“Passion, creativity, and resilience are the most crucial skills in business. If you’ve got those, you’re ready to embark on the journey.” ~ Jo Malone, Founder of Jo Malone

Kicking off SG Lifestyle’s Singapore Entrepreneurs’ Stories is an exclusive interview with 44-year-old Ariane Goo, and 37-year-old Diana Toh, to learn more about their start-up journey, work within the arts community, and upcoming collaboration with Cross Ratio Entertainment.

Ariane is the Founder of homegrown marketing consultancy The M Makers (TMM), while Diana is the Co-founder of TMM and Founder of The Market Society (TMS), the consumer-lifestyle division of TMM.

SGLS: What is your entrepreneur story?

Ariane: I started working in the advertising and media sector a couple of years after I left school. During that time, I specialised in media and had the opportunity to work with marketing specialists in various niche segments across many industries and agencies. When I started managing marketing campaigns, I realised there could be better ways to manage a client’s marketing budget and drive more value. Therefore, I decided to start my own integrated marketing consultancy. The M Makers is the result of this dream.

Diana: I was from the client side and I concur with Ariane. Working with an integrated marketing consultancy saves time and energy. It’s hard to find a consultancy with offerings that are fully integrated. At TMM, we create effective campaigns backed by data-driven insights.

One of our recent projects was Geneco’s National Day 2023 campaign, #MySecretGarden. This was in collaboration with PRecious Communications, NParks’ Garden City Fund, photography influencer Daryl Aiden Yow and sustainable fashion platform REFASH. We were tasked to raise awareness about Singapore’s abundant green spaces and their positive impact on mental wellness.

SGLS: What is the story behind your consultancy’s name?

Ariane: For each brand campaign we work on, we need different marketing specialists to come together to bring ideas to life. We call our specialists “Makers” because they make things happen; the creative team makes artwork come alive, the writers make taglines compatible with products, the media specialists ensure that advertisements are placed on the most suitable mediums based on consumer research. For example, as Group Account Director, Diana is the “Money Maker”.

Diana: We give all our new hires the autonomy to choose a word starting with the alphabet M that correlates best with their scope of work. For example, our Senior Art Director is the “Mettle Maker” as working in the creative department requires resilience and stamina.

SGLS: What is the story behind The Market Society?

Diana: The Market Society (also known as The M Society) is TMM’s consumer-lifestyle division. It serves as an incubator platform for everyone who shares our love for art. We started it during the pandemic. As entrepreneurs of a start-up, we empathised with how other local entrepreneurs felt when the world was locked-down due to safety measures. We wanted to use our resources and platform to help other entrepreneurs, especially local artists and brands by featuring them in original content and livestreams.

After the pandemic, we decided to continue supporting entrepreneurs within the arts community as we found this very meaningful. We created an e-commerce website and wrote to various local artists and invited them to work with us to create merchandise such as tote bags and t-shirts with their artwork printed on them. We made friends with many “hidden gems” in the local arts circuit, and we all had a lot of fun!

SGLS: What is The Market Sessions about? Who have you collaborated with so far?

Diana: The Market Sessions is a series of events committed to empowering youths of today, with a strong focus on society’s pressing issues, and offers a platform for youths to break through barriers and step out of their comfort zones through music and art.

Right now, we are collaborating with Cross Ratio Entertainment, Singapore’s largest independent music label, on our first onsite event, Fearville. It will be held during the Halloween 2023 weekend over two days. The event will feature three immersive zones; Music Makers and Interactive.

Cross Ratio has lined up nine homegrown artistes to perform over two days at the Music Zone. They are Akeem Jahat, shazza, Shelby Wang, xxmxrcs, Dominic Chin, Rangga Jones, Narysal, Tingzhi Hz and Yanni Ruth.

Fearville will also showcase three Singapore-based artists; digital artists, jacko, and Soop, as well as illustrator and tattoo artist Asher Yeo. They will be featuring limited edition, Fearville-themed artwork on merchandise.

SGLS: Tell us more about Fearville

Diana: We have a very tight team and we often brainstorm new ideas. When we were thinking about the next project, the word “Fear” came about. Hence we decided to roll out Fearville over Halloween.

Fear isn’t limited to horror movies and ghost stories. It is an emotion. Some fears may not even be physical, but they are real. When these fears are not properly addressed, they can lead to anxiety. For example, I used to be afraid of stairs. The thought of depth and height was frightening to me. However, over the years, I learnt to take one step at a time to slowly overcome my phobia. We hope Fearville will be able to not just provide entertainment but also remind everyone about the importance of confronting, connecting and conquering their inner fears.

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The Market Sessions: Fearville
Dates: October 28 (Sat) and October 29 (Sun)
Time: 2:00pm to 10:00pm
Venue: L5 by O School @ GR.iD
Tickets are on sale now at Eventbrite
Find out more www.themsociety.sg

Interview by staff writers.