Aaron Lau
CEO / Cheil Greater China
Aaron Lau, a 28-year advertising and marketing industry veteran, who graduated from London Business School, after that, Aaron has went through positions such as Group Account Director, President of DDB Greater China, CEO of DDB China. In 2012 Cheil World Wide acquired Bravo Asia; Aaron joined Cheil Greater China as CEO. Aaron has abundant advertising industry experience, has successfully managed with a portfolio of international and local clients such as Coca-Cola’s Minute Maid, New Balance, Moet Hennessey, etc. He has said that Cheil Greater China will continue pursuing the excellent integrated Marketing Solutions, offering clients the best service.
Jeff Curtis
Co-Founder / Red Pill
Jeff began his career in at Lowe Howard Spink in London in 1991,at a time when it was regarded as one the world’s most creative agencies.
In 2001 he became ECD at Lowe Thailand where he was responsible for a creative department of 96 and the creative output of the largest agency in Thailand.This included overseeing work on all local and regional clients.
In 2004 he became Regional CD on Unilever brands where he was responsible for writing and producing both regional and global advertising campaigns.Then in 2010 he moved to Cheil in Seoul as global CD for Samsung products to write and produce global campaigns.
In 2012 he returned to Thailand to set up his own agency Red Pill where he now works with clients including Unilever and Diaego.
Lauren Connolly
EVP & ECD / BBDO New York
Lauren is an Executive Vice President, Executive Creative Director atBBDO New York. Along with her partner Tim Bayne, she oversees theTotalWork global creative for M&M`S MARS, Mountain Dew, Lowe`s HomeImprovement and several pro bono accounts.
Lauren began her career as a Junior Copywriter at MARC Advertising inPittsburgh, PA,before moving to BBDO New York in 2000. Since joiningthe agency, her work has been globally recognized for itscreativity and effectiveness—from creating iconic M&M`S characterswho would star in the most popular Super Bowl ad on YouTube, launching AT&T`sgame-changing “Raising the Bar” campaign, and making Mountain Dew a badgebrand with millennials from Karachi to Harlem, to “improving” thecommunications for the world`s second-largest hardware chain, Lowe’s.Additionally, she has worked on iconic brands such as Visa, Pizza Hut,Pepsi, Venus, Charles Schwab and Cingular Wireless. In addition tooverseeing a large team of creatives, Lauren enjoys leadingmultidiscipline workshops that connect the dots between business,strategy, insights and emerging technology to produce big ideas andcreative platforms.
Lauren is a founding member of BBDO`s Diversity Council and a member of theagency`s Women`s Leadership Council. She was recently an honoree at the inauguralMAKERS conference, named AdAge`s “40 Under 40″, AdWeek`s”Young Influential 20 under 40”, and one of “The 33 Most Creative Womenin Advertising” by BusinessInsider.
She is a graduate of Penn State University, an avid Steelers fan andlives in Manhattan`s West Village.
Valerie Cheng
Chief Creative Officer / JWT Singapore
Valerie stumbled into advertising, starting the first 10 years of her career in digital but has since evolved to do more brand building, integrated creative solutions for major brands such a Hewlett-Packard, Procter & Gamble, Singapore Airlines, HSBC, Burger King, VISA, Singapore Tourism Board, Tiger Beer, and many others.
In 2010, Valerie was made the first female chairperson in the history of the Creative Circle Awards Singapore and went on to judge at Spikes Asia 2011, Cannes Lions 2011, D&AD 2012, Clio 2013 and London International Awards 2013. She has most recently been invited to judge at Cannes 2014 on their Cyber panel.
Over the years, she has made her mark at Cannes, One Show, London International, Effies, Golden Drum, Spikes Asia, Adfest and the Webby’s. Under her leadership, JWT Singapore picked up the Best Of Show award, at Creative Circle Awards 2012. That same night, they were also awarded Digital Agency of The Year and the Grand Prix for Digital/Mobile.
For all her achievements, she was awarded Singapore’s first Digital Creative Director of The Year award at the 2011 Advertising Hall of Fame event and she continued to defend this title again in 2012. She has also been voted by IAS as one of Singapore`s Most Influential CD for 2011, 20112 and 2013.
Yuya Furukawa
Chief Creative Officer / Dentsu Inc.
Yuya started out at years ago Dentsu as a TV writer, when advertising life was much simpler.
Today, he mainly oversees the Communication Design Center, a department that cannot be defined in terms of familiar advertising fields. Under his leadership, his staff work on projects ranging from product development, branded content creation, pure content creation, including TV programs and movies, content export, space planning and design, digital platform development, business strategy and consulting, and PR to traditional advertising. Yuya himself is also involved in government projects such as the Olympic Games and the National Stadium.
International accolades for Yuya include gold, silver, bronze awards at Cannes, D&AD, One Show and Spikes, among others, as well as Grand Prix at Adfest. In 2005, he won the Creative Person of the Year award of the Japan Advertising Agencies Association. He is also a familiar face as a judge at international awards, including Cannes, D&AD, Clio, Spikes and Adfest, and as a speaker at various conferences.
Besides his work as Chief Creative Officer, Yuya is also known for writing scenarios for TV and radio programs, lyrics for pop songs, and a column for a major national newspaper. He also lectures at Nihon University College of Art.
