Marketing Fellowships 2013 - WPP

Marketing Fellowships 2013 

Ambidextrous brains required

WPP Marketing Fellowships 

Hello, and welcome to the 

WPP Marketing Fellowship. 

This unique program was 

established, some 17 years ago, 

to create future generations of leaders for 

our operating companies. The aim was 

to attract the best graduates, from the 

world’s top universities, and give them 

both a multidisciplinary and international 

introduction to the marketing 

communications business. In the course 

of three years, WPP Fellows work in 

three different companies, learning three 

different disciplines, and many do so 

across three continents. 

This isn’t simply an exercise in allowing 

people to fullfil their Gap Year fantasies 

at WPP’s expense. As business becomes 

more global and the traditional boundaries 

between marketing communications 

disciplines become less distinct, our clients 

are demanding that the people responsible 

for their marketing dollars be fluent in the 

language of advertising, media, branding, 

digital, research and public relations, and 

also be able to move seamlessly between 

cultures. The Fellowship promotes such 

fluency and flexibility, and as I write we 

have current and former Fellows working 

on every continent, in every part of our 

business. Many now occupy senior 

management positions. 

Some of our current and former 

Fellows tell their stories on the following 

pages, and you’ll see that no two people 

follow the same route. The good thing 

is that most stay with us, and continue 

to grow within WPP as new opportunities 

open up before them. 

Over the last two or three years, in 

the face of difficult economic conditions, 

many companies decided to suspend, 

or to substantially reduce, their graduate 

recruitment activities. We have continued 

to support the Fellowship, and to move 

our existing Fellows around the world, 

because a challenging economy makes 

the recruitment, training and nurturing 

of good people more important than ever. 

We are manufacturers of ideas, and 

without constantly improving the talent 

in our company, the quality of those ideas 

will suffer. To stop recruiting during the 

financial crisis might have helped the 

bottom line in the short term, but in the 

Cover illustration by Allan Sanders. 

long term it would have undermined our 

ability to compete, and to solve our 

clients’ problems. 

It’s not easy to get a place on the 

Fellowship. Most years, we attract between 

1,500 and 2,000 applications from around 

the world, and hire between eight and 

twelve Fellows. The application itself 

requires a great deal of time and thought, 

and there are two stages of interviews – the 

second requiring candidates to spend two 

days in London – before the final offers are 

made. Many of those we hire tell us that 

they were intimidated by the odds when 

they first submitted their applications, 

were surprised to get a first interview, 

and shocked to be invited for final selection. 

I mention this because those people who 

are most intimidated by the odds might 

be the very ones we want to employ. So 

please don’t be deterred by the numbers, 

and know that regardless of the outcome, 

there is much to be learned about our 

business and about yourself by applying 

to the Fellowship. 

There’s no ideal model for a WPP 

Fellow. Each year we hire people who 

are very different from previous Fellows 

and from each other. While we insist on 

a certain level of academic achievement 

(minimum 2:1 degree or equivalent), the 

subject itself doesn’t matter. We’re just 

looking for interesting, interested people 

who, whatever they have done so far, 

have done it with enthusiasm and done 

it to a high standard. So if and when you 

complete our online application, please 

don’t just list achievements, but give us 

a real sense of the person behind them. 

Have a conversation with us. Tell us a 

good story. Make us want to meet you, 

to talk some more. 

If you choose to apply, I wish you the 

best of luck. And I hope to meet you early 

in 2013. 

Best wishes 

Jon Steel 

Fellowship 

Director

WPP is the world leader in 

communications services. 

There are more than 150 companies 

within the Group – and each is a distinctive 

brand in its own right. Each has its own 

identity, commands its own loyalty, and 

is committed to its own, specialist expertise. 

Clients seek their talent and their experience 

on a brand-by-brand basis. Between them, 

our companies work with 344 of the 

Fortune Global 500, all of the Dow Jones 

30, 63 of the NASDAQ 100 and 33 of the 

Fortune e-50. 

It is also of increasing value to clients 

that WPP companies can work together, 

as increasingly they do: providing a 

tailor-made range of communications 

services, centrally integrated. Some 730 

clients are now served in three distinct 

disciplines. More than 470 clients are 

served in four disciplines and these clients 

account for almost 57% of Group revenues. 

Group companies now work with 359 

clients across six or more countries. 

Collectively, 158,000* people work 

for WPP companies, out of 2,500 offices 

in 108 countries. 

