PAUL CHAN

ABOUT

Born and bred in the UK, Paul began his advertising career in Hong Kong in 1999 and has been in the city ever since. 

His first big break came at DDB—where he had the blessing and the curse of working on one of the world's most prestigious accounts, Volkswagen. Luckily, his first print work went on to win the agency's first-ever gold at a global award show and recognition at D&AD’s inaugural Global Congress.

Paul’s first Creative Director role then came at Grey in 2006, where his work helped the agency become Hong Kong’s most awarded at The One Show. He was also instrumental in winning, and leading, the highest billing-account for the agency, Hong Kong Tourism Board. The following year, Campaign Brief Asia named Paul the 3rd hottest creative in Hong Kong.  

Returning to DDB, he then won 7 Cannes Lions for the agency (including the agency’s first-ever Silver Lion in 2011 and another 2 Silver Lions in 2012). Most notably, his Freshlock and Westone campaigns were instrumental in making DDB the most awarded Hong Kong agency at Cannes, Spikes and AdFest for two years in a row. During this period, Paul was ranked the #1 most-awarded creative in Hong Kong by Campaign Magazine.  

During his time at the agency, Paul managed the agency’s largest account, McDonald’s. Taking on an additional regional role, he also led the creative for Unilever’s Lipton brand across 7 countries in Asia-Pacific, pitched and won Pepsi’s Tropicana Twister account across Asia-Pacific and developed creative for Wrigley’s Skittles brand across Greater China.

Then in 2012, Paul took up the creative helm at Cheil. 

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Thankfully, he hit the ground running and quickly put the office on the map—helping the agency win its first Cannes Lion in the first year, with One Show Pencils and D&AD Pencils the following year. 

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Right off the bat, he helped lead Cheil to become one of the most awarded agencies locally at the Kam Fan Awards in 2013—winning Category Best and Gold along the way for its 'NFC Charity Stickers' campaign. This was followed up in 2014 with another Category Best and 2 Golds for 'Reversible Barcode'. Then in 2016, the agency took home the prestigious Kam Fan (Grand Prix) for its Samsung '#BeTheirEyes' project and again in 2018 for JBL 'Block Out The Chaos 2.0'. In 2019, the agency scored an unprecedented 17-Gold haul and 'Agency of the Year', thanks to its iconic campaigns: 'A Sweet Escape' for Chupa Chups and Samsung 'Back2Life'. And at Kam Fan 2021, the agency won both 'Agency of the Year' and the coveted Grand Kam Fan (Grand Prix) for its celebrated 'Cost of Bullying' campaign for Samsung. This was followed up with another Grand Kam Fan (Grand Prix) for its Samsung 'Quest for Dyslexia' campaign at Kam Fan 2022.

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Under Paul's watch, Cheil has also become one of the most awarded agencies beyond Hong Kong.

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The agency has won its first 15 Cannes Lions, 16 D&AD Pencils (including 2 Graphite Pencils at the inaugural D&AD Impact Awards),

12 Golds and two Grand Prix Pencils at One Show (including a 5-Gold haul in 2020, the 'Best of Gaming' Grand Prix in 2022 and the 'Best of Print & Promotional' Grand Prix in 2024), 4 Grand Clios and 11 golds at the Clio Awards, multiple Golds at London International Awards (including a 6-Gold haul in 2017), 5 Golds at Epica, 2 Grands Prix and multiple Golds at Mad Stars (including a 6-Gold haul in 2019 and the overall 'Grand Prix of the Year' in 2021), multiple Golds at New York Festivals (including a 6-Gold haul in 2020), a Lotus Grande (Grand Prix) and multiple Golds at AdFest (including a 4-Gold haul at 2020), 8 Golds at LIA Chinese Creativity, Lürzer’s Grand Slam Gold, Asia-Pacific Tambuli Gold, Best of Show at Red Dot and multiple Spikes Asia Golds, AWARD Award Golds, AdForum PHNX Golds, Cresta Golds, a winner's gong at the Webbys and more.

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In fact, Cheil has consistently punched above its weight—twice winning 'Regional Agency of the Year' at London International Awards 2017 & 2019, three-time 'Regional Agency of the Year' at New York Festivals 2018, 2019 & 2020, four-time 'HK Agency of the Year' at Spikes Asia 2017, 2019, 2022 and 2023, twice 'Agency of the Year' at Kam Fan 2019 & 2021 and 'Agency of the Year' at LIA Chinese Creativity 2019 and Mad Stars 2019.

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More importantly, the agency has grown from being Samsung's in-house agency to become a multi-client 4A's agency serving industry-leading brands such as: Samsonite, American Tourister, MTR, Swire, KK Box, Wynn, Sheraton and 1010.

In Campaign Brief Asia's Creative Rankings, Cheil was the #1-ranked agency in Hong Kong from 2018 to 2023—winning the prestigious 'Creative Agency of the Year' title each year—and #3 in Asia for two years running in 2020 and 2021. 

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It also ranked #5 in Asia in the Cannes Lions Global Creativity Report 2019, #1 in APAC in The One Show Global Creative Rankings 2020 and #2 in APAC in The Drum World Creative Rankings 2021 (where it also ranked amongst the Top 5 agencies globally). 

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Paul himself was the #1 ‘Most Awarded Creative in Hong Kong’ for seven years running in Campaign Brief Asia's Creative Rankings and in both 2020 and 2021, he topped the overall rankings as the #1 'Most Awarded Creative in Asia'. 

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He was also crowned the world's #1 ‘Most Awarded Copywriter’ and #6 ‘Most Awarded CCO’ in The Drum World Creative Rankings 2021.

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In 2018, Paul was named ‘Asia's Emerging Creative Leader of the Year’ by Campaign Brief Asia. His notable work since then includes ‘A Sweet Escape’ for Chupa Chups (the world’s most awarded print campaign in 2020), ‘Block Out The Chaos' for JBL noise-cancelling headphones, and the celebrated trilogy of mobile gaming campaigns for Samsung: Back2Life, The Cost of Bullying and Quest for Dyslexia.

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In addition to being D&AD Jury President in 2021, Spikes Asia Jury President in 2022, AdFest Jury President in 2022 and Loeries International Jury President in 2023, Paul has judged at every major award show, including: Cannes Lions, D&AD (twice), The One Show (twice), One Show Greater China, London International Awards (three times), Clio, Spikes Asia (three times), AdFest (four times), Mad Stars and New York Festivals (three times).

Beyond his passion for the business, Paul is married with a beautiful wife and two very loud kids, none of whom give a flying hoot about his rankings. He has no say in the household.