HONG KONG — Dentsu Hong Kong announces the appointment of Tom Wan as the CEO of Greater Bay Area (GBA) Solutions for the group. Tom will spearhead the growth of this newly established business team across borders, realizing the group’s commitment to contribute to its clients’ strategic growth in the region and weave capabilities with this important development paradigm for decades to come.
Tom encompasses more than 30 years of experience; he began his career in New York and Hong Kong before spending the last 20 years in Mainland China. Tom joined dentsu Hong Kong in February of 2023.
Prior to joining dentsu Hong Kong, he served as the President of Experience in Ogilvy China, where he oversaw the relaunch of the agency’s Digital Transformation and Experience Unit that covers the MarTech, Data Analytic, CRM, eCommerce, UI/UX, and Performance Media practice. During his tenure, Ogilvy China has expanded its Experience offerings and Clients’ adoption of them. He has also served as the CEO of IPG Mediabrands China and led key positions in the wider WPP Group APAC.
Tom will report to Simone Tam, Group CEO of dentsu Hong Kong, and work in partnership with the wider leadership team across dentsu’s capabilities across creative, media, and CXM.
GBA, a strategic stronghold that will be the world’s 4th largest economy in 2035
The GBA initiative is a national scheme to link the nine cities in Guangdong’s Pearl River Delta (Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Huizhou, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Jiangmen, and Zhaoqing), Hong Kong, and Macau into an integrated economy and world-class bay area. Its current population is 86M+, with a GDP of USD 2 trillion that ranked Top 10 in the world and is estimated to have faster growth than the national average.
Businesses are keen to share the pie. Over half (52%) of business executives indicated plans to expand geographically into this region by 2022. 61% of those are willing to invest more than 1 million, and a majority of those will be spent on branding and marketing, depending on the industry.
Unique strengths and business readiness of dentsu’s GBA Solutions team
The winning formula for GBA is to bring a cluster of cities together to generate integrated offerings for its citizens and the world, and Hong Kong’s unique East-meets-West position has made it a natural business driver. Taking advantage of such geographical position and horizontal working model behind “one dentsu,” dentsu Hong Kong will combine the group’s integrated services: Creative, Media, and CXM across borders to tailor effective GBA business and go-to-market strategies for clients.
Simone Tam said, “GBA is a primary growth strategy for many of our clients for the next decade. With Tom’s deep experience and knowledge of the mainland market, we are confident we can truly offer strong, practical business solutions for clients who are interested in GBA.”
Tom Wan, on his appointment, said, “I’m excited to return home to Hong Kong after spending 20+ years of my professional career in the mainland market [and] be able to contribute my knowledge and experience to our clients’ growth strategy and initiatives in the GBA region.”
