# Wenyi Zhu **Creative Strategist · Paid & Creator Growth** > Plain-text version of my portfolio, written for AI assistants and screen readers. The interactive site has the same content as a metro map. - **Creative + data.** I shape creator content and ad creative, test it against performance data, and scale what drives conversion and growth. - **Global.** I’ve run campaigns for audiences in Japan, North America, Europe and China. Most recently, I spent three years in global marketing at HoYoverse, the studio behind Genshin Impact. - **AI.** I build my own AI tools that turn campaign data into creative decisions. ## About Storytelling is what drew me to marketing. PR and social taught me how to earn attention and build an audience; growth marketing taught me how to turn that attention into conversions, and how to test and scale what drives them. Since then I’ve launched channels from nothing, turned creator content into a performance channel, and started building AI tools to make the whole loop faster. I speak English and Chinese, and hold JLPT N1, the highest level, in Japanese. ## Contact - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wenyi-zhu-mktg/ - Email: wenyi.mktg@gmail.com ## Paid Growth Creative strategy for paid acquisition: building the testing frameworks for creator ads (UGC), codifying what wins into playbooks, and improving spend efficiency across markets. ### Creator Ad Pipeline *HoYoverse · Genshin Impact · Jun 2025 – Jun 2026 · JP, NA, EU · Google Ads* The Genshin Impact brand team had creators and production budget; the paid acquisition team needed more creator ads that converted. I built the pipeline between them from scratch: aligned both teams on the metrics that mattered, turned those into a creative testing framework, and scaled the formats that brought in higher-value users across Japan, North America and Europe. Results: - ~3.7× projected LTV vs benchmark - +26% projected 365-day ROI vs benchmark - 0% → 15% brand-team share of paid spend - 400+ creator videos delivered for testing The Challenge: - The acquisition team's tests showed creator ads scaled and converted well, but they couldn't produce enough of them. The brand team had creator resources but had never worked on user acquisition. - I had to build the pipeline from scratch and prove, within a few game updates, that our creative could earn spend and bring in quality users, not just add volume. The budget only covered smaller creators, so the content itself had to do the work. What I did: - Owned the testing framework: Translated acquisition goals into market-specific creative hypotheses, using performance data to steer tests across hooks, creative angles, scripts and formats. - Built the Creative Intelligence Dashboard: Used AI coding tools to automate creative tagging and performance analysis, surface winning patterns and turn them into reusable scripts and playbooks. - Strengthened creator sourcing: Expanded regional talent pools through agency pitches and rotation, matching creators to the formats they perform best in. - Directed creator production: Briefed creators, developed script templates and reviewed every video before launch. Team: Me (creative strategy, brand team), 1 acquisition strategist, 1 acquisition specialist and 4 agency partners. The acquisition team owned media buying and budget; I owned creative strategy and production. ### TikTok UGC Channel Test *HoYoverse · Genshin Impact · Dec 2024 – Nov 2025 · US, JP · TikTok, UGC* TikTok’s Gaming Incentive Programme pays creators to post about a game. Could it bring in users for Genshin Impact at acquisition-level efficiency, and could its videos work as ads? I designed a three-round test to answer both, each round measured against our acquisition benchmarks. The reach was efficient; the users and the content weren’t strong enough to scale, so I recommended stopping the programme and moving the budget to creator ads. Results: - 80M+ views across three test rounds - 500K+ UGC submissions - ~60% lower CPM, Round 1 to Round 3 The Challenge: - Paid acquisition relied mainly on brand-style creative, and creator-led formats were untested at scale. The programme looked efficient, but nobody knew whether its users would stay or whether its videos would hold up as ads. What I did: - Designed the test framework: Built a three-round roadmap, setting each round’s payout model (CPM or CPA), markets, themes, budgets and success metrics against our acquisition benchmarks. - Led campaign execution: Owned all three rounds end to end, from task setup and creator briefs to progress tracking, submission reviews