John Kyriakou: Singapore must become creative heart of Asia

Having first arrived in Singapore in 1982, and with his share of Don Draper years well behind him, Kyriakou is leaving for the UK to recuperate from a persistent health problem before moving on to a new venture in the future.

His career includes stints at JWT and Saatchi and Saatchi, but he was most recently CEO of Leo Burnett Singapore. Since joining in 2010, Jarek Ziebinski, president of Leo Burnett Asia Pacific, credits him with the agency’s strong growth—the team has tripled in size in recent years—and for leaving the office in “very good shape” for the future.

In an exit interview with Campaign Asia-Pacific, Kyriakou looked back at his career, and talked about how the Singapore ad industry has changed, as well as what’s needed to pull it out of the current creative lull.

Kyriakou made his foray into the ad world during the 1960s, earning just AUS$22 a week in the mailroom at Clemengers in his home country of Australia. But he soon moved to the creative department as a copywriter, cutting his teeth at various agencies before becoming creative director at FCB at just 26 years old.

But it was his subsequent move to JWT Sydney that eventually saw him relocate to Singapore in 1982. He originally arrived on a project basis, but on landing back in Sydney was offered the job of ECD at JWT Singapore, then a team of 30 people.

Singapore at that time was a great place to work, he said, with exciting creative work and adventurous clients.

“You could open The Straits Times everyday and there would be a great ad, literally,” he said. “There was some great work that came out of Singapore, some amazing work. And it really did put the industry on the map.”

It was during this time that Kyriakou led the positioning of Citibank—a huge business success for the bank and work that was reported to have been called “the campaign of the decade” by The Straits Times.

By 1997, JWT Singapore had grown to 130 people, but Kyriakou relocated to North America for 10 years, taking on various roles and an academic post at the Ontario College of Art & Design.

When a call from Saatchi and Saatchi saw his return to Singapore, Kyriakou found the industry had changed dramatically. “An entirely new skyline had gone up in 10 years,” he said. “And the creativity that Singapore went through in the '80s and early '90s had kind of disappeared, to be honest. That was the biggest change.”

Kyriakou said he doesn’t completely understand the reasons for the radical change, but suggested evolution in marketing may have been a factor. When Singapore was at the beginning of its marketing life in the 1980s, there was a more of a “gung ho” attitude and a willingness to experiment, he said.

“I think Singapore is now at the stage where it has some marketing knowledge, and I think that’s created some caution,” he said. “Spontaneity has disappeared.”

He added that the digital shift has compounded the problem, making the job of a creative ever more complex, while the financial crisis has undoubtedly also fuelled a more cautious approach.

“In a small market like Singapore you really notice the difference,” he said. “In bigger markets you always have the occasional client or agency that can compensate. In a small market it’s very hard to find those clients.”

After Group M president Dominic Proctor recently described Asia as a follower and not a leader, Kyriakou said it is essential for the industry in Singapore to now deliver strong creative work that will shine through and inspire a new generation.

“To me there is nothing more important than creativity in business these days, absolutely nothing,” he said. “There is no information that is sacred or unique anymore. So the question is now what do you so with the information you have. Hence creativity.”

He is confident a change will come, expecting a turnaround in the next three to five years. He said it's not a question of whether things will change, but rather that they have to.

“It’s essential this market becomes a creative heart of what’s happening in Asia, it’s absolutely critical,” he said. “This country can almost turn on a dime. All it will take is a short burst of really great creative to shine through, prove what that can do, and then it will explode.”