INNOCEAN just did something that sounds obvious but happens less than you’d think: they made the person responsible for their biggest creative win this year the CEO of the entire global operation.
Jung A Kim stepped into the Global Chief Executive Officer role on November 1, succeeding William Lee after five years at the helm. She’s the first woman to hold the role in the company’s 20-year history. More interestingly, she’s spent 19 of those years building the creative identity that just won INNOCEAN its first Cannes Lions Grand Prix.
When the work speaks that loudly
“Night Fishing” wasn’t a typical car ad. The 13-minute thriller, starring actor Son Sukku and featuring the Hyundai IONIQ 5, played in Korean theaters—the first branded content to do so. Shot entirely from seven fixed cameras inside the vehicle, it won the Grand Prix at Cannes, the Grand Prix at MAD STARS, and the Best of the Best at the Red Dot Awards. All in 2025.
Kim led that project as Chief Creative Officer of INNOCEAN Korea. She also built award-winning campaigns for Google Korea, Domino’s Pizza, and Hanwha Group. Campaign Brief Asia named her Korea’s No. 1 Creative Director in both 2020 and 2021. In 2023, she received the CMG AdAsia Award for Industry Leadership.
Now she’s running the whole network—42 offices across 23 countries, more than 4,100 people.
The timing tells the story
This appointment arrives during INNOCEAN’s strongest momentum in years. Canvas Worldwide, the agency’s US media subsidiary, won Media Agency of the Year from Campaign US in March. In September, INNOCEAN USA hired Leslie Barrett—former president of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners—as its first-ever President. That followed the May appointment of Lee Maicon as Chief Strategy Officer.
The US office also added new business from Delta Faucet Company, El Pollo Loco, and NEFT Vodka while expanding its creative and strategy teams with hires from major holding companies.
What she’s building
Kim’s three priorities: elevating creativity as the core business strategy, embracing AI as a creative amplifier, and nurturing a collaborative culture across offices. No mention of efficiency mandates or restructuring initiatives—just creativity, technology, and people.
“My goal is to stay true to the essence of creativity while continuously expanding beyond traditional advertising to build new kinds of businesses that will position INNOCEAN as a leading global marketing company,” she said.
When creatives run agencies
Something is clarifying about promoting the person whose work just won at the world’s most competitive creative festival. It’s not a bet on operational expertise or holding company experience. It’s a statement that the work—the ideas, the execution, the cultural impact—drives everything else.
INNOCEAN started as Hyundai Motor Group’s in-house agency in 2005. Twenty years later, they’re handing the global CEO role to someone who joined a year into that journey and spent two decades proving creativity could build business at scale.
Lee stays on as Senior Advisor during the transition. Kim officially started on November 1. No word yet on who takes over as Chief Creative Officer in Korea, but whoever it is has big shoes to fill—and a CEO who knows exactly what good creative work looks like.
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