and recaps. - Evaluated the channel and drove the decision: Measured reach, CPI, user quality and content relevance, then recommended stopping the programme and shifting budget to creator ads. Team: Me (testing strategy and project lead) and 1 data operations specialist, working with 2 platform liaisons from TikTok ### Xbox Launch Paid Campaign *HoYoverse · Genshin Impact · Nov 2024 · US, DE, FR · Meta, YouTube, TikTok, X* Paid media for Genshin Impact’s Xbox launch had to drive console players to the landing page. I led the creative strategy across the US, France and Germany: four testable concepts, localised for each market, then reviewed with the media strategist to scale the winner in each. Results: - +338% CTR vs benchmark - 66% lower CPC vs benchmark The Challenge: - The launch needed paid media to drive traffic to the Xbox landing page, not just awareness. That meant turning existing brand materials into 100+ localised assets, the brand team’s largest creative test for a paid brand campaign, with tight coordination across languages, platform specs and approvals. What I did: - Defined the creative strategy: Used past campaign learnings and regional player insights to build four testable creative concepts, then localised them into US, French and German versions to see which won in each market. - Partnered on media optimisation: Shaped budget, regional priorities and targeting with the media strategist across YouTube, Meta, X and TikTok, then reviewed live results together to scale winners and pause underperformers. - Managed creative production: Wrote briefs covering copy, landing-page links and platform specs for all 100+ assets, and kept timelines, reviews and approvals on track. Team: Me (creative strategy), 1 media strategist, 2 creative producers and 1 agency partner ### Gamified Landing Page *HoYoverse · Genshin Impact · Aug – Sep 2024 · NA, EU, JP · Landing page, Gamification* For a major Genshin Impact update, I designed the mechanic that turned the launch landing page into a game: a short personality quiz with a shareable result, and a reward draw that grew with every friend invited, so the page spread itself. Results: - ~7× visitors vs benchmark - +60% draw entries vs benchmark - 3× conversion rate vs benchmark - ~4 visitors per share, 2× target The Challenge: - Our previous launch landing pages were mostly informational. This time, the team wanted to experiment: add a game and a reward system to make the page interactive, and see whether that would boost conversion. The challenge was designing our first gamified landing page. What I did: - Benchmarked formats: Studied interactive web campaigns to find a mechanic with shareability built in. - Designed the hook: Chose a personality quiz, a proven viral format, so every player got a personalised result worth sharing, and kept it to three questions to cut drop-off. - Built the viral loop: Tied rewards to referrals. Finishing the quiz unlocked a reward draw and each friend invited earned another, so every share brought in about 4 new visitors. Team: Me (game mechanic and creative concept), 1 landing page strategy lead and 2 web developers - Event page: https://act.hoyoverse.com/ys/event/e20240816natlan-iseatr/index.html?game_biz=hk4e_global ## Creator & Social Creator marketing as a growth channel: launching channels from zero, owning campaigns end to end, and turning reach into measurable impact across English-, Japanese- and Chinese-speaking audiences. ### Japan Social Channel Launch *HoYoverse · Zenless Zone Zero · Jul 2024 – Jun 2025 · JP · YouTube, X* Zenless Zone Zero was new in Japan and needed social channels that reached players beyond its official accounts. I took the first few channels from launch to a nine-channel network: worked out which positioning and formats Japanese players responded to, cut what didn’t work, and turned the rest into a system I handed over to the Zenless Zone Zero team. Results: - 80M+ organic views - 50K+ followers, +50% vs target - 50%+ lower agency CPM - 9/9 channels hitting view targets at handover The Challenge: - The brief was to launch Zenless Zone Zero’s Japanese channels and hand them over once they could run on their own. With few creator-style game channels to learn from in Japan, I had to learn the market while testing what worked, then turn scattered experiments into a system another team could run, all on a fixed timeline. What I did: - Defined the channel strategy: Mapped Japanese player behaviour, competitor channels and content gaps to give each channel a niche with proven demand and clear content pillars across YouTube and