Wunderman Thompson brings on board Emily Chang to lead West Coast offices

Wunderman Thompson has appointed former McCann Worldgroup's China CEO Emily Chang (pictured) as CEO of its West Coast Region. She will be leading the agency's West Coast offices, including LA, Seattle, and the Swift boutique agency in Portland. This move aims to maximise the creative, data and technology agency’s position as one of the few large agencies on the West Coast backed with end-to-end capabilities.

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Chang will oversee the region’s growing client portfolio, which includes technology companies Microsoft, T-Mobile, Qualcomm, Venmo and Snap, as well as major automotive brands and DTC companies.  She will leverage Swift’s creative and social media expertise, which has garnered industry accolades for its work for Dove’s As Early As Five and attracts category disrupting brands.  In addition, she will enhance Wunderman Thompson’s “Creative Bravery and “In it together” culture as part of her plan for West Coast agency operations. 

Prior to returning home to Los Angeles, Chang spent nearly a decade in APAC, most recently as CEO of McCann Worldgroup, China, across four agencies located in three offices. In the last three years, she restructured the leadership team and developed new strategic and digital capabilities to grow revenue +40% within the first 18 months and deliver record high margins. During this period, her focus on creating a sense of belonging also dramatically improved employee satisfaction while reducing turnover by over 10%.

Chang built her career on the brand side, as CMO of Starbucks China, chief commercial officer for InterContinental Hotels Group, Greater China, and she was the first executive in China for Apple Retail. Chang began her career in the United States at P&G, where she worked across all three business units, from upstream innovation, down to retail marketing at Walmart.

“Wunderman Thompson has creative as the heart, data as the brain and technology as the hands that make them the gold standard of integration,” said Chang.  “As a competitor, I’ve watched Wunderman Thompson’s build its reputation as the authority on inspiration and look forward to tapping into this insight and adding inspiration of my own when it comes to our clients and culture.”

“Chang is a powerhouse leader. She has tremendous vision, unparalleled energy, a pulse on culture and a gigantic heart,” said Wunderman Thompson North America’s CEO Audrey Melofchik.  “She will bring our people together to deliver inspiring brand stories along with deep specialty expertise across the marketing ecosystem, so marketers have a partner to demonstrate real growth.”

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to Wunderman Thompson for additional information. 

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