Ogilvy Melbourne snares McCann Melbourne group CD David Ponce de León for ECD role
CB Exclusive – Campaign Brief can reveal that McCann Melbourne group creative director David Ponce de León, has been lured to fill the ECD role at Ogilvy Melbourne, left vacant after the departure of Brendon Guthrie in July.
His departure from McCann after only a year in the role comes a few weeks after the appointment of Matt Lawson to the CD role at McCann Melbourne.
Jo Rozario, Group Managing Director, Ogilvy Melbourne said she was thrilled that Ponce de León was joining Ogilvy Melbourne’s team and it was another step to ensure Ogilvy Melbourne would continue to produce world class creative work for its clients: “David is an internationally renowned creative and he brings another level of talent to our team in Melbourne. We are looking forward to some outstanding creative work and a seamless collaboration between Melbourne and Sydney’s creative teams; it is an exciting time for Ogilvy and its clients.”
At McCann Melbourne, Ponce de León was part of a major overhaul of its creative department and an aggressive new business program, developing high profile campaigns for AGL, L’Oreal, Metro, Nimble, Tigerair, V/Line and the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation.
Before joining McCann Melbourne, he served as founding creative director of BD Network Australia. Under his direction, the agency was recognized with AdNews’ Agency of the Year titles for three consecutive years and named ‘Australia’s most awarded small agency’, with a raft of creativity and effectiveness accolades to their name including D&AD, Effies, MAA, NYF and AWARD.
On joining Ogilvy Melbourne, Ponce de León said: “Leading the creative team in an Ogilvy office anywhere in the world is an immense privilege I don’t take lightly. I feel very lucky to be asked to lead Ogilvy Melbourne’s already very talented creative team.
“I have long admired Jo’s work and the opportunity to be part of this ambitious leadership team was simply too good to refuse. The decision to leave McCann wasn’t an easy one, but it felt like the perfect time for me to fulfill a long-standing career ambition”.
Ponce de León has received awards in every major international advertising award show with work for brands such as Adidas, Heinz, Mars, Nintendo, Schweppes, Suzuki, Whiskas, WorkSafe and the Victorian Government.
For the past decade, Ponce de León has also been active in training the next generation of Australian creative talent through his role leading the Melbourne AWARD School program and most recently as the head of ADMA Creative School.
62 Comments
Exciting times. All the best man.
Nice one Ponsey. All the best!
All the best there champ. I’m sure you’ll smash it.
Xoxo
I just felt Ogilvy’s spiritual awareness and creativity jump a notch. Looking forward to seeing what creative wizardry he can conjure up over there.
Great teacher, better dude. Live the dream, jefe.
All the very best David. Great things are coming your way Ogilvy.
Congrats my good friend. Well deserved. Sport Elegant.
Great choice Ogilvy. No one brings the passion like DPL
Congratulations mate. That is one of the great profile shots of 2015.
One of the more talented gentlemen in advertising, Well done Dave. Well done Ogilvy.
Congrats David! All the best.
Smart. Talented. A great bloke. And still better looking than Ben Coulson.
Nice one DPL, hit ’em with the passion.
Congratulations DPL! Big things to come!! 🙂
Good get DPL… smash it. TBone
Great job and well deserved. David one of the best in the industry and miss working with him. You’ll kill it.
Good work legend. Getting out before the poison truely takes hold. There’s hope for the rest of us.
Congrats brother! Well deserved. The future looks bright for Ogilvy! LV
Well done mate. Nice agency great gig they are lucky to have you.
Muy bien David. Muy bien Ogilvy.
Great shoes. Better bloke. Couldn’t think of a better man for the job! Nicely done DPL.
Well done Hermano. First Colombian ECD in the country. Hope the family are celebrating.
Good move Ogilvy. Best of luck DPL. Smash it.
Couldn’t happen to a nicer bloke!
Well dine both!
Congrats Dave, how exciting!
Congratulations Big Brother Colombia! Chyeahhhh!
Best of luck mate!
Nice one DPL!
Congratulations Farouk, next time it’s your shout for the menthol cigarettes.
Juan Antonio
Great news, Looking forward to seeing what magic you conjure up there!
I think you’d be an even better hitman, but you do do the ad thing very well. Ogilvy are lucky to have you until you come to your senses. Ace work DPDL.
All the best Dave! Nice one!
