in a local CEO who has more empathy towards the country he or she calls home.
@Deeply Unimpressed, i think you are reading this totally the wrong way. I don’t know the writer but I read this as a personal account of the writer’s experiences and love for Singapore. And it carries a title of a diary, so you expect a personal story. The Singapore industry is a vey multicultural industry and always has been. Expat talent has thrived in Singapore and so has local talents. Grey has just hired one of Singapore’s finest creative directors on a good salary so I don’t think this article is at all about bringing in cheap labor.
“Grey has just hired one of Singapore’s finest creative directors….”
Suspect I Disagree is from the Grey PR dept….The part she hasn’t mentioned is that this person’s list of pro bono awards before achieving the mantle of a creative director is a few miles long. Also, it is a hire made on previous connections…the ECD used to partner this person at BBH so he just brought him over as they have worked together. Anyway, thank goodness FTA-CECA is pretty much dead…..so try as he may, foreign hires from the sub con are not as easy as before.
I’m certainly not from any PR dept!
Any decent creative director who worked in Asia between the 90s and early 2000s has a list of pro bono awards a few miles long.
It’s very common to hire based on previous connections. It makes sense. Anyway Maurice is class and a lovely guy. Good luck to him.
“Any decent creative director who worked in Asia between the 90s and early 2000s has a list of pro bono awards a few miles long.”
Thanks for confirming what every client in town is well aware of…..that’s exactly why singapore has such a dismal reputation when it comes to real work.
Your deflection is understandable…however it doesn’t make up for the fact that one local hire does not ameliorate a hiring policy that has long been suspect for not adhering to fair consideration policies towards locals.
This article is proof of it. Re-read the first para: “For the benefit of adfolk considering a move to the Singapore market ….”
@Serangoons, Just to clarify: The line “For the benefit of adfolk considering a move to the Singapore market…” was written by us to intro this article. It was not supplied by Subbaraju.
@campaign brief
But there is nothing in this article that is insightful for an ad person considering a move to Singapore , save the usual generic praising of Singapore “society”. How about something on creativity, company culture, client relationships, etc. I guess this would be dangerous territory for someone representing an agency knee deep in scam and controversy (“come to work in Singapore where you can produce outrageous scam for non-existent clients and then get shafted while the senior management get a pass”)
This was a dull and predictable I Love Singapore piece that would look better in the Straits Times. Zero insight. Zero advice. Zero humor and terrible writing.
But the trains run on time so come join us!!
“But the trains run on time so come join us!!”
no one has the balls to claim that these days.