Coolio Yang
English • Mandarin • Cantonese
18+ years of leadership bridging cultural nuance with business intelligence. I help global brands build sustainable market presence through operational excellence and clarity.
Founder, CY&C
Strategic growth for leaders like MGM, Mitsubishi, and Shiseido. Implemented a "Hybrid In-house" model, saving key accounts $1M+ annually.
CEO, Greater China @ Kantar Media
Directed regional brand transformation and data-driven marketing excellence.
Vice President @ Ogilvy
Social marketing leadership and 360-degree MARCOM strategies for Fortune 500 clients.
Angel & Venture Partner
Focusing on early-stage wellbeing, lifestyle, and MarTech with high-scale potential.
Beachhead Advisor @ NZTE
Strategic advisor for five years on international market entry and scaling.
AUT (Business & Marketing), IDM (Direct Marketing Principles), IAA (Advertising Communication).
Eastbound Insights Podcast
Listen to high-level briefings of my strategic insights on the go. Bridging the gap between theory and execution through an expert lens.
SUBSCRIBE ON APPLE PODCASTSStrategic Insights & Methodology
How to Solve Consultant Misalignment? The Co-Investment Model
Traditional consultancy models are broken. Coolio Yang’s Co-Investment Model removes service fees in favor of shared risk and reward, ensuring that strategic marketing is tied directly to business results and revenue growth.
READ FULL ARTICLE ON LINKEDIN →8 Technical Marketing Skills Required for 2026
The future of marketing demands mastery in AI Agent Orchestration, Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), and POAS (Profit on Ad Spend). Marketers must evolve into system architects to manage hyper-fragmented ecosystems.
READ FULL ARTICLE ON LINKEDIN →Why Brand Crises Are Escalating in China
Policy resets and algorithmic amplification mean 72% of consumers will boycott insensitive brands. Success requires localized entities, crisis response chains, and building narratives before volatility strikes.
READ FULL ARTICLE ON LINKEDIN →AI Agents Take Over? Rethinking Marketing Agencies
AI will automate commoditized execution but cannot replace human judgment in stakeholder negotiations. Marketing is bifurcating into "quality tribes" and "direct tribes."
READ FULL ARTICLE ON LINKEDIN →When a Job Ad Says "No Branding"
"No Branding" signals past frustrations with abstract campaigns. Real branding is the discipline of subtraction—removing distractions to clarify the founder's original intention.
READ FULL ARTICLE ON LINKEDIN →The New Gravity of China’s E-Commerce
Traffic has peaked; retention is the new power. Success depends on "brand gravity"—building trust through decentralized content commerce and 30-minute instant retail logistics.
READ FULL ARTICLE ON LINKEDIN →The “Spiritually Middle Class” Consumer Lens
Consumers switch identities across contexts—refined on Xiaohongshu, thrifty on Pinduoduo. Complexity must be met with structure, anchoring diverse expressions to a single coherent vision.
READ FULL ARTICLE ON LINKEDIN →Structuring Content Marketing for 2025
A 5-step framework: Define objectives, develop goal-aligned themes, assign the right messengers (Owned vs. Consumers vs. KOLs), and choose platforms based on strategic integration.
READ FULL ARTICLE ON LINKEDIN →Why Consumers Don’t Just Buy from KOLs
KOLs drive purchase decisions, but successful brands rely on IMC campaigns and creative branded content to establish trust and justify premium pricing in the long term.
READ FULL ARTICLE ON LINKEDIN →Secrets of China Advertising Censorship
Beyond official laws lie unspoken rules regarding lighting, timing, and cultural sensitivity. Navigating compliance requires expert buying agents and analyzing competitor strategies.
READ FULL ARTICLE ON LINKEDIN →What You Need to Know About Paying KOLs
Avoid media inefficiency by mastering price polarization, brand protection clauses, and setting realistic ROI expectations while maintaining full creative control.
READ FULL ARTICLE ON LINKEDIN →Optimizing SME Marketing HR in China
Efficiency comes from focusing on content leadership, leveraging media buying expertise, and separating sales-driven roles from brand building for a hybrid, agile team.
READ FULL ARTICLE ON LINKEDIN →Why Finding a Reliable Agency is Challenging
Complexity, lack of specialization, and profit-driven models make agency selection difficult. Brands should allocate budget for industry experts and diversify their approach.
READ FULL ARTICLE ON LINKEDIN →Lessons from Collaborating with Chinese Influencers
Balance expectations by aligning strategy-first objectives with platform strengths and using objective monitoring tools to measure real business impact.
READ FULL ARTICLE ON LINKEDIN →Navigating the Media Landscape: Regulatory Challenges
Operating in digital media demands a legitimate representative entity to bridge the regulatory maze and ensure compliant, effective engagement with the target audience.
READ FULL ARTICLE ON LINKEDIN →Shared Risk. Collective Growth.
We align our incentives with your revenue. If you represent a high-growth brand seeking global scale, let’s discuss alignment.
APPLY FOR CO-INVESTMENT