Dear Jomrade,
Congratulations to SGAG, whose parent, Hepmil, has just been acquired by the Publicis Groupe, an advertising giant. SGAG made its name locally through memes and punny videos, but evolved into an influencer agency with over 3,000 creators serving more than 450 brands across South-east Asia. Journalistic snobs might diss these newer forms of “media”, and lament the blurring of lines between advertising and editorial in the world of influencer marketing. But Hepmil’s success should remind us, amidst talk of a media apocalypse, that there is money to be made. Most of all, it’s worth cheering the spirit, determination and success of young Singaporean entrepreneurs.
- Immigration, Lim Tean, and how the PAP can neuter the appeal of the far right
- The latest in the ongoing SG-Israel wayang
- NTU and the Khoon Group the latest ensnared in the murky world of Scam Inc
- Singaporeans’ growing desire for free-range produce
- An Indonesian family’s squabble over their 26 Singaporean properties
- Remembering John Miksic, the “Indiana Jones of Singapore’s history”
- The return of the rhinoceros hornbill, once thought extinct, to Singapore
- “Pure intention” at this year’s Singapore Biennale
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“Who’s in our Jommunity and what do they like? Results from our second reader survey”.
“You can tell the writers actually think and critique which is refreshing. As with all media outlets, Jom is biased in some way but you wear that bias on your sleeve.”
“Sometimes, the dismissive & flippant comments about people in authority and civil service can be off-putting.”
Those are just two of the comments from the 343 of you who filled up our second reader survey in August. When we conducted our first survey in 2023, there were over 3,000 of you in our Jommunity; now there are over 8,000. So as soon as GE2025 was over, we started planning the survey, and have just completed our analysis and writing.
Find out about the profile of the typical Jom reader; which bits of content you like most; how you think we can improve our social media presence; what technological upgrades you think we should invest in; and much more about this thing—community, shared space, media outfit, business, harebrained idea—that we’re all a part of.
This time, we’ve also engaged more deeply with some of the themes that have emerged. Why is the indie media associated with political change? Why do some of you say we’re not critical enough of the government while others bemoan our acerbity towards it? What can we do about the lack of essay diversity and the fact that some are too long? You’ll find much longer discussions about these in the piece.
When any being or entity grows rapidly, it sometimes forgets to look in the mirror. You’ve offered us a chance to pause, reflect, examine our constituent parts, to appreciate our achievements, and scrutinise our foibles and shortcomings. We have an even better idea now about what you want—as we build Jom together.
On that note, I’m terribly excited to share news about our first-ever columnist. “Everyday Economics” was a preference of yours in the survey. We moved quickly, approached a long-time Jom reader whose behavioural work we admire, and next week you’ll get to read her first column for this publication.
Till then, Jom’s second reader survey results should give you a sense for where she, and the over 8,000 of us on this journey together, are going with this thing.
Jom maju,
Sudhir Vadaketh, editor-in-chief
Jom
SGABF. We’re at the SG Art Book Fair right now, and will be through the whole weekend. Come say hi! And be the first to buy Jom’s Print Issue #3.
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