Chan Woei Hern takes on ECD role at VMLY&R Commerce

WPP's Geometry, soon to be VMLY&R COMMERCE, has handed Chan Woei Hern the executive creative director title of Malaysia and Southeast Asia. Joining from ensemble IPG Mediabrands, Chan will report to Kenni Loh, CEO Malaysia, leading the creative transformation of the company.

Chan is tasked to accelerate the delivery of iconic creativity through ideas and experiences that live at the intersection of physical retail, eCommerce, 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 Southeast Asia.

While working at ensemble IPG Mediabrands as a founding member and ECD, Chan helped to grow the team from 4 to 80. His previous career includes stints at NagaDDB working on Digi, Munchy’s and Nippon Paint, Dentsu and FCB.

"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," Chan said.

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 Chan. 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 Chan, 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 Chan 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.