Citation for Peter Mead
On the occasion of the Presentation of the Publicity Club of London’s Cup
at the Mansion House, London on 1st September 2004

Peter Mead was brought up in South London ,went to school with Michael Caine and started work at S.H.Benson.

Whilst searching for his first job he was offered a post in the Dispatch Dept of a famous agency in Berkeley Square. The patronising woman who interviewed him said that there was a canteen in the office but on the wages that they were offering he would not be able to afford to eat there .So she suggested that he should have a sandwich in Berkeley Square. Peter was appalled at this harsh welcome and did not accept the job.This incident profoundly influenced his attitude to working with colleagues and staff in later years.

Twenty years later as Chairman of AMV which had just become the largest agency in the UK, Peter bought a sandwich and solemnly ate it in Berkeley Square although he was more usually to be found lunching at the Connaught Hotel. .Through to the age of 31 he worked as an account handler at four other agencies including Doyle,Dane Bernbach on many different accounts.
He founded Peter Mead and Partners in 1975.The agency became Abbott Mead Vickers in 1977 and went public in 1985. It has become the largest advertising agency in the UK handling business like BT,Pepsi Cola,Cellnet,Gillette,Walkers Crisps,Volvo,Guinness,Yellow Pages,The Economist and a raft of Government business.

The friendships among DavidAbbott, Peter and AdrianVickers have largely set the tone for AMV’s work enviroment making it a most desirable place for agency folk .The founders wanted to create a climate in which employees would not fear for their jobs if the agency were to lose an account. Even during the recession in the late 80’s when the London advertising industry laid off nearly a quarter of its staff ,AMV did not let a single employee go.The agency’s stock actually rose after the City heard the news.They believed that the agency had a strategy for riding out the recession. They trusted Peter and when the financial situation eased AMV were staffed up ready to take advantage of account moves.
While David Abbott was acknowledged as the agency’s dominant creative influence and AdrianVickers was the partner who concentrated on client service and was said to have used charm as a martial art,

Peter Mead was the visionary who steered the company in new directions.
Few would have predicted AMV’s rise to the No1 ranking in one of the most influential advertising markets in the world .In an era when corporate upheaval became the hallmark of the advertising business the,publicly held AMV,had focused on creating distinctive core values in its London office steadily building a commercial communications group which eventually totalled 23 companies employing around 1500 people.

Even when it took its most bold gobal step it did so in a measured way – selling 23.9 per cent to U.S.agency BBDO in 1991, a stake that grew to 26.5 per cent .

Abbott Mead Vickers was formally renamed AMV BBDO and is the U.S. Agency’s London office.
When in Feb 1999 it was bought by the Omnicom Group,owners of BBDO, Peter became Vice-Chairman of the largest communications company in the world.

Peter is a past President of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising(the agencies’governing body}
He was for the last five years of its life a Director of the London Docklands Development Corporation.
He is Vice Chairman of Millwall Football Club after a term as Chairman. and a director of the new Wembley Stadium Company.

He is also very active as Vice-Chairman of the NSPCC and other charities.
The industry’s magazine’ Campaign’ broke with tradition and named AMV BBDO as “agency of the year”for the second time-1995 and 1996.

‘Campaign’ said of the agency”That AMV BBDO is arguably the most successful agency of all time”
Since 1923 the Publicity Club of London’s Cup has been awarded annually to the ‘person whose performance in Advertising and Marketing during the previous 12 months (not to mention the previous 50 years)deserves the most honoured recognition’

It gives me great pleasure to ask Mr. Peter Mead to step forward to receive our tribute in the form of the Publicity Club of London’s Cup.