Akae Wang, ex ECD of Tencent In-House, embarks on a new journey as co-founder of new creative company Banana Balloon based in Shenzhen

In this year’s Campaign Brief Asia Creative Rankings Tencent In-House ranked 15th Hottest Agencies in Asia. The driving force behind this creative performance is ECD Akae Wang, who bid farewell to Tencent in 2022, and has embarked on the next phase of his career – founding his own creative company named Banana Balloon.

ECD Akae Wang has 30 years of advertising experience. When he joined Tencent in 2016, Wang was able to build up Tencent’s in-house creative team from scratch.

Over his six years there, he led the team to create many well-received campaigns like “The Penguin and the Whale”,“Micro-universe”,“Dome to Home”,“Moonments”,“Imars Cinema”. Among them, the “WeRemit – Cross-border Remittance Service for HK-Phil Mothers” won China’s only D&AD Yellow Pencil in 2019. The ” Dubbing the Movie” created during the pandemic won a Silver Lion in Entertainment at 2022 Cannes Lions.

This creative team of no more than 10 people continued to produce campaigns with Chinese cultural essence and international standards over the past six years, ranking among the top in various creative agency rankings.

Banana Balloon is founded by Wang and Tammy Sheu, former General Manager of Tencent Group Marketing & PR Department, bringing together top creative talents from brands and agencies. They focus on interactive ideas and cross-boundary marketing rooted in brand essences.

Wang and Sheu worked together at Ogilvy Taipei back in 1999 before developing their careers in mainland China. Apart from Tencent, Sheu was also CEO of Isobar China Group, Managing Director of JWT Beijing and Grey Beijing. Before joining Tencent, Wang was ECD at Publicis Shanghai and Guangzhou.

Currently based in Shenzhen China, Banana Balloon has kicked off its new journey after assembling a team of creative partners. They look forward to exploring new possibilities with like-minded partners and clients, sparking inspiration for brands through the power of creativity, and continuing to create value.