Mr Conrad Chiu, who steered J. Walter Thompson's Hong Kong and
south China operations during one of the most tumultuous periods in the
region, is leaving the agency and will be replaced by long-time adman
William Lau.
The managing director for JWT Hong Kong and south China and
vice-president for international operations will leave the agency at the
end of August after 12 years, joining the ad industry exodus to the
digital world.
Mr Chiu has signed up with start-up digital marketing solutions provider
e-Media Planners International (e-MPI) as chief executive officer.
Although happy with JWT, Mr Chiu said he felt it was time to leave as
the agency's direction was different from what he wanted to do.
"It's not that Thompson doesn't believe in it; it's very much the
infrastructure.
But they can't do it overnight," he said.
His replacement, Mr Lau, was until recently managing director of Jaguar
Hong Kong.
Mr Lau is already on board as chief executive officer for a handover
period of about two months.
"I was at the point where I had to either reinvent myself - that is go
into the I-field - or remain in the car business, where I would do a few
more brands that would have given me some sort of challenge," Mr Lau
told MEDIA.
"I finally decided to return to where I had the most equity."
Prior to his emigration to Canada in the mid-'80s, Mr Lau was deputy
managing director of Young & Rubicam in Hong Kong and oversaw its merger
with Dentsu, then the first venture of its kind for the once-independent
network.
He also helped set up Y&R's office in Bangkok, before joining Y&R's
agency in Toronto, where he later established a car dealership for
Honda's Acura after working on the brand.
Mr Lau returned to Hong Kong in 1994 and joined Jaguar to help
re-establish the brand, which he said was now one of the top three auto
brands in the minds of Hong Kong consumers.
His move to JWT was also prompted by poor prospects in the auto
category, which suffered a heavy body blow during the Asian crisis.
"It's difficult to see the business going back to the boom days of 1996
and early '97," Mr Lau said.
"The growth areas will be in the low-medium segments especially with the
opening up of new areas in the New Territories, where public
transportation is not yet serving these areas."
While prospects are brighter in the agency business, he said the job
ahead was still a big one, "building on what Conrad has done" with
clients and staff.
"Business is picking up, but it could become a problem if we don't have
enough good people. But fewer people are interested in advertising,
which appears to have lost some of its glamour to cyber careers."
JWT's client list now includes some of Hong Kong's biggest brand names,
including Hang Seng Bank, San Miguel and tycoon Richard Li's PCCWHKT
(formerly Cable & Wireless HKT).
