Chris Kyme: Postcard from Hong Kong – Welcome home Mayan
Chris Kyme (pictured above) continues his ‘Postcard from Hong Kong’ series this time welcoming Sheung Yan Lo back home to Hong Kong.
How nice to catch up with one of Hong Kong’s most loved prodigal sons recently when I grabbed a quick ‘welcome back’ beer with Sheung Yan Lo, more affectionately known to all as Mayan (pictured below right), who has recently returned to this, his home town, after 25 years away making his name in Shanghai. We shouldn’t use the word ‘legend’ lightly but I reckon it’s just a bit relevant in this case.
More than that he’s a lovely fellow and I could natter with him about the industry for hours, except in this case it was a quickie, although I look forward to more seeing as his office is right across the street for ours. As CCO for Wunderman Thompson Asia Pacific, he’s a busy boy, and in his new capacity also overseeing the Hong Kong office he must have more on his plate than a drink with me.
Over the years, at the helm of JWT Shanghai, Mayan more than helped put China on the global create map, creating and inspiring work many of us know and love, including the first ever China Grand Prix for the Samsonite Heaven & Hell ad, which according to The Gunn Report is the ‘most awarded print ad of all time’.
So yeah, as most of you know, Cannes, One Show, D&AD, Clio, LIA, Spikes, Adfest, LongXi, and AWARD, his record has been more than well documented. What has not however, is his views on Manchester United’s chances of overthrowing their cross-city rivals this season, but I’m not going into that right now, partly because I’m an Arsenal fan and this is not particularly a good time for me, and also because this is a creative magazine, not a footie one.
Instead I asked him how it felt to be back. “Well it’s strange in a way, although of course it’s a familiar city to me, at the same time I feel quite foreign. I’ve been away so long.” (Of course I know the feeling. Every time I go back to Sydney I feel like a foreigner, but that’s also because I am one as I’m not from there.)
But how about the difference in working styles between where you were in Shanghai, creating work for an enormous market, versus Hong Kong which is just 7.5 million or so?
“Well first off, it’s a very different industry here now than the one I left all those years ago. Much has changed as we all know and experience. But clients are different here now. The obsession with KOLs and celebrities. What about the idea? I never forget an experience years ago, working on Watson’s, the personal store, showing work to the client who responded by asking what the idea was, and summing up what he was looking for in one word – simplicity. Nowadays it seems clients are only interested in the ‘wow’ factor, which is wrong.
It’s not why I got into the industry.”
Mayan cited the late great songwriter and creative guru James Wong as someone who inspired him as a youngster looking to make it in the industry. He was also inspired by looking up to great campaigns. “Take Hutchison Telecom years ago. Always a big scale campaign. The use of celebrity in a relevant way. Not only the ads but the song behind the campaign would go top of the charts. It was big. They were creating pop culture.”
I was also curious about the China market way of doing things, having had some experience on and off over the years, but what’s it like running a big agency there?. Mayan reflected on this carefully. “China is different in that everything has to happen so quickly. Clients expect a brand image to be built over night. There is also a lot of focus on online campaigns which come and go quickly. So again, there is less focus on brand and brand strategy. Campaigns happen too fast and many are hit and miss. There is less reliance on research to steer you in the right direction. It’s all very spontaneous and the way they see it, online advertising = sales.”
So with everything moving at mega speed online, and less time for brand image, isn’t there still good creative talent coming into the industry in China cities? Mayan reckons they have their sights set elsewhere. “Yeah a lot of the young creative people are now heading for a career in the online platforms like Alibaba or Tencent. They want a fast path to getting a pay out rather than start on a career path that could take years to reach the top. Everything is short term.”
Like any great leader, when I asked Mayan to think about what he’s achieved and what he feels proudest about, he doesn’t refer to any of the good work done under him, but to the people he helped nurture. “Seeing the young people come into the industry and grow up and achieve great things. That’s what I feel most proud about. People like Yang and Elvis (Yang Yeo and Elvis Chau who did the Samsonite work). The generation I raised, that’s what I treasure the most.”
Well we’re all looking forward to seeing Mayan start to influence a new generation of youngsters here in Hong Kong and for sure we’ll be seeing and hearing a lot about him now that he’s back. I certainly will, being just across the street.
View of WPP offices from Kymechow.
