Matthew Pullen
- Creative Director
- United States
- Member since 2017
Idea-focused. Craft-hungry. Problem solver.
Matthew is a South African-born Creative Director/ Art Director based in Los Angeles.
He has over 15 years of international advertising experience working at top creative agencies: Ogilvy & Mather, TBWA/Chiat/Day, and the independent RPA. He currently works at Expedia Group on the cross-brand function, overseeing work that touches Expedia, VRBO, and Hotels.com, as well as cross-brand collaborations and partnerships.
He was recognized by Adweek as one of the “Creative 100”, as well as one of the “26 Rising Talents Helping Reshape the Agency Landscape”.
His work spans multiple multinational accounts, including Volkswagen, Audi, Honda, Nissan, Mondelez International, SAB Miller (now AB/Inbev), Coca-Cola Company, Kraft, GoPro, W.W.F., Castrol, Unicef, Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation, Farmers Insurance, Cape Town Tourism, The Times and many more. His work has been featured across numerous major media publications around the world, including Forbes, New York Times, Billboard, New York Post, The Guardian, TechTimes, Creative Arts, USA Today, Mashable, Huffington Post, and many more.
He has been recognized at the industry’s major award shows, including The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, The One Show Awards, D&AD, The Clios, and many more. In 2014, after winning the Loeries Young Creative Award (recognizing South Africa's best advertising creative younger than 27), he was approached to work in the US. Within six months of being in the country, he landed a top 10 Super Bowl commercial.
He has judged The 2020, 2021, 2022 & 2023 Webby Awards (“The internet’s highest honor” - The New York Times), The 2020 New York Festivals Advertising Awards, The Bowery Awards, and bestadsontv.
Outside of advertising, music is a constant. Alongside his previous band, he became one of the first Africans to successfully achieve a Kickstarter campaign which funded a return trip to the US from SA and an album with producer and guitarist Dave Catching (Eagles of Death Metal and Queens of the Stone Age), at the legendary recording studio, Rancho De La Luna in Joshua Tree.
He is most passionate about innovative ideas and bringing new experiences to audiences, new and old. He is solutions-orientated and user-focused with the goal of being as innovative in output as possible in everything he is involved with. He's a huge believer in unconventional problems unlocking equally new and unconventional territories/solutions that break through the clutter and turn heads.
He is fascinated with all things creative, particularly those that speak to progress and the common good. He adds value by distilling complex ideas into clear, purposeful, actionable items for audiences to engage with while demanding exceptional visual craft from himself and those that he manages.
Contact Matthew.
