40 Under 40 2020: Edouard de Mézerac, Artefact

Edouard de Mézerac

Managing partner, head of data and consulting, APAC
Artefact
China

Proclaimed by one major MNC client to be "the best digital mind in the market", Edouard de Mézerac has in just over two years built Artefact China's data and consulting operation from a team of three to a team of 46. During 2020, he helped the agency win a massive transformation project for Danone, as well as work from Dior and L'Oreal. In some of these cases, the France-owned agency is beating out the 'big four' consulting companies. And the team's successes have translated to 100% year-over-year growth in revenue.

De Mézerac believes the single most important factor in building a successful business is people, and credits the team's successes to finding the right mix of talented individuals—including data consultants, data scientists and engineers. For example, recognising the importance of ecommerce, de Mézerac lured in Yvonne Feng, who had data experience at a large partner of Alibaba's giant marketplace, Tmall. Feng in turn led Artefact to win certification from Alibaba as a provider of its Brand Databank service, which helps brands analyse and activate consumer data in the Alibaba ecosystem. De Mézerac's emphasis on people also shines through in his team's 10% turnover rate during his tenure. 

De Mézerac earns glowing recommendations and trust from clients for his "insightful knowledge" and his ability to not only "shape the agenda by identifying opportunities" but also ensure that actions "land in a pragmatic way". Danone's China CEO even asked him to act as chief data officer and sit in on all executive committee meetings during the company's transformation project. De Mézerac also lectures at the AI Institute at Shanghai Jiaotong University, passing on to MBA students hands-on knowledge gleaned from running data transformations in large organisations.

A France native, de Mézerac spent several years prior to Artefact with strategy consulting firm Oliver Wyman in the US, France and China.