WPP, as a parent company, 

complements the professional activities 

of our individual companies through 

initiatives and programs that provide 

greater value to our clients, competitive 

advantage to our companies, opportunities 

and rewards for our people, and accelerate 

our development in new media 

and technology. 

To meet changing client needs, WPP 

has developed a Marketing Fellowship 

Program. Its aim: to develop high-calibre 

management talent with experience across 

a range of marketing disciplines. 

The Program is unique in its 

multidisciplinary approach and is designed 

to complement the recruitment activities 

of individual WPP companies. 

* Including associates. 

Apply at 

www.wpp.com 

by 12.00 GMT, 

08 November 2012 

Terms of the Fellowship 

The Fellowship comprises three one-year 

rotations with WPP companies, with 

each rotation chosen on the basis of the 

individual’s interests and the Group’s needs. 

The multidisciplinary rotation is unique 

in the industry and grooms future leaders 

in the range of marketing needs of our 

clients. Senior executive mentors, many 

of whom are members of the WPP Board 

of Directors, are assigned to provide 

overall career guidance. 

On completion of the Program, 

we work to find a position in the Group 

that takes advantage of the broad 

experience gained during the three 

years of the Fellowship. 

Career prospects 

Fellows are most likely to work in a client 

management or strategic planning role, 

although some work on the creative side of 

an agency. Career paths will vary and will 

depend on the particular skills and aptitude 

of each individual and the companies 

selected for the Program rotation. 

In some cases there will be an 

opportunity to work in more than 

one country. 

Successful applicants 

Acceptance is conditional on completion 

of an undergraduate degree (class 2:1 or 

above or equivalent). Other than that, there 

are no set qualifications and we welcome 

applications from candidates irrespective 

of age, gender or background. 

We are looking for people who are 

intellectually curious and motivated by 

the prospect of delivering high-quality 

communications services to their clients. 

All WPP companies are Equal 

Opportunity employers. 

Selection process 

We will only accept online applications. 

To apply, please go to www.wpp.com 

and submit an application by 12.00 GMT, 

08 November 2012. Interviews will be 

conducted during January 2013. 

Successful applicants will begin work 

in September 2013.

WPP communications services 

Our strengths 

– The Group’s greatest strength is its client base: a remarkable list of bluechip 

businesses, ranging from packaged goods to financial services and 

hi-tech companies. Many client relationships span several generations. 

– In its range of skills and geographical coverage, the Group is unrivalled 

and has achieved balance in both. We derive 34% of our revenue from 

North America, 12% from the UK, 25% from Western Continental 

Europe and 29% from Asia Pacific, Latin America, Africa & Middle 

East and Central & Eastern Europe. Less than half of our revenue 

is now derived from conventional advertising.

– As ever, the key to servicing the Group’s client base lies with the talents 

of our 158,000 people (including associates) and the skill with which 

they are developed and managed. 

– Through increasing investment in information technology, training, career 

development and incentive programs, the Group facilitates, encourages 

and rewards exceptional work – both within individual companies and 

in partnership with others.

WPP communications services 

Our strengths 

Advertising 

Full-service advertising agency activity 

– provided largely by five of the world’s top 

agency networks: JWT, Ogilvy & Mather 

Advertising, Y&R, Grey and United 

– accounts for over 40% of WPP’s 

communications activities and revenues. 

Major clients include Bayer, Colgate, 

Danone, Dell, Ford, HSBC, Johnson & 

Johnson, Kimberly-Clark, Mazda, Procter 

& Gamble, Shell and Vodafone. 

Media Investment Management 

As media fragments and media owners 

consolidate, Media Investment 

Management is increasingly critical. 

WPP offers four of the world’s top 10 

media planning and buying companies: 

Mindshare, MEC, MediaCom and Maxus. 

Consumer Insight 

WPP’s Consumer Insight arm, Kantar, 

incorporates such well-known names as 

Millward Brown, Added Value, TNS and 

The Futures Company as well as sector 

specialists Kantar Media, Kantar Retail, 

Kantar Healthcare and Kantar Worldpanel. 

The company – employing 28,500 staff 

in over 100 countries – provides consumer 

and business insights to over half the 

Fortune Top 500 companies. 

