VML UK appoints its first ever UK Chief Marketing Officer

As of 1 August 2026, Cat Davis is VML UK’s first Chief Marketing Officer. She will be responsible for overseeing the growth strategy, reputation and marketing operations of the creative agency.

Introducing a Chief Marketing Officer role into its leadership team underlines how seriously big agencies are taking their own branding and embracing changes.

Commenting on her new appointment, Cat says: “At a time when clients are navigating unprecedented change, VML is uniquely placed to connect brand, customer experience, commerce and transformation in ways that deliver meaningful business growth. It’s a privilege to be joining the team.”

VML UK's first ever CMO

Without deeper thinking, an agency hiring a marketing expert to market the marketing experts seems arduous. But it is reflective of how competitive the creative agency market is becoming.

It is constantly becoming harder to ‘stand out’ and make your services known to a company’s target market. As CMO, Cat will be responsible for combining thought leadership with a brand-led growth strategy to position VML as a strong player in the agency market.

Joe Peytan, VML UK’s Group CEO says: “At VML UK, we’ve got world-class capabilities and an enterprise-grade technology offering, solidifying a differentiated fully integrated proposition for clients. Cat joins us now to scale all of that.”

VML UK focuses on rapid integration and interconnectivity of brand experience with customer experience. With consolidation defining 2026, companies are increasingly merging, agency brands crossover each other and clients struggle to differentiate them.

By embracing a new leadership role specifically designed to position and provide recognisability to its brand, VML is breaking through its competition and crafting a sharp story to deliver to clients. Hiring a CMO ensures that clients will be able to distinguish VML as a brand in itself and emphasise its reputability.

Three decades of leadership experience

Bringing over three decades of leadership experience and two decades of marketing experience to the role, Cat is helping VML UK work towards its next ambitious expansion.

Joe adds: “She’s smart, strategic, brilliantly connected and she’s exactly the kind of energy we need to drive the next wave of growth for VML and our clients.”

Cat was most recently Atomic London’s first CMO for seven months, and has also been Group Marketing Director at The Mission Group. As Group Marketing Director, she was responsible for leading group-wide growth initiatives across 19 agencies and distributing the advertising across all communications channels. Cat played a strong role in delivering successful targets to enterprises such as Porsche, Post Office and Macmillan.

Cat’s experience with marketing and leadership enables her to build on VML’s recent achievements, including “The Kit Kat Heist” being named as Campaign’s Global Network of the year, while also introducing reshaped strategies and ideas.

“I’ve spent my career helping agencies grow, and what drew me to VML is the rare combination of world-class creativity, deep technology expertise and a genuine commitment to putting people at the heart of everything it does.” Cat says. 

With decades of experience in creative agencies across the UK, Cat is bringing a niche but impactful knowledge set to the role with an established foundation of what agencies need to make clients aware of them.

VML’s leadership expansion is reflecting a change in its strategy and proving that in an increasingly demanding market, this creative agency is able to keep up.