Jerome Ooi to replace Esther Wong as executive creative director at TBWA\Hong Kong

TBWA\Hong Kong has appointed Jerome Ooi as executive creative director to oversee the creative duties of the entire agency, including Digital Arts Network.

He replaces Esther Wong who leaves the agency after 13 years to pursue a personal passion outside the industry.

Ooi (pictured) joins from Commonwealth//  McCann in Bangkok, where he held the role of global executive creative director, Digital Foundry and was responsible for developing the creative for Chevrolet.

A film school graduate, Ooi’s career began in post-production before making the transition to the agency world. With over 18 years experience, his work has been recognised and awarded at the Cannes Lions, D&AD, One Show, New York Fest, Adfest, Spikes to winning Effies.

In his previous role, he managed the operation and overall creative of the Digital Foundry. He was responsible for setting up the core structure and processes of the digital content/asset creation arm supporting Chevrolet’s global operations; specifically for web, social media, online advertising and CRM. Under his leadership, the Digital Foundry grew from a regional hub running out of 18 markets across three regions, which include; Asia Pacific, South Africa and the Middle East, to becoming a global remit.

Said Jan Cho, managing director, TBWA\Hong Kong; “Our focus has been to strengthen our core competencies around process, product and people to deliver impactful integrated creative solutions for our clients; to achieve this, we must hire the best. Jerome’s impressive track record and deep digital expertise will elevate our creative thinking, ideas and drive innovation, augmenting our own capabilities to deliver strong integrated creative solutions for our clients.

“His success leading and delivering integrated communications for General Motors across multi markets is admirable. We look forward to welcoming him on board.”

Jan Cho praised Wong’s contribution to the agency: “Esther is a true TBWA pirate and has been a fabulous creative partner to me. She has been instrumental in deepening our agency culture within the HK agency and will be dearly missed. Her passion and dedication to our clients, as well as commitment to developing talent always impressed. We wish her well on her new journey.”

Wong (pictured right) said: “I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time at TBWA and embraced the opportunities presented to me, and I’m thankful for the incredible team I was fortunate to work alongside. And now a new adventure awaits!”

Ooi joins TBWA\Hong Kong in mid-April 2018.