X. - Ran growth reviews: Tracked every channel against its KPIs, diagnosed the ones falling behind and brought winning formats from other niches to stalled channels to restart growth. - Managed agency partners: Coordinated three agencies, aligning briefs, reviews and performance targets to lift content quality and cost efficiency. - Handed over a repeatable system: Codified content learnings, KPIs and routines into playbooks, and transferred all nine channels to the Zenless Zone Zero team. Team: Me (social strategy), 2 content reviewers and 3 agency partners ### Branded Filter Campaign *HoYoverse · Genshin Impact · Jan – Feb 2024 · US, EU, JP · TikTok, Snapchat, AR filters, Creator marketing* For Genshin Impact’s Lunar New Year event, I shaped two AR filters for TikTok and Snapchat that were fun and easy for anyone to join in, and briefed 70+ creators to seed the trend in launch week. Results: - 600M+ views across TikTok and Snapchat - 600K+ player videos made with the filters - #1 in Snapchat’s sponsored Lens ranking - 180M+ views from 57 TikTok creators The Challenge: - Lantern Rite needed a social moment players could join, and this time the filter challenge was expanding beyond TikTok to Snapchat for the first time. The filters had to be fun to use, simple enough for anyone to recreate, and right for two different platforms. And the trend had to take off within a short window. What I did: - Shaped the filter concepts: Co-developed two gesture-based ideas from competitor research (a sky-lantern release for TikTok and Snapchat, and a lion-mask transformation for a new character on TikTok), then wrote the briefs and reviewed each iteration with TikTok’s effects team. - Briefed creators: Turned each filter into simple video ideas for cosplay, beauty, pet, dance and transition creators, so their posts inspired players to make their own. - Vetted creators and content: Reviewed creator selection and videos for 70+ creators across TikTok and Snapchat. Team: Me (filter concepts and creator activation support), 1 campaign lead, 2 platform liaisons from TikTok and Snapchat, and 3 agency partners - TikTok event page: https://activity.us.tiktok.com/magic/eco/runtime/release/65ae743a08a22502879a1571?appType=muse&magic_page_no=1&use_spark=1&magic_source=usExternal - Creator video example: https://www.tiktok.com/@claudiaalende/video/7330704427923377450 ### X Creator Campaign *HoYoverse · Genshin Impact · Jan 2026 · NA, JP · X, Creator marketing* For a flagship Genshin Impact character launch on X, I refreshed the creator strategy: a lineup built around the creators core players follow, pointed at the official event and its reward codes. Results: - 13M+ views across 56 creators and 78 posts - ~3× engagement vs benchmark - 39% lower CPM vs benchmark - +88% event exposure vs benchmark The Challenge: - Engagement on Genshin Impact’s recurring character campaigns on X was flattening, and it was weakest among English-speaking players. Our previous creator campaign aimed for broad appeal: many of its creators reached general gaming audiences rather than core Genshin players, so it brought reach but under 3% engagement. - This time, I needed a creator lineup built around core players that would drive them to the official event on X and its in-game reward codes. What I did: - Set the creator strategy: Built the lineup around the artists, cosplayers, streamers and Genshin news creators that core players follow, so 80% of creators reached core players rather than general gaming audiences. - Localised for English-speaking players: Made English-language creators half the lineup and briefed a US agency on the art styles local players respond to. - Owned the full creator lifecycle: Ran budget, sourcing, briefing, timelines and approvals across two agencies, then benchmarked results to decide what to scale next. Team: Me (creator strategy and execution), 2 execution support specialists and 2 agency partners ### Community Giveaway *HoYoverse · Genshin Impact · Aug 2024 · NA, JP · X, TikTok, Instagram, Creator marketing* For a major Genshin Impact update, I led a giveaway hosted by a leading Genshin Impact fan account on X (1M+ followers) and seeded by 67 creators across X, TikTok and Instagram. Results: - 33M+ impressions, +56% vs target - ~4× code redemptions vs target - ~50% lower CPM vs target The Challenge: - Genshin Impact’s community events on official channels kept reaching the same core players. For a major update, I wanted to test whether a giveaway hosted by a big fan account could reach casual and lapsed players and get them to act. What I did: - Designed the