Kevin Roberts

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This article is about the CEO. For the English football player, see Kevin Roberts (footballer). For the Antigua and Barbudan football player, see Kevin Roberts (Antigua and Barbudan footballer). For the Australian football player, see Kevin Roberts (Australian footballer).
Kevin Roberts, CEO Worldwide of Saatchi & Saatchi
Born 20 October 1949
Lancaster, England

Kevin John Roberts (born 1949) has been the Chief Executive Officer Worldwide of the advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi since 1997. In September 2006, Saatchi & Saatchi won a US$430 million JC Penney contract because of the idea of lovemarks, which was invented and promoted by Roberts.

Contents

[edit] Early life and career (1949-86)

Roberts was born and raised in Lancaster in the industrial northwest of England. He was educated at Lancaster Royal Grammar School in the 1960s. He was expelled from the school at the age of 16 for getting the Deputy Head Girl of Lancaster Girls Grammar School pregnant and became an assistant brand manager for Mary Quant Cosmetics in 1969.[1] Roberts was later promoted to a brand manager.[2]

From 1969 to 1986, Roberts worked as International New Products Manager at Gillette to Group Marketing Manager at Procter & Gamble (P&G) to Regional Vice President at Pepsi Cola, Middle East in 1982.[3][3]

[edit] Executive career (1987-96)

In 1987, Roberts was appointed to the first "Chief" role in his career, as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Pepsi Cola, Canada. While at Pepsi Canada, Roberts notably executed a publicity stunt after a keynote speech to a group of Pepsi Canada employees, bottlers, and the media. Roberts had a Coke vending machine rolled onto the stage while he was speaking. As he finished his speech, he reached down, picked up a machine gun, and blasted the Coke machine. [4] "[Roberts] meticulously planned the spectacle, borrowing a gun from a squad of police officers and rigging the vending machine so that he had to fire only one blank to set off a dazzling rat-a-tat-tat." [5]

From 1989 to 1997, Roberts became Director and Chief Operating Officer of Lion Nathan.

[edit] Current Role (1997-)

In 1997, Roberts was appointed the role of Chief Executive Officer Worldwide of Saatchi & Saatchi. In 1997, Saatchi & Saatchi was in "deep trouble, with morale at an all-time low." [6] Roberts was advised to restructure the business drastically by bringing Roberts's own people in and moving current people around. Instead, Roberts brought in and moved nobody for two years. [7] Against all odds, Roberts was able to get things in Saatchi & Saatchi moving again in one year. Roberts then started the process to make Saatchi & Saatchi into one of the best advertising agencies around the world.

In September 2006, Saatchi & Saatchi won a US$430 million JC Penney contract because of the idea of lovemarks, invented and promoted by Roberts.

[edit] Books written by Roberts

[edit] References

  1. ^ Kevin Roberts. Lovemarks: the future beyond brands p.13
  2. ^ Kevin Roberts. Lovemarks: the future beyond brands p.14
  3. ^ a b Saatchi & Saatchi Media Press Kit about Kevin Roberts. p.1
  4. ^ Kevin Roberts. Lovemarks: the future beyond brands p.17
  5. ^ Ono, Yumiko (June 11, 1997). "Saatchi's CEO Roberts Sees Romance With Core Clients". The Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/google_login.html?url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB865977530726450500.html%3Fmod%3Dgooglewsj. 
  6. ^ Kevin Roberts. Lovemarks: the future beyond brands p.20
  7. ^ Kevin Roberts. Lovemarks: the future beyond brands p.21

[edit] External links

[edit] Videos

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kevin_Roberts&oldid=477996073"
Personal tools
Namespaces
Variants
Actions
Navigation
Interaction
Toolbox
Print/export