Edmund Choe joins TBWA\Greater China as Co-President

TBWA\Greater China has announced that Edmund Choe will join the agency as Co-President and Head of Creative in May 2011.

Choe joins Group President Ian Thubron and together, as partners, they will run the agency’s operations across the Greater China region.

Ed Choe spent the last two decades at Saatchi & Saatchi, in Malaysia, Singapore and latterly as Chief Creative Officer for Greater China based in Beijing. Under his leadership, Saatchi & Saatchi was repeatedly voted Agency of the Year and widely recognized in both creative and effectiveness awards.

Ian Thubron, Group President, TBWA\Greater China said, “Our avowed aim is to be one of the ten most creative companies in the world, so I didn’t want to hire someone to make ads – even very good ads. I wanted to find a partner to join me in leading China’s most creative ideas company. Ed has an impeccable pedigree. Creatively driven, great people and team-building skills and an incredibly nice guy to boot. The perfect partner.”

Keith Smith, TBWA’s President of International, commented, “We’ve hit our stride in China, recently winning new business with Hisense as well as key projects with Pfizer-Wyeth and Pernod Ricard, and we are incredibly ambitious. China is so important that it must be a shining beacon of all that TBWA stands for – Disruption, Media Arts, creativity and innovation. Bringing someone of Ed’s caliber in to partner with Ian is a brilliant move, and elevates ‘creativity’ beyond a department to the core of our whole operation. It’s the model for the future.”

Commenting on his appointment, Edmund Choe said, “TBWA has strong creative recognition in China, winning the first Cannes Gold Lion, for example. But what’s really exciting for me is elevating ‘creative’ beyond advertising to the entire Media Arts spectrum. It’s a bold canvas on which to paint and I’m delighted to be joining Ian in our quest to create China’s most creative company.”

“Ed’s appointment follows a string of important hires including Dave Bowman and Matty Burton in Sydney and Kazoo Sato in Tokyo. This is part of TBWA’s commitment to hire only the best creative talent globally and to do so in Asia Pacific specifically,” said TBWA’s Worldwide Creative Director, John Hunt. He added, “TBWA is about creating iconic brands for our clients and I can't think of anyone more qualified to do so than Edmund Choe. I also believe the unique partnership between Ed and Ian will produce a creative epicentre that will be felt throughout Greater China.”