Malcolm Poynton, global chief creative officer at Cheil Worldwide, is leaving the agency after ten years. Poynton was appointed Cheil Worldwide’s first global chief creative officer in December 2014 to help the company evolve into one of the world’s most recognised creative networks.
He has led Cheil Worldwide to WARC # 1 Independent Network (2021). During his ten-year tenure at Cheil the agency won Agency of the Year titles in China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Spain, South Korea and top 5 rankings in 10 countries including Brazil, Chile, Germany, and Romania. Poynton is looking forward to working closer to home in the UK.
Prior to joining Cheil Worldwide, Poynton held positions of chief creative officer at SapientNitro Europe; executive creative director Ogilvy UK, where he built and led the teams responsible for Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty; executive creative director at Saatchi & Saatchi in Sydney; and deputy creative director at M&C Saatchi in London. He has been a member of the D&AD Board of Trustees for one year. Early in his career, he worked at (then) Australian creative hot shops, OMON and The Campaign Palace.
A Cheil Worldwide spokesperson, stated, “Malcolm’s creative leadership has kept Cheil’s creative product ahead of new trends while he’s also fostered collaboration to get the best out of talent, with an ability to do so across cultures. We thank Malcolm for his contribution as GCCO over the past 10 years and wish him continued success in the future.”
Poynton added, “We’ve packed a lot into the past 10 years; there are too many incredible people to thank for their dedication that’s helped make Cheil the creative network it is today. I’m now looking forward to diving into the next challenge.”
Cheil Worldwide won a host of top creative awards over the past decade, achieving a total of more than 600 global and regional honours including a Cannes Grand Prix, The One Show Best of Discipline, the Clio Health Grand, the Clio Entertainment Grand, Super Clio, D&AD and D&AD Impact awards as well as Grand Prix at Spikes, Dubai Lynx, El Ojo, AdFest, and multiple Effies.
Read about more of Poynton’s achievements and his work here.
