TBWA’s Asia Pacific Creative President and Greater China President Nils Andersson has left the network. Andersson is currently working out his contractual obligations and confirmed to Campaign Brief Asia that he had left TBWA and would soon be in a position to talk about the next step in his career.
Andersson leaves TBWA on a huge high having just guided the Network to the #3 position overall in the Campaign Brief Asia Creative Rankings.
Since he joined TBWA the network has experienced great creative momentum and improved from their previous #6 overall ranking in Asia. This year three TBWA offices are placed #1 in their country, including TBWA Shanghai in the China Creative Rankings. TBWA sits only behind Dentsu and Ogilvy in this year’s Campaign Brief Asia Creative Rankings – their best performance ever.
Andersson himself has been China’s most awarded creative in the Campaign Brief Asia Creative Rankings for the past 2 years.
Andersson joined TBWA in 2015 and set about restoring the network’s creative reputation. In 2016 Andersson was awarded the accolade of Asia Pacific Creative of the Year by Campaign Magazine, and his work for McDonalds was one of the most awarded campaigns in the world according the The Gunn Report and the One Directory.
2017 saw Andersson win Asia Pacific Creative of the Year for the second year in succession.
Andersson first came in China in 2004 with Ogilvy & Mather in the Greater China Chief Creative Officer role. He had great success there leading Ogilvy to become the most awarded agency in the country, including picking up a yellow D&AD pencil – the first time a Chinese agency had ever achieved this feat. In 2006 Ogilvy Beijing won the Campaign Asia Pacific Agency of the Year title. Again, the first time a Chinese based agency had received this accolade.
In 2010, Andersson joined Y&R as Greater China CCO and President, where he oversaw a creative renaissance. By 2011, his client GAP won Asia Pacific Brand of the Year for the campaign, ‘Let’s GAP together,’ which he produced, in collaboration with photographer Annie Liebovitz.
Y&R Beijing went on to win the Greater China Agency of the Year accolade and Andersson was also ranked the 3rd most awarded art director in the world at the 2014 Cannes Lions festival. In the same year, he topped the China Creative Rankings, which he doubled up with the same win the following year.
