LEFT-HANDED PLANNING LTD
Mike’s work nowadays is all white-label in nature. He is a ghost in the marketing and advertising machine, focused on helping other people be smarter. He has worked on lots of projects (e.g. investigating fraudulent practices, identifying vision spaces, organizing brand architectures, naming products, positioning brands, writing creative briefs, guiding creative work, evaluating media spends, interviewing consumers, writing speeches, authoring reports, training marketers, brainstorming ideas, workshopping solutions) for lots of companies (e.g. Sony, WARC, Daimler-Benz, Hays, Britvic, Unilever, BBDO, Lowe, TBWA, Imagination, BeenThereDoneThat, Speakeasy – Knowledge Brokers). Whatever the project and whomever it’s for, it will be approached in the same way: as a left-hander in a right-handed world.
AD AGENCY TRACK RECORD
Chief Planning Officer for Unilever @ Lowe & Partners Worldwide, 2010-2016
Responsible for planning on the largest client/ad agency partnership in the world; led teams of planners in 28 agencies working on 40 Unilever brands spanning 155 countries.
EVP, Executive Planning Director for AT&T @ BBDO Worldwide, 2006-2009
Responsible for planning on Omnicom’s second largest client globally; led teams of planners in NYC and Atlanta.
Vice Chairman @ BBDO Atlanta, 2003-2006
Responsible for planning on Cingular/AT&T Wireless, BBDO’s second largest client globally.
Head of Planning @ AMV.BBDO, 2001-2003
Responsible for UK’s largest ad agency planning department.
Board Account Planner @ AMV.BBDO, 1997-2001
Responsible for planning on British Telecom.
Board Account Planner @ O & M, 1996-1997
Responsible for planning on Lucozade and Eagle Star.
Account Planner @ BBH, 1991-1996
Planned on NatWest; responsible for planning on Pusser’s Rum, Irn-Bru, The New Covent Garden Soup Company and WH Smith.
KEY AD AWARDS WON
EFFIE Gold 2007
Won 2007 EFFIE Gold for strategy of positioning GoPhone (AT&T’s sub brand in the prepaid mobile phone category) as “the way to defuse parent/teen tension”.
EFFIE Gold 2006
Won 2006 EFFIE Gold for strategy of positioning Cingular/AT&T Wireless merger as “raising the bar in wireless telecom”.
APG Gold 1995
Won 1995 APG Gold for strategy of positioning The New Covent Garden Soup Company as “people with a passion” by using personal stories of those involved behind the scenes.