Thank you – and goodbye

In his final farewell, Mumbrella Asia general manager Dean Carroll thanks the team and the supporters for buying into the ‘critical friend’ identity the publication looked to create

By now, you will have seen the news. We are pulling down the shutters permanently and closing up shop at Mumbrella Asia. 

Judging by the comment thread that followed the article by Mumbrella co-founder Tim Burrowes announcing the closure – there’s a mix of the sad, the mad and the glad (we never won over a small group who didn’t want a ‘critical friend’ and preferred a supplicant trade press that would simply publish press releases unchallenged). 

Personally, I hope that beyond the comment thread (which admittedly at times has been weaponised by people with agendas) out in the real world there are more people in the sad camp – and that we have provided some value over the years for you. 

We certainly tried our best to achieve that goal. There have been some amazing highs including awards wins for the Mumbrella Asia team and first-class work that we will remain truly proud of. 

So a big thank you from me to the Singapore staffers including our editor Ravi Balakrishnan, our partnerships managers Wilfred Wong and Ashley Simpson, our first-class freelance reporter Steve Jones – and to the wider team in Australia, who provided us with expert support along the way.

Our ambition was always to provide the media and marketing industry in Singapore – and across the entire Asia region – with a great editorial product that challenged the industry status quo, with transformational events that helped our audience in their careers; and to offer true business returns for our commercial partners. 

On more occasions than not, I feel we delivered on all those measures. It’s certainly been an enriching, but challenging, ride.

So for those who supported us along the way, I wanted to take this final opportunity to say ‘thank you’. You have been truly awesome.

Dean Carroll – Mumbrella Asia general manager