Ong Kien Hoe, The Advertising Guru with the Midas Touch

It’s without question that advertising guru Ong Kien Hoe has the Midas touch as he has turned every agencies he ventured into to award-winning advertising companies. Now as Executive Creative Director of Y&R Shanghai, Ong continues to work his magic and led Y&R Shanghai to be ranked Top 2 Most Effective agency by Effie Greater China, No. 1 Creative Agency in Asia and No. 3 agency in APAC according to Cannes Lion.

In 1997, a financial crisis hit the country and many were retrenched. It was also the year Ong graduated from The One Academy. Faced with a huge obstacle ahead with the job market looking dim, Ong took the hit and offered his unpaid services to Foote, Cone & Belding (FCB) where he learnt from great leaders. His positive and enthusiastic attitude towards work helped him see opportunities in midst of a mountain ofa mundane jobs that are usually assigned to industry newbies and he turned a bank’s housing insurance ad into a multiple award-winning campaign during his second year, elevating the advertising agency into one of the top agencies in the country.    

Always seeking for greater challenges and armed with more experience in the advertising industry, Ong moved on to one of the best advertising agencies in the region, Saatchi & Saatchi, where his boss required him to propose 30 ideas at each project turn in. For one particular project, his boss rejected him thrice which meant Ong had to propose 90 ideas before having his first initial idea approved. The intense brainstorming process has helped him learn to think faster and better, in his words, and that said ad became yet another multiple award-winning ad known as the Irresistible Toyota VIOS.

Despite winning many awards, Ong was careful not to let success get to his head. Staying focused to his life’s goal and vision, Ong continued his momentum and strived to win more awards to improve his rankings in the industry, especially when he is aware that a person’s ranking only stay on for only 2 consecutive years on the industry’s ranking list while other achievements would be regarded void.  

Mid-career was tough because, as Ong observed, he has crossed path with negative people, criticisers, complainers, people who stole ideas, indecisive seniors and even lucky people who continue to climb the ladder. Having encounters with people with these characteristics can screw up one’s mind, in his words. For Ong, he kept to his path by reminding himself of his first days in the industry, why he wanted to do what he was doing in the first place, knowing that, at the end of the day, the advertising industry, is a rewarding one.

Having said that, even though Ong received lucrative offers from other agencies which required him to jump ship, as an extremely focused individual, Ong refused to be swayed by tempting lucrativeness and short-term rewards, knowing that he would stray away from his goals should he deviate from his intended path.

Through experience, Ong knew that being talented is never enough. When he spoke to The One Academy students during a sharing session recently, he stressed that the students were paying to be educated in a protected environment with great lecturers. The world would be much different when they leave the environment and like Ong did, he dedicated himself for the lifelong craft in advertising, working extremely hard and forcing himself to be as strong as steel.

Ong was later transferred to Shanghai, without knowing a single word of Mandarin. Even the obvious language barrier could not stop him from achieving success with his foundations in advertising strong and well-built. Only 39, Ong has already worked at TBWA, Shanghai as Group Creative Director, Ogilvy & Mather Shanghai as Creative Director, Saatchi & Saatchi Shanghai as Creative Director, Saatchi & Saatchi Malaysia as Head of Art and Art Director for FBC where he won numerous prestigious awards including CLIO, Cannes, Spikes, China Effie’s and more. He now speaks a rather fluent Mandarin.

Reminiscing the past, Ong realised that while most agencies are able to win a Cannes only every 5 years, the agency he was currently with is able to win a Cannes in just every 2 years, with every single one of his team member at least winning a Cannes before.

Due to his remarkable achievement in the creative industry, Ong was recently awarded the Malaysia Top 10 Outstanding Creative Youth Awards 2016 which was conferred by Deputy Minister of Women, Family and Community Development Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun.

Ong is currently back in Shanghai and continues to reach for the stars with his outstretched hands as he relentlessly pursues his passion in life.