Postcard from Hong Kong: Christopher Lee, an inspiration to young Hong Kong hopefuls
Chris Kyme (pictured below left) continues his ‘Postcard from Hong Kong’ series with Publicis Groupe Hong Kong’s CCO Christopher Lee.
As someone who still likes to keep an eye on what’s happening on the Hong Kong ad scene, I have been quite an admirer of some of the progress that’s been made at Publicis Groupe here for a few years now. More than that, I’ve also had an inkling as to why, and much credit has to go to a young fella named Christopher Lee, who’s career path I have been somewhat privy to as we’ve had the odd (most conversations with me end up odd) coffee or other drinks from time to time, and I’ve been somewhat honoured that young Chris (versus me, old Chris) has sought me out to pick my brain for a few snippets of advice from time to time.
What has impressed me, monitoring his progress, is that the awards success to date has all been for major clients on proper projects. None of this knocking up trumped up fictitious campaigns which were never briefed, never run and never seen by anyone but awards juries and based on obscure social insights for dubious causes. This fella’s been keeping it real.
I recently caught up with him to dig a bit deeper, seeing as how he’s established himself and how his career continues to just get better. From his early days at Grey where he won the Kam Fan Awards Young Creative Competition (see picture below right), Chris now sits as Chief Creative Officer at Publicis Groupe Hong Kong, and within that, also oversees all creative output from both Leo Burnett and Saatchi & Saatchi.
So, although I knew all this anyway, I treated it more as an interview, I hope you enjoy and I also hope it’s an inspiration to young creatives in Hong Kong who have ambition and want to make it big in a big agency. You can. What also strikes me and I like about Chris is, he’s pretty humble about it all. His is a very interesting story.
I asked him to talk a bit about his career path to date.
“Okay, so I was a Management Fellow at Ogilvy Hong Kong, rotating among the various departments, including Strategy, Account Management, PR, and Creative. After a year, they asked me to choose where I wanted to stay. Funny enough, my final rotation was to be a junior writer at OgilvyOne. I had the best English copy-based creative mentor (shout out to Houston), so I decided to stay and write. And the rest was history. After four years, I made my way to Grey Hong Kong and stayed there for almost 7 years. Grey was a place where I had many firsts.
First time being the only English writer at the agency.
First time having so much fun but also so much work.
First time feeling the pressure of leading teams.
First time winning awards.
After that, I joined Publicis Groupe Hong Kong and have been here ever since, striving to develop great work, while, most importantly, impacting the community. I can honestly say is that I always said “Yes” to any opportunity.”
These days, it’s somewhat unusual for young creatives in Hong Kong to have some sort of ambitious career plan. Many drift from agency to agency, at the same level, before perhaps going it alone. But Chris has been moving onwards and upwards, step by step.
“Sometimes, looking back, I feel like I was at the right place at the right time most of the time. I learnt from the best at Ogilvy, put my head down and just wrote, wrote, wrote. When I was at Grey, I was open to any project, regardless of the brand. I failed a lot, but learnt from it. I suppose the agency appreciated that attitude and gave me more responsibility. And I loved it. I never second-guessed myself. Now, here at Publicis Groupe, I get the chance to surround myself with people who make me better. People who aren’t afraid to call me out on my ‘BS’ but also help me in a heartbeat whenever I ask for it. I’m thoroughly enjoying this stage of my career.”
Since the Groupe has been doing well in award shows with major client projects, I asked him about the approach to selling in good work to clients, because let’s face it, that’s often a challenge.
“First off, thank you. It means a lot. For us, awards mean that we’re creating work that aims to achieve creative excellence on an international standard. Here’s a clichéd answer: Having client partners who believe in you and challenge you. I know that sounds corny, but it’s true. We do work hard at building the relationships, and thinking of our clients as partners. This is something I have learned. Understanding the challenges our clients face, so we can help solve them. But in terms of our secret approach to selling in work, we refer to our process as a “creative lab”.
Even on tight deadlines, we give ourselves enough time to experiment.
