Board of Governors
John Farrell
Member of the Board of Governors
In John's more than 25 years in the communications agency business, he has become acknowledged as an outstanding business leader who has built his reputation on the most innovative thinking in holistic communications, and an unblemished track record of delivery in all of the agencies he has been associated with.
Over the last ten years John has been President and CEO of a top ten global advertising agency (D'Arcy Masius Benton and Bowles), and a Groupe Executive leader in one of the four largest agency communications groups (Publicis Groupe SAMS). Additionally, John has a terrific amount of international experience, to put alongside his multi-disciplinary understanding. As well as building one of the premier international marketing service networks, John has enjoyed significant success in the highly competitive USA communications marketplace, and managed global enterprises as a CEO for many years.
John combines national and international management experience, strategic and creative ability to contribute to some of the world's biggest client organizations, a commercial instinct to create success, with a zest for life which has consistently inspired the teams around him.
John started at what was IMP in the early 1980s in sales promotion, direct and interactive multimedia in London. Under John's leadership IMP became the number one promotional marketing operation in the UK in the late 1980s, and John went on to build IMP operations internationally throughout Europe. In 1994 John took over the leadership of all of D'Arcy's operations in London and created in the mid 1990s what was the number one integrated communications group in the UK, including a top three advertising agency, and multiple other discipline resources under his control. In 1997 John went international again taking over responsibility for all of D'Arcy's operations in North America, culminating in 2000 with John becoming President and CEO of D'Arcy Worldwide, one of the worlds top ten communications agencies globally.
John was most recently the President and CEO of the Publicis Groupe SAMS operations worldwide. He had functional responsibility for everything across the Publicis Groupe which was not an advertising agency or a media brand, with revenues in excess of 35% of the group. In this capacity John reported direct to Maurice Levy sitting on the Groupe Executive (P12), and was charged with helping build revenues and create growth across all SAMS related operations, including direct, promotion, CRM, PR, interactive, multi-cultural, design, production and marketing technologies, healthcare advertising and educational communications.
John also had responsibility, working directly with Maurice Levy, for driving Publicis Groupe M&A activity, including the primary Groupe focus, SAMS.
Further, John was asked by Maurice Levy to take on various special, strategically important group initiatives including representing SAMS for the Groupe, in group pitches, overseeing various Groupe client relationships and helping drive growth in key marketplaces, including specific responsibility for Russia on behalf of the P12.
Most recently John has developed, over the last nine months, an impressive plural portfolio, including: Non executive directorship of global public relations agency Huntsworth PLC; Non executive directorship of UK pawn broking and jewellery retailer Albemarle and Bond; Non executive directorship of global digital marketing services agency LBi; Senior advisor/consultant to Saatchi & Saatchi and the European golf tour; Non executive Chairman of independent digitally led advertising agency in London, Albion; Non Executive director of South African based global marketing technologies agency Acceleration; Senior advisor to mobile technology business Voiamo, and online music company R&R world.
During John's career he has received multiple awards that underline his unique qualifications and holistic vision, including being named to the American Advertising Hall of Achievement in 1998, as well as being named 'Man of the Millennium' by the Sales Promotions Consultants Association in the UK in the year 2000. John is a member of multiple trade associations on both sides of the Atlantic, and is still today the Honorary President of the Institute of Sales Promotion as well as being a Founding Member of the Direct Marketing Association in Great Britain.
John earned his BA with Honours in Business Studies at Nottingham Trent University where he is the Visiting Professor of Marketing.
John is divorced, with three children, Helena, Isabella and Thomas.
