Andrew Low leaves Leo Burnett Malaysia to move to Ogilvy Beijing as executive creative director
Andrew Low has resigned from Leo Burnett Malaysia and is joining Ogilvy Beijing as Executive Creative Director.
This is another heavy-weight appointment to bolster its creative leadership, after the agency added veteran creative Chee Guan Yue to its Shanghai office as Group ECD in April this year. Low (pictured) will be working alongside fellow ECD Kin Chong to oversee the agency’s integrated creative department in Beijing.
Commenting on the new addition, Chief Creative Officer Graham Fink said: “Andrew is not only one of the rare breed of creatives who easily navigate the digital world, but he also has a proven track record of big brand ideas. Moving to an integrated agency structure, we need senior creative leadership that can break down silos and engage people across expertise while providing the best integrated solutions. Andrew is exactly that and he knows us well thanks to his 8 years of experience in Ogilvy Malaysia. I’m pleased that he is moving to Beijing to join us.”
Low is an 18-year advertising veteran passionate about adopting the latest technologies for integrated work and he has a track record of bringing people together for growth. Directly before his current ECD role at Leo Burnett, Low spent 8 years with Ogilvy Malaysia where he served global clients including Nestle, Coca-Cola, Philips, Pizza Hut, and Kimberley Clark. He has also worked in Singapore and has earned a long list of awards from Cannes, One Show, Adfest, LIA, IPA Effectiveness, AMEs, Malaysia Effie, WARC, and Kancils.
Low said: “China is definitely the most exciting advertising market in Asia, with an ever-changing landscape and intensively competitive brands and ideas. Among all the exciting aspects of Ogilvy, what attracts me most is the potential for creatives to bring cutting-edge technology together with great ideas while crafting influential communications that matter to millions of consumers. I am very much looking forward to this new Ogilvy journey. It feels good to be home again.”
“I’m very excited to have Andrew join us, teaming up with Kin Chong and me to take our creative product in Beijing to the next level. Andrew has a great background and a proven track record on big clients,” said Selina Teng, President of Ogilvy Beijing.
16 Comments
What is the difference between Leo Burnett and Ogilvy, not much except one is eligible for awards next year. The exodus begins.
Without knocking this hire (I have no opinion), this does – again – call into question how much agencies are doing to invest in and develop mainland talent in China.
or is it that for young creative Chinese, an agency is the last place they would want to work.
@ Michael You’re assuming that there are plenty of top local talents in that market to nurture. No there isn’t many decent creative Chinese. Many of them are just pretending to be talented. Agency gave out inflated titles too soon. Lol they don’t even have the decency to avoid copying.
well, if you cant make it here, China is the next destination of course.
There is great talent in Malaysia but I think the agency leadership must be letting them down. Malaysia lacks the hungry ECDs it used to have. No Lions at Cannes for past 2 years says it all. 100 entries to Cannes this year and 300+ the year before.
Malaysian talent has been moving to China and other countries for years. Good luck to them and good luck to Andrew.
@otherCD
I am assuming nothing. However, the idea that there is no creative talent in China is ludicrous. As I say, it could be that they prefer other avenues to express their creativity beyond the limits of advertising.
And to throw the ‘copycat’ tag at China is very immature. If you are referring to the ad industry then China is hardly the biggest offender. If you are talking creativity in general, then you are just wrong.
“Malaysia lacks the hungry ECDs it used to have.”
you mean the hungry scammers who cant do real ads for shit?
Hmm, do you work in China Michael? Because I do, reluctantly – but love is a powerful thing.
Talent is very thin on the ground and local creatives want to be elevated far, far too soon.
And John Dough, “Can’t make it here, China is the next destination..”, they say that about Singapore and Malaysia where I’m from – the death sentence being Vietnam, life sentence Malaysia and doing time Singapore.
I don’t disagree.
But are agencies doing enough to find and nurture talent? And give them sufficient reason to stay in the industry.
To say Chinese as a whole are not creative (as one of the comments above alludes to) is obviously ridiculous, so where is this talent in advertising? Much easier I guess for the hiring manager to import talent, but this has been happening for several decades now. Is it sustainable? And is it beneficial to developing a uniquely Chinese creative approach?
Maybe, as I said initially, advertising just isn’t the place for the most creative Chinese talent. Already too limited and commoditized.
Hey what happened to that Saatchi guy Juggi? He went to Ogilvy China, remember him?
He is travelling the world now looking for pro bono opportunities.
Yes after many years at Ogilvy Beijing and Shanghai Juggi is half way through a year long holiday travelling the world. Lucky him.
@Michael said:
Hmm, do you work in China Michael? Because I do, reluctantly – but love is a powerful thing.
(Good for you if you love to work in China).
Talent is very thin on the ground and local creatives want to be elevated far, far too soon.
(That’s pretty much everywhere else in the world of advertising).
And John Dough, “Can’t make it here, China is the next destination..”, they say that about Singapore and Malaysia where I’m from – the death sentence being Vietnam, life sentence Malaysia and doing time Singapore.
(Brilliant, that means only Asian countries are considered to be the low point to be in advertising then! nice insight!)
@john dough
Not true. In the best markets, only real talents get to rise to the top, take Japan for example. Talents in China and other lesser markets are still shamelessly ripping everyone off, but it is all up to the agencies if they’re strong enough to not give in that easily.
@michael
Obviously you haven’t worked in China.
@Nana @Looking in
Scam or no scam Malaysia has a serious creativity problem. So now that we do not do well in international award shows, does that mean we are a thriving creative community?
Awards are what motivates creatives and proof that there are always new ways to solve problems, even if it’s a scam.
The problem with advertising in Malaysia is people like you Nana. Losers who can’t win anything and go “oh! I’m in advertising to do real work” … well congratulations on your inflated starburst.
The last wave of malaysian scammers is now at ECD and CCO level in Singapore and the region. And they’re doing nothing… because once you reach CCO pay levels as a scammer, you magically become anti-scam. Recently, there has been a huge backlash against scam…thanks to Grey Singapore’s iSea fiasco and the fallout from it. Clients possibly have less of an appetite for scam too. Time to start doing some real good work along the lines of droga5.