Owen is taking a career break to begin a master’s degree in behavioural science at the London School of Economics in September. He believes the discipline will be "hugely important for the future of marketing".
He said: "The work that has been done by the likes of Rory Sutherland and the IPA to raise the profile of behavioural science has been great, but there’s loads more to do.
"I don’t think that behavioural science is yet informing mainstream marketing. I think it will and I want to be part of that journey."
Owen joined Dare in 2003 as its first planning director. During his time there, the agency picked up ±±¾©Èü³µpk10’s Digital Agency of the Year four times and was named Digital Agency of the Decade.
At Dare, Owen worked on clients including Axe, Sony Ericsson and EE. Most recently, he led the Vision Express brand repositioning and campaign featuring Sir Trevor McDonald.
Mark Collier, the non-executive chairman at Dare, said: "John has played a pivotal role in Dare’s success. He deserves enormous credit for pioneering the use of the planning discipline back in the formative days of digital."
Dare was acquired by Cossette in 2007. Last year, Mill Road Capital sold Cossette to BlueFocus Communication Group but retained the UK assets, which include Dare and its sister agencies Elvis and Citizen Relations.
Owen added: "This has been seven months in the planning but that won’t make it any easier to say goodbye. Dare has been a part of me for a long time now."
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