theceomagazine.com | 27Unforgettable
JCDecaux Transport Hong Kong Managing Director Shirley Chan
shares how the company is creating pioneering outdoor advertising
campaigns for a digital world.WORDS DANIEL HERBORN • IMAGES GARETH BROWNA
Christmas tree studded with more than a million pieces
of crystal. Apps allowing people to take selfies with
Madame Tussauds waxworks. Activations that turn train
stations into outposts of World Cup soccer fever: when
it comes to outdoor advertising, the old days of simple
posters and mass-produced signage are long gone.
JCDecaux Transport Hong Kong has been at the forefront of this
change. For Shirley Chan, the company’s Managing Director, this
new digital era brings with it challenges but also unprecedented
opportunities to create more engaging advertising content that is
better tailored to a client’s specific needs than ever before.
The company is dominant in out-of-home (OOH) advertising,
with a market share of more than 50 per cent in Hong Kong and
clients such as Hong Kong’s Mass Transit Railway (MTR), the Hong
Kong International Airport and Macau International Airport.
Shirley credits a commitment to staying at the cutting edge for the
company’s enviable market share. “Innovation enables us to anticipate
people’s constantly changing needs and help make transportation more
enjoyable for passengers,” she says. “In the past few years, we have not
only increased our number of digital panels, but also pioneered
dynamic content on digital media to help advertisers drive a better
return on investment by delivering content that is contextually relevant
for the brand, as well as for the environment and consumer.”
Having first joined the company as Senior Sales Executive back
in 1997, Shirley says her corporate knowledge was advantageous when
she transitioned to higher levels of management. “I understood the
company culture and had the company’s trust,” she explains. “Once
you earn that trust, you can get the most out of people. They will
want to work with you. This is very important since a lot of the
consistent success of a business can be attributed to the high quality »Interview | INSPIRE