campaign: Partnered with the fan account; to enter, players quote-posted the giveaway with their own creative take, and in-game reward codes turned views into a measurable action. - Activated creators across platforms: Coordinated 67 creators across X, TikTok and Instagram, who posted their own entries first to show players how to join. - Led execution and the recap: Aligned four agencies on briefs, content review, timelines and tracking; codes beat the target, but fewer players entered because a creative quote-post took too much effort, so fan-account giveaways need one-tap actions, like a repost or a reply. Team: Me (campaign lead and strategy), 2 execution support specialists and 4 agency partners - Creator video example: https://www.instagram.com/p/C_Myepry5Co/ ### English Social Channel Growth *HoYoverse · Genshin Impact · Oct – Dec 2023 · NA · TikTok, YouTube* Genshin Impact ran eight creator-style English channels on TikTok and YouTube, grown organically. I diagnosed why the established ones had stalled, refreshed their content mix and shaped the strategy for the new ones. Results: - 35M+ views across 8 channels - 64K+ new followers - ~30% lower CPM vs target The Challenge: - Genshin Impact ran English-language social channels on TikTok and YouTube to keep players engaged between major updates. The established channels had stalled: formats were getting repetitive, fewer viewers were following and views dropped between updates. New channels needed a strategy built from scratch, all while keeping CPM under target. What I did: - Diagnosed what stalled growth: Benchmarked each channel against TikTok trends and competitors, and pinpointed the gaps: too few evergreen topics, stale formats, weak follower conversion. - Refreshed the content mix: Moved guide channels from content that only worked on update days to evergreen gameplay tips, so views held up between updates. - Shaped strategy for the new channels: Proposed audience, positioning, content pillars and cadence for each, then refined them on early data before scaling. - Ran growth reviews: Tracked KPIs and kept the agency’s output aligned with each channel’s goals. Team: Me (growth strategy support and content review), 1 growth strategy lead and 1 agency partner ### Xiaohongshu AI Tutorial Channel *Personal project · 2025 – present · CN · Xiaohongshu, Douyin* I built a channel from zero on Xiaohongshu (RedNote) and Douyin that shows beginners what they can make with AI tools, and run it like a growth project: find the audience, test what works, scale it, and turn the reach into paid brand partnerships. Results: - 2M+ views across Xiaohongshu and Douyin - 16K+ followers - 170K+ likes What I did: - Positioning: Studied the top AI creators and aimed the channel at AI beginners, with one promise: every video ends with something viewers can make themselves. - Content formula: Found what makes people save and follow, and built every video around it: result first, low barrier, clear steps. - Test and scale: Kept testing new formats and topics, cut what didn’t drive saves and follows, and scaled what did. - Brand partnerships: Won paid partnerships with China’s leading AI companies, including Alibaba’s Qwen, ByteDance’s Jimeng, MiniMax, Moonshot AI’s Kimi, LiblibAI and Lovart. - Content operations system: Built an AI system for research, scripts and performance reviews, so I can run the whole channel single-handed. - Xiaohongshu profile: https://www.xiaohongshu.com/user/profile/62a6b493000000001b02aa8d - Breakout video: https://www.xiaohongshu.com/discovery/item/6aa17dcd0000000028029744 ## AI Projects AI tools I built for real marketing problems: translating performance data into creative insights, surfacing what wins, and turning it into the next brief. ### Creative Intelligence Dashboard *HoYoverse · Vibe Coding, Claude Code* A dashboard I built with AI coding tools while running creative strategy for Genshin Impact’s creator ads. It breaks down and tags every ad, links the tags to performance data, and turns the winning patterns into the next scripts and campaign plan. Results: - 40% less time on analysis and production What it does: - AI tagging: Watches every video ad and tags its hook, format, pacing and more. - Winning formula: Links tags to performance data to show what top ads have in common, across updates and markets. - Script studio: Turns the winning formula into new scripts, written natively for each market. - Campaign planning: Drafts the creative plan for the next campaign from past results. - Knowledge base: Learns from every note, edit and piece of feedback, so results get