About Matt

For more than two decades, Matt MacDonald has created award-winning work for some of the world's biggest brands, including AT&T, Meta Reality Labs, DirecTV, Macy's, JetBlue, Smirnoff and Ford. He has also served as Chief Creative Officer at three of the industry's best-known agencies.

Along the way he's made reality shows for TLC and MTV, an animated prime-time Christmas special for CBS, documentaries for the festival circuit, and one open-source grade school musical.

He's also an agency builder. Since joining VCCP US as Chief Creative Officer in late 2024, Matt has helped lead the wins of Spectrum, Barclays and Invesco. That run put VCCP at the top of Campaign's global new business rankings for the second year in a row, and helped the agency win Adweek's 2025 International Agency of the Year.

Before VCCP, Matt spent more than a decade at BBDO New York. He arrived in 2014 to run creative on AT&T, Omnicom's largest account in North America, leading teams in New York, Los Angeles and Dallas. Two years later, he led the creative charge in Omnicom's pitch for AT&T's $2 billion combined media and creative business. They won with a new kind of agency model, one that put creative, media and data at the same table. Matt went on to help bring in Ford and The Home Depot, among others. In 2022 he became Chief Creative Officer of BBDO New York, leading The Work, The Work, The Work for GE, FedEx, Mars, Bacardi, Wells Fargo, WhatsApp, Merck, ExxonMobil and NYU Langone.

His roots are at JWT New York. He started there as a copywriter in 2003 and rose to Chief Creative Officer in 2012. In that time, he led the agency to its best award show performance in more than a decade.

Matt builds teams that mix disciplines on purpose, because he believes the most surprising ideas come from different kinds of minds working the same problem. And while much of the industry is chasing data and automation, he pushes for work that's more magic than math: ideas people actually feel, remember and act on.

That work has been recognized by every major creative and effectiveness show, many times over. Highlights include multiple Cannes Gold Lions, D&AD and One Show Pencils, Best of Show at the AICP Awards and the ADDYs, an Emmy nomination, YouTube's Ad of the Year in 2016, and the Tribeca X Award in 2019.

He holds degrees from Bradley University and the University of Texas at Austin. Lives in a ramshackle midcentury modern undergoing permanent reno in Connecticut. And spends the rest of his time doting on his wife, Jillian, and four kids, Alexandra, Finley, Milo and Tobias (aka the Junior Clients).

AWARDS & RECOGNITION

Matt and his teams have earned awards from every leading creative and effectiveness competition in the industry, many times over. Highlights include Best of Show at AICP, the Addys, and the Mashable Awards, multiple Gold Lions from Cannes, pencils from D&AD and the One Show, Grand Prixs from the Ciclope Festival and Internationalist Awards, the 2016 YouTube Ad of the Year, the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival X Award, and even the Golden Award of Montreux (which earns Matt’s nod for best name.)

Matt has served on juries for D&AD, The One Show, the London International Awards, Effies, NY Festivals, AICP, the Advertising & Design Club of Canada, South Korea’s Mad Stars, and the Snackable Awards.

EXPERIENCE

VCCP USA
CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER, 2024 - Present

BBDO NEW YORK
CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER, 2022 - 2024
CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER, AT&T FOR OMNICOM, 2018 - 2021
EVP, GROUP EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR, 2014 -2021

Led the creative department at the one of the world’s most awarded and most effective creative agencies. Charged with modernizing and elevating The Work, The Work, The Work for a diverse set of clients including GE, FedEx, SAP, Mars, Bacardi, Wells Fargo, WhatsApp, Merck, Macys, ExxonMobil, among others. Member of BBDO’s Global Creative Council and North American Creative Council.

Before that, led creative and integration across Omnicom on AT&T, one of their largest global accounts. Developed innovative, highly-effective and highly-awarded work across the entire portfolio of AT&T brands including Wireless, DIRECTV, U-verse, AT&T Business, Fiber, DIRECTV Now, and It Can Wait, their campaign to fight distracted driving. Built a talented, diverse and widely-distributed team from a number of creative, media and specialist agencies including BBDO, Hearts & Science, Critical Mass, Dieste, Kern and Javelin.

Helped lead and win some of BBDO’s biggest new business pitches of the last 10 years, including AT&T’s massive consolidated media and creative account in 2016, Ford in 2018, The Home Depot in 2021 and Meta Reality Labs in 2022.

Led pro bono efforts for Autism Speaks, Theirworld, and the AdCouncil. Serves as an instructor and guest lecturer for D&AD’s Shift, an annual five-month program helping underrepresented creatives develop the experience needed to break into the industry.

JWT NEW YORK
CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER, 2012 - 2013
EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR, 2010 - 2011
CREATIVE DIRECTOR, 2007 - 2009
COPYWRITER, 2003 -2006

Started as a copywriter on Visine. Ended up running the creative department. Managed about 100+ permanent and freelance creatives, leading JWT to its best award show performance in years. Account experience: Macy's, Smirnoff, Smirnoff Ice, Jose Cuervo, Tanqueray, Ford, Rolex, JetBlue, L.L.Bean, DeBeers, T. Rowe Price, Merrill Lynch, Berocca, Tylenol, BAND-AID, Litter Genie, Schick, and Nestle.

Led successful new business pitches on Macy's, Tylenol, L.L.Bean, among others. Named to JWT's High Potential Program in 2006. Served on JWT's Global Creative Council.

BATES NEW YORK
COPYWRITER, 2002

Account experience: Cadbury Adams, T.Rowe Price, Pfizer Consumer Healthcare, Whitney Museum of American Art, CVS Pharmacy, the AdCouncil.

EDUCATION

THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
M.A., ADVERTISING, 2001

As a Graduate Teaching Assistant, taught undergraduate creative labs for the introductory advertising course. As a research assistant to Professor Neal Burns, won a grant from NASA to develop long-term communication strategies for a human mission to Mars. Helped coach the UT Speech Team to the national championship in 2001.

BRADLEY UNIVERSITY
B.S., ADVERTISING, 1998

Competed four years on the Bradley Speech Team, winning over 200 individual speaking awards, four team national championships, and personally taking 2nd at nationals a somewhat-frustrating three times. Elected team President senior year. Inducted into the National Forensic Association Hall of Fame in 2001.

SPEAKING

"The Magic of Macy's: From Retail Brand to Entertainment Brand"
NATPE Brand Innovation Summit, September 2011

"Restoring a Pop Culture Icon"
BANFF World Media Festival, June 2012

"Can We Just Make Some F$%*ing Ads?"
Creative Week New York, May 2012

"The Advertising Funeral"
Advertising Week New York, October 2012

"Microsoft Creative Roundtable"
Creative Week New York, May 2013

"The Eight Hour Internship"
Creative Week New York, May 2013

"My Best Worst Idea"
Advertising Week New York, September 2013

"Is Cross-Channel Planning Broken?"
Google Squared, September 2014

"The Death of Intuition in the Age of Big Data"
BMA Connect, September 2014

"Winning in Second"
Bradley University Leadership Conference, June 2015

"Stop Chasing Culture and Start Making It"
Advertising Week, iHeart Media Panel, September 2015

"That's Debatable!"
Advertising Week, Cog Debate Smackdown, September 2015

“Creative Presentations Masterclass”
D&AD Masterclass, October 2017

“Presenting Creative Ideas”
London International Awards LIAsons, September 2018

“Presenting Your Work (And Yourself)”
London International Awards LIAsons, September 2019

“Reaching the Unreachables”
The Latin American Summit for Creative Economy, October 2019

“Presenting Your Work (And Yourself)”
D&AD Shift NYC, 2021 - 2024