Public Relations & Public Affairs 

With three of the pre-eminent global 

PR companies – Burson-Marsteller, 

Hill+Knowlton Strategies and Ogilvy 

Public Relations, and several other 

leading firms such as Cohn & Wolfe, 

Penn Schoen Berland and RLM Finsbury, 

WPP’s PR/PA agencies offer a wide range 

of corporate, consumer, financial, 

government relations, issues management 

and brand-building services. 

Branding & Identity 

WPP’s Branding & Identity businesses 

offer specialised expertise in corporate 

and brand consulting, corporate 

reputation research, branded events, 

brand architecture, employee motivation 

and training, product identity and design, 

from companies such as The Brand 

Union, Lambie-Nairn, Landor, 

The Partners and FITCH. 

Healthcare Communications 

WPP’s healthcare companies, which include 

Ogilvy CommonHealth Worldwide, Sudler 

& Hennessey and ghg, provide integrated 

solutions – from professional and consumer 

healthcare advertising and marketing to 

medical education and the latest interactive 

technologies – to pharmaceutical, 

healthcare and life-sciences clients. 

Direct, Digital, Promotion 

& Relationship Marketing 

Includes two of the world’s largest and 

most recognised relationship marketing 

brands in Wunderman and OgilvyOne 

Worldwide, in addition to direct, digital 

and promotion specialists 24/7 Media, 

AKQA, Blue State Digital, Possible 

Worldwide, G2, OgilvyAction, A. Eicoff, 

RTCRM, VML and Studiocom. 

Specialist Communications 

WPP offers a broad range of specialised 

communications services, including 

corporate/B2B, custom media, 

demographic marketing, employer 

branding/recruitment, event/face-to-face 

marketing, foodservice marketing, sports 

marketing, entertainment marketing, 

youth marketing, real estate marketing, 

technology marketing and media 

& production services.

Some of the people 

on the Program 

Dale Kirsop 

I can remember when it dawned on me. 

There we were, the Secretary of State and I, hurtling down the 

Kuala Lumpurian motorway in the Ambassador’s Jag, Union Flag 

fluttering, motorcycle outriders ahead, while 500 irate passengers 

on the midnight jumbo to London awaited our arrival. Why were 

we late? The King wouldn’t stop talking, obviously. How do you 

tell a King you’ve got to dash to your plane? Awkward. 

Anyway. “This job is pretty special,” I thought to myself. 

And it is. 

You’re at a scary junction in your life and there’s a thousand ways to turn. Lawyers, 

consultants and financiers are no doubt schmoozing you with stock photography, 

animated PowerPoints and massive salaries. But look harder and you’ll notice what’s 

not on their table. It’s what I consider to be most important: control of your own 

professional destiny. 

At this point, your career aspirations are untested. It’s tempting but dangerous to 

don the blinkers, and walk blindly into a regimented training program only to regret it 

later. Thankfully, the WPP Fellowship presents a refreshing alternative. With guidance 

and mentorship from industry titans, you are free to forge your own path. Where you go, 

what you do, who you work with… it’s all up to you. Don’t like it? Then change it. WPP 

will make it happen. That freedom of choice is rare, and to have it in a group as wildly 

diverse as WPP is truly unique. 

My Fellowship took me to every continent. I managed global advertising campaigns, 

developed smells from scratch, designed new food products, and wrote speeches for the 

Prime Minister, Prince William and David Beckham. After three years, no other Fellow, 

indeed no other graduate I knew, had a CV like mine. That’s the whole point of this 

program – we’re all different. WPP respects and encourages individuality. It’s an incredibly 

liberating experience. So that’s why back then in Malaysia, and still today, I consider the 

WPP Fellowship to be so special. 

Jessica Lehman 

The journey from music teacher in Edmonton to WPP Fellow 

might not sound like your average progression. But having spent 

two years coming up with cunning ways of getting 14-year-old 

boys to sing – turns out you teach them football anthems in 

four-part harmony – and a further year devising and running 

education projects for the Royal Opera House, I realised that what 

excited me most was not the end product, but the creative thinking 

and problem solving that got us there. Whilst then immersed 

in running a performance festival in a school’s food garden, 

I imagined how exciting it would be to run a large-scale experiential campaign for 

a global brand. Shortly after that I submitted my Fellowship application, and have not 

looked back since. For my first rotation I’m working as an account executive at RKC&R/ 

Y&R London. This means being exposed to every aspect of work that an agency does, 

and every department that is involved in doing it. Vibrant, friendly and fast paced, it’s 

a thrilling place to learn the craft and gain exposure to the thinking and debate involved 

in making great advertising. Furthermore, I’m challenged on a daily basis to push the 

boundaries of my resourcefulness, creativity and organisation – all things which are very 

handy when your Account Director goes off sick for two months and you are in charge 

of getting a BBC trail finished and on air. Come September I’ll be sad to leave the team 

for my next rotation in Asia, but grateful for everything I’ve been able to learn and 

excited to put it into practice in a different context with an entirely new set of challenges 

and opportunities. With the Fellowship there’s no time to get comfortable, but that’s 

what makes these three years so special.



