DENNIS CHONG HAN TAI
XI YAN SINGAPORE
Singapore
25
years of professional experience
Commercial and Marketing Practitioner with over 30 years of regional leadership experience delivering business growth across hospitality, luxury retail, sports, consumer products, entertainment and F&B throughout Asia Pacific. Demonstrated success in developing commercial strategies, leading business transformation, building premium brands, driving revenue growth and developing high-performing teams across multinational organisations including Sentosa Development Corporation, TaylorMade adidas Golf, Universal Music Group, Niessing Jewellery and Xi Yan Singapore. A collaborative executive who combines commercial acumen, operational leadership and marketing excellence and years of concrete experiences working directly with executive leadership, government agencies, multinational stakeholders and luxury global brands.
Work History
Partner
21 Years 6 Months- Partner spearheading the commercial, marketing and operational leadership of Hong Kong and Singapore’s modern Chinese restaurant groups.
- Selected Contributions
- Lead and deliver strategic planning and business growth across multiple restaurant concepts with a yearly gross revenue of $2.5-3million across 3 outlets.
- Drive customer engagement through influencer marketing, partnerships and digital campaigns via in-house marketing efforts. Created numerous Xi Yan social videos and content posts to lead a robust social presence reducing costs by $40,000 annually. Create iconic Xi Yan’s calendar of events e.g. wine fiestas, wine pairing dinners and other festivals activities driving average monthly sales by 30-40%
- Develop strong CRM engagement funnels and organise premium dining, wine pairing and experiential events to strengthen customer loyalty.
- Collaborate with chefs on menu innovation and customer experience on a quarterly basis. Successful campaigns include Hakka Hometown Cuisines, Parents Day Campaign, Chinese New Year set and takeaway meals which generate revenue growth of 100% per campaign
- Optimise restaurant operational excellence, staff development and business sustainability
Assistant Director, Sales & Marketing
5 Years- Directed integrated commercial, branding and marketing strategies for one of Asia’s highest-ranked golf clubs.
- Selected Achievements
- Led commercial marketing strategy supporting premium positioning and revenue growth leading to Sentosa Golf Club receiving yearly awards as Top Golf Courses in Asia.
- Led influencer marketing, website, social media, email marketing and brand communications with UK brand agency to spread club and golf course awareness particularly during iconic golf tournaments such as HSBC Womens World Championship and LIV Golf events resulting in social media ratings increase year on year by 15%
- Managed strategic relationships with premium brands such as Aston Martin, Bentley, Ferrari, McLaren, Maserati, Rolex and Citibank by cultivating a prestige partner ecosystem via strong accounts management, strategic advertising solutions through Sentosa Golf Club Magazines, product placements and EDM to generate yearly income of $200,000.
- Partnered with Membership and Golf Operations to strengthen corporate golf sales and member acquisition resulting in 15% growth in golf membership sales and high-net-worth retention.
- Delivered executive-level customer experiences for high-net-worth members and international business leaders.
- Recognition
- First Runner-up – Asian Golf Awards (Best Marketing Communications Manager)
- Contributed to Sentosa Golf Club being recognised as the World’s Best Golf Club.
Assistant Director, Business Development & Marketing
1 Year- Led Asia Pacific business expansion strategy and assisted in the opening of three Niessing flagship concept stores in Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia.
- Developed country and commercial feasibility studies to support opening of new outlets and new market entry plans.
- Negotiated retail opportunities across Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia.
- Generated $150,000 of new distributorship with Australia jeweller in one year
General Manager
1 Year- Led the opening, renovation and overall commercial and operational performance of Singapore’s flagship fitness performance and retail centre opened by Triple Pte Ltd (a distributor of Under Armour SEA). Duties include business planning and operations and managing the Sales and marketing performance of the gym recruitment exercise and developing a robust exercise regime calendar to drive class participation and optimisation
- Duo duties also include managing and marketing of the retail division which include the sales of retail brands such as Under Armour, Odlo, C3Fit.
Regional Marketing Director
2 Years- Brand custodian of TaylorMade, adidas Golf, Ashworth and Adams Golf brands. Led and directed global and regional marketing strategies across Asia (excluding Japan and Korea).
- Led visual merchandising plans, product launches and integrated Go-to-Market strategies for China markets and work closely with regional markets to adapt and iterate global and regional strategies during new product launches.
