Francis Wee joins O&M Shanghai as Executive Creative Director and Martin Murphy named Managing Director of Global Brand Management
Graham Fink, Chief Creative Officer of Ogilvy & Mather China, today announced the appointment of one of the most awarded creative directors in Asia, Francis Wee, as the new Executive Creative Director of Ogilvy & Mather Advertising in Shanghai. At the same time, Ogilvy Group/Shanghai also welcomes Martin Murphy who has been named Managing Director of Global Brand Management, O&M Group/Shanghai, a newly created role.
Wee (left), who has been working with Ogilvy on a freelance basis since November 2011, now officially replaces Kevin Lee who left the agency in mid-2011.
In his leadership role Wee will be looking for ways to give clients such as Lee, Fanta, Tourism Victoria, The North Face and others, opportunities to grow their businesses in unconventional ways. He’ll also be partnering with CCO Fink to build a world-class creative department that will attract the best and ‘hungriest’ talent from around the globe.
“I have been looking far and wide for an ECD who can be a strong and inspiring partner that will help me to oversee all accounts. Today I’m very happy to say that Francis has been well worth the wait. Not only does he have a big reputation and a CV weighted down with awards – including the rarest gem of all, the D&AD Black Pencil – but he’s also hungry, amazingly passionate and great at motivating creative teams. He’s definitely no one-hit wonder and he’s someone who’s consistently got fantastic ideas. We get on brilliantly and I’m very excited about what we will achieve together,” said Graham Fink, Chief Creative Officer, O&M China.
A Singaporean Chinese fluent in English and Mandarin, Wee has nearly three decades of experience in advertising in Asia. Since launching his career as a junior art director at McCann-Erickson/Singapore in 1983, Wee has won countless regional and international awards including Cannes Lions, Clios and One Show awards. As Creative Director for Saatchi & Saatchi/Singapore, Wee’s 1993 Anti Drink Drive TV commercial took the world by storm, sweeping every single Gold award from around the globe, including the most prestigious D&AD Black Pencil.
After working as Executive Creative Director of BBDO/Singapore from 2002-2006, Wee founded creative boutique agency Religion in Singapore in 2007, his last project before joining
Ogilvy Shanghai in January 2012.
“China is the most happening place on earth; Ogilvy is the biggest agency in town and having all the big guns like Graham in one place makes this THE place to be. Having worked here as a freelancer for a couple months, I can already see that there are tremendous opportunities for creatives like me to take clients on new adventures. It’s about having fun at work, thinking like a kid and working with colleagues that inspire you to do just that,” said Wee.
At the same time, Ogilvy Group/ Shanghai also welcomes Martin Murphy who has been named Managing Director of Global Brand Management (GBM), O&MGroup/ Shanghai, a newly created role. Raised in seven countries and fluent in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese, Murphy specializes in multinational accounts and has extensive hands-on 360 Degree experience in cross regional brand building.
Prior to joining Ogilvy, Murphy (above) was Senior Vice President and Group Managing Director of Draftfcb/Chicago where he worked since 2006. Before that, Murphy was Partner & Regional Account Director at Ogilvy Miami from 2003-2006, following a four year stint at Ogilvy New York from 1999-2003.
Debby Cheung, President of Ogilvy & Mather Group/Shanghai said, “In the past year, many more global companies have moved their regional hubs to China and many Chinese brands pursued international expansion. To respond to this shift, agencies must offer international perspectives and deliver work at a global standard, even from China. Francis and Martin’s appointments represent milestones in our assembly of a first-class international team. I’m very excited to see how they will contribute to fostering a culture that embraces differences while encouraging exchange of ideas. It’s this broadening of our horizons that creates magic for clients, and for our teams.”
Both appointments are effective immediately.
9 Comments
You poor deluded souls at Campaign Brief Asia. So bedazzled by awards.You forget to mention the trail of renown creatives who partnered Francis (or worked under him).
I doubt he is the sole creator of the international awards. Another Singaporean technocrat living off others creativity. If he were Mother he wouldn’t have had to shut down Religion and owe money to those blind local creatives who genuinely fell for his wag (read Religion Hot?Not). A creative leader? – no way! Self-serving elevation – certainly. GF thought you had better sense than believe what’s on the cv.
Ha haaa deluded? Kim Rocks!!
Unlike other Singapore technocrats,at least he had the creative chops to win the big gongs, although none in the last two decades.
It’s just that business acumen, strategy or humility aint his strengths.
Let’s that he had the common decency to settle all the back wages & CPF before he took the big bucks in China.
After all, his ex staff have mortgages & alimonies to pay too.
Appears as if Graham Fink is about to learn the gentle art of scamming his way to the top.
The D&AD Black Pencil spot was written by a guy called Dean Turney. But both Francis and Linda Locke act like they were instrumental for its existence.
I wonder what wonders he’s going to create in shanghai….the ones we call ‘pro-active’ I’ll bet.
‘”Creative chops to win big gongs.Nothing in the last decade”‘, sums him up.
Sure he is creative but his success lies in others, don’t forget it! Half a black pencil. Remember it well. We are all ‘half of something’ bro. No man is an island.
He is not the only one with a black pencil outside of the UK or US. Check with BBDO Malaysia.
I remember the shoot that produced the Black pencil. No one from the agency was there.
Just stumbled onto this today.
It is correct – no one from agency was at the shoot. Why, all that they needed were
1) the background footage and 2) the empty glasses. Larry Shiu was a reliable director. The PPM was done by phone. Simple.
The real work was in the post and audio. Both Dean and Francis were there. I should remember this well. I was the agency producer.
As impressive as D&AD Blacks are, there are also those who won one and disappeared. Then again, you have those who never landed a Gold, but win year after year.