Emma Ashru-Jones 

When I was eight years old, my favourite story was one by 

Dr. Seuss about a town with a lazy bee. The town employed 

a watcher to watch this bee, but in time it became clear that this 

watcher was lazy too. They needed a bee watcher to watch the 

watcher. Then maybe a bee-watcher watcher... it was a great story. 

I told it to anyone who would listen. One day I overheard my 

parents and their friends grumbling about more middle managers 

at work and then managers to manage the managers. I had to 

tell them about the bee-watcher. 

That was the first time I got excited about creative responses to business problems. 

But it wasn’t a straight road from bee stories to billboards. I never imagined I would 

end up in marketing. In a bid to discover what I wanted to do after university, I worked for 

people who inspired me. After stints with a speech writer, an author, a social entrepreneur, 

a curator, a human rights activist and a Naked Chef, I realised that the golden thread 

through all of these people’s work was powerful communication. Fortunately, I had this 

eureka moment around the same time as discovering the Fellowship. 

Every WPP Fellow has a unique experience, but I can promise three things. First, you 

won’t be groomed to become a ‘corporate’ version of your former self. Second, you won’t 

have to climb up the ladder before being part of making big ideas happen. You will be 

listened to, while learning to be a great listener. Working in advertising at JWT London 

for my first rotation, I’m learning from planners with the logic of quantum physicists and 

the imagination of playwrights. Currently, I’m leading global research on female identity 

for one of the world’s biggest healthcare companies while trying to crack business puzzles 

for Britain’s best-loved food brands. 

Above all, this job is about people. I’ve met lumberjacks, Olympic silver-medallists 

and inner-city schoolteachers. And those were just in my cohort of WPP Fellows. There 

is no mould for a WPP Fellow, but if you are incurably curious, that’s a pretty great start. 

Oh, and the third promise? You’ll never, ever be a bee-watcher. 

Kiernan P. Schmitt 

Shortly after I graduated from Harvard, I started working for an 

international broadcast news organization, expecting a world-class 

experience in fast-paced journalism. Instead I ended up behind 

a postage-stamp sized desk uploading videos of obese Americans 

with electronically scrambled faces to play over scripts detailing 

how McDonald’s was adding an additional 800 or so calories to 

their value meals. It wasn’t long before I was browsing job postings 

in search of greener intellectual pastures. 

Luckily WPP had recently made a presentation at my alma 

mater. I was immediately impressed with the Fellowship’s promise of challenging work 

assignments, creative engagement and, of course, world travel. This was a far cry from 

browsing stock footage of roly-poly burger-munchers. 

Now in my third and final rotation, I can say that the Fellowship has truly earned 

its reputation. I’ve had the opportunity to work across world-class clients – IBM, 

American Express and, believe it or not, Lady Gaga. (I even hugged her mother.) 

I’ve received a stellar education in strategically tackling business and communications 

challenges. And, perhaps most importantly, I’ve been entrusted with important decisions 

and continually challenged by my work. 

To me, that is what sets the Fellowship apart: WPP genuinely has faith in its 

young workers’ abilities and makes available all opportunities for growth and success. 

If the world is my oyster, the Fellowship was the knife that let me pry it open. 

Oh – and my desk is a lot bigger now.

Jason Rogers 

It’s hard for me to hear the word ‘ambidextrous’ (à la ambidextrous 

brains) and not think about sports because the truth is that I am 

actually ambidextrous. Before the Fellowship, I spent 17 years 

competing in the sport of fencing, in which I am a solid left-hander, 

but whenever I have tried new sports, I have actually had to stop 

and figure out which hand to use so as to avoid embarrassment on 

my first go-around. Curiously, I feel the same sensation every day 

in my current role because each time I approach a new challenge 

I’ve got to decide which side of my brain I need to use to best get 

the job done (and embarrass myself the least). 

