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.

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, when he joined as creative employee No.1.

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. 

Under his leadership, the agency has since become one of the most awarded in the region—twice winning 'Regional Agency of the Year' at London International Awards, three-time 'Regional Agency of the Year' at New York Festivals, five-time 'HK Agency of the Year' at Spikes Asia, three-time 'Agency of the Year' at Kam Fan and 'Agency of the Year' at LIA Chinese Creativity and Mad Stars.

Along the way, the agency has scored multiple Grands Prix, including two Grand Prix Pencils at One Show, four Grand Clios at the Clio Awards, Lotus Grande at AdFest, two Grands Prix at Mad Stars (including the overall ‘Grand Prix of the Year’) and three coveted Grand Kam Fans.

In Campaign Brief Asia's Creative Rankings, Cheil was the #1-ranked agency in Hong Kong from 2018 to 2024—winning the prestigious 'Creative Agency of the Year' title each year—and 'Top 10 in Asia' for seven years running. 

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). 

Paul himself was the #1 ‘Most Awarded Creative in Hong Kong’ for an unprecedented eight years straight 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'. 

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

Paul’s work has consistently been recognised throughout his career at every global award show that matters, including: Cannes Lions (22 Lions), D&AD (18 Pencils), One Show (2 Grands Prix and 12 Gold Pencils), Clio (4 Grand Clios and 11 Golds), and LIA (16 Golds).

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.

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 (twice), 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.