Iris Lo resurfaces as MD for new Publicis sister agency Red Lion

At the time of Draftfcb Hong Kong's closure in December, Campaign Asia-Pacific reported that Lo (pictured) was expected to join Publicis.

Yu, who worked very closely with Lo when both were with Bates Asia, told Campaign that Lo’s Red Lion team will operate separately from Publicis. The agency exists in the Publicis network in many countries. Lo will have total flexibility, avoiding any conflict of interest with Publicis’ existing clients, he added.

“I always highly appreciated Lo’s entrepreneurial and creative ability when she was running the Draftfcb office,” he said.

The Red Lion Hong Kong office, which started operations two weeks ago, has 10 employees and will be expanding to 20. Lo will build the team and look for a new office location. And she will attract lots of new businesses, Yu believes. Lo is expected to spend time in China where she will serve clients there as well as those in Hong Kong. She reports to Yu, who joined Publicis in 2012.

“I believe there is room for independent agencies," Yu said. "We see quite a few new agencies starting up in Hong Kong in the past few years."