Jury

Jody Xiong
Founder & Creative Director, The Nine

Jody Xiong is undoubtedly one of the most creative figures in China’s advertising and design industry today. His work is diverse and unconventional, boldly merging concepts with boundless imagination. Driven by a childlike curiosity, Xiong moves fluidly across film, digital media, installations, graphics, and interactive art, making him an artist defying categorization.

In 2022, Jody Xiong was invited to join the international film master Zhang Yimou’s team as Visual Effects Director for the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics. He contributed to the “Beginning of Spring” and “Tribute to the People” segments, drawing billions of viewers worldwide. Additionally, he created “The Bloom”, an art installation dedicated to the Paralympics blending technology and art as the expression of the mental strength of the disabled. In 2024, the Paris Olympics, in collaboration with Alibaba Cloud, invited Xiong to use AI to create and direct the digital short film “Honor History, Create History”, which was featured on the BBC website.

With 18 years of experience as a Creative Director at top Western 4A advertising groups, Jody Xiong founded The Nine Shanghai in 2017. He has since created widely acclaimed campaigns in the Chinese market, including the Durex 001 & Volvo XC40 “Safely Feel The Real World”; the Coca-Cola brand installation “12-Meter-high Bottle Split in Two”; he directed the commercial "Bless My Wish" for BMW to celebrate the Chinese New Year of the Horse; he creatively directed and produced the promotional film "Wonderland" for Shenzhen, one of China's most important cities, which was released globally; he created and directed the promotional film "Magnificent" for the ancient city of Yotkan in Xinjiang, China. This film attracted millions of tourists to the ancient city, and the project swept all the major advertising awards globally, the "Magnificent" project was selected as the main promotional visual for the 72nd Cannes International Creativity Festival. Under his leadership, The Nine has become China’s most internationally awarded independent creative agency. Campaign Brief ranked Xiong among the “Top 12 Most Awarded Creative Leaders in Asia,” and he is No.1 most awarded Chinese Director at the The One Club's 2025 Global Creative Rankings. with over 500 awards to his credit. His accolades include: Winning the Grand Clio at the Clio Awards, one of the world's three major advertising creativity awards, and securing a total of 23 silver and bronze statues; China’s first-ever Cannes Design Gold Lion, Silver Design Lion, Bronze Film Lion; 32 Pencils at D&AD, One Show, and AWARD, including the Gold Pencil; 12 Cubes at New York ADC, including a Gold Cube; 2 Gold at German IF Design Awards; 21 Statues of London International Awards, including 4 Golds; Gold at Epica Awards, Cresta Awards, and Andy Awards; 32 awards from AdFest, including two Grand Prix; Grand Prix at Green Awards; and the Jury Award at the 57th Annual WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival. His short films have been selected 12 times for Oscar-qualifying festivals, such as the St. Louis International Film Festival and the Rhode Island International Film Festiva, and shortlisted for the 75nd Berlin International Film Festival, among others.

He is also an international judge for D&AD, Cannes Lions, One Show, and Clio. His works have been featured by NY MoMA, CANAL+, and TIME magazine. It is part of the collection at the Shanghai and Guangdong Museum of Art and has been exhibited at prestigious venues like the UCCA Edge in Shanghai and the Carrousel du Louvre in Paris.