My path to the Fellowship was an untraditional one, although, I should say that it 

seems there are no traditional paths that lead this way. After competing at two Olympic 

Games and having the good fortune to win a Silver Medal in Beijing in 2008, I found 

myself on a whirlwind tour working to help fencing better align itself with commercial 

opportunities. It was then that I began to realize that the marketing space was the perfect 

intersection of my degree in psychology and my love for great strategy. And so, it was 

through the perspective of an athlete that I set about looking for a professional experience 

that could deliver the same elements that I had designed into my training program, such 

as diversity of environment and experience and above all, great coaching. With a little bit 

of luck I stumbled across the Fellowship website one late night, and it was clear right away 

that if there were an Olympics in marketing, this was where one should train. 

This journey is just beginning for me, and my current first-year role is as an account 

planner at JWT New York. I’m happy to say that my transition has been smooth, as I’ve 

had the unique opportunity to work on Brand USA, the United States’ first ever unified 

global tourism campaign, and have been able to use my experiences as an athlete that 

represented the United States to help inform a campaign that is fundamentally about how 

the United States represents itself. I’ll never lose my athlete’s perspective, and so I’m lucky 

that all the best training is ahead on what’s sure to shape up to be a wild ride. 

Alex Grieves 

Before I even knew that the Fellowship existed, I was living 

and working in Beijing, China, doing marketing and PR for 

a luxury travel company. I slowly realized that I actually belonged 

agency-side, working on communications strategy across clients 

and markets. But the question, “where to next?” made me 

incredibly anxious. Any one choice – professional or geographical 

– seemed too limiting. 

A fateful Google search turned this notion on its head. Upon 

finding the Fellowship website, I encountered an enticing mix 

of diverse roles across the industry, the opportunity to engage with global markets 

and consumers, and the time and support with which to do so. I was sold on what 

I considered to be the ‘choose your own adventure’ of marketing and advertising. 

Fast-forward a year as I write this from my desk in New York, where I work at 

The Futures Company. Here I’ve been lucky enough to work on trends programs and 

futures projects for clients, contribute to internal knowledge initiatives, and learn firsthand 

the value and variety of market research. Next year, I hope to take what I’ve 

learned to Cape Town, South Africa, to do a year in strategy at an advertising agency. 

On the Fellowship, professional exploration, diverse roles, and international experience 

combine to form a fantastic foundation in communications. With so many choices in one, 

what’s not to like?



Jonathan Cloonan 

I’ll tell you a secret. Growing up, I had an obsession with 

making mixtapes. The tapes were my gifts to everyone and anyone. 

Parents. Cousins. Neighbours. I even gave one to my first crush. 

I was eight years old. She was the mysterious, older woman aged 

34: my Spanish teacher. I’ve always preferred listening to a variety 

of songs by different artists rather than playing regular albums 

from start to finish. “A mixtape mentality,” my mum called it. 

A mindset that struck again when I finished university and was 

faced with the prospect of entering the big bad working world. 

Luckily, I stumbled across the WPP Fellowship. It seemed to be designed for those of us 

who were unsure about specialising in any one thing too early. For those who wanted 

to explore. To be creatively pushed yet intellectually stretched. To see what doesn’t work 

for them. But most importantly, to see what does. And to have some fun in the process. 

“Sign me up,” I thought. 

Neither of my rotations have let me down. Year one was spent as a strategic planner 

with JWT London, the ad agency that put the hole in Polo and invented the Andrex 

puppy. My current role brought me to Singapore to experience the boom in branded 

entertainment with GroupM, WPP’s media investment management arm. Here, my 

thirst for variety is quenched. No two days are the same. For example, I recently found 

myself on a sound stage in a Vietnamese studio attending a reality TV show audition. 

The weirdest part? I was the casting director. You see, I had come up with a wacky 

programming idea for one of our braver pharmaceutical clients. Two weeks later, 

the team asked me to fly to Ho Chi Minh City to make it happen. And before you ask, 

yes, I’m aware of just how bizarre that all sounds. 

Welcome to the world of the WPP Fellowship, a program which plunges Fellows into 

challenging and often surreal situations. A scheme that hands over the responsibility to 

sink or swim from day one. A three-year journey for those of us harbouring a mixtape 

mentality. Time to press play. 

