Jean-Michel Goudard (13 November 1939 – 6 November 2020) was a French

Public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...

consultant A consultant (from la, consultare "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice and other purposeful activities in an area of specialization. Consulting servic ...

, who was the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

and

Chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

of the board of

BBDO BBDO is a worldwide advertising agency network, with its headquarters in New York City. The agency originated in 1891 with the George Batten Company, and in 1928, through a merger with Barton, Durstine & Osborn (BDO), the agency became Batten, B ...

Paris.

Biography

Goudard was born in

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

on 13 November 1939. He graduated from HEC Business School in 1962, became a Navy Officer in 1964, and brand manager at

Procter and Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational Final good, consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by William Procter (industrialist), William Procter and James Gamble (industr ...

in 1965, managing director of

Young and Rubicam VMLY&R is an American marketing and communications company specializing in advertising, digital and social media, sales promotion, direct marketing and brand identity consulting, formed from the merger of VML, founded in 1992, and Young & Rubica ...

in France in 1970, he created with Bernard Roux, Jacques Seguela and Alain Cayzac the advertising agency RSCG (Roux Seguele Cayzac Goudard) which grew into an international network agency. Goudard was also a hobbyist bullfighter. Together with Bernard Brochand, he made the winning campaign of

Jacques Chirac Jacques René Chirac (, , ; 29 November 193226 September 2019) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. Chirac was previously Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988, as well as Ma ...

and his Gaullist party RPR "Oui à la France qui gagne" in 1978. He did it again in 1986 with the campaign "Vivement Demain". The same year, he published his book "Je vous salue fiascos" (Jean-Claude Lattes) about his own fiascos in advertising. In 1988, Jacques Chirac, then Prime Minister, asked him to manage his presidential campaign against

François Mitterrand François Marie Adrien Maurice Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was President of France, serving under that position from 1981 to 1995, the longest time in office in the history of France. As First Secretary of the Socialist Party, he ...

. In 1991, he became the president of Euro-RSCG International, covering the whole worldwide network outside France. In 1995, he managed again the presidential campaign of Jacques Chirac ("La France pour tous"), and, immediately after the election of Jacques Chirac as President of France, he left Euro-RSCG and France to live in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, for 10 years, as president of BBDO International. He retired in April 2006 to run the presidential campaign of

Nicolas Sarkozy Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa (; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. Born in Paris, he is of Hungarian, Greek Jewish, and French origin. Mayor of Neuilly-sur-Se ...

, and became so close to the President that he even attended the G7 summit. Goudard created the claim "Ensemble, tout devient possible" ("Together, everything becomes possible"). Immediately after Sarkozy's election, in 2007, he retired in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

Rolle Rolle () is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Cantons of Switzerland, Canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It was the seat of the district of Rolle (district), Rolle until 2006, when it became part of the district of Nyon District, N ...

(canton of

Vaud Vaud ( ; french: (Canton de) Vaud, ; german: (Kanton) Waadt, or ), more formally the canton of Vaud, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of ten districts and its capital city is Lausanne. Its coat of arms b ...

). In 2008, President Sarkozy asked him to become his Chief Strategy Officer. Goudard accepted. He came back to France to work at the Elysée Palace. In 2016 Jean-Michel Goudard was indicted in the affair of the polls of the Elysée for his work with Nicolas Sarkozy.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goudard, Jean-Michel 1939 births 2020 deaths French advertising executives French political consultants Businesspeople from Montpellier