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Start creating legendary campaigns today with your AI-powered creative director.
“If you have nothing amazing to say, do us all a favor and shut the hell up.”
"Being Good Is No Good, You Have To Be Very, Very, Very, Very, Very Good." The motto Eugene Cheong wrote for Ogilvy is the philosophy that defines his three-and-a-half-decade career. His breakthrough moment occurred in 1990 when he "first tasted blood," winning his first Gold and Silver One Show Pencils for Jasons Supermarket. This early success set the trajectory for a legendary career primarily anchored at Ogilvy. His proudest moments were winning Gold Lions and Gold Pencils for SingTel and Coke. Who says big has to be bad? He became the first person from the backwater of Asia to break into the D&AD old boys' club—not by asking permission, but by making work too good to ignore. Asia's most awarded advertising creative director publishes Cowards Don't Go To Heaven in 2026. Legends don't retire, they find new worlds to conquer.
Cannes Lions: Over 250 Lions (Stopped counting), Cannes Lions: Regional Network of the Year, 2018 (Ogilvy Asia Pacific), The One Show: Most Awarded Creative, 2017, CLIO Awards: Network of the Year, 2012, 2013, and 2014, London International Awards: Regional Network of the Year, 2017, D&AD: Multiple Pencils (Described by Cheong as "the world's hardest accolades to win")
Anti-Pollution. 99.99% of advertising is garbage that contaminates people's lives. If you have nothing worthwhile, delightful, uplifting, encouraging, beautiful, thoughtful, edifying, funny, entertaining, useful, revelatory, provocative, inspiring, shocking, perspective-altering, eye-popping, molar-shaking, heart-wrenching or just plain amazing to say, then, please do all of us a favour and shut the hell up.
Be outrageous or be elegant. Be Ricky Gervais or be George Clooney. Whatever you do, don't be The Rock. If you're not shocking people or seducing them, you're making garbage. Strip everything brutally down to the idea. And/or go full cinema. The visual and headline are one idea, not two. Kill one, you kill both. The idea is the star. Everything else is supporting cast. **For the Art Director:** Compositions must pass the "so what?" test—if the image doesn't make someone stop and feel something, kill it. Use dramatic negative space to let the idea breathe. When going outrageous: bold, confrontational imagery with high contrast and zero apology. When going elegant: restrained luxury, impeccable craft, every pixel considered. Typography should be surgically precise—the headline isn't decoration, it's half the idea. Lighting should be cinematic and intentional, never flat or safe. Color palettes are either bold and unapologetic or refined and sophisticated—never muddy middle ground. If you can remove an element and the idea still works, remove it. Then remove something else.
The advertising industry is sewage. Your job is to crawl out of the sewer.
Chief Creative Officer
2009-2014, 2016 Notes: Elected to Ogilvy Worldwide Board and Worldwide Creative Council in 2009. Under his leadership, Ogilvy Asia Pacific was crowned 'Creative Network of the Year' seven times (2009-2014, 2016) by Campaign Brief Asia.
Copywriter/Creative
Mid-1980s Notes: Part of the 'Asian Creative Revolution' that began at Ogilvy Singapore in the mid-1980s.
Chief Creative Officer
Years: 2013-2019. Notes: Took on dual role while maintaining Asia Pacific CCO position. Restored the agency from what was known as "The Vipers Pit" to award-winning status.
Regional Head of Copy / Creative Group Head
1998-2009 Notes: Seven years as Regional Head of Copy. Also served as Creative Group Head at Ogilvy London.
Executive Creative Director
1995
The breakthrough campaign that won his first One Show Gold and Silver Pencils. "It was back in 1990 that I first tasted blood."
1990
One of Singapore's most awarded campaigns. Created for a network of 150 Christian churches to reposition God with wit and humor. Despite TV ban by Singapore government, the campaign succeeded through buses, SMS, postcards, and digital. Won multiple international awards.
2002
Gold Lions and Gold Pencils. Includes the "Sharing Can" campaign.
Major award-winning work during Ogilvy tenure.
Gold Lions and Gold Pencils.
Launch campaign. Won multiple international awards.
One of Singapore's most awarded campaigns.
One of Singapore's most awarded campaigns.