Cheil Worldwide names first global chief creative officer

Malcolm Poynton has been appointed as the first global chief creative officer for Cheil Worldwide, the global network encompassing McKinney, The Barbarian Group, Beattie McGuinness Bungay and most recently iris.The new role has been created as part of Cheil’s push to boost its international growth and creative reputation.Poynton(pictured), who will be based in London, will aim to evolve Cheil into one of the world’s most recognised creative networks. The network’s global client portfolio currently includes Samsung, Samsonite and Hankook Tire. Poynton will work alongside the global chief strategy officer Chris Chalk, the chief digital officer Peter Kim, and the global head of RX Simon Hathaway.Poynton joins from the digital technology company SapientNitro where he was chief creative officer for Europe for four years. Under Poynton’s creative leadership, SapientNitro created campaigns such as Unilever’s smile activated ice cream vending machine, Foot Locker's ‘Sneakerpedia’, and RBS’s ‘GetCash’. Prior to SapientNitro, Poynton was the executive creative director at Ogilvy & Mather in London where he built and led the teams responsible for Dove’s pioneering ‘Campaign for Real Beauty’ and Cancer Research UK’s internationally recognised ‘Together We Will Beat Cancer’ work.“Cheil Worldwide has the talent, dynamism and the ambition to stand should to shoulder and even surpass the most creative networks out there,” said Poynton. “I’m looking forward to being part of making that a reality.”