PHD Worldwide Celebrates 25th Anniversary

PHD has kicked off a series of activity, to run throughout 2015, marking the 25 year anniversary since the agency launched its first office in London. 

To celebrate the talent that has shaped the agency over the years, PHD will be inviting those that have worked for and with PHD, past and present, to leave a message on the microsite phdat25.com. 

The online ’25 Yearbook’ features videos of highlights from 25 people that have shaped PHD’s history – from the original founders and PHD’s very first employees, through to clients and the leadership of today. In the spirit of the anniversary, those featured have shared photos of themselves from 25 years ago. 

The 25 featured on the site include the co-founders David Pattison, Nick Horswell and Jonathan Durden, who talk about how the launch of PHD offered clients a whole new way of looking at media. PHD’s creative and strategic planning proposition at launch was in stark contrast to the competition, which focused solely on buying, leading to a new era of creative comms planning.

Founding client Guardian Newspapers is still a client today and the site features Carolyn McCall, the now CEO of EasyJet, sharing her memories of appointing PHD back in 1990 when she was CEO of Guardian Newspapers. Unilever’s chief marketing and communications officer Keith Weed gives a current client perspective and talks about how PHD continues to lead the way in strategic communications planning on today’s global stage.

Alumni featured include Tess Alps, chair of Thinkbox; Ed Castillo, chief strategy officer at TBWA Worldwide; Jon Wilkins, chairman of Karmarama; David Wilding, director of planning at Twitter; Kathleen Saxton, founder of The Lighthouse and Mark Sands, chief marketing officer at Christies.

Mike Cooper, CEO of PHD Worldwide said “PHD has a very special heritage and one that is unlike any other media agency network. From a radical challenger proposition that started in 1990’s London with a headcount of four, PHD’s unique positioning as a leader in creative communications planning has evolved globally and today we are over 3,000 employees in over 80 countries and work with some of the world’s largest advertisers.  We’re delighted that the founders and alumni are joining us to celebrate 25 years of keeping the founding principles of innovation, creativity and thought-leadership alive.”

Those wishing to leave an anniversary highlight or message can do so at phdat25.com

About PHD  

PHD Worldwide is known globally as an innovator in communications planning and buying across broadcast, print, digital, mobile, social and emerging media. Built on a culture of thought leadership, PHD’s philosophy is “Finding a Better Way.” PHD is one of the world’s fastest growing and most awarded media and communication agencies, with over 3,000 staff working in over 80 offices worldwide.

PHD was named Global Media Agency of the Year 2013 at the Cristal Awards and Adweek’s Global Media Agency of the Year 2012. In 2013 PHD also received Agency of the Year accolades in the UK, New Zealand, Indonesia, Singapore, India, Shanghai, Taiwan, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Sweden, as well as winning eight Cannes Lions awards. In 2014, PHD was awarded Spikes Asia and Campaign Asia’ Media Network of the Year, as well crowned Global Media Network of the Year at the Cristal Festival.

The PHD network is part of the Omnicom Media Group (www.omnicommediagroup.com), a division of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC)

www.phdmedia.com