sharper over time. ### Creator Operating System *Personal project · Personal project · Vibe Coding, Obsidian, Claude Code, Codex* An Obsidian plugin built from the AI system that runs my Xiaohongshu channel, so any creator can use it. Agents do the research, analysis and drafting; the creator makes every call, without having to learn how agents work. What it does: - Built on a working system: Every module is a workflow I already run for my own channel, from research and viral-post breakdowns to scripts and growth reviews. - End to end: Takes content from research to idea, script, review and post-launch analysis in one place, instead of across chats, docs and spreadsheets. - Human in the loop: Nothing gets made until the creator picks the idea, and every draft stops for review. - Built for other creators: Helps new users set up their own content tags from a few sample posts, runs on the AI subscription they already pay for, and works in Chinese and English. ## Experience ### HoYoverse · Global Marketing Specialist *Sep 2023 – Aug 2026 · Markets: JP, NA, EU* Creative strategy for creator ads (UGC), social channel growth and cross-platform campaigns for Genshin Impact and Zenless Zone Zero, across Japan, North America and Europe. ### Seminary Co-op Bookstores · Marketing & Events Intern *Jul – Sep 2023 · Markets: US* A summer at Chicago’s Seminary Co-op, running the bookstore’s social channels and its Summer Gift Guide campaign across web, social and newsletters. - Ran the social calendar: Planned and published posts, stories and carousels across Instagram, X and Facebook, and used performance data to refine what went out. - Coordinated the Summer Gift Guide: Brought the campaign together across the website, social and newsletters. ### Nike · Social Media Marketing Intern *Dec 2021 – Aug 2022 · Markets: CN* Nine months on Nike’s China social team, supporting Xiaohongshu campaigns for Nike Women launches. - Supported launch campaigns: Helped run the Xiaohongshu (RedNote) campaigns that built awareness for Nike Women’s product launches. - Hashtag and influencer strategy: Developed the #NikeOOTD hashtag and optimised the influencer and UGC programmes, growing hashtag views by 1.33M+ month on month. - Competitor research: Turned competitor analysis into changes to Nike’s account strategy, SEO and paid search, contributing to 16K+ new followers (+45% year on year) and +173% engagement. ### Weber Shandwick · Public Relations Intern *Jun – Sep 2021 · Markets: CN* A summer in PR at Weber Shandwick Shanghai: research, social listening and launch support for GUESS and Bosideng. - Research and social listening: Fed desk research, soundbite analysis and social listening into PR strategy and media sourcing for GUESS, Bosideng and Mido, and wrote the slogan for the GUESS × CLOTTEE campaign. - Launch support: Drafted press releases and supported media outreach for GUESS’s Disney collection launch, contributing to a 33% rise in GUESS’s Q3 PR value. ### NOWNESS · Social Media Content Strategy Intern *Sep – Nov 2020 · Markets: CN* My first role in content: running NOWNESS China’s WeChat and Weibo accounts for its art and culture pieces. - Ran the accounts: Managed publishing on WeChat and Weibo, optimising content and timing for impressions and engagement. - Ideas and layout: Pitched story ideas and artists to feature, and helped lay out art and culture pieces, contributing to 10K+ new followers and a 15% rise in read-through. ## Education ### University of Chicago · MA, Humanities (Cinema and Game Studies) *2022 – 2023 · Chicago, US* A master’s grounded in philosophy and critical theory, with a focus on cinema and games. - Coursework: Interpretive theory, film history, video game history, and gender and sexuality studies. - Audience research: A virtual ethnography of online player communities and how they negotiate with game publishers. - Data: Python and data publishing alongside the humanities core. ### Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University · BA, Communication and Media Studies *2017 – 2021 · Suzhou, China* A Sino-British university where I studied how media is made, read and regulated, from media ethics and global media cultures to advertising, social media and big data. - Top of the cohort: Ranked 1st of 70 with a 3.9/4.0 GPA, and awarded the National Scholarship and the University Academic Excellence Award. - Final-year research: How a Chinese rap show defined “authentic” hip-hop for its audience, using discourse and content analysis of lyrics and viewer reviews. ## Languages English and Chinese; Japanese at JLPT N1, the highest level.