Regardless of whether you are a strategist, an accounts person, or a creative, we spend a considerable amount of time conducting research, especially to gain fascinating human truths or angles.
We try to give ourselves enough time for our minds to wander and capture as many things as possible in our unconscious, such as watching movies to help inspire a script or learning about the latest pop-culture trends. We’re hungry to learn about the latest technology to help scale up or execute our ideas.
We like to play out of the office. When we finally do get together, I prefer to discuss ideas outside the office at my favourite secret watering hole (I like it, but I don’t think our team does).
We also experiment with our presentations. There isn’t a formula for our proposals either. Sometimes we believe a huge activation will work the best. Other times, it might be a great film. However, we have developed a fully phased-out plan to ensure we can bring our client partners a creative commercial solution. We simply try to make the presentations fun (before AI, I used to love singing in presentations for ideas that needed a song, for example. It cracks people up how bad I am, but it really gets people excited and interested). Coming up with ideas is challenging, but the presentations should be enjoyable because we are enthusiastic about what we are about to propose.
So all in all, this is our approach to making sure we are presenting the best work possible. As for selling it into clients, it’s all about the relationships. No trickery. They respect us, we respect them.”
Chris, you’re now managing quite a big creative department, how many? (It’s 30). I recall when you were in your early stages of creative directorship and you were nervous about the responsibilities. By all accounts you’re taking it in your stride. With your experience now, what’s your approach to nurturing young talent?
“We’re very open. We look for talent from all over the world who have the hunger and passion to deliver exceptional work. It’s not just a Hong Kong creative department as our clients are not just local clients. So, then, it’s classic stuff based on what I have learned throughout my career. Making sure that the teams work closely together, allowing different perspectives to inspire one another. I’m always free to connect with people of all levels and experience. And most importantly, I get many great referrals from my mentors and those who know me.”
It’s great to see that young creative people are being nurtured the right way, in an agency environment that’s functioning the right way. And as I’ve said, I’ve been quite impressed at the awards successes because of the nature of the work. What are your own personal favourites to date?
“If you ask all those around me, everyone would say that I believe the Cannes Lions is the benchmark. Like many people, I don’t believe in doing work purely to get those awards. However, to have a campaign that we’ve created to solve a real problem and made a real impact in the world, and then be considered for a Cannes Lions, means we’re really pushing ourselves when it comes to creative excellence. But, deep, deep down, the Hong Kong Kam Fans hold a great deal of meaning for me.
Not just because it is a Hong Kong award, but it was this award that became the motivation for me to work harder, smarter and with like-minded people who wanted to make an impact for brands and the local community.
Off the top of my head, a few pivotal moments in my career were when we won at the Hong Kong Kam Fans for the HSBC Rainbow Lions (because it was a project that had a lot of naysayers) and the Grand Kam Fan for Reframing Hong Kong for the Hong Kong Tourism Board.
Most recently, Cathay’s ‘Rerighting History’ and ‘Homecoming’ are cases that not only burst onto popular culture, but also helped the brand create a stronger bond with consumers. These recognitions early on in my career really helped solidify my confidence in myself (and to help me overcome imposter syndrome). From then on, my inner voice grew louder, reminding me that our teams can make real work with real impact.”
And long may it be so. Here’s a young Hong Kong fella who rose to the top the way that Arsenal has been rising to the top of the Premier League. With style, integrity, with values and honesty.
There’s a moral in this success story for young Hong Kong hopefuls too. Be ambitious. Aspire. Don’t just settling for job hopping your whole career, or building your creative reputation on the back of a few ‘initiative’ campaigns every year. Be true to yourself, aim higher and you can make it. Chris Lee is living proof.
Read Chris Kyme’s 2025 Postcard’s from Hong Kong below:
From Tan Khiang to Tea Khiang
In Search of the Sweet Spot
Welcome to Newviola
And the award goes to… some braver clients
A look inside the Beehive
A rocket that landed in Hong Kong
In search of Hong Kong (yet again)
