E12 Life Story of Ad Legend | Paul Bainsfair
Episode description
Paul was just 14 years old when his father asked him what career he wanted to choose.
Having grown up beguiled by the jet set life depicted in Martini TV ads, Paul simply mentioned “Advertising.”
Other than having a liking for ads, Paul had no connection with the Ad world but he was determined to find out more. Luckily, at the time, Watford College was unique in being famous for being a place to study advertising, they took around 35 students a year and Paul managed to be one of them.
Paul’s advertising career began at Saatchi & Saatchi in 1977, where he started as an account executive. As Paul describes, Saatchi & Saatchi were an agency that was on the up, they broke the rules and were very anti-establishment. 10 years later, he was made CEO and in charge of one of the biggest agencies in the world.
A few years later Paul faced a decision, should he leave his well-paying CEO role at one of the world's most successful and coveted agencies, to start a new agency?
Taking a leap of faith, Paul co-founded Bainsfair Sharkey Trott (BST) in 1990. BST was soon widely recognised as one of London’s most successful independent agencies during the 90s.
In 1998, BST was eventually acquired by Omnicom and merged with TBWA, where Paul became Chairman of TBWA UK and President of TBWA Europe. Paul was responsible for 35 offices, 3,000 staff and TBWA was named Best Global Network in 2003 and 2006.
After taking a sabbatical in 2008, Paul joined Iris, the UK’s largest marketing agency, first as Partner and CEO of Iris Europe and then as Chairman of Iris Worldwide.
By 2011, Paul was contacted by the IPA committee as they were searching for a new Director General. Paul thought it over…. He decided it was the right time and liked the idea of having a point of view across the whole industry and an opportunity to give back. After a formal interview, he was offered the role of Director General of the IPA.
Paul sits on the boards of Radio Joint Audience Research, The Advertising Standards Board of Finance, The Broadcast Advertising Standards Board of Finance, Broadcasters' Audience Research Board and Advertising Week (Europe).
To hear Paul speak about his Mad Men days at Saatchi & Saatchi, meeting Steve Jobs for the first time and his story on becoming the ultimate Adman, listen to this episode of How I Became.
Chapters:
(00:00:00) Jingles, Ads, and the Glamorous World of Advertising
(00:11:19) Beginning of My Interest in Advertising
(00:22:50) Tim Bell's Charisma and Margaret Thatcher's Leadership
(00:35:00) Being Seen as the "Chosen One"
(00:47:09) Taking over as CEO of the company
(01:00:00) Starting an Agency and Overcoming Challenges
(01:10:34) The Sale of the Advertising Agency to French Group
(01:22:58) Lunch with Steve Jobs
(01:34:59) Lessons Learned and Words of Wisdom
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Episode Sponsor:
Gray Matters - A straight-talking business development consultancy that empowers agencies to position, market and sell themselves for new business success
Unity & Motion - A London based production company specialising in commercials and branded content
Email: [email protected]
This is a UNIFY Podcast. Produced by Unity & Motion
Credits:
Director: Charles Parkinson
Poet & VO Artist: Ashley Samuels-McKenzie
Sound Recordist: Paolo Neri
Editor: Catherine Singh