Leo Burnett Shanghai hires Sunny Lai as ECD

Leo Burnett has appointed Sunny Lai as its Executive Creative Director for their Shanghai office.

Partnering with Rocky Hao, the other ECD of the office, Lai (pictured left) is tasked with driving the creative excellence and especially boosting the digital creative power for the agency. He too reports to Carol Lam, President and Chief Creative Officer of Leo Burnett Greater China.

“Sunny is a rare creative hybrid who can grasp the beauty of traditional advertising and embed these strengths into a digital solution which can smartly gear into people’s behavior on social media,” said Lam. “With his proven track record of building up highly effective integrated campaigns in China, I’m sure he will bring more invaluable ideas and skills to Leo Burnett Shanghai, and work with us to deliver much stronger digital-led campaigns to client brands.”

With over 18 years’ advertising experience, Lai is known as being among a new breed of advertising creative leaders in China. His work spans across every medium, however he has achieved special prominence in digital and social media. By delivering insightful strategic communications with innovative creative approaches, he has helped to drive the business influence in China for brands such as The North Face, Nike, Ford, DS, Rolls Royce, Audi, BMW, multiple Unilever brands, AB-Inbev brands, Tmall, JD.com, China Merchants Bank, Philips, and more.

Lai said: “Leo Burnett is full of fearless, optimistic, and smart thinkers. This has resulted in an agency that’s truly elevating the standard of original and innovative creative work. I look forward to learning from and working with the people at LB, and delivering the next generation of redefined work.”

Angie Wong, Managing Director of Leo Burnett Shanghai commented, “As Burnetters, we believe in the power of HumanKind, our proprietary approach to creativity. In this ever-changing era, Sunny’s strong digital capabilities will definitely find new ways to bring HumanKind to life in China.”

Born in Singapore, Lai graduated with a BA degree in Communication Design from RMIT. He started his China journey with JWT Shanghai in 2006, and has continued his career in the country since then. Before joining Leo Burnett, he was ECD at Reload, a social creative agency, since 2016.