Yang Yeo Joins W+K Shanghai as Executive Creative Director

Leading independent advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy (W+K) announced today that Yang Yeo will join the shop’s Shanghai office as executive creative director.

Yeo most recently served as the North Asia Executive Creative Director and China Chairman of JWT Shanghai.  He will join W+K Shanghai on August 1, 2014, and will fill one of the offices’ top creative leadership roles. Michael Simons and Achilles Li currently serve as the office’s executive creative directors. Simons will leave the agency July 1, 2014, and Li, later in the summer.

Yeo represents a new kind of leader for us, in that he is deeply immersed in the business and creative communities of the region,” commented Mark Fitzloff, W+K’s global co-executive creative director. “His experience in the region, including the last eight years in China expands the possibilities for W+K and our Shanghai office. I am incredibly excited to see his impact, not only in China but around the W+K network”

Yeo’s creative leadership garnered international attention when he led the JWT Shanghai team to win a Cannes Gold Lion in 2008. He followed up that performance by leading the team to win the coveted Cannes Grand Prix in 2011. Both wins were the first of their kind for mainland China and demonstrated China’s entry onto the global creative stage.

“I’ve enjoyed my time at JWT and am pleased that we’ve built a strong team that went on to win Agency of the Year, Network of the Year and for our clients the Brand of the Year accolades,” said Yang Yeo. “ But I feel now is the right time to return to an independent setup where the creative product is at its core, and Wieden+Kennedy Shanghai is possibly the best place to take China’s creativity to the next level.”

"Yang has a tremendous range of talents" added Colleen DeCourcy, Fitzloff’s partner and W+K’s global co-executive creative director. “I look at his award winning architecture and design projects and think it represents a kind of creative curiosity that is always relevant at W+K. 

Yeo grew up in Singapore and graduated in 1989 with a diploma in design & advertising arts from Baharuddin Vocational Institute.  After working in Singapore’s creative industry for 10 years, BBH Asia transferred him to their London head office in 1999. Yeo returned to Asia to startup operations in Singapore and Hong Kong in 2002 for Fallon.