Philippa Brown, CEO, Omnicom Media Group UK, appointed AA Chair

London, March 14, 2019: The Advertising Association has today announced that Philippa Brown, CEO, Omnicom Media Group UK, has been appointed its new Chair, joining the AA Board and working closely with AA Chief Executive, Stephen Woodford and AA President, Keith Weed. The outgoing chair, James Murphy, who has completed an extended tenure to support the industry’s work around Brexit, will move into a newly-created role as UK advertising’s first Exports Champion, leading the work being done to grow exports of UK advertising services around the world.

Philippa Brown joins for a three-year term at an important moment for the Advertising Association as it steps up its work around addressing the decline of public trust in advertising, deals with a range of regulatory issues for the industry including the new HFSS advertising consultation, represents the industry during the ongoing Brexit process and progresses its work to support the Government’s Industrial Strategy.

The Advertising Association published its Trust Paper at the ISBA annual conference earlier this month, off the back of a call for a system change within the industry from its President, Keith Weed, to collectively tackle the issue of trust. Brown’s role as Chair will be to help support the strategic direction and delivery of this work and the AA’s wider remit, reporting to its 12-strong Board on behalf of its tri-partite industry membership.

Stephen Woodford, Chief Executive, Advertising Association, said:

“Philippa is one of the most highly-regarded agency leaders in the UK and we are delighted she’s agreed to become our new AA Chair. She brings unrivalled management experience from both the agency and publishing worlds and I am looking forward to working closely with her, Keith and our AA Board and Council as we implement our plan to address the decline in public trust in advertising. I am also pleased that James is staying on in a new role, supporting our Exports programme to help keep the UK as the foremost global centre for advertising.”

Philippa Brown, CEO, Omnicom Media Group UK, said:

“I’m honoured to be chairing the AA at such an important time. The association is working at the heart of many of our industry’s biggest issues – public trust, helping businesses grow across the UK and internationally and promoting the rights of companies to advertise both freely and responsibly. I’m looking forward to working with a board of industry leaders who are determined to make sure advertising plays its fullest role as an economic engine but equally as a force for societal change.”

The Advertising Association is currently celebrating the UK advertising industry’s first Export Month, in partnership with the IPA and the Department for International Trade as the industry steps up its efforts to build exports of UK advertising services. A passionate supporter of the UK’s role as a global advertising hub that provides world-class work, James Murphy has accepted the invitation to take on the role of UK advertising’s Exports Champion. The new position will see him take a central role as a figurehead for UK advertising activities on the world stage, supporting the efforts of the Promote UK group in collaboration with the Department for International Trade.

James Murphy, Group CEO of adam&eveDDB and UK Advertising Exports Champion said: “Our industry is an exports powerhouse and we have to pursue those opportunities more vigorously than ever.  Having started an agency a decade ago, some of our most exciting growth has come from overseas markets. The Promote UK initiative and support from the DiT mean it’s an exciting time for us to build on our position as a global centre of excellence.”

About Philippa Brown

Philippa Brown was appointed CEO of Omnicom Media Group UK (OMG, UK) in July 2007.  Under Philippa’s watch the company has grown to employ 1500 people and has billings of £1.7bn. Prior to Philippa joining OMG, UK, she was a Board Director at IPC Media. Philippa worked at IPC Media for 10 years and held various positions including Managing Director and Group Marketing Director, where she led a team of 90 Marketers. Before IPC Media, Philippa worked at two full service agencies across a 10-year period – DMB&B and BBH. Philippa was appointed non-Executive Director of Leeds Building Society in January 2013 and also co-chairs the Breast Cancer Now Committee for “The Bigger Bounce Event” and is also a trustee of the Future Dreams Breast Cancer Charity.

About James Murphy

Widely respected across the industry, James Murphy co-founded adam&eve in 2008, which in 2012 merged with DDB to become adam&eveDDB. In that time the agency has been named Cannes Lions Creative Agency of the Year globally twice, Campaign’s Agency of the Year five times and AdAge International Agency of the Year twice. He was elected Chairman of the Advertising Association in 2015.