Earlier this November, Kien Nguyen was selected as the 2025 Singapore All-Star at Portfolio Night. Now in its 22nd year, Portfolio Night is recognized as the world’s largest advertising portfolio review program, connecting emerging talent with top creative leaders across 24 cities worldwide.
Kien Nguyen’s journey in global advertising giants spans three creative cultures: starting at TBWA\Vietnam then Dentsu Redder during his gap year, moving to GUT Miami, US for his first international role, and now working as a junior copywriter at Ogilvy Singapore — one of the region’s most competitive creative hubs.
According to Nguyen, the key to stand out on the global creative stage is to find your own voice, your own spike. And ask: what’s Vietnam’s?
Fresh off his All-Star win, Kien Nguyen speaks with Vietcetera about what this recognition means, how Vietnamese identity has become his creative advantage, and what young creatives back home can learn from his journey.
What has inspired you to turn your resume into the creative Portfolio called C.Visa? And what was the turning point when you realized your portfolio had to carry more weight than your academic record or visa status?
Like a lot of international creatives, our biggest barrier after graduation wasn’t the work, it was your visa status. When I was applying for internships and jobs in the summer of 2024, I kept hitting that wall.
There’s even a rumor that if you tick “YES” to the question “Will you now or in the future require sponsorship?”, some companies filter you out automatically before even looking at your work. Based on my experience, that rumor didn’t feel far off. And after weeks of applying with no luck, I realized I had to shift the focus. Looking at Vietnamese creatives who made it in the US, I learned that the companies willing to invest, we just have to prove that we’re worth the investment.
That’s when C.VISA was born. I redesigned my CV into a C.VISA where every “stamp” represented my awards, projects, and experiences. I even left a blank space asking agencies to “stamp” me in. That Life-vertising piece kinda blew up on LinkedIn. It got me interviews I never expected, and eventually, an internship at GUT Miami, part of the No. 1 Independent Agency Network of the world the year before (Cannes Lion, 2023).
How did moving back to Asia reshape your career trajectory?
My LinkedIn headline says “Riding the Next Tide at Ogilvy Singapore,” and I meant it!
I genuinely believe the next creative wave is about to come from our side of the world - the East Sea, Asia (laugh).
That’s why Singapore felt like the right place to start. In the US, I felt like a tiny fish trying not to get swallowed in a huge ocean. In Singapore, I feel like I’m in a pond that’s getting bigger every year, and I get to grow with it, not just survive inside it.
Here, juniors get real chances. You’re thrown into real briefs, real problems, real opportunities. The mentoring culture is also strong, seniors actually invest in you, and the growth curve is fast. Most importantly, because Asia still has something to prove on the global stage, the creative community feels hungry in the best way. Agencies want to outdo each other. People want to make work that travels. And being in the middle of that energy makes you want to push even harder.
What is your biggest creative advantage as a Vietnamese in the regional context?
In Bong Joon-ho’s Best Director Oscar speech, he quoted Martin Scorsese: “The most personal is the most creative.”
To me, that means our biggest creative advantage comes from leaning fully into my Vietnamese roots. The good, the bad, the ugly - they’re like a set of superpowers we naturally grow up with. Because in a global room full of diverse creatives, no one is as Vietnamese as we are, so it’s all about how you channel those characteristics into the work.
That’s why a lot of my ideas come straight from “being Vietnamese.” Our xàm (silly) humor? That became a PR stunt where we promoted a new massage chair by putting it on a cyclo and touring people around. Our folklore and spiritual education helped me flip zodiac traditions into PETA’s “Animal Horror-scope” to educate people about speciesism. Our love for idioms and regional pride? That shaped the manifesto for Biti’s Hunter Bloomin’ Central collection launch. Even the bidet idea, which made my agency proudly become the first bidet-friendly agency in the States, also came from that uniquely Vietnamese mix of authenticity, silliness, pride, and shameless practicality.
But where do Vietnamese creatives stand today in the global landscape? And how can Vietnam compete on a global stage?
Anselmo Ramos (Founder of GUT Agency) told me the key of “How Vietnam could compete on a global stage?” was to find our own voice, our own spike. The question is: what’s Vietnam’s?
I think we’re sharpening many of them right now. Because it’s not that we lack it, it’s that for a long time, we were still in “good student” mode, following references, mirroring global standards, playing safe to prove we could keep up. Nothing wrong with that. It helped us build our foundation, but it also meant we weren’t always pushing for something distinctly ours.
That’s shifting. You can feel young Vietnamese creatives getting braver, funnier, scrappier, more cultural, and more us with recent wins at international stages. So as long as we stay intentional about it, it’s only a matter of time before Vietnam finds its spikes.
Which “doors” do you hope the All-Star status will open?
Honestly, I hope this opens more doors for the Vietnamese creatives who come after me.
Because I wasn’t the “first first.” This journey is really a continuation of the path paved by other Vietnamese creatives like my big brother in advertising, Toan Mai. Seeing him win Portfolio Night All-Star in Dubai a couple of years ago made me realize that it is possible for Vietnamese creatives to shine and compete in major creative hubs. So if my win can inspire someone back home to aim higher or take that first leap, that already means a lot.
And honestly, it also makes me want to see Portfolio Night return to Vietnam. We had it back in 2022, but nothing in the last three years. I hope this win helps push agencies and the creative community to bring it back next year, so young talent can get seen, get feedback, learn, and you know, “cùng nhau ta đi lên.”
From your journey, what essential qualities or mindsets do you think Vietnamese creatives need to succeed internationally?
1. Think Vietnamese, but also think international: Like I said earlier, set your Vietnamese-ness free! Our background is our superpower, use it! But at the same time, lift your ideas to a global level, so the world can appreciate it.
2. Đồng lòng - Togetherness: Một cánh én không thể làm nên mùa xuân (One swallow does not make a summer) - Advertising isn’t like tech or consulting where there are already tons of successful Viet-abroaders paving the way. For us, the path is still being built. So we’re gonna need each other, to exchange experience, to lift each other up, to make the industry more accessible for the next generation.
3. Lì - Be relentless: It’s also a long bumpy ride, so we’re gonna need that too!
4. And finally, don’t forget to have fun!
Thank you for sharing your creative journey, Kien Nguyen!