Women to Watch Greater China 2023: Ashley Wu, The Trade Desk

Ashley Wu

Head of business development, China
The Trade Desk
Shanghai

Ashley Wu is a keen supporter of the effectiveness of programmatic advertising, and her professional path in the brand, agency, and technology sectors has given her specialised knowledge and viewpoints. She has leveraged this expertise since joining The Trade Desk (TTD) as business development director to develop a solid team that employs programmatic advertising to deliver impressive results for clients and propel TTD's expansion.

Wu has been instrumental in formulating TTD’s China business development strategy to focus on brand advertising, which in turn has driven impressive growth. She led the team to double TTD’s client pool in 2022, by connecting TTD to mature outbound industries like smartphones, fintech and gaming. She also opened up new industries like home devices, APP and ecommerce/DTC and built a solid relationship with top outbound brands.

In addition, Wu is dedicated to innovating new advertising solutions to help Chinese brands raise their profile and generate business in overseas markets. For Chinese New Year 2022, Wu led the team to launch a successful campaign for FunPlus with an impressive new CTV+ Digital Display + DOOH ad portfolio to help advertisers grab incremental reach outside the walled garden. The campaign successfully reached the key target audience with an improved 3X ROI. Her work on this project was later included as a case study by Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, and awarded an Excellence in Management Award 2022 by Harvard Business Review.

As well as being a stellar business leader, Wu is also a strategic thinker and inspiring leader. She is always willing to guide and coach junior team members. Under her mentorship, one mentee progressed swiftly from a junior business development role to lead TTD’s projects with its client and strategic agency partner, and significantly grow business for the company.

In her spare time, Wu, who has a vision to help Chinese brands grow, hosts educational activities, including one themed ‘The Rise of Chinese Brands’, where she invited major Chinese cosmetics brands to share their stories to help raise awareness of domestic brands. 

Wu is also a sought-after speaker for industry events such as Marketing Brand Summit, 36kr Go Global webinars, to share insights about overseas markets and opportunities for Chinese brands. She actively contributes her insights on Chinese brands going global in top-tier media, including 21st Century Business Herald, Economic Observer, Yicai, 36kr, and Baijing Chuhai