Kara Yang joins McCann Worldgroup China as chief strategic planning officer based in Shanghai

McCann Worldgroup has appointed Kara Yang as its new Chief Strategic Planning Officer for China.

Yang moves from Leo Burnett Worldwide in Chicago, where she held the role of Global Planning Director. Taking up the reins this month, she will be based in Shanghai and is responsible for heading up the planning department and uniting McCann Worldgroup’s strategic offerings to create creative, innovative and effective solutions across all disciplines and clients. She will report directly to Jesse Lin, Vice Chairman of McCann Worldgroup Asia Pacific and Greater China CEO.

As an award-winning strategist with strong glocal experience, Yang joins McCann Worldgroup with more than 16 years of branding and communication expertise. In her most recent post, she led the global brand strategy for Samsung’s mobile and future businesses including flagship products launch and Global Rio 2016 Olympic Campaign, “The Anthem”, which has been recognized as Samsung’s most effective campaign to date and made the company the most ‘engaged with’ brand during the Olympics (measured using brand mentions).

Over the course of her career, Yang has worked in a wide array of top industry roles with a list of clients that spans both consumer and corporate, ranging from Sony and Samsung, through to CSL Mobile Telecom, Hang Seng Bank, AIA Insurance, Swire Properties, SKII Skin Care and Kowloon Dairy.

She has won eight Effie awards to date, including the first global campaign #likeAGirl for P&G’s Always/Whisper brand (awarded a Gold Global Effie Award). This outstanding work also won several industry awards from Cannes, Clio, D&AD as well as Webby, for speaking up on behalf of the womankind and completely redefining the meaning of #LikeAGirl.

“We’re very excited to have Kara join us, as the strategy that we set forth today is more critical than ever,” Lin said. “Kara has a fantastic background that encompasses both mainland China and Hong Kong insights, as well as an international perspective with years of marketing experience, which will allow us to further develop our strategic offerings and create more meaningful value for clients. I can think of no one better suited than Kara to help take the group to the next level of excellence.”

Commenting on her new role, Yang said, “I am pleased to join McCann Worldgroup’s management line-up and look forward to working closely with the team to co-create strong ideas and make our work even more impactful and exciting!”