Dentsu Utama KL beefs up creative department with Wong Shu Kor and Makoto Sawada hires

Dentsu Utama Malaysia has bolstered its creative team with the appointments of Wong Shu Kor (top left) as Creative Director and Makoto Sawada (bottom left) as Creative Director/Digital Creative Director from Japan. The duo join recently appointed creative director Chow Kok Keong, whose appointment was announced prior to Christmas.

Ted Lim, Regional Chief Creative Officer, Dentsu Network/Asia, commented on the appointments, “Dentsu is currently undergoing a creative renaissance, a transformational journey which we are very excited to embark upon. We believe the strong new creative powers along with our existing creative team, will further help propel Dentsu Utama to a higher level in the industry. We will also be able to focus on developing ‘out-of-the box’ creative work that would engage people while helping to build brands. Ultimately our focus is on helping our clients to succeed. If they succeed, we succeed.”

Wong Shu Kor who has been voted one of Asia’s most awarded Art Director, has been in the creative industry for 18 years. He has won both local and international award which includes D&AD, Cannes, One Show, Spikes, New York Festival and others. He has been instrumental in creating innovative and award winning pieces for clients from a wide spectrum of industry, namely, telecommunications, finance, airlines, beverage and automobile industry. Wong was the Creative Director of Mega Brands & Solutions prior to joining Dentsu Utama.

Omar Shaari, CEO of Dentsu Utama Sdn Bhd said, “We are indeed very pleased with these appointments in the creative department as we believe this will enable us to push the boundaries of conventional thinking. As a result we will be able to create game-changing campaigns for our clients.

“This will enable us to help our clients grow their business, create an opportunity to secure new business, consolidate and experiencing growth in our business. The creative directors will each be instrumental in offering clients innovative creative work that are of international standards”.      

Makato Sawada will be instrumental in bringing together ideation and technology which will add real grunt to creative offering in meeting the clients’ needs. Sawada has been recognised with a raft of awards internationally over a period of nine years. This will further add weight to Dentsu Utama’s creative digital commitment. He earned his stripes internationally during his 16 year stint in Dentsu Inc Japan.

Commenting on the new creative appointments, Hideo Katakura, Vice President, Denstu Utama Sdn Bhd, said, “They will be responsible to drive and deliver outstanding creative work across all clients besides offering great inspiration to the agency by demonstrating what is possible by harnessing “good creative innovation” in new and traditional media.”

Besides these appointments, two other candidates will further beef up the creative division. They are Charmaine Sankar, the new Head of Copy who hails from Draft FCB. She will be joined by Loo Kok Seng, Senior Art Director whose last stint was at TBWA KL.