About me
He grew up in the far North of Scotland with the nearest cinema a good two-hours away. He moved 200 miles south to study in Dundee before moving client-side, based even further south, in Liverpool. Then it was the well-worn road to London.
Over the last 20 years, Hugh has been Account Director at Grey Advertising; was appointed a Board Director of Saatchi & Saatchi and spent twelve years at BBH.
At BBH, he led the pitch team that created Keep Walking for Johnnie Walker and spent the next four years helping establish it in over 150 markets. In doing so, Diageo calculated the idea generated incremental sales of $1bn in its first six years. After stints as BBH’s Global New Business Director and running Lynx/Axe globally, Hugh became CEO of Ogilvy & Mather UK. After three years, he tried the start-up route; it lasted about the length of a Snap Chat.
His curiosity undiminished, Hugh joined the digital and data experts at FullSIX as UK CEO. Here he’s combining big brand thinking with cutting edge data and digital knowledge.
Hugh’s two sons enable him to fully enjoy his sports fanaticism. His wife endures it rather graciously.
Skills
- Advertising
- Integrated Marketing
- Digital Strategy
- Digital Marketing
- Creative Strategy
- Strategy
- Marketing
- New Business Development
- Entrepreneurship
- Brand Development
- Marketing Communications
- Marketing Strategy
- Online Advertising
- Creative Direction
- Brand Architecture
- Customer Insight
- Social Media Marketing
- Communications Planning
- Brand Management
- Corporate Branding
- Strategic Communications
- Brand Awareness
Talent you might be interested in
Positions
CEO
Founding Partner, CEO
Founder
I helped a Retail Design consultancy, a Social Media consultancy & an Interactive Advertising agency develop their brand and their marketing.
Chief Executive Officer
Consecutive years of double-digit top-line growth and significant margin improvement were delivered via a clear focus on building a more confident and coherent agency culture as well as aggressive new business activity.
The agency moved from 36th in the London pitch league table in the year prior to my arrival to 8th equal at the end of the second full year.
Group Business Director
Led the pitch for Johnnie Walker globally that saw the launch of Keep Walking.
Ran the Perfetti Van Melle account for the 11+ years. I was at BBH
Over the period also pitched for & won: Bank Of Scotland, Robinsons, J2O, Tango, Surf (Detergents) and Lynx/Axe Digital.
Was global lead on Lynx/Axe business for just short of four years.
Also worked on Wallis, Mail On Sunday & very briefly Flora/Becel
Director of Leap Music, BBH's music arm 2008 - 2010.
Global New Business Director
Board Account Director
Promoted to Agency Board and worked on Toyota, The British Army and Reckitt & Colman.