- Directed Go-to-Market strategies for 4 global brands across Asia (excl. Japan/Korea), managing a US$20M regional budget and ensuring 100% brand consistency throughout the retail network.
- Developed regional retail marketing frameworks, visual merchandising guidelines, store fixtures designs, planograms and point of sales for Asia markets following the strict guidelines provided by Global brand team
- Worked directly with Global Headquarters to align Asia business strategy.
Senior Marketing Manager
9 Years- Key Achievements
- Established TaylorMade’s first flagship concept store in Asia.
- Secured HSBC Women’s Champions Official Sponsorship.
- Recipient of TaylorMade’s Most Innovative Marketing Award.
Strategic Marketing Director
4 Years- Led commercial promotions and marketing for international artists and compilation albums by having close relationships with local TV, radio and print media to promote new releases
- Conceptualised and developed 20 + Platinum-selling albums with record sales of 15,000 or more per release including DVDs and drive retail campaigns for global artists with key record stores such as Tower Records, HMV, Sembawang Music, That CD Store etc
- Built strategic partnerships with Apple, Motorola, Coca-Cola, Singtel and major advertisers and offer album sponsorship to drive awareness of new releases and receiving sponsorship of up to $50,000 per album. Organised at lease 3-4 iconic events and campaigns per year to drive buzz and sales of album popularity. Iconic events include e.g. Chiva Regal Nights, Heinken Dance events, Coca-Cola Burger King mini CD
- Delivered successful ABBA / Mamma Mia integrated campaign and pitched and received major sponsorship from Singtel Motorola leading to the ABBA Greatest Hits receiving Triple Platinum album sales in Singapore during the campaign generating more than $200,000.
Education
Master of Commerce - Marketing
Bachelor of Business Administration
Diploma in Business
Skills
ChatGPT
Microsoft Copilot
Google Gemini
AI Prompt Engineering
Canva
CapCut
Google Analytics
Meta Business Suite
SEMrush
Mailchimp
CRM
SEO
SEM
Microsoft 365
LANGUAGES
- English
- Mandarin
- Conversational Japanese
- Chinese Dialects
Timeline
Assistant Director, Sales & Marketing
SENTOSA GOLF CLUB
2018.01 - 2023.01Read More
Assistant Director, Business Development & Marketing
NIESSING ASIA PACIFIC
2017.01 - 2018.01Read More
General Manager
TRIPLEFIT (UNDER ARMOUR SEA)
2016.01 - 2017.01Read More
Regional Marketing Director
TAYLORMADE ADIDAS GOLF
2014.01 - 2016.01Read More
Partner
XI YAN SINGAPORE
2005.01 - CurrentRead More
Senior Marketing Manager
TAYLORMADE ADIDAS GOLF
2005.01 - 2014.01Read More
Strategic Marketing Director
UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP
2001.01 - 2005.01Read More
Temasek Polytechnic
Diploma in Business
Read More
Queensland University of Technology
Bachelor of Business Administration
Read More
University of New South Wales
Master of Commerce from Marketing
Read More
AWARDS
- Sentosa Golf Club : Asian Golf Awards – Best Marketing Communications Manager (First Runner-up) 2018
- TaylorMade adidas Golf : Most Innovative Marketing Award 2015
- Universal Music : Best Universal Strategic Marketing Awards 2003-2005
- Prime Minister’s Office – COVID Resilience Award 2022
EXECUTIVE HIGHLIGHTS
- 25+ years of Commercial & Marketing Leadership across Asia Pacific
- Regional leadership covering Southeast Asia, Greater China and Australasia
- Luxury, Hospitality, Retail, Sports, Entertainment & F&B sectors
- General Management, Business Development & Commercial Strategy
- Digital Marketing, Customer Experience & Brand Transformation
- Strategic Partnerships with Rolex, Ferrari, Bentley, McLaren, Aston Martin, Maserati and Citi
- Entrepreneur and Business Partner at Xi Yan Singapore
- Award-winning Regional Marketing Practitioner
CORE COMPETENCIES
- Commercial Strategy
- Business Growth
- Revenue Generation
- General Management
- Business Development
- Regional Marketing
- Go-to-Market Strategy
- Customer Experience
- Digital Transformation
- AI-enabled Marketing
- CRM
- Corporate Partnerships
- Sponsorship
- Luxury Brand Management
- Stakeholder Management
- P&L
- Budget Management
- Team Leadership
- Retail Operations
- Hospitality
- Change Management