The new hires - Yvonne Ho and Nick Lim - worked together as a team at Euro RSCG on award-winning campaigns such as Swipe's 'Emperor of Kowloon' advertising and a print effort by Tom.com to launch its desktop-based newscast service.
Better known for its strategic strengths than its creative prowness, the agency is using the deep economic slump to remake its creative offer.
JWT Hong Kong's chief executive officer, William Lau, said: "The way I see it, we only have one thing to sell in this business. Irrespective of the current economic situation, agency will always be know for its work and its work only.
"And if we do not have the right combination of people producing work for our clients, we will be unable to generate new business."
The move to remake the agency's creative profile bucks the downsizing trend underway both at agencies and client companies as Hong Kong grapples with a deep recession, close to three years of deflation and record unemployment.
Echoing Lau's comments, acting executive creative director, Ellis So, said improving the creative offer would ensure the agency's long-term survival. "The economic recession makes it difficult to strike the right balance between doing good work and surviving this difficult period, but we have got to invest in good people
The appointments also follow the transfer of executive creative director Alex Cheung as managing director of the agency's Beijing office and the appointment of creative director So in an acting ECD role.
"The hiring doesn't stop with these two. We plan to hire a few more peopleto help us do better work, said So. "JWT's management and the creative department believe, first of all, that Hong Kong is going to recover and the recovery will happen sooner rather than later."
The appointment of Ho and Lim marks their return to JWT, where they had worked before moving to Euro RSCG.
The pair left Euro in September last year, with Ho going on to work at M&C Saatchi as creative director and Lim opting for a freelance stint.
Ho is copy-based and Lim is an art-based creative.
