Chu will be charged with driving digital innovation and strategy for W+K regionally, including areas such as online community management and integration of digital with offline work. He starts work on 27 February.
He joined Tribal DDB as MD in November 2011 and was the general manager of AKQA Shanghai for three years prior to that.
Chu will report directly to Jason White, managing director of W+K Shanghai, working to build up digital offerings for clients including Nike, Chrysler, Intel and Tiffany.
The position is newly-created to make sure "digital has expertise at the highest level of the agency", according to White.
Digital represents 40 per cent of the agency headcount. White added that this appointment is about further driving digital through the mainstream creative output of the agency, as opposed to forming a department within the agency.