Leon SantosoChief Marketing Officer · Essays & perspective

The leadership review

Leon Santoso

Chief Marketing OfficerSingapore / Southeast Asia · Global perspectiveVolume 03

Brand3 min read

Positioning is a choice the business must deliver

Portrait of Leon Santoso

A brand promise should be recognisable in product, service and commercial behaviour.

Read the essay

Notes from practice

  1. NOTE I

    Brand transformation

    An expanding portfolio had blurred the organisation's proposition.

  2. NOTE II

    Customer growth

    Acquisition activity and customer experience were managed in separate conversations.

Explore the evidence ↗

A leadership conviction

Strong brands begin with a precise understanding of the customer and become valuable through consistent commercial choices. I connect positioning, experience and growth measurement, while staying honest about what the evidence can attribute to marketing.

Category brand
#1
From fourth in three years
Customer lifetime value
2.6×
Through loyalty and experience redesign
Markets launched
19
One brand, locally fluent
Effectiveness awards
34
For work that moved the business

Beyond the page

The record behind the perspective.

In the boardroom

  • Aurelia ConsumerIndependent Director · 2023 — Present
  • The Creative Futures TrustTrustee · 2019 — Present

Recognition

  • Marketer of the YearThe Brand Effectiveness Awards · 2024
  • Women in Leadership — MarketingThe Boardroom Review · 2022

In conversation

  • “How a fourth-placed brand became the category leader”The Brand Effectiveness Journal · 2025
  • “Why the board should own brand risk”The Boardroom Review · 2024
  • “Episode 104 — Customer truth over campaign noise”The Leadership Ledger podcast · 2023
Brought the customer into every boardroom conversation, with evidence rather than adjectives.
Isabelle FontaineChair, Aurelia Consumer
The full record ↗

Continue the conversation

Ideas are tested in conversation.

For board, advisory and speaking invitations, and for readers who want to take an argument further.

  • Board appointments
  • Advisory roles
  • Speaking invitations

office@leonsantoso.example