KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA – Geometry, soon to be VMLY&R COMMERCE, announces the appointment of Chan Woei Hern to Executive Creative Director of Malaysia & South East Asia. Joining from ensemble IPG Mediabrands, Woei Hern will report to Kenni Loh, CEO Malaysia, leading the creative transformation of the company.
Woei Hern is tasked to accelerate the delivery of iconic creativity through ideas and experiences that live at the intersection of physical retail, e-commerce, social, experiential, to name but a few. As WPP’s Creative Commerce company, Geometry / VMLY&R Commerce offers an amplified focus on creativity and Woei Hern will be one of the key members to establish creative excellence in Malaysia and across South East Asia.
While working at ensemble IPG Mediabrands as a founding member and ECD, Woei Hern grew the team from 4 to 80, while winning Petronas and Maxis, two of the biggest Malaysian brands. Along the way he picked up Campaign Asia’s 40 Under 40 in 2016, and Ensemble became the first agency in Malaysia to win Effie Agency of the Year for 3 years in a row and YouTube Awards Grand Prix for two consecutive years.
His previous career includes stints at NagaDDB working on Digi, Munchy’s and Nippon Paint, Dentsu and FCB. As a big supporter of social causes, Woei Hern has mentored Malaysia’s Global Innovation Centre’s Accelerator Programme and worked with Cancer Research Malaysia.
“People don’t buy stuff; they buy better versions of themselves. That’s why I signed up. To explore how commerce and creativity can play and make a difference. I’m excited for Malaysia to play a larger role in the region. And to collaborate with teammates across markets. Looking forward to the stories that we’re going to tell and do together with brands and audiences.” said Woei Hern.
Kenni Loh, CEO Malaysia added, “Commerce and creativity. It’s all about the right partnerships. I’m really excited to be able to kick off 2021 with the right one with Woei Hern. The expertise and integration between VMLY&R and Geometry brings huge opportunities at scale to the marketplace in the region.
We’re very excited to see how we can help brands engage with customers. Working with Woei Hern, we’ll be remixing our cast at VMLY&R Commerce, bringing new talent together with our current ones to transform our offerings. Creativity is the strongest currency. Stay tuned. We can’t wait to tell our story through the work we do”
The hiring of Woei Hern comes at the heels of the company’s recent appointment of global CCO, Manuel Bordé, who was recently the CCO of North America. He will own the global creative strategy and play an instrumental role in launching the new company as global creative partner to VMLY&R Commerce CEO Beth Ann Kaminkow. VMLY&R Commerce will launch in 2021 as a distinct company within the VMLY&R network group.