Tom Richardson 

I was told at interview that WPP looks for “people who light up 

the room”. 

It’s a wonderfully concise description of how we find the best 

people. It’s not just about enjoying the interview, but about finding 

people who run on enthusiasm. 

This is important for two reasons. 

First, the one thing that those who succeed in this industry have 

in common is an optimism that infects others when there’s really 

no way of knowing that something will work. Even the best ideas 

are fragile, and once moderated by consideration, they can only be carried by conviction. 

Second, Fellows don’t have long in any one place to make an impact. Optimism gets 

things done. 

By the end of next year, I’ll have spent a year each in London, Shanghai and California, 

in research, advertising, and digital. I’ll have worked as part of three different teams, 

for around 20 different clients. I’ll have lived out of a suitcase for 36 consecutive months, 

and spent at least six months of each year being either “Tom, who just arrived” or “Tom, 

who’s about to leave”. 

If you read that and it makes you worried, it might be that the Fellowship’s not for 

you. But if you read it and it makes you excited, if you’re already thinking about a long 

weekend in Bali between meetings in Jakarta and Beijing, then it may be that you’re 

just the kind of person we’re looking for.

Katie Chapin 

All of my most memorable accomplishments in life started with 

fear. I know there are amazing individuals out there who are able 

to march confidently, unafraid into any challenging situation. 

I’m just not one of them. But I’ve come to learn that there’s an 

advantage to feeling that nervous churn of the stomach that comes 

with fear. It’s that feeling that lets you know you’re doing 

something worthwhile. 

Standing amongst the other 30 Fellowship candidates in 

London, I felt it. Riding the elevator up to the Landor NY office 

for my first rotation, I felt it. Flying across the globe to come work at George Patterson 

Y&R Melbourne, I felt it. I’m two years into my Fellowship experience and it’s rare that 

there’s a week in which I don’t experience it. 

The Fellowship gives you three years to put yourself outside of what you know: new 

disciplines, new people, new cultures. How much you learn and take away is a direct 

result of how much you are willing to step into the unfamiliar. For me, I entered the 

Fellowship after doing two years at the VCU Brandcenter, a graduate advertising program. 

During that time, I developed an addiction to the terrifying thrill of being pushed beyond 

my abilities. I couldn’t fathom that thrill ending. I wanted to keep chasing it. Badly. 

So why did I apply for the Fellowship? 

Because it scared me. In fact, it still does. Here’s to hoping I never lose that feeling. 

David Stocks 

What Fellows tend to have in common, is they come from very 

different places and are all looking for very different things. What 

they also have in common is they tend to find what they’re looking 

for. WPP has the scale and diversity to give you anything you want, 

except maybe being an astronaut, but that could be just an 

acquisition away. 

My pre-Fellowship life was in industrial design. I designed toys, 

medical equipment, house wares, baby bottles and even fire-proof 

safes! I brought my passion for innovation and invention to WPP, 

and WPP gave me opportunities to explore and create in three different agencies, three 

different locations and in three very different ways. 

My first year saw me jump from being a product designer of things, to being a digital 

account manager of integrated healthcare campaigns at Ogilvy. I helped design, build 

and manage websites, e-learning platforms, digital experiences and even recorded some 

music videos (I got to be the clapperboard guy). 

My second year was based in Paris, building my brand development and innovation 

skills, in a new agency and in a new language. Working for ABSOLUT vodka, I have 

travelled alone through the wilds of Scandinavia and Eastern Europe searching for brand 

truths from the heartland of real vodka. Putting my industrial design background to good 

use, I also helped re-design Added Value’s innovation offer and had my first conference 

paper published: Design Empowered Innovation, which I presented at ESOMAR’s annual 

industry congress in Amsterdam last summer. 

Now in my third year, I’m working at Possible Worldwide in New York as the lead 

digital strategist over both Pringles and Febreze. My work is allowing me to explore the 

States. Admittedly some states more than others, with a particular emphasis on Ohio 

(where P&G are headquartered). But exploration nonetheless! 

As my Fellowship has progressed, so has my level of exposure to challenging, 

stimulating work, and my ability to solve challenges. This accelerated learning curve 

has unrivalled value in professional terms, but also personally. To travel and work in 

different cultures, languages and with people from all walks of life can only be a good 

thing. Coming out of my three-year WPP Fellowship, I am in a far stronger position, 

both professionally and personally than I would have been otherwise. I feel very fortunate 

to have experienced all I have over the past three years.



