Asia-Pacific Power List 2022: Silas Lewis-Meilus, GSK

Silas Lewis-Meilus

Global head of media business units
GSK Consumer
Singapore
New member 

Silas Lewis-Meilus is on this list not just for his work as a senior and powerful marketer, but also because of his global remit. Based in Singapore, Lewis-Meilus is the global head media business units for GSK Healthcare (the business will be spun off into a separate entity named Haleon, effective July).

Over the past year, the former McDonald’s marketing and media leader has led the restructuring of GSK’s global media organisation with the aim of creating a more robust, in-house media team. This team, he says, is designed to drive increased market agility, increased internal capabilities in key functional media areas, and to build greater ownership on how paid media is managed.

Lewis-Meilus’ efforts delivered “tens of millions” in incremental revenue via a multi-market first- and second-party data-led media initiative, improving how digital media targets consumers, while also building greater levels of attribution to better understand how the firm’s media activity drives growth for the business. He also spearheaded a cross-market media investment approach and portfolio management support programme, designed to ensure GSK makes more effective media investments. 

As a media leader, he has helped broaden GSK’s paid-media investments by investing its budget in an increasingly diverse range of businesses. Lewis-Meilus says there are hard targets set on this front and his team is expected to increase the share of investments in these diverse media businesses.   

These investments are key for GSK Healthcare to maintain its position in key markets and segments. The group owns the leading brands for sensitive toothpaste (Sensodyne), denture care (Polident), multivitamin (Centrum), calcium supplement (Caltrate), and systemic pain relief (Panadol) products across APAC. The business’ revenue grew by 8.2% CAGR in 2021 across APAC.

Outside of his role at GSK, Lewis-Meilus is also a sought-after speaker at events and industry bodies. As the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) APAC media chair as well as serving on the advisory board, he works with a variety of marketers and brands to improve the overall media product and performance across the industry. This role includes partnering with the WFA-run media forums to increase knowledge within the member community around subjects such as DEI, conscious media, sustainability, agency models, transparency, and ecommerce. Secondly, as part of the advisory board, he helps frame the role of industry-relevant education for individuals starting in the marketing and media industry.