Y&R China strengthens planning team with two senior hires

Li is replacing Stephen Drummond, Y&R China's ex-chief strategic officer who resigned last April to take up a regional creative excellence director role at Coca-Cola.

Li brings significant experience working with some of the world’s biggest brands, including Nike, McDonald's, Siemens, China Mobile, and Fiat. He was most recently deputy head of planning at Leo Burnett Shanghai and has also held senior planning posts at ARC Worldwide, Hong Kong, and JWT Shanghai.

Li is also the author of several published White Papers on Chinese social and consumer trends.

Meanwhile, Xiao has 10 years’ experience in consumer research and strategic planning in China.  This is his second stint with Y&R China, having previously worked in the Shanghai office as a planner in 2009. 

He has experience of working on both client and research agency sides, most recently working for spirits company Diageo as a consumer planner.  He has also worked for research agencies including Citigate, TNS and Synovate. 

“Kaiyu is one of China’s leading planning talents and will be a great asset to Y&R," Charles Sampson, CEO, Y&R China, said. "(And) with David also coming on board it means our strategic planning offer to the market will be very strong.”