Nomfundo Sarah Msomi 

I always imagined I’d live and work in different parts of the world, 

although it seemed like a long shot in the South African township 

where I was born and raised. With a background in international 

development, and having worked for various charities and NGOs, 

I might seem like an unlikely fit for marketing. But that’s one of the 

key strengths of the WPP Fellowship and the type of applicants 

it attracts. You’ll often hear a Fellow say, “it just sounded like the 

job for me” whether they’re recent Bachelors graduates, teachers, 

neuroscientists or photographers. In my case, an unfulfilled creative 

drive and passion for communications hung over my head with each professional choice 

I made. And the threat only rose to a crescendo when graduate school was drawing to 

a close and I was yet to come across a job description that sounded like me. I can no longer 

recall when and how, but the call for ambidextrous brains on the front of this very 

brochure caught my eye and I knew I wanted to be a Fellow. 

Internet scholar Ethan Zuckerman once described as “bridge figures”, people who find 

themselves at the intersection of disparate cultures and communities, poised to use their 

unique placement to facilitate meaningful connections between people. This is how I 

interpret what the Fellowship has allowed me to build on. I have the pleasure of working 

across disciplines, across agencies and across geographies, which brings with it a sense 

of responsibility no other job could match. As I wrap up my year as a strategist at Digit, 

a design and technology studio in Shoreditch (London), I look forward to my next rotation 

in branding in Bangalore. Once there, I expect I’ll often find myself looking around and 

wondering – as I often do at R&D brainstorms at Digit – how on earth I got so lucky. 

Anita Beveridge 

I left university proudly clutching my degree certificate feeling 

on top of the world, filled with optimism, with a sense that the 

world really was my oyster! Unfortunately, I graduated into 

a global recession. Youth unemployment was rocketing to its 

highest level in decades and I couldn’t move for announcements 

of graduate recruitment freezes. To make matters worse I had 

no idea what I wanted to be now I was actually ‘grown up’. 

After enduring a barrage of rejections, from an array of 

companies, I gave up on finding employment and instead decided 

to embark on a journey to find my perfect career. A few false starts in retail management, 

fashion journalism and online real player gaming (oh yes, I was open to everything!) later, 

I discovered marketing communications. It was the wonderful marriage between wild 

creativity and intelligent logic, with storytelling at the heart of it all, which struck a chord 

with me. Pleased with my decision to pursue this path, it wasn’t long before I realised that 

a whole new set of choices now had to be made: PR or advertising? Media or branding? 

DM or insights? The list goes on, which is why the instant I heard about the three years 

of rotations on Fellowship I felt relieved that my curious mind might not have to be 

put to bed just yet. 

I have started my Fellowship journey at The Futures Company in London. My job is 

to gather information about the world around us and turn this into something insightful 

enough for our clients to unlock potential growth in their businesses. In my short time 

here I have already worked for a diverse range of clients, looking into the future of 

indulgence for Dunhill, hair care for Unilever, taxation for HMRC and (most glamorously 

of all) loo roll for Andrex! Along with all of the wonderful people at TFC, being a Fellow 

has given me access to so many truly inspiring people across the WPP network, not least 

of all the other Fellows and former Fellows themselves. 

And the best thing about being on the Fellowship? The feeling that, once again, 

the world is my oyster.

Matthew Nixon 

To many, the phrase ‘career choice’ is an oxymoron. A career isn’t 

something chosen, it’s something grudgingly accepted in the name 

of pragmatism and mysterious things called ‘prospects’. The ideal 

scenario might be to indulge a passion, do something creative, see 

the world; but the reality of most people’s decisions coming out of 

university is to play safe, hop on the corporate treadmill, and start 

counting down to retirement, scratching out a forlorn prisoner’s 

tally of years passed on an office cubicle’s partition wall… 

The Fellowship is different. It is the beginning of a career with 

one of the world’s most successful companies, but one that is built around giving you real, 

positive choices. You don’t have to choose between your creative passion and being 

employed, you bring your passion with you through your three years – most likely it’s 

what got you hired in the first place. And you do get to choose where in the world you 

want to work, and in which role or discipline. That’s the kind of ‘choice’ you want. 

