Chris Garbutt

Garbutt started his career at TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris in South Africa before moving to TBWA\Paris to become its Executive Creative Director, where he produced some of the agency’s most celebrated work for Nissan, Absolut, PlayStation, Canderel and Pedigree.
As Global Creative President, Garbutt will oversee the creative direction for TBWA's hallmark global clients including Nissan, McDonalds, Adidas, Pernod Ricard, and more, while also partnering with newly-appointed CEO Rob Schwartz to helm the network’s flagship New York office in the role of Chief Creative Officer. Garbutt will report to Ruhanen and to Worldwide Creative Director, John Hunt.
Garbutt, 43, will join TBWA from Ogilvy & Mather East in New York, where he has served as Chief Creative Officer. As CCO, his oversight and leadership spanned all agency disciplines and he is credited with award-winning campaigns for IBM and Coca-Cola. Prior to joining Ogilvy in New York, Garbutt was Chief Creative Officer of the network’s Paris office, where he helped to propel the agency to new creative heights producing global campaigns for Perrier, Louis Vuitton and Google.

In 2014, Advertising Age named Garbutt one of the most awarded Chief Creative Officers in the world. He has won nearly 100 Cannes Lions in his career, including three Grand Prix awards, as well as top honors in The One Show, D&AD, Webbys, Clios and Art Director’s Club awards.

A native of Cape Town, South Africa, Garbutt began his career in Johannesburg as a Creative Director at TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris, where he spent four years working under the tutelage of then-CCO, John Hunt.