Rupert Howell - one of Britain’s most high-profile agency chiefs -
is the president-elect of the Institute of Practitioners in
Advertising.
The HHCL & Partners chairman and founding partner will take over the
reins from Graham Hinton, the Bates Dorland chairman, when his two-year
tenure ends in April.
Howell, a publicity-conscious and a much-quoted commentator on
advertising affairs, was formally adopted as the agency body’s candidate
for front man by the IPA council last week.
Nick Phillips, the IPA’s director-general, said: ’Rupert not only has
tremendous energy but has a huge record of success in winning new
business at Young & Rubicam and at his own agency. He also has a
wonderful range of contacts in the advertising business and beyond.’
Howell’s move to the forefront of industry affairs comes a year after
HHCL merged with Sir Tim Bell’s publicly listed Chime Communications,
making millionaires of Howell and his four other founding partners.
His nomination coincides with that of Adrian Vickers, the Abbott Mead
Vickers BBDO founding partner, as the IPA’s honourary secretary and the
president’s unofficial deputy.
At 41, Howell will be one of the youngest presidents in the IPA’s
history and his appointment is seen as part of a concerted effort to
present a younger and more vigorous front by the organisation.
Howell said: ’There’s a lot of change going on in the industry and my
peers seem to think of me as someone capable of managing that
change.’
Howell’s presidency will see the IPA through the millennium period. He
will have to contend with a number of ongoing issues, including
promoting the value of advertising to clients, the regulation of new
media and the lingering dispute with Equity, the actors’ union.
Howell has been actively involved in the IPA for the past six years and
is a member of its ’inner cabinet’ - the president’s committee. He was
recently part of an IPA delegation that travelled to New Zealand.
’With half our membership outside London, it’s good that Rupert is well
known to our Midlands, Northern and Scottish branches, all of which have
had presentations from him,’ Phillips added. ’He is very committed to
the IPA’s broad church.’
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