Edelman hires talent from creative agency pool across Asia Pacific

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Edelman has appointed former Leo Burnett creative lead Tim Green (pictured left) as chief creative officer for the Asia Pacific region. In this newly created role, he will be responsible for “injecting creative thinking into every practice and sector, across every communications brief”, according to the agency. He joined Edelman last year from M&C Saatchi Australia, where he held the position creative director for more than two years from 2016, as stated on his LinkedIn profile. Over the past year, Edelman said that he has helped establish hubs of creative talent in Shanghai, Singapore and Sydney.

The agency has also hired Wendy Chan (pictured right) as chief creative officer for China last month. She joins Edelman from McCann Health Shanghai where she held the role of executive creative director for the past three years since 2018, according to her LinkedIn profile. At the same time, industry veteran Pully Chau was also named president of Greater China, bringing over 33 years of agency leadership and integrated communications experience to Edelman.

Additionally, Hong Kong-based Huw Gildon (pictured centre) also joins the Edelman team from WPP’s Red Fuse, taking on the role of the network’s chief strategy officer for APAC. At Red Fuse, he was its regional strategy director for APAC, as stated on his LinkedIn profile. Prior to that, he was also chief strategy officer at Ogilvy Hong Kog where he held the role for five years from 2015 to the end of last year. He also previously spent almost a decade with Leo Burnett as its planning director.

According to the agency, Gildon will partner with Green and the firm’s digital and data capabilities to drive the ideation and execution of truly integrated work for the firm’s earned communications solutions. He will also lead Edelman’s growing network of industry renowned strategists across the region. This includes Phyllis Yip, who joined the agency as head of strategy for Hong Kong, Taiwan and Thailand from Walmart China in March earlier this year, as well as Nisha Sivanandan, head of strategy at Edelman Singapore.

Edelman’s vice chair for APAC, Michelle Hutton, said that the integration of creative and strategy skillsets into its product mix of corporate, public and brand solutions in the earned space will enable the firm to make “pioneering moves in tackling the unique challenges faced by today’s marketers.”

Citing its proprietary research on brand trust, the agency said that such challenges include shrinking marketing budgets, the higher cost of attention, the rise of ad blockers and ad-free channels, and a general distrust in media.

Earned media has become “the new battleground for building trust”, added Hutton. She also said that “by bringing creative and strategy to the table in addressing our clients’ challenges, independent of structures and siloes, our teams are able to unlock even more powerful ideas and experiences for positioning our clients at the heart of culture and what’s taking place in the world at the moment. This ultimately enhances the effectiveness of earned elements in our traditional solutions.”

Green also underlined the need for businesses to embrace creativity as a more effective way of solving business challenges. “By integrating creative thinking into Edelman’s offerings, and letting PR and digital practices bring the creative idea to life, we’re enabling our clients to stand-out as distinct and truly relevant to their audiences,” he added.

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