Varsha Rao, the chief executive of SingTel Digital Media, does not look much like a technology geek. But don’t be fooled. Calm, charming and polite, Rao is the woman behind the telco giant’s ambitious and aggressively promoted new website, InSing.com, launched to speed up its transformation into a multimedia company.
Scratch the surface and you realise that Rao is seriously into her technology. Her association with the sector began soon after she received her MBA from Harvard Business School. As a young engagement manager with McKinsey, Rao was asked to research the online initiatives of different companies. So fascinated was she by the online space that she decided to quit McKinsey and, in a matter of months, teamed up with an ex-roommate to start Eve.com, a successful online shopping portal.
Rao says that what attracted her to online was not only the huge growth opportunity but also the fact that “consumer technology services enabled people’s lives to be more efficient and functional”.
She built on her experience at Eve.com with other digital roles, including her last one as vice-president and general manager of Old Navy Online, the largest online business within Gap. And from there she moved to InSing - her first role in the media side of the digital sector.
SingTel may be a different type of company to her previous employers, but Rao is certain there are lessons she can draw from her experience to date. For one, she is convinced about the value of user reviews. “Nothing aids conversion better than user reviews,” she says. “We launched InSing with 10,000 reviews and we have ensured that it is an important part of the Singaporean experience, because obviously our reviews are written by people who live here. So there is a distinctly Singaporean point of view. I have a lot of confidence in user reviews being a critical part of the service.”
The other aspect that Rao hopes will help differentiate InSing is the “hyper-local content” that she believes global players like Yahoo do not offer. Initial surveys by SingTel found gaps in the market and a need for local content. “Yahoo and Google are fantastic companies and have great market share but the content on their plates isn’t local enough. In the research, about 50 per cent thought that local search was a key application that they were looking for.”
That may be the case, but all InSing’s offerings - from search and local content to hot deals and user reviews - arguably exist in Singapore’s online landscape in some form or other already. Websites such as Red Nano, Asia One, and Mocca seem to be taking similar approaches.
However, Rao insists that InSing doesn’t have any “direct competitors”. She adds: “There is a big breadth in what we offer so there are elements in our site that have similarities with others, but a big part of our website is built around local content.”
Nicholas Ye, chief creative partner at The Secret Little Agency, which handled InSing’s launch ad campaign, pays tribute to Rao’s “infectious attitude” toward digital media. “She has an acumen and respect for digital that is, basically, human. We find most clients give reverence to technology and statistics over what really makes people click. She sits in on almost every meeting with us and is never closed off to innovation or ideas that break rules.”
Rao is quite candid about the challenges that she and her team faced while developing InSing. The biggest issues, she says, were making sure the technology was cutting edge, that InSing’s database was comprehensive and that the website delivers on its localised proposition. And the fact that it was done with a team of just 24 people was not easy, she adds. Then there’s the economic climate, which is hardly favourable to publishing ventures at the moment. Rao argues that plans for InSing have been in the works for more than a year and that it is designed with more than short-term gain in mind.
“InSing is part of the plan by SingTel to transform itself into a multimedia company and SingTel is not that concerned by short-term market fluctuations. It works according to a longer-term strategy.”
The website’s marketing is testament to Rao’s technology background. Search engine marketing and optimisation play a big role in the integrated campaign developed to launch the website. The fact that one of InSing’s campaigns - an infuriating banner ad that repeated the words ‘nasi lemak’ - became a controversial topic among bloggers definitely helped.
According to Hitwise InSing was ranked 12th most popular website in the computers and internet category in Singapore. The website, has attracted big-name advertisers, launching with brands such as Sony Pictures, Volkwagen and DBS. Rao says that some major brands have shown interest in sponsoring specific sections of the website.
Attracting advertising dollars will be crucial. Singapore’s digital spend is remarkably low, given its digital penetration - some put it at as low as two per cent of total adspend. Yet Rao believes that the current downturn could accelerate the transition to digital as marketers look for better ROI. “Advertisers want to be where people are. Online doesn’t only have a big audience these days; it’s also a very trackable medium. So it’s just a question of time and people being more educated.”
To that end, she believes companies like SingTel can help the process. “What advertisers and brands need to know is that they are in a place which has high-quality consumer experience. We are a part of SingTel, we are developed by trusted brands and the quality of the website is world-class - that should give FMCGs and other brands the confidence to put their brand beside ours.”
Varsha Rao’s CV
2008 CEO, SingTel Digital Media
2004 VP, general manager, Old Navy Online, Gap
2002 Owner, Zoelle
1998 Co-founder, Eve.com
1998 Vice-president, category marketing, Keen/Ingenio
1995 Engagement manager, McKinsey & Co
1991 Financial analyst, Wasserstein Perella & Co
