McCann Melbourne Snares New Creative Director

McCann Australia has appointed David Ponce de León to the role of creative director of the Melbourne office, working with newly promoted ECD Pat Baron.

Ponce de León has established a respected reputation over a successful advertising career, most recently as Creative Director of BD Network and through previous roles at George Patterson Y&R, Leo Burnett and Lifelounge.

His work has seen him awarded at every major award show with campaigns for local and international brands. For the past decade, Ponce de León has also been active in training the next generation of creative talent through his role leading the Melbourne AWARD School program and most recently as the head of ADMA Creative School.

Ponce de León’s appointment further bolsters the senior management team of McCann Melbourne following the recent appointment of Adrian Mills as managing director, and comes on the back of continued success in both creative and effectiveness awards.

“We’ve been patiently trying to find a replacement for the role Pat left when he was elevated to ECD,” said Adrian Mills, McCann Melbourne managing director. In Dave, we have a true Melbourne advertising legend. His enthusiasm and manner make him unmissable and his creativity and intense intellect are unmistakable. He is the absolute embodiment of our ‘interested and interesting’ hiring policy and we are genuinely honoured to have him onboard.”

Pat Baron, McCann Melbourne ECD, added: “David’s one of the truly innovative thinkers in our industry today. He just gets it. His passion and creative leadership is inspiring and we couldn’t be happier that he’s joined the team. It’s a real coup that David has chosen to join us. The timing is right and it just ads to the buzz around the agency.”

David Ponce de León said: “I am very proud of what we’ve done at BD, but this is an opportunity I could not simply pass. I’ve never met a senior management team as creatively driven as Ben, Millsy and Pat and what they have achieved at McCann is the stuff dreams are made of. It is an immense privilege to be part of this team and I can’t wait to get started.”

The past two years saw McCann Melbourne bring home a record-breaking Lions haul, including 5 Grand Prix in 2013, and this year’s Grand Prix for Creative Effectiveness along with 31 more Lions. In February, the agency tied for first place in The Gunn Report and is currently the top-ranked Melbourne agency in both the Global Effies Effectiveness Index and the WARC Top 100.

New business wins for McCann this year include L’Oreal Digital, the Victorian WorkCover Authority and Pacific Brands.

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