Hylink Digital, a fully integrated, award-winning, independent international advertising and communications agency based in Beijing, with more than twenty offices worldwide, has announced the promotion, and appointment of its first U.S. Executive Creative Director —Award-winning creative Ning Li, based in the agency’s Los Angeles office.
Ning’s promotion comes shortly after joining the agency in 2019, a tumultuous time where clients demanded highly creative, award-winning work to stay relevant. His role requires him to work with Humphrey Ho, Hylink Digital’s U.S. Managing Director, Americas and Berner Ortiz, Hylink Digital’s Full Stack Tech Lead. Collaboratively they empower our developers and creative teams to take advantage of Hylink Digital’s massive scale by embracing machine learning, simplifying the path from creative craft to production craft to development craft, strengthening frameworks and mechanisms to help us simplify/reinvent the process, amplifying XD, and shape our creative culture.
Before Hylink Digital, Ning was a Creative Group Head at Ogilvy in Shanghai, China. The world has also experienced his work for over 13-years through agencies such as Grey Group, garnering him several prestigious awards including Oneshow Awards; Cannes Creative Festival Awards, 4A Awards, Effie Award, D&AD Award, Summit Creative Awards, The Drum Awards, Webby Awards, Shorty Awards, AdWeek Award and Interactive Creative Awards & Media Marketing Awards (formally the Modern Advertising Awards).
Ning has been part of the evolution of advertising and received art training from some of the world’s most reputable creative schools. With a unique background spanning the globe, Ning has developed skills that have allowed him to create inspirational designs, meaningful and relevant work that resonates with their intended audiences. The combination of Ning’s talent and partnering with Hylink Digital to disrupt industry trends by founding a creative industry from within an existing marketing firm is pure genius, as it pays homage to creative spirit while respecting the art.
Ning’s talent has found its home at Hylink Digital marketing, where he’s been able to launch an in-house creative agency, One Legged Pigeon (OLP).
Ning identifies as Chinese-American and is at a senior level in an industry where many do not look like him. He wants the world to know that “adversity provides a unique storytelling perspective that allows people to feel beauty and sadness in art.”
“I connected immediately with Hylink Digital because of their ability to identify what is next and act on it. I am excited and can’t wait for the world to see OLP, a creative agency I am head of and backed by Hylink Digital. We will disrupt a Western agency trend, and I look forward to it,” said Ning.
Humphrey Ho shares, “I am honored to have Ning as part of the Hylink Digital family. He is a talented individual who can make people feel stories through his work. He is also a great leader who manages a team located worldwide – LA, New York, Bogota, Shanghai, and Tokyo. He and One Legged Pigeon are vital to Hylink Digital U.S.’ evolution as a truly integrated media agency and, therefore, deserves this title.”
Hylink Digital birthed a creative agency called OLP in 2021, the epitome of integration. Through this labor of love and perseverance, Hylink has passed down its DNA to foster a singular culture across multiple disciplines.
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