40 Under 40 2021: Nicolas Chan, The Hoffman Agency

Nicolas Chan

Head of digital APAC and deputy GM, Hong Kong
The Hoffman Agency
Singapore

Nicolas Chan started out as an estate agent, but in 2010, aged 26, he made a career switch that saw him drop houses for household names, securing his first agency role as a ‘mature intern’ at Hill+Knowlton.

Chan hasn’t looked back since. He joined Golin in 2012 as an account executive but quickly became a visionary for digital services, building the agency’s digital capabilities in Singapore from the ground up. Rising through the ranks at Golin, Chan ultimately became head of planning and analytics in China, where he established and built the strategic planning and analytics team to a total of five (18% of office head count).

Having joined The Hoffman Agency as head of digital for APAC in 2019, today Chan oversees the integrated business across nine markets throughout Greater China, North Asia and Southeast Asia. In 2020 he took on an additional role leading the Hong Kong office due to the departure of the GM.

Since joining The Hoffman Agency, Chan has been instrumental in leading the agency’s transformation from a PR shop to an integrated marketing communications agency through digital services. He has grown APAC digital revenue significantly, from 11% of the total in 2019 to 14% of the total in 2020, helping to win major clients such as Twitch, Twitter, ASML, Invisalign, Visa and Tencent. Hoffman’s revenue from IMC and Digital service, which Chan leads, accounts for close to 30% of 2021 revenue.

Chan has proven himself an adept leader. He has grown Hoffman’s one-man design team into a creative studio and put in place a strategic plan to grow the practice with viable career paths for creatives. He has also increased training at the agency by more than 35% in terms of frequency and disciplines, putting in place a formal digital-training programme to provide accreditation for Hoffman employees in collaboration with LinkedIn. It’s little wonder that he is known at Hoffman as being the man who brings everything to the table. From fresh and quirky ideas, to big picture, strategic thinking and guidance, people look to him for his counsel and problem-solving capabilities.