Here's some things you might like to know about John.

He left art school in 1968 and spent 4 years working at Pinewood film studios. 

In his time there, John worked as a runner in the art department and then junior draftsman.

The films he was involved in included; The James Bond movie ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.’

A Billy Wider film, ‘The private life of Sherlock Holmes.’

A Ken Russell pic ‘The Devils’. 3 Carry On films and other smaller productions.

On his 21st birthday he got a kiss, full on the lips, from the woman opposite in front of the entire crew, on the set of a movie called ‘Perfect Friday’,

it certainly made his day pretty perfect.

 

He joined his first advertising agency in 1972.

It seemed the best option for his creative talents at that time as the film industry in the UK was dying a slow death.

He never regretted it for a moment.

He went on to climb the advertising ladder at a number of large international agencies before opening his own shop in 1981.

He attracted business from the likes of Texaco, Polygram records and The Beneficial Bank amongst many others.

His agency continued it’s successful rise until merging with another agency in 1988.

He continued to build his reputation on brands like Virgin Atlantic, Pirelli tyres and The Royal Automobile Club.

 

John was headhunted to leo Burnett in 1992.

He joined them as a Creative Director and immediately was tasked with changing the profile of brands like Proctor and Gamble, Kellogg’s and McDonald’s to name a few.

He wrote the line ‘The make up of make up artists’ which underpinned a campaign for Max Factor and is still running 20 years on.

He also did game changing work for many Kellogg’s icons from Tony the Tiger to Coco the Monkey and many creatures in between.

He was involved in winning many pitches and industry awards.

And at times, held the position of Global and European Creative director on various brands in the Leo Burnett portfolio.

In his time there he was also the Executive Creative Director of Arc, Leo's brand activation agency and during this tenure they experinced an uplift in both new business and industry awards.

Coca Cola, Cadbury's, Jeep and Unicef are just some of clients who commited their business to Arc during John's creative leadership.

After 22 years and hundreds of ads, John left Leo’s in December 2013 to persue his own projects and become an independent film maker, script writer and consultant.

He also mentors up and coming creative talent at the School of Communication Arts in Brixton.

 

John has been happily married to his wife Shelagh for the past 45 years.

He has 2 children and 4  grand children and enjoys life in the heart of London.