We Tell Your Story

WORD Agency provides branded content creation, editing and consultancy services through a select pool of locally- and regionally-based partners. It is helmed by Theresa Tan and Michelle Bong Lejtenyi, who share over 40 years of experience in print and digital content production.

Theresa Tan, partner

Following a stint writing plays with theatre company TheatreWorks under the first Writers’ Lab, Theresa began her writing career in 1992, as an arts writer at her favourite entertainment magazine, 8Days. Five years later, she fell into the Editor post at Singapore’s classic women’s magazine, Female, kicking off her fashion writing and editing career. In 1999, she was appointed Editor-in-Chief of ELLE Singapore. Through the Noughties, she was a columnist for the cult women’s publication DARE, the first editor for Tiger Tales (the inflight magazine for Tiger Airways) and the editor for Vanilla (a woman’s magazine starring non-celebrity women). Over the past 25 years, Theresa has parlayed her writing, editing and print industry skills into a full range of services which WORD Agency now offers. Theresa is today a mother of three and a struggling novelist with one non-fiction title under her belt: A Clean Breast, the (surprisingly humorous) story of her journey through breast cancer.

Michelle Bong Lejtenyi, partner

After starting her writing career at ELLE Singapore in 2000, Michelle has been a scribe for almost 17 years now. In that time, she has conceptualised and written fashion, beauty and lifestyle articles covering a wide range of topics. She has also conceptualised, project-managed and produced marketing and retail collaterals for a premiere selection of luxury brands and malls. In her free time, she watches too much Netflix, trawls the web for great reads, rearranges furniture and tries to take the perfect Instagram pic.

How do you tell a great story?

Be it through flowery adjectives, stunning visuals or the clever use of today’s many branding tools (hello, social influencers!), it’s undeniable that effective communication through words or pictures — or both — is essential.

We are living in exciting times; the evolution of media platforms as we know them is well underway. Print, digital, social, and beyond — we’re discovering new ways to send messages, convey visuals and shout about products and services. A new frontier, if you will, is waiting to be discovered as media companies scramble to find ways to engage and attract viewers, listeners and readers who are gravitating towards URL-driven entertainment avenues.

Who can blame them? These days, a slow Wifi connection is almost apocalyptic — such is our need to be connected, 24/7. Traditional platforms delivering information and entertainment — I’m talking about you, TV, radio and magazines — are quickly falling behind in the race for content-hungry consumers, struggling to find their footing against the tsunami that is digital media.

The mobile phone is the new desktop. TVs in homes, if they still exist, are increasingly for the sole purpose of a Comcast tool to beam Netflix offerings in all their HD glory. Alternative ‘radio stations’ like Spotify have long replaced conventional options, which are still relied on for 20 minutes of music and DJ chatter on the drive to work. And the only time most people flip through a magazine is in a clinic, hair salon or sometimes, the backseat of a Comfort cab.

What does the future hold? We will find out, as more are forced to embrace the mobile society and all its demands. But it bears repeating that creatives are still responsible for producing quality content — as defined by its various audience segments — that informs, educates and inspires.

Check back soon for our library of work!