Gavin Simpson

As a bartender, Gavin found ad people much like his customers who drank until 3am.
They smelt bad, were incoherent most of the time and frequently broke. But he liked their stories and the jokes they told. So, began his fascination with advertising.

Gavin started his career in Ogilvy Direct as a Junior Art director cum Visualizer.
His passion for the intricacies of direct marketing, couple with a keen eye for design, was appreciated not just by clients and colleagues alike, but also by the industry at large. He earned his first two awards from the Asian Direct Marketing Association for a Telekom Malaysia project which increased usage of their international direct-call service by 60%. A year later Gavin was named a John Caples International Awards Winner - a prestigious win over 3,000 ads and campaigns covering the work of 3,412 people from more than 30 countries for a Dimensional Direct Mailer for Monier Roof Tiles.

After 6 years of licking stamps, and stuffing letters into envelopes, he moved to mainstream advertising and worked at Naga DDB. Two years later, he returned to Ogilvy and was ranked as the No.1 Malaysian Creative in 2002 and 2003 by Campaign Brief Asia - winning Malaysia’s first Gold & Silver One Show Pencil in 2002.

Subsequently, he moved to Y&R Malaysia and Leo Burnett Kresindo in Indonesia where business followed him and he won more awards. Namely Indonesia’s first Silver Clio.

He then took on the role of Executive Creative Director for Ogilvy Manila in 2005.
As well as driving the quality of the creative output, Gavin was tasked with the role of mentoring local creative teams. Under Gavin’s leadership, Ogilvy & Mather Philippines was awarded 2006 Creative Agency of the Year in the 4A’s Agency of the Year Awards.

To top his incredible 12-month turnaround, Gavin also won a Gold Cannes Lion for 'Land Rover, Direction'
for an ad he thought of while freelancing for Lowe Malaysia, in between jobs. Coincidentally, the ad was also voted 4th Best Ad in the world by the Gunn Report 2006.

In the Philippines 2007 Creative Guild Awards, Gavin once again led the agency to be the number 1 agency, garnering the most number of gold – 9.

In 2007 Gavin moved to Ogilvy Hong Kong as Group Executive Creative Director. Gavin’s creative leadership was instrumental in Ogilvy winning the highly sought-after global account Shangri-la Hotel and Resorts. During his time, the agency was Creative Agency of the Year and was ranked No.1 HK Creative Agency by Campaign Brief Asia. In his free time, Gavin would roam the streets of Hong Kong in search of the perfect dim sum.

In 2010, Gavin returned to his roots as Chief Creative Officer of Ogilvy Malaysia.
Under his stewardship, Ogilvy M'sia was awarded Creative Agency Of the Year at Spikes Asia.
At the same time, Ogilvy M'sia has also picked up two of the country’s most prized accounts, Malaysia Airlines and BMW.

In 2012 the agency scored a rare ‘nomination’ and Yellow Pencil at D&AD - along with a Gold, Silver, and Bronze at Cannes. His Pictionary Quick Draw Wins campaign was named 2012, the second most-awarded campaign worldwide by The Gunn Report. In 2013 Ogilvy M'sia picked up 2 Silver Cannes Lions and 2 Bronze Cannes Lions. The same year Ogilvy M'sia was ranked 2nd most Creative Office among all 500 Ogilvy offices from 120 countries worldwide.

Awards aside, Gavin continued to win more new business including Bernas, Huawei, CIMB Bank, Coke, and U Mobile.

After a long innings with Ogilvy and a brief stint as a Film Director, Gavin is now back in the Philippines as Executive Creative Director at BBDO Guerrero. In addition to client responsibilities, Gavin is tasked with training the agency’s talent. Gavin works hand-in-hand with the agency’s Creative Chairman & CEO to map out the company’s vision and expansion. Within a year, Gavin helped significantly boost the agency's creative ranking from 70th to an impressive 28th among Asia's hottest creative agencies. He also sits on the BBDO Asia Creative Council.

Gavin has made his mark with business pitches and awards wherever he went – From Kuala Lumpur to Jakarta to Manila to Hong Kong. With business wins and international awards under his belt, he was one of Asia’s most consistent leaders.