KBS launched this week in China, debuting its new name and logo for the local market. The name "shi hua" is a loose interpretation of the agency slogan "do things that matter," and the logo echoes the look of a Chinese stamp.
The eight-person office in Shanghai is run by partner and CEO Douglas Lin, the former managing director of TBWA's Digital Arts Network China, and Jonathan Ip, partner and chief creative officer.
Mr. Ip, 38, was born in Hong Kong and moved as a teenager to Queens, where he haunted local basketball courts. His last job was as digital executive creative director at Saatchi & Saatchi, Greater China. One favorite project there was for Safeguard soap, teaching kids in 2,000 schools to wash their hands with an interactive game where they had to scrub away cartoon germs.
For the latest edition of Six Things, Mr. Ip caught up with Ad Age to talk about his past on Hong Kong's small screen and the story of his vintage Rolex.
1. He was a regular on Hong Kong TV. His mom was a makeup artist when he was a kid, and she would always ask him to be an extra on TV shoots. "I used to get paid something like $10 to walk around in the background and look really happy."
2. He has a thing for viewfinders. As a boy, he dreamed of being a cinematographer. He used to spend hours on TV sets waiting for the cameramen to let him peek into the camera. "After I grew older, I started to understand why I loved that viewfinder so much – it's the idea that you can control the framing and capturing of the beautiful things in your life."