Winnie Yuen: Communication for Effective Collaboration

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ACAMS Today  chatted with Winnie Yuen, global marketing operations manager, about her marketing experience throughout the years and the keys to a successful marketing campaign. Yuen has worked in marketing communications for over 10 years. Before joining ACAMS, she gained and developed her marketing skills while working in the gaming and lifestyle industries. This month, Yuen is celebrating her fifth anniversary working for ACAMS. She was the first ACAMS marketing colleague hired in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, so she witnessed the ACAMS Hong Kong office become larger and larger with more and more energetic colleagues joining the office.

In the past five years, Yuen has overseen all marketing promotions in the APAC region from product launches to live conferences and from promotional emails to event giveaways. In 2019, she was honored with a TEACH award from Adtalem Global Education in recognition of her passion for delivering exceptional outcomes in service of ACAMS members and business partners. Recently, Yuen was promoted to global marketing operations manager where she acts as a bridge to connect and communicate with different divisions among the marketing team and she also works on cross-department projects.

ACAMS Today:  Congratulations on five years with ACAMS! How did your marketing experience in the gaming and lifestyle industries translate to your marketing work at ACAMS?

Winnie Yuen: Thank you very much! I can’t believe it’s already been five years. The gaming, lifestyle and financial compliance industries look so different, but the basic marketing principles do not change. The experience that I gained from previous companies gives me more confidence on handling marketing challenges. There is a funny story about the first time I met Fernando Beozzo Salomao, ACAMS’ global director of marketing, in person at the U.S. office. As we talked, we discovered that he and a former boss of mine knew each other because they worked for the same company and in the same division. What a small world!

AT: How has the APAC marketing department grown since you were the first and only colleague?

WY: When I joined ACAMS in 2016, I was the only marketing person working in APAC and doing all the marketing promotion for the APAC region. At that time, we had 10 live seminars and one live international conference happening all during one year, the Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS) certification was being offered in APAC in four languages and there were other marketing projects in the works―you can imagine how much work it was for a one-man band. Fortunately, my hard work (and heavy workload) was recognized by management, so we started to grow our APAC marketing department to a four-person team in 2018. Now we have three Hong Kong-based marketing colleagues and one Beijing-based colleague. We all have different backgrounds and experiences, and I think it’s a very good team mix.

AT: What are the keys to a successful marketing campaign?

WY: For me, the core of marketing is to connect consumers and the product/service. To have a successful marketing campaign, it’s always important to know what our potential consumers need and what are their pain points. ACAMS is not a retail company, so we rely a lot on data analysis, survey feedback and communication with sales representatives because they are client facing. We also need to always be apprised about the industry/market news and movement.

AT: As global marketing operations manager, what advice do you have for collaborating across departments and across regions?

WY: Communication! Without communication, nothing will happen. This applies to all collaborations everywhere, but especially ACAMS because it is a big and global team. Everyone has their own strengths, experiences and standpoints; therefore, communication is essential to achieve common goals.

AT: What has been your most impressive ACAMS marketing project thus far?

WY: My first international conference and the launch of ACAMS’ WeChat and LINE social media channels are two projects I consider to be very impressive. In 2017, I was the only marketing person working in the APAC region so there were tons of tasks to do before the conference. In addition, WeChat and LINE are social media channels that are highly used among Chinese-speaking users. That was my first time handling the launching of applications and launch planning, so there was a lot to learn about the process.

AT: What do you like to do in your spare time?

WY: I enjoy hiking, running and watching TV in my leisure time. But recently, I started learning about household repairs and the Thai language. I am still exploring new hobbies to try out―no exact criteria, as long as it’s interesting and useful!

Interviewed by: Stephanie Trejos, CAMS, editor, ACAMS, FL, USA, strejos@acams.org

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