J. Walter Thompson's Norman Tan muses on a career working throughout Asia.
words
PEOPLE
PROFILE
ROME JORGE
I
n his 30-year career, he
has worked and lived in
Singapore, Taipei, and
Shanghai. His genius has
earned a wealth of gold, silver,
and bronze trophies—over 300
from Cannes Lions, D&AD, The
Clio Awards, Adfest Asia, Spikes
Asia, Singapore 4A Golden Gong
Awards and other prestigious
international and regional
awards. He's a busy globetrotter
responsible for over a hundred
people in his office, millions of
audiences across Asia, and billiondollar global brand names. He
has held key leadership positions
at agencies such as J. Walter
Thompson Shanghai, Taiwan,
and Southeast Asia, Grey, Leo
Burnett, Bates, and Lowe China.
So when the Taiwan-based
Advertising Magazine offered
Norman Tan, the North Asia
Chief Creative Officer and China
Chairman of J. Walter Thompson
Shanghai since October 2014,
the opportunity to write yet
another regular column in 1990s,
he had precious little time to
type thousand-word articles
monthly for the publication.
“I was afraid I couldn't meet
the deadline,” he confesses.
EASY WAY OUT
Tan, ever the creative genius,
instead snail-mailed picturesque
postcards handwritten in Mandarin
once a month and asked the
magazine to publish them in full
color front and back. “My intention
was so I could just write only a few
words. At that time, no one wrote
postcards anymore,” he confides.
He did so for ten years. The
postcards were insightful and
inspiring missives addressed
“to the copywriter,” “to the
challenger,” “to people who don’t
listen,” “to moms,” and “to the
courageous,” to name a few.
After a decade, he published
his gorgeous full-color coffee
table book entitled Ten Years:
100 Postcards to Creatives.
“It was launched last year.
The first print of 6,000 copies was
sold out in three months. I was
very happy. I never expected it.
It is so un-advertising. The best
thing is that I got a lot of readers
from non-advertising people.
A lot of people buy it as a gift.
Now we have (our) second print
of 3,000 copies,” Tan attests.
PERSON OF INTEREST
It takes an interesting man living in
interesting times to write such an
interesting book. His handwritten
prose connects with a myriad
of readers because his interest
has always been in people.
On why he willingly uproots
himself to work abroad, the
Singapore native reasons, “Someone
asked what kept me on all these
years. What kept me passionate?
What do you learn everyday? Most
exciting part of my career is meeting
new people. This is one reason why
I left Singapore to join JWT China,
besides being invited, the brief was
really good—go in and win awards.
Taipei had 180 staff. If I go there
I'll get to know 180 Taiwanese
colleagues and friends. That's why
I stayed in Shanghai and Taipei.”
He also fondly recalls his
mentors: “The accounts I work on, I
was really lucky. Me and [executive
creative director of SapientNitro]
Andy Greenaway, we were at a
precise time in our career. We got
to work with very good people
who inspired us like [legendary
advertising executing of The Ball
Partnership] Neil French and
[marketing director and general
manager of Club 21 eCommerce]
Linda Locke. Linda Locke used to
be my boss. Even people I didn't
work with, they inspired us a lot.”
Sharing his passion with fellow
creatives gives him joy. He explains,
“The people are different in every city
I work in. I was based in Singapore
when I handled Asia and went to
Thailand a lot, sometimes Manila,
and a little bit of KL [Kuala Lumpur].
One thing in common was is that
when you're working with people
who love advertising and creative,
they are all the same. It's just different
languages. There are also different
behaviors. In Shanghai, we have
Shanghainese, we have people from
all the different provinces. People
from Beijing and Shanghainese
behave differently. But for as long
as we are in one place to do things
together, I feel it's the same.”
What kept me passionate? What do you
learn everyday? Most exciting part of
my career is meeting new people.
July - August 2016 | adobo magazine
131