Yasuharu Sasaki
Global Chief Creative Officer, dentsu
Yasuharu Sasaki, known as Yasu, began working at dentsu as a copywriter in 1995. Drawing on his skills as a Computer Science graduate he was an early pioneer of interactive advertising. His passion for creativity and technology has been a marked characteristic throughout his career, notably when he founded cutting edge R&D offering, Dentsu Lab Tokyo in 2014. His time at dentsu, which has included working in New York as an Executive Creative Director and Managing Director at dentsu Tokyo, has seen Yasu deliver work for global clients including Uniqlo, Honda and Coca-Cola.
As well as receiving the highest recognition at all major international award shows, Yasu has sat on numerous juries, including Cannes Lions Brand Experience & Activation Jury President in 2022 and Head of Jury at the 2023 APAC Effies. Furthermore, he was appointed to serve as a jury for the Titanium Lions at the 2024 Cannes Lions, Jury Chair for the Clio Awards in 2025, and Jury President for both the Dubai Lynx Awards and The One Show, followed by Grand Jury President at ADFEST in 2026. In 2025, he was recognized as the most awarded creative leader in Asia by Campaign Brief Asia.
Since October 2023 Yasu has been dentsu’s Global Chief Creative Officer, responsible for leading dentsu’s global Creative Practice, including Dentsu Creative. He is also the only executive triple-hatter at dentsu to hold the positions of Chief Creative Officer at dentsu Japan and Managing Executive Officer (Creative) at Dentsu Inc., the group’s core company. He sets the standard for creative excellence and is key to building a culture of creativity and innovation across the whole of dentsu. By combining dentsu’s “Transformative Creativity”—which embeds creativity at the core of management and business transformation to drive meaningful change that inspires across industries—with AI, he has led the further acceleration of innovation.
