Insights from the Forum: Synergies Between Marketing and Procurement Teams

Successful marketing-procurement partnerships go beyond cost management. True value is delivered when both functions align strategically and share objectives to drive measurable business impact.

Co-hosted by mediasense and The Procurement Council at Supply Chain Asia, and Campaign Asia as official media partner, the Marketing Procurement Forum brought together senior leaders from across industries to explore how stronger collaboration between marketing and procurement can unlock greater efficiency, innovation, and growth.

The half-day forum brought together marketing and procurement professionals for an engaging program of presentations, a panel discussion, Q&A, and networking – all centered on strengthening strategic collaboration between the two functions.

The session opened with welcoming remarks from Sebastian Chua, Head of Procurement at the Health Promotion Board, and Shufen Goh, President APAC at mediasense, who set the stage for a day of meaningful dialogue. This was followed by an exploration of emerging industry trends, a review of the evolving role of procurement, and recap of best practices for fostering stronger, more effective partnerships.

A panel discussion and Q&A was moderated by Rob Sawatzky, Editorial Director, Asia at Haymarket Media Group. It featured senior leaders from Mondelēz, the Singapore Health Promotion Board, and Standard Chartered Bank, who shared their insights, challenges, and success stories on unlocking joint value through creative strategy and commercial clarity.

With global paid advertising spend expected to surpass $1 trillion in 2025, growing at 7.2%, marketing procurement teams are under growing pressure to maximize the impact of every dollar spent.

Bringing together procurement and marketing leaders to exchange perspectives on areas such as retail media networks, influencer marketing, culture-first marketing, and generative AI enables a rich discourse of perspectives. By balancing insights from both procurement and marketing, participants can better understand the drivers of value, optimize investments, and strengthen collaboration, ultimately empowering procurement leaders to make more informed decisions and maximize the impact of their marketing spend.

Key takeaways

• Cross-functional teams can unlock greater impact when they focus on joint value rather than solely on cost.
• Gen AI can boost efficiency, but adoption requires governance, data quality, and compliance.
• Vendor performance is shifting from monitoring of service delivery to measurement of strategic impact.

Attendees of this event were from a cross section of government, B2B and consumer categories, including, Air Liquide, AstraZeneca, Baker Hughes, Chevron, Grab, Kenvue, LEGO, L’Oréal, Singapore Ministry of Finance, Razer, and Singapore Tourism Board.