Leslie Yeh – creative strategy

Leslie Yeh is a multidisciplinary creative and cultural strategist specializing in brand and experience marketing.

My ideal playground is in the intersection of creative and strategy. This means I value the research and analysis in developing strategy as much as I enjoy conceptualizing creative. It means I know the language to sell through team priorities and can translate it into action with campaign execution and creative production.

The journalist in me always thinks story-first. Whether translating data into insights or transforming brand values into content, I know how to package a message into a compelling story that breaks through the clutter. I always seek and uplift stories with cultural resonance that outlast a campaign by provoking thought, inspiring action and giving a reason why.

I believe detours come with valuable lessons. I also believe that innovation can be compromised by a dedication to the established path. I subscribe to the "what if" philosophy, and have a strong bias for action. Over the years, I've forged an unconventional path from client to agency to publisher side, gathering unique perspectives and skills along the way.

I believe in form and function, content and distribution.

I believe context matters: that the where and the when are as important as the who and the what.

I believe in listening: to the industry, to culture, to data, to audiences.

Through my unconventional path from a stuffy university newsroom to a global media company, from a major movie studio to a digital media start up, I’ve learned how to gather insights, find white space opportunities, and advocate for resources to get things done.

In a landscape where content is disposable and campaigns feel ephemeral, I believe audiences deserve stories that provoke thought, inspire action and give a reason why. I also believe that cultural and social relevance impact a business’s bottom line, now more than ever.

My work philosophy is grounded in three core principles: commit to stories, push for innovation and optimize for sustainability. Stories help connect people to a message, and innovation helps the story capture attention. Most importantly, when done right, stories should outlive the campaign and be sustainable for the brand, the business, the audiences and ideally, the context, culturally or environmentally.