Shanghai — Wieden+Kennedy (W+K) announced today that Nick Barham has been promoted to co-executive creative director of W+K Shanghai effective immediately. Barham previously served as the director of W+K Shanghai Planning and is the first planning director in W+K history to be promoted to a co-executive creative director position.
Barham will join Co-Executive Creative Director Nick Cohen and Managing Director Kel Hook to complete the management team for W+K Shanghai. Barham joined W+K Shanghai in 2007 to work on Nike’s communications leading up to the Olympic Games. As the agency has grown, he has worked across all of their clients, helping them to develop a diverse body of work, including a rock road trip for Converse that took two Beijing bands across China.
He has also been involved in developing W+K’s own content, including a documentary on Chinese beatboxing, an interactive installation at Shanghai’s eArts festival and a limited edition line of watches in collaboration with the Shanghai Watch Company.
“Today, the qualifications for a true Creative Director has evolved beyond craft and management, broader skills are required in order to lead brands with speed and cultural relevancy. W+K Shanghai is constantly redefining the norms of brand communications and Nick has been a creative leader in our office,” said John C Jay, global executive creative director of Wieden+Kennedy. “Nick has been instrumental in developing documentaries, music videos, event websites and applications, collaborating with emerging artists and musicians in China and across Asia.”
Barham began his career with Lintas before joining BBH London where he worked as a planner and then a cultural reporter, keeping the agency’s brands (Unilever, Audi, Johnnie Walker and Levi’s) informed about changes in contemporary culture. During his time as a planner he won an APG Gold and wrote a winning IPA effectiveness paper.
In July 2005, Barham moved to Shanghai to work at TBWA with brands such as adidas and Chivas Regal.
“I expected to come for a couple of years,” he said, “but the speed of change here, and the opportunities to tear things up and produce work that changes the way that brands behave has made it very difficult to leave.”
