Andrew Robertson has been President and Chief Executive Officer of BBDO Worldwide since June 2004, and has worked with major clients including AT&T, ExxonMobil, FedEx, Ford, GE, Mars Inc, PepsiCo, SAP and Visa.

It has been named Network of the Year at Cannes a record-setting seven times and the world's most awarded agency network according to The Gunn Report/World Advertising Research Center for thirteen years in a row. Since 2005, BBDO has been honoured as Global Agency of the Year in Ad Age, Adweek (three times) and Campaign (five times). BBDO Worldwide was also recognized as the Most Effective Network in the world by the Global Effies in 2011, 2014, 2015 and 2017.

Andrew first came to BBDO in the UK in 1995, joining Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO where he subsequently served as Chief Executive. In 2001, he moved to BBDO North America to serve as President and CEO.

He began his advertising career at Ogilvy & Mather, London as a Media Planner. He switched to Account Management and was appointed to the Board of Ogilvy & Mather in 1986. In 1989, he joined J. Walter Thompson and in November 1990, was appointed Chief Executive of WCRS.

Andrew has a degree in Economics from City of London University. He currently serves on the Boards of Autism Speaks and Hope Funds for Cancer Research. He is a past Chairman of The Advertising Council.

What we covered in this episode:

Falling into advertising after starting out in civil engineering
Why Andrew learnt selling insurance and gambling through the night
The late night conversation that led Andrew to advertising
18 years at the helm of a global adverting business
Why getting the people right is the most important task of any CEO
The importance of time spent with customers
Learning to love problems and embrace them as opportunities
Loving what your business creates
Where the trophies of ‘The most awarded network agency in the world’ are kept
Why ‘meaning it’ is the secret to staying on top of your creative game
Building a strong network bottom up with strong local creative agencies
Attracting a limited pool of truly exceptional people
Why emotion is the most effective thing you can do
The power of platform ideas
Don’t understand the value of craft
Calculating the downside risk to help you take the leaps that lead to upside
The pursuit of certainty leads to the norm
How the snickers creative idea was ‘caught’ in a line of copy
Why all great ideas are obvious after their invention
The power of a new way of seeing an old idea
Why Andrew’s favourite ad was one that delivered bad news
The benefits of sleeping with a homeless guy
It’s hard not to buy from someone who makes you smile
How confidence in the team beats the silver bullet when it comes to pitching
The expectation of agencies to deliver effortlessly seamless and connected communication at every tough point
Half my advertising is wasted but it’s gets a lot worse in digital

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