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Bob Isherwood

Australian businessman From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bob Isherwood is an Australian businessman, global advertising creative leader, and the co-founder of ONE School.[1]

EducationRMIT
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Education

Isherwood attended RMIT to study Advertising Art, thanks to the intervention of Victor Greenhalgh – the head of department.[2] Isherwood established the Victor Greenhalgh scholarship programme for underprivileged students at RMIT.[3]

He is also a member of RMIT’s Acclaimed Alumni, and received the first ever Honorary Doctorate in Communications from RMIT in 2007.[4]

Career

Bob Isherwood has had a career spanning over three decades and three continents.[5]

He worked for six years as a creative group head for Young & Rubicam London and 10 years with Collet Dickenson Pearce & Partners before moving back to Australia in 1982 to become a founding partner of Campaign Palace Sydney.

Isherwood joined Saatchi & Saatchi in 1986, where he spent 22 years, including 11 years as the agency’s Worldwide Creative Director, and served as chair of its Worldwide Creative Board. Under his leadership, Saatchi & Saatchi’s global network of 143 offices in 83 countries consistently ranked among the top creative agencies in the world, winning more than 8,000 major awards – including becoming the #1 creative network at the 2002 Cannes Lions Festival – for clients such as P&G and Toyota, for whom Bob served as creative director for the global launch of Toyota Prius.

Isherwood, along with Richard Meyers, were tasked with taking over The Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors Showcase after its first year.[6] It has grown to become the most anticipated premiere[7] at the Cannes Lions Festival. Now in its 34th year, it has been rebranded as the Saatchi & Saatchi New Creators' Showcase.[8][9][10]

Isherwood left Saatchi & Saatchi in 2008, citing a need to "have more than one life in my lifetime."[11]

From 2010-2016, Bob Isherwood was adjunct faculty at Vanderbilt University,[12][13] teaching two Creative Advertising courses.

In 2011, Isherwood became a founding partner of Dialog Health, a two-way mobile messaging company created to improve patient satisfaction, compliance, and adherence, in healthcare.[14]

Bob Isherwood was named the Dean of the Cannes Young Lions Creative Academy in 2012, and served as its Dean until 2020.[13][15]

Isherwood joined Innocean as Worldwide Creative Advisor and in charge of the newly formed Global Creative Council in 2013.[16][17]

In February 2020, Isherwood was appointed Head of Creative Development at The One Club for Creativity, and in fall of 2021 he co-founded ONE School,[18] a free online portfolio program for black creatives with schools based in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta and the UK.[19][20]

Creative Accolades

Isherwood won Australia’s first Gold Lion award for Cinema at the Cannes International Advertising Festival. He was also the first Australian to win a D&AD Black Pencil (gold award) for Advertising.[21][22]

He was named Australia’s Leading Creative Director and received the Clio Lifetime Achievement Award. and has been inducted into the Clio Hall of Fame.[23]

He was inducted into the Australian Writers and Art Directors Hall of Fame in August 2009.[24]

In 2024, Isherwood was inducted into the Creative Hall of Fame.[25]

Appointments

  • President, Film & Press & Poster Juries at Cannes International Festival of Creativity[26]
  • Chairman of Executive TV & Radio Jury, Clio awards[27]
  • Participant in ‘2020’ initiative of Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd.[28]
  • Selection Panel Member, Advance Global Australian Awards 2012-2014.[29]
  • Dean of the Cannes Young Creative Academy,[30]
  • Adjunct Professor of Managerial Studies at Vanderbilt University.[31]

Bibliography

  • ‘World Changing Ideas’ – (co-authored with Richard Myers.)

Palazzo Editions ISBN 0-9553046-0-1 ISBN 978-0-9553046-0-6

  • ‘Art Direction (D&AD Mastercraft Series)’ – (essay by Isherwood)

Rotovision ISBN 0-8230-6562-6 ISBN 978-0-8230-6562-2

  • ‘Advertising Now. Print.’ (succinct essay by Isherwood)

(editor Julius Wiedemann.) Taschen – GmbH ISBN 3-8228-4027-0 ISBN 978-3-8228-4027-6

  • ‘Advertising Now.’ TV Commercials: (essay by Isherwood)

Taschen – GmbH Not Yet Available

  • ‘Social Work: Saatchi & Saatchi’s Cause Related Ideas.’

Te Neues Publishing Co. ISBN 0-9538128-0-4 ISBN 978-0-9538128-0-6

  • ‘The 22 Irrefutable Laws of Advertising (and When to Violate Them)’

(by Michael Newman, foreword by Isherwood.) Published by Wiley ISBN 0-470-82106-X ISBN 978-0-470-82106-0

References

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