MEDIA CAREERS: JWT's Chiu joins exodus of admen moving into careers with dotcoms

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).

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