A career ad man, Kevin Allen was notable for leading the pitch on the famous Mastercard ‘Priceless’ campaign. His account skills have been applied as Director of Global Accounts and Chief Growth Officer for some of the world’s biggest ad agencies. He now looks at how companies can grow, where the opportunities lie, and how great leadership inspires the greatest asset - the workforce.
View / Submit“A perfect jewel-like interlude in our business conference: powerful messages made more memorable and relevant by the warmth of his delivery.”
Waitrose
Kevin Allen served for over two decades in business development at the top of advertising giants McCann-WorldGroup and Lowe Worldwide. He is now an author and consultant on business development and strategy, and the creator of Planet Jockey, an online emotional intelligence training game.
Having found his way into advertising via (amongst other areas) airline catering, Kevin rose to the top of global advertising agency McCann where he worked with clients including Microsoft, Nestle, Marriott, L'Oreal, Lufthansa and Johnson and Johnson. He also led the pitch for the world-wide MasterCard ‘Priceless’ campaign, one of the most notable campaigns in modern advertising.
After serving as Director of Global Accounts at McCann, Kevin moved to the company’s parent group Interpublic as Chief Growth Officer. He then went to one of Interpublic’s other agencies Lowe Worldwide as Vice Chairman where he helped turn the agency around with accounts including Citigroup, Nokia, and Deutsche Bank. He also worked as part of Rudolph Giuliani's team on his successful Mayoral election and turnaround strategies for the City of New York.
Having left advertising, Kevin set up a new consultancy dedicated to growth services, training, and mentoring and also started writing. In his best-selling business book The Hidden Agenda, he looks at the psychological and emotional responses that lie behind decision-making and examines what this means for sales, marketing and the fundamentals of any business.
Beyond the creative world of advertising and brands, Kevin speaks more widely about business leadership and strategy. He offers his own insight into company culture, shared goals and how to make the most of a business’s greatest asset - its workforce. Kevin believes leaders don’t command but float on the support of their employees, and must reward them by involving them in the business and building a climate where they can flourish in being the best at what they do. His new book The Case of the Missing Cutlery: A Leadership Course for the Rising Star explores these leadership themes illustrated with a range of personal examples and anecdotes.
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