Neil Dawson

Global Chief Strategy Officer at Wunderman Thompson, New York

London, United Kingdom

About me

Neil Dawson left Bristol University in 1985 with a degree in Politics and Philosophy. He worked as a quantitative and qualitative researcher at NOP. He founded Crucible Research in 1991, a research company specialising in advertising development and youth research work. Neil moved into advertising in 1995 as a planner at Euro-RSCG Wnek Gosper. He was promoted to Head of Planning just 18 months later. Aside from playing an integral role in new business (wins include Bass, The Independent, Commission for Racial Equality), Neil?s key accounts were Peugeot, Bass (Hooch, Grolsch) and The Independent. He joined start-up Miles Calcraft Briginshaw Duffy as a partner and Head of Planning in September 1999 and has worked across all 14 of the agency's accounts. These included Bell's (UDV), BBC Worldwide, Self Trade, BT, Dyson, Thorntons, P&O, Carlton Interactive and Tate galleries. He joined TBWA\LONDON to become Executive Planning Director in July 2001.

Sector Experience

Awards

People I worked with

Wunderman Thompson, New York

My Work

SEE ALL WORK

Play by the Rules

BRAND:

Red Cross

AGENCY:

Wunderman Thompson

Late Train

BRAND:

Berocca

AGENCY:

J. Walter Thompson London

Positions

Global Chief Strategy Officer

VML Global

Global

November 2019 - Present (5 years)

Neil is a renowned strategist who has over two decades of experience working with world leading brands across the automotive, CPG, financial services, and travel & hospitality industries. In 2019, he was appointed Chief Global Strategy Officer of the newly merged Wunderman Thompson to help inspire growth for ambitious brands with a particular emphasis on demonstrating the commercial impact of our work across the consumer experience.
Prior to Wunderman Thompson, Neil served as the Chief Strategy Officer for Publicis Sapient International, where he led large-scale digital transformation projects across multiple industries. His team was responsible for shaping the digital products and services, new business model innovation and the digital experience ecosystem required to deliver business and consumer value.
Earlier in his career, Neil held several strategy leadership roles at prominent creative agencies including TBWA/London, where he was both Chairman and Executive Planning Director, and led one of London’s biggest and most successful planning departments. He was also a Planning Director at Havas London and the Founder and Director of HMDG, an independent creative agency, for five years.
He’s helped his teams rack up numerous awards for both strategy and creative effectiveness. During his time at TBWA the agency won 6 IPA Effectiveness Awards. Neil has featured 6 times as a Top 10 Account Planner in Campaign UK lists including twice as the No.1 planner .He has judged several industry-leading organizations including the IPA Effectiveness Awards where he served as the Convenor of Judges in 2008, member of the jury in 2016, WARC Social Media Effectiveness in 2015, where he served as Chair, and most recently, on the jury of the inaugural Cannes Creative Strategy Lions in 2019.
During his tenure at Publicis Sapient the company twice won Digital Innovation agency of the year for Campaign and featured in the top 3 another 2 times.