Beyond the Blueprint

Hello! Introduce yourself, and what you’ve been up to lately!
I’m Darren Chiong. I’m 24 this year, and I’m studying marketing at SUSS while working part-time. I’ve always played it safe, but I have a major milestone ahead: I’m headed to Berlin on a 7 month long exchange. It’s a step completely out of my comfort zone, but I’m ready to see what life looks like outside of Singapore and Asia, to gain fresh perspectives on what’s out there to see and feel.

As someone with a creative background, there a different approach or perspective to marketing that you take?
I’m a highly visual person, but aesthetics to me aren’t just about being visually pleasing — they have to make sense contextually. I will naturally still gravitate towards quality and execution, but the art of curation also intrigues me, with how different individuals choose to present and style things. That intentional approach is something I aim to do with my work.

Do you see that a lot, with the current marketing landscape now?
We’re at a challenging crossroads. Because the local market is small, it’s less about novel concepts and more about who can shout the loudest on social media. It also often comes down to who has a prime location, or biggest budget, which gets uninspiring fast. Having been a creative from a young age, I’ve always wanted to build things that are interesting, but we’ve hit a point where that doesn’t matter as much. Also, the onset of AI-generated content is making things really boring.

What do you wish to do after your graduation?
To be honest, I chose marketing because it was a safe choice. I’m not entirely sure of my path moving forward. It’s just a generic enough choice that’s a reliable backup plan, and it’s not something I’m geared towards, but also not something I’d stay away from. Let’s see where life takes me after I finish my degree.

What keeps you up at night?
There’s always this fear of the unknown, where I try to control variables to make life less confusing, but because of that it made my life a bit boring. At this current juncture, facing that fear is what keeps me up at night, and what keeps me going. Facing that fear is what it means to be alive.