Sir John Christopher Powell (born 4 October 1943) is a British advertiser. He is the son of

Air Vice-Marshal Air vice-marshal (AVM) is a two-star air officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometimes u ...

John Frederick Powell Air Vice Marshal John Frederick Powell, (12 June 1915 – 24 November 2008) was a long-serving officer at RAF College Cranwell. RAF career Powell was born in Somerset, and was educated at King's College School, Cambridge, Lancing College and K ...

, OBE.

Advertiser

Powell joined the advertising agency

Boase Massimi Pollitt Boase Massimi Pollitt (BMP) was a British advertising agency which traded between 1968 and 2004 before being renamed as DDB London. It was purchased in 1989 by the US marketing services conglomerate Omnicom. Its lineage can be directly traced to ...

(BMP) in 1969, was appointed to the board in 1972 and made managing director three years later. Rhys Williams wrote in 1999 "He is one of the most respected practitioners of his trade". An early campaign created by BMP while under Powell's management was for the Smash potato brand, featuring potato-loving

Martians Mars, the fourth planet from the Sun, has appeared as a setting in works of fiction since at least the mid-1600s. It became the most popular celestial object in fiction in the late 1800s as the Moon was evidently lifeless. At the time, the pred ...

; this advertisement was voted Britain's favourite at the time. In 1983 BMP floated on the London Stock Exchange valued at £16 million. After a hostile bid by a French company, BMP was bought in 1989 for £125 million ($200 million) by

DDB Worldwide DDB Worldwide Communications Group LLC, known internationally as DDB, is a worldwide marketing communications network. It is owned by Omnicom Group, one of the world's largest advertising holding companies. The international advertising networks ...

, part of

Omnicom Omnicom Group Inc. is an American global media, marketing and corporate communications holding company, headquartered in New York City. Omnicom's branded networks and specialty firms provide services in four disciplines: advertising, customer re ...

Group, a US holding company controlling many agencies. Powell later became BMP DDB's CEO, and subsequently chairman. Powell was knighted for services to the advertising industry at the end of 2008. BMP DDB was the Labour Party's advertising agency from 1972 to 1997.

Commerce

Powell was Chair of

NESTA Nesta (formerly NESTA, National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) is an innovation foundation based in the UK. The organisation acts through a combination of programmes, investment, policy and research, and the formation of part ...

from 2003 to 2010, and was chair of the Institute of Public Policy Research think tank; the British Council's Creative Industries Advisory Panel; the Ealing Hammersmith and Hounslow Health Authority; and Vice Chair of the Public Diplomacy Board. He serves on the Government's Science Forum and the Board of Riverside Studios. He is a member of the Corporate Finance Advisory Board at

Pricewaterhouse Coopers PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounting ...

, advising on corporate finance in the entertainment and media sector, and has NED roles at Dr Foster, Renew, ParcelGenie.com, and UBM.

Personal life

He has three brothers,

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*k ...

, Roderick, and Jonathan Powell; Jonathan was chief of staff to

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Powell, Chris British advertising executives Businesspeople awarded knighthoods Living people 1943 births Knights Bachelor