2025-07-15
Sarah Chen
Design Dispatch, New York
In a global advertising landscape increasingly defined by social relevance and cultural resonance, Yonghwa Cha is a standout voice pushing the boundaries of what creativity can accomplish. For Cha, creativity is not merely a tool for brand storytelling—it’s a force that challenges norms, sparks dialogue, and drives meaningful impact.
A Korean-born art director based in New York, Cha has emerged as one of the most awarded creatives of 2025, capturing a staggering 35 international awards in a single year—including honors from the industry’s “Big Five”: Clio, ANDY, One Show, D&AD, and New York Festivals. He was also named a D&AD Portfolio Winner, a recognition reserved for talents redefining the future of advertising and design.
Cha’s campaigns for brands like Google Cloud, Starbucks, Heinz, Xbox, Vaseline, and Duolingo are not only visually striking—they are purpose-led, insight-driven, and culturally relevant, shifting the role of advertising from product promotion to social innovation.
As tattoos go mainstream—with forecasts suggesting that nearly half of Americans will be inked by 2035—industry-wide hygiene standards remain largely unregulated. Cha’s Blue Shield campaign for Vaseline filled this critical gap. By establishing a certification program for tattoo studios that meet strict hygiene protocols, the campaign repositioned Vaseline as a post-tattoo care authority while initiating a public conversation about health in emerging subcultures.
Awarded: Bronze – New York Festivals, Shortlist – ANDY Awards
To coincide with the 2024 Paris Olympics, Cha reimagined the Starbucks mermaid—one of the world’s most recognizable brand icons—by replacing it with silhouettes of female Olympians. This subtle yet powerful design decision turned everyday coffee cups into beacons of gender visibility in sports. The campaign underscored how thoughtful visual identity can become an engine for social commentary.
Awarded: Best of Show – ADDY NY Metro, Finalist – Golden Award Montreux, Shortlist – Clio Awards
The day after the Super Bowl is a uniquely American cultural moment: millions waking up to cold wings and tired eyes. Cha saw an opportunity to reframe this moment with Heinz’s new spicy ketchup—encouraging audiences to remix their leftovers into bold breakfast creations. From zesty hash browns to spicy pancake dips, Heinz was repositioned as a breakfast essential.
Awarded: Bronze – New York Festivals, Silver & Bronze – The One Show
In a campaign that felt as much like urban commentary as it did media innovation, Look Down turned public walkways into interactive OOH ads for Xbox Game Pass. Designed to catch the attention of heads-down, phone-scrolling passersby, these floor-based activations featured humorous prompts, wayfinding, and QR codes unlocking exclusive gameplay—transforming high-traffic areas into immersive brand moments.
Awarded: Shortlist – Clio Awards
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Fashion’s seasonal churn creates millions of tons of unnecessary waste. Cha’s Cloud LookBook project, powered by Google Cloud AI, tackled this by converting unsold inventory into personalized, AI-generated digital lookbooks. Consumers discovered new styles from existing stock, while brands unlocked a sustainable, tech-forward way to reimagine excess.
Awarded: Wood Pencil – D&AD, 5× Shortlist – Clio Awards
Generative AI often produces visuals riddled with broken, unreadable text—a creative flaw that Clarify AI turned into an educational tool. The campaign cleaned up illegible language in AI images and repurposed them as language-learning exercises, both for users and industry designers via forthcoming Adobe plug-ins. As AI-generated images skyrocket in number, Duolingo reframed a problem into a platform for global learning.
Awarded: Silver – ADDY Awards
For Cha, advertising is not just a profession—it’s a platform for provocation and progress.
“Modern advertising isn’t just about selling—it’s about shaping culture and offering better ways to live,” he says. “Each project is an opportunity to reimagine what’s possible.”
One of the few Asian art directors to gain such global acclaim, Cha doesn’t take that position lightly.
“I hope my journey makes it easier for others to follow—so the next generation can create without hesitation, on a wider path.”
Yonghwa Cha is an award-winning art director and creative storyteller with a BFA in Advertising from the School of Visual Arts, New York. His work for brands like Google, Starbucks, and Heinz breaks down boundaries between art, culture, and commerce, setting new standards for purpose driven advertising.
While at SVA, he garnered multiple scholarships and early recognition at international festivals—foreshadowing a career that now sets benchmarks for impact-driven advertising.
From Seoul to New York, Cha continues to expand the cultural reach of his ideas—redefining not just how ads look, but what they can do.