Executive Creative Director / AMV BBDO
As a young man, Paul had another career in mind. He says “I was only prevented from realising my ambition to be a footballer by a lack of talent”. But he always had a flair for creative things and for a while considered being a sculptor, painter and set designer. Then a spell working in a fruit market revealed a talent for selling. He soon realised his future lay in a job that combined creativity with salesmanship. Advertising seemed like the perfect way forward.
Paul began his career with four years at Cogents, before moving to WCRS to work on BMW and Carling Black Label. Then in 1991, he was lured by David Abbott to join AMV.
Over the years, he’s personally won over 200 awards including six D&AD pencils and eleven Cannes Lions.
However, Paul considers the highlights of his career as becoming Executive Creative Director of AMV BBDO and being President of D&AD in 2010.
He’s proud to have created a 360° thinking creative department, with AMV the most awarded creative agency in the UK five years running according to both the Gunn Report and the Big Won. In the Big Won rankings Paul is the 2nd most awarded ECD in the world.
This versatility has helped AMV BBDO continue to win not only the top traditional awards, but also extend into others, such as being voted the Direct Agency of the Year and winning the award for the World’s Most Effective Ad at Cannes. AMV BBDO also won the first ever Cannes Campaign for Good.
After nearly 30 years in the business his appetite for great work remains undimmed, always searching for breakthrough ideas. But he remains grounded and reasons that “if the ideas ever dry up, I’ll always have the fruit market to fall back on."
