5 minutes with… SooHee Yang
As chief creative officer at Publicis Groupe Korea, SooHee Yang didn’t get to where she is overnight. From creative director to CCO, SooHee’s career at Leo Burnett/Publicis has spanned almost 20 years.
With a knack for seamlessly blending global trends with local insights, SooHee shares invaluable insights into tailoring creative strategies for diverse brands, harnessing the power of K-culture in advertising, and fostering collaboration within teams.
From leveraging celebrity endorsements to spearheading iconic campaigns like McDonald's Big Mac Song, her journey epitomises the transformative impact of creativity in the dynamic landscape of Korean advertising.
LBB> With nearly 20 years at Leo Burnett and Publicis Groupe, what has motivated you to stay with the agency for such a long and successful career?
SooHee> The past 20 years flew by like the blink of an eye. Adapting to different creative approaches each year and learning from them motivates me. Being with a single company for that period is unbelievable, but it was made possible by Leo Burnett and Publicis Groupe.
About four years ago, we established an internal production organisation named “Content Lab” to adapt to the evolving landscape and be more agile. It connects the three areas of creative, media and commerce, and more importantly, it is the engine that manifests everything our clients need. The joy I get from turning our ideas into reality from this opportunity is one of the reasons I’m still here, 20 years on.
LBB> You work with various global clients, from McDonald's to Samsung. How do you approach tailoring creative strategies to meet each brand and market's unique needs and cultural nuances?
SooHee> The first step is to seamlessly connect the essence and uniqueness of each brand with our target audience. Since each brand's identity can be interpreted differently in Korean culture and by Korean audiences, finding the sweet spot to approach them is the most critical initial step.
LBB> What insights can you share about the trends and innovations you’ve observed in Korean advertising, and how does it compare to the global advertising landscape?
SooHee> One of the things that Korean advertising places a significant emphasis on is the power of celebrities and their fan base. Celebrity endorsements create a strong emotional connection with consumers, leveraging fans' loyalty to promote products effectively. This unique approach sets Korean advertising apart and deeply impacts brand-consumer relationships. Balancing the creative use of a celebrity is a crucial challenge in Korean advertising. It is also a country where modernity and tradition coexist and are deeply rooted in every aspect of culture, including advertising.
LBB> How have you leveraged the K-wave and K-culture in your advertising campaigns, such as the NewJeans campaign for McDonald's that spread to multiple Asian markets?
SooHee> What makes current K-culture trends different from the past is that fans are actively expressing what they want from brands, and brands are listening. Global K-pop fans now readily voice their expectations and ideas on social media.
Our McDonald's Chicken Dance campaign with NewJeans, which we successfully expanded to nine Asian countries, exemplifies this trend. The fans were the first to say "launch this ad worldwide," and "make NewJeans merch." We listened and didn't let the chance fly away.
LBB> In your role as chief creative officer at Publicis Groupe Korea, could you share your approach to fostering creativity and collaboration within your team?
SooHee> I think it's all about flexibility. While respecting that Korean society is rigid, hierarchical, and conservative, our organisation allows us to flex to be successful in our daily work. Our Power of One model encourages collaboration across agencies, working together as one, without silos. This enables us to create multi-disciplinary teams and organise them depending on the nature of the project to tap into our network of talents and capabilities. This fluid environment brings out the best in our people, fostering creativity and collaboration, which benefit our clients.
LBB> Your work has received recognition at prestigious festivals like the Cannes Lions, New York Festival, and Clio Awards. Could you highlight a campaign or project you are particularly proud of and share its creative process?
SooHee> The McDonald's Big Mac Song in 2012. Then, consumers began creating their own content, using digital to go viral.
The point of creating the Big Mac Song was that anyone could easily sing along in their own way, in any genre, become a creator and upload. There was a lot of participation, I was surprised to discover that consumers are creative but also funny and impactful. Since then, I’ve felt that consumers can sometimes be more creative than advertising professionals!
LBB> What criteria do you consider when evaluating creative work, and how do you think these criteria have evolved over the years?
SooHee> I evaluate creative work based on the strength of the insight it originates from, whether it has a strong central idea, and how ownable it is. These criteria have remained constant over the years.
Nowadays, there is a greater emphasis on the craft. No matter how great the idea is, if the final output, the craft, and the seamless execution fall short, it ultimately won’t lead to recognition or success.
LBB> What advice do you have for aspiring creatives looking to impact the advertising industry?
SooHee> I often get questions from young creatives, asking how to have a long-lasting career in this industry and what it's like to be a jury member. My answer has always been: "Achievement is the sum of small efforts daily.”
Interest, observation, effort, learning, and creating are the building blocks of success. These small, repetitive routines accumulate daily and eventually lead to exceptional outputs. Even now, when I participate as a jury member, I enter with a mindset of curiosity, thinking, "How much more can I learn today?" as I take my seat.
