Women to Watch Greater China 2021: Joni Ngai, IPG Mediabrands

Joni Ngai

Chief product officer of UM China and head of Reprise China
IPG Mediabrands
Shanghai

No matter how much she achieves, Joni Ngai prioritises “being a student”. With her commitment to continuous learning and growing, it is little wonder she has accomplished so much. It’s with this exceptional mindset and armed with more than 20 years of industry experience that she straddles her dual roles as chief product officer of UM China and head of Reprise China.

In the past year alone Ngai has rebuilt Reprise from the ground up, transforming it into a leaner but stronger business. A key part of Ngai’s vision has been to build stronger relationships with its clients, which include major global brands Coke, Exxon Mobil, J&J, Lego and Henkel—the success of which is evidenced in a 30% improvement in client satisfaction scores across the past year.

Ngai has also proven her knack for winning new business, including key client wins, by leading collaborative pitches in China that combine the skillsets of UM, Reprise and Kinesso/Matterkind. Traversing two agencies, she has overseen greater integration of Reprise and UM resources by combining tools, and she has driven the launch of several products into China covering connected commerce, KOL evaluation and Reprise’s auditing process DXA, which have proven a hit with clients.

But Ngai’s passion is not only about her work. Her top priority is always about people, and her mission is to empower everyone to achieve more. Honouring her belief that "the best way to learn is to teach", Ngai started teaching the Master of Science in New Media at the Chinese University of Hong Kong 10 years ago. Since then, she has nurtured more than 300 students in the industry who are taking positions working for Tencent, Alibaba, and other leading internet companies and agencies. Whether it’s as a teacher or student, for Ngai there are always limitless possibilities.