dentsu China names Deric Wong as new CEO

Michelle Lau, the current CEO leaves the business to be closer to her family in Hong Kong. 

Under her leadership dentsu China has undergone rapid transformation, restoring its winning mentality and regaining its place as a leader in the market. 

Deric Wong joins from Omnicom Media Group where he was CEO, Hong Kong. 

He has strong commercial record delivering growth, client centricity and award winning work. 

dentsu China announced today that it has appointed Deric Wong as Chief Executive Officer, effective 1 April 2021. Deric will report to Cheuk Chiang, CEO, Greater North, dentsu Asia Pacific. 

Michelle Lau, the current Chief Executive Officer, will remain in her role until the end of March. 

Deric Wong, has held senior leadership roles at both Creative and Media agencies across the Greater China region since 2007. During that time, he has built a reputation for delivering commercial growth, driving award winning work and building world leading 
integrated agency capabilities. 

Cheuk Chiang said "Deric is a brilliant strategist and visionary leader who has a strong track-record of unlocking transformative growth for clients through delivering progressive integrated solutions. He genuinely cares about building great talent, driving integration and this, coupled with a future focused mindset, equips him well to lead dentsu China into a new era of growth." 

Deric Wong, said, "I'm absolutely delighted and honoured to lead dentsu China at such a dynamic and exciting time and I’m eager to work with the many talented and hardworking individuals across the network. dentsu has a long legacy of leading transformation and driving innovation and I look forward to building on and continuing the dynamic growth story for this important market.'' 

Deric was recognized by 'The Internationalist' as Agency Innovator of the year in 2018. He was also recognized by Campaign Asia in 2013 and 2019 as one of the '40 under 40 Unsung Heroes' who pushed the boundaries of advertising and media.  

Deric joins dentsu from Omnicom Media Group, Hong Kong, where he has held the role of Chief Executive Officer since 2018. Under his leadership, the group has won numerous Agency of the Year awards. 

In his new role, Deric will be responsible for continuing dentsu's transformation program, which includes driving integration, strengthening its go-to-market capabilities and building a culture of inspiration and radical collaboration. Deric will be working off a solid foundation set by his predecessor, Michelle Lau, who was appointed CEO in 2019 to drive change. Under that mandate, Michelle has implemented an aggressive agenda of transformation, restoring the competitive edge and a market-leading position for integrated solutions. Michelle Lau said.'The decision to leave and return home was not easy, and I'm proud of everything we have achieved in the past two years. I am supremely confident that in Deric Wong, we have identified the best candidate to drive our business forward'. 

Under Michelle's leadership, the China business has undergone a rapid transformation focused on successfully pioneering a simplified structure, restoring a winning mentality, and regaining its place as a leader in the market. The new structure delivers greater agility and flexibility for clients through a more focused portfolio of brands across three core service lines of Creative, Media and CXM.  

Cheuk Chiang said "2020 was a challenging year for everyone, and COVID-19 has made many of us reflect on personal priorities. For Michelle, I know the constant commute and quarantine was not easy. I respect her decision to leave Shanghai and return home to Hong Kong to be closer to her family. We have been in discussions for a few months and our priority has been to find a strong successor who can build on her legacy. I would like to take the opportunity to thank her and celebrate what she has brought to the business – setting a clear strategy, navigating the team through a pandemic, building transformative client-centric capabilities, returning the business to growth and driving new business momentum’’.