Moving the Needle: Tiffany Jyang

At DDB, our people are the heart and soul to our agency. We believe that the inclusivity of thought and background leads to when we, as a company, are able to be the most authentic and creative. Thus, allowing creativity to be the most powerful force within our business; it has the power to make people laugh, cry, think, alter their behavior, create change for the world, and impact culture.  

Tiffany Jyang a multidisciplinary strategist with 10+ years of experience in product development, brand strategy, new business, and e-commerce retail. Currently shaping brands and launching products in industries as wide-ranging as CPG, healthcare, financial services, tech, and media and publishing. In a previous life, Tiffany led product development across categories (from jewellery to kitchenware to garden and home décor). She is a keen observer with a social science background and a natural curiosity that gets to the heart behind what people really think, want, and need. Not afraid to do things differently. 

1. Name, Title, Office, Link to LinkedIn Page  

Tiffany Jyang, senior strategist at adam&eveDDB.

2. What is your personal mantra?   

Tiffany> If you don’t ask, the answer will always be “no.”

3. How did you wind up in advertising?  

Tiffany> I had been working a job in product development, basically coming up with product ideas and working with designers and manufacturers to figure out how to bring these products to life. It was fun work, but I wanted something different – something more 'upstream,' as they say. 

At the time, a creative director at Droga5 was just launching D5in10, a program designed to introduce non-advertising people to the creative side of the industry. I was accepted into their inaugural class and got a crash course into creative and strategy. 

Soon after, I did the Griffin Farley’s Beautiful Minds program, which is a comms planning bootcamp held by BBH. That bootcamp culminated in a strategy competition, which my team won, and it got me recruited into my very first entry-level strategy role. 

4. What is a piece of creative that you worked on that particularly moved you?  

Tiffany> We just shot a couple films for a client that’s known for being a family brand. I’m really excited about those films because they capture real life family dynamics, but in a refreshingly light hearted way. I know we love to cry at commercials, but sometimes you just want to look at a family and recognise yourself in it and have a laugh. 

5. What does your daily routine consist of? 

Tiffany> I’m chaotic and easily distracted, so I don’t have an ongoing routine. For a while I made myself matcha lattes in the morning. Maybe let’s pretend I’m still doing that?

6. When do you feel the most powerful?   

Tiffany> Whenever I have a strong emotional and intellectual response to something – a book, a song, a thing that is happening in the world – and I get this momentary spark of clarity, and I’m able to communicate exactly what I’m thinking and feeling. It feels powerful to be able to express exactly what you mean.

7. Which of the DDB Four Freedoms is the most important to you and why? 

Tiffany> Freedom to Be. It directly affects the culture of a workplace, and it’s the difference between feeling like a corporate cog in the wheel vs. believing your ideas and opinions matter. 

8. What is one source of creative inspiration you draw from outside of work?  

Tiffany> Books! Especially books geared toward younger kids. I think as grownups we tend to look down on children’s books, but they’re so full of things that resonate universally, little lessons that adults take for granted but are actually fundamental to learning how to be a person in the world.

9. Who are your creative heroes? 

Tiffany> My creative inspirations change all the time. This week I’m really into the two Daniels that wrote and directed Everything Everywhere All At Once, mostly because they had this one line in the film that was pulled from the song, Absolutely (Story of a Girl). And instead of rewriting the line, they just made it a thing and even worked with the guy from Nine Days to record three different versions of the song, each for a different universe in the film.

10. Wishes or aspirations for the advertising industry?   

Tiffany> I’d like to see more agency leaders develop a more proactive, sustainable view toward talent retention. We always say that people are our most valuable resource, but we tend to squeeze as much as we can out of them without compensating them for it, or investing back into them, or even considering the long term consequences. I think that’s an unfortunate norm across the industry.

11. How are you moving the advertising industry forward?  

Tiffany> Advocating for people even and especially when I have no skin in the game… AKA sticking my nose where it doesn’t belong.

12. What has been your most measurable impact?   

Tiffany> I just submitted an Effies award entry for a Muscle Milk campaign, so hopefully that??

13. Lasting words to leave us with:

Tiffany> It’s only advertising!