Felicidades por tu nuevo trabajo, amigo!
Well done. McCann Melbourne is chock full of egos, and hasn’t created a nurturing environment for talent to thrive. It’s all through the place. Well done on finding a way out.
Congrats Dave. A great creative and more importantly a great man. Give it heaps.
Nice work, all the best for the new role. And any hitman conquests on the side.
Ogilvy have snared themselves a great leader, great creative, and all round great dude. I can’t wait to see what you do to the place. Go David!
Congratulations! I’m so sad to see you go (again!!), but genuinely excited to see what the future holds for you and for Ogilvy Melbourne. I guess we know where to find you…
Well done Columbian – looking forward to seeing some exciting things happen up the road.
Great to see so many positive comments on here for a change. Well, positive about Ogilvy anyway … McCann sounds like a shocking place to be … still …
It’s your world and I’m just a squirrel
STW clearly gave the order to rally the troops.
Droga exits this market and the story gets 41 comments.
DP joins Ogilvy and it gets the same.
Sure…
Congrats DPL and good snare Ogilvy. May you acquire much metal together
#SNARE
#AQUIRE
#METAL
One of the nicest guys I’ve met in the industry and a great talent. I’d welcome the opportunity to work under him.
Power to you mate and all the best.
One of the best. Congrats Columbian old friend. And well played Ogilvy, you’ve lucked out there.
You don’t need to give an order to rally the troops when DPdL is concerned. This man has worked with and made friends with just about everyone who’s been in the industry for longer than five minutes – and for those who haven’t, he’s probably been there for them during either AWARD School or ADMA Creative School.
So, you know, whatever.
You can keep thinking there’s a huge conspiracy and the world is unfair, or you can do a bit of research to get a better understanding of what you’re commenting on before you go flapping your gums.
Ponce knows what it takes to make great work. He knows what it takes to sell great work. And he knows what it takes to get great work of people who want to make great work.
Sounds like ECD material to me.
DPL… this thread is testament to the man. As a now former client we were sad to hear of Dave’s departure. We’ve loved the energy he brought to our account. It was infectious and uplifting which transferred into great ideas and a great team environment. Ogilvy are going to benefit from a big hearted and talented individual and I only wish you all the best DPL. Remember… accessorise. It’s all about the accessories ; )
Congratulations David! You’re one of the most passionate, articulate people I’ve ever worked with, and you also have excellent taste in shoes.
A true gentleman and talent.
One of the rare occasions on this blog where you see negative comments and automatically know the dirty trolls making those comments have never met the subject they are writing about – because if they had those words wouldn’t be possible.
Congrats Ponce, you always have and always will be one of the best blokes out there. Boom.
The trouble with McCann is simple.
You have what was a primarily retail agency who created gold with Dumb Ways. Amazing idea, and very much the right place at the right time. That’s a once in a career coming together of a lot of elements. There’s also quite a few freelance creatives on this that never quite made their way into the credits. Still, amazing result.
Then they had to create a followup album. They did some great work, but nothing could ever really compare to DWTD’s golden run.
Congratulations David, you continue one passion for education whilst pursuing another of creative excellence – enjoy that ride.
There’s no question about Colombian. The question what happened to the last ECD?
Go fourth and Triumph Dave.
Now I want to work at Ogilvy
Fantastic pose, fabulous hair, ferocious man.
Great work jefe!
Well deserved!! Ogilvy just won themselves a fearless leader and a creative genius. Nobody has the passion and know-how to inspire and bring out the best in you than David. Congratulations mate!! Ogilvy are in for a treat!!
@trouble
take out dumb ways and McCann has won over the last three years (I think) 11 lions including a Grand Prix, yellow pencil, one show pencils, GPs at regional shows.
I think that’s not bad.
How has your agency gone?
#colombian
#adz
#digital
#chinups
#sculpted
#dujour
#congrats
Wow, look at that. First of all, my heartfelt thanks to all who posted positive comments. I wouldn’t be here without you. Thank you for making it happen. And for those very few negative commenters, please, stop looking at other people’s performance and focus on your own. Put all that energy to good use and see your own performance lift. We need to be the change we want to see in the world. Let’s get started. Much gratitude and love, DPL.
Congrats DPL! Sitting pretty. You’ll smash it!
Love your work brother from another mother.
Fuck me that’s a lot of positivity. Speaks volumes. All the best DPdL.