My Media Week: David Jowett

This week Aegis Media client president David Jowett takes in Amsterdam for an agency meeting, notices the proliferation of iPads in the airport lounge and is crowded out by his all-girl family.

David Jowett: Aegis Media client president
David Jowett: Aegis Media client president

Monday

I am a lark not an owl, so I get up at my usual anti-social hour and try not to wake my wife or my five-year-old daughter. I creep out of the house and drive to work.

I love early mornings in the office, some unblemished time to respond to emails, etc. My first meeting of the day is our regular Monday morning senior management catch-up.

On the agenda – current clients, new business, staff, and our second-quarter forecast. Pretty good summary of any working week I guess for anyone in media.

One hour later I am in a meeting with Ben Wood, our UK head of iProspect (Aegis Media's digital performance arm) to discuss how best to operate a new multi-market piece of search business.

Then off to meet Lizette Dupond who heads one of our Lat Am client teams, to talk about development opportunities in the region.

Then four of us sprint to the Tube to get to Paddington, to then get to Heathrow to fly to Amsterdam for a client meeting early the following morning.

We try to have dinner at 10.05 pm in Amsterdam, but the chef has gone home – not the greatest end to a day.

Tuesday

Our full morning meeting in Amsterdam with the new board-level client is a healthy and lively discussion, as always results from talking to a very senior professional with a Procter & Gamble and Mars background.

While travelling back to the UK, I have a quick catch-up on Twitter, Linkedin and Facebook. I follow mostly golfers like Ian Poulter on Twitter to understand the life I should have had if I hadn't chosen to be a travelling media professional.

I seem to be surrounded by iPads in the airport lounge. I prefer the small Mac Book Air. I can actually do work on it.

I fly home in time to see my daughter in Hertfordshire before she goes to bed…a rare treat.

Wednesday

An early start to the day – of course.

We have six markets flying in to London to prepare for a large multi-market pitch. We spend 12 hours in a room agreeing charts, aligning our story and creating a real sense of team.

As someone who spent 18 years in a UK role, learning about different cultures and ways of working is one of the most fascinating parts of a global role.

The UK media world very easily forgets just how brilliant the work is in other parts of the globe. Some of the most innovative and impressive thinking I have seen in the past six months has come from far-flung parts of the world.

I jump out of the meeting for an hour to give a welcome speech to our circa 30 Carat markets that have landed for our global Nokia account directors' meeting. These are invaluable sessions that bring clarity and alignment to our global task, share and co-create solutions and build bonds that last longer than two days. 

Thursday

I have an early morning coffee with a very talented person who one day might fit in the Carat or Vizeum jigsaw puzzle.

Mid-morning, I work with Fiona Lloyd, one of our senior business leaders, to discuss a series of commercial proposals we are making to her clients.

I have a quick call with Steven Fueling to congratulate him on his promotion to chief client officer at Carat USA – our US business is flying.

Much of their success is as a result of creating a more strategic approach to a market that has been dominated for years by trading value.

Then I have some time to myself to consider our next phase of talent management and make some recommendations to my boss, Martyn Rattle, chief client officer, Aegis Media Global.

And lastly, I start diving into the numbers for the forecast. They look pretty good.

Friday

I start the day in a meeting with Pierre Desangles, our Carat France MD. He has some fantastic ideas about how to structure a presentation. It is fantastic having an ex-creative agency executive in the family – they just visualise the solutions to problems differently.

I have a call with our new client, Tourism Ireland, to work through some of the on-boarding programme we are in the middle of. It is a fascinating challenge to help a "brand" that has stronger advocacy than Apple.

I finish the week with a weekly status meeting with our head of Vizeum clients, Hugh Semple, and then drive home to Hertfordshire to enjoy a country weekend with my wife, daughter, dog and cat…. an all-female line-up that leaves me the fifth-most-important person in my house – brutal reality of life I guess.

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