DE-YAN, the global brand experience studio, today announced that Jonathan Akwue has joined as President, the first in the studio's history. Akwue joins from Translation, where he served as President. Based in New York, he will work alongside founder and CEO Dejan Jovanovic and the executive leadership team to continue to deepen client relationships and build the business around the studio's creative ambition.
The former Translation president and Publicis Groupe executive joins as the brand experience studio builds on a year of growth that included being named Experiential Agency of the Year at Ad Age's Small Agency Awards and an industry-first MASB certification for experiential ROI.
Akwue brings more than 25 years across network and culture-led agencies, including Publicis Groupe, where he was President and Global Media Lead, as well as Digitas UK and Lost Boys. He is the second senior leader in under two years to join DE-YAN from an established agency, following Chief Creative Officer Jason Kreher, formerly of Wieden+Kennedy and Maximum Effort, in 2025.
Akwue first came to know DE-YAN when he visited the retail experience the studio built for Meta Reality Labs in Los Angeles.
DE-YAN's approach is described as inverting the pyramid. Instead of building an ad campaign and bolting on an experience at the end, DE-YAN often starts with something in the real world: an experience that asks someone to care enough to leave their house, show up and engage. And they build advertising, content, creator participation and amplification around that from day one.
The hire comes on the back of real momentum for the studio. Ad Age recently named DE-YAN Experiential Agency of the Year at its Small Agency Awards, and this spring DE-YAN became the first company in the world to earn Marketing Accountability Standards Board certification for experiential ROI. The certified tool, DE-YAN's Experiential Revenue Impact Calculator, was added to the MASB Marketing Metric Catalog.
Measurement infrastructure includes ERIC, which lets brands model revenue impact before an experience runs and measure actual return after, and Hyperion, its proprietary real-time behavioral measurement platform. In an independent study with Avasta, 89% of attendees said the event was the main reason they made a purchase, and high-quality live experiences improved other marketing channels by an average of 47%.
Work in the past 12 months includes creating LED visuals for the first FIFA World Cup Halftime Show, producing PUMA's Rolling Nations kit launch with pop-ups in New York diaspora neighborhoods, leading retail strategy for Meta's first permanent AI glasses stores in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and New York with 13,000 visitors in ten days, YouTube Brandcast at Lincoln Center, Google I/O keynote and Pixel Studio in Tokyo, Zevia campaign featuring Cardi B, Luma AI Dream Brief, Warner Music Group Talking Heads takeover and Louis Vuitton Beauté launch in SoHo.
About DE-YAN
DE-YAN is a global brand experience studio shaping the next era of human connection. With teams across the US, EU, Brazil, and Canada, DE-YAN brings together strategy, design, creative technology, and production to create experiences that move people and move culture. For over a decade, the studio has set the benchmark for how ambitious brands connect with their customers and drive measurable growth. Through proprietary tools and creative frameworks, including Hyperion, its real-time behavioral measurement platform, and ERIC, its MASB-certified ROI calculator, DE-YAN is building the measurement infrastructure and creative standards that define the next generation of brand experience. In an industry obsessed with automation and efficiency, DE-YAN believes the future belongs to brands that create something real.