It’s a ‘career choice’ that gives you responsibility from day one. Lots of companies 

promise that, but few deliver. Working in a magic circle law firm, you can be promised 

responsibility and end up on stapling duty, waiting for the day you’re trusted with a hole 

punch. It’s similar, but less well-paid, in the creative industries, where being a runner or 

a night shift website assistant is often all you can expect for the first couple of years. 

To put that into context, within three days of starting my first role, as an account planner 

at CHI&Partners in London, having never set foot in an advertising or marketing 

establishment before, I’d written a creative brief, briefed a creative team who were going 

to turn in into radio advertising, and started helping to advise my new client on everything 

from sponsorship opportunities to the best way to crack digital media. Baptism of fire 

doesn’t do it justice – but I wouldn’t have had it any other way. 

My second year took me to South Africa, working for The Brand Union in Cape Town. 

As well as working on developing market clients all across Africa, and some of South 

Africa’s best-loved brands (which, given the country’s 11 official languages, was never 

quite as easy as expected), I had the honour of naming a waterpark. And not many people 

can say that. 

Following that, my third year sees me back in London, working on business that spans 

the globe at Mindshare, developing communications strategies for some of the world’s 

biggest companies – no waterparks, sadly (maybe that was a one-time thing), but a roster 

of global FMCG, technology and automotive powerhouses just about makes up for 

the lack of family leisure clients, and certainly keeps me busy. 

With the Fellowship, you get to make the positive choices that turn your talent 

and passion into a career. And there’s not much more any of us can ask than that.

Our companies and associates 

Advertising 

ADK 1 

www.adk.jp 

bates 

www.batesasia.com 

CHI & Partners 1 

www.chiandpartners.com 

Dentsu Y&R 1,2,■ 

www.yr.com 

Grey 

www.grey.com 

HS Ad 1 

www.hsad.co.kr 

JWT 

www.jwt.com 

Ogilvy & Mather Advertising 

www.ogilvy.com 

Santo 

www.santo.net 

Scangroup 1 

www.scangroup.biz 

Scholz & Friends 

www.s-f.com 

Soho Square 

www.sohosq.com 

TAXI ■ 

www.taxi.ca 

Team Detroit 

www.teamdetroit.com 

The Jupiter Drawing Room 

& Partners 1 

www.jupiter.co.za 

United Network 

www.group-united.com 

Y&R ■ 

www.yr.com 


GroupM: 

www.groupm.com 

Maxus 

www.maxusglobal.com 

MediaCom 

www.mediacom.com 

MEC 

www.mecglobal.com 

Mindshare 

www.mindshareworld.com 

Outrider 

www.outrider.com 

Catalyst 

www.catalystsearchmarketing.com 

Xaxis 

www.xaxis.com 

KR Media 

www.krmedia-france.com 

M/Six 2 

www.msixagency.com 

tenthavenue: 

www.tenthavenue.com 

Joule 

www.jouleww.com 

Kinetic Worldwide 

www.kineticww.com 

Quisma 

www.quisma.com 

Spafax 

www.spafax.com 


Kantar: 

www.kantar.com 

Added Value 

www.added-value.com 

Center Partners 

www.centerpartners.com 

IMRB International 

www.imrbint.com 

Kantar Health 

www.kantarhealth.com 

Kantar Japan 

www.jp.kantargroup.com 

Kantar Media 

www.kantarmedia.com 

Kantar Operations 

www.kantaroperations.com 

Kantar Retail 

www.kantarretail.com 

Kantar Worldpanel 

www.kantarworldpanel.com 

Lightspeed Research 

www.lightspeedresearch.com 

Millward Brown 

www.millwardbrown.com 

The Futures Company 

www.thefuturescompany.com 

TNS 

www.tnsglobal.com 

Other marketing consultancies 

ohal 

www.ohal-group.com 


Blanc & Otus ♦ 

www.blancandotus.com 

Buchanan Communications 

www.buchanan.uk.com 

Burson-Marsteller ■ 

www.bm.com 

Chime Communications PLC 1 

www.chime.plc.uk 

Clarion Communications 

www.clarioncomms.co.uk 

Cohn & Wolfe ■ 

www.cohnwolfe.com 

Dewey Square Group 

www.deweysquare.com 

Glover Park Group 

www.gloverparkgroup.com 

Hering Schuppener 

www.heringschuppener.com 

Hill+Knowlton Strategies 

www.hkstrategies.com 

Ogilvy Government Relations 

www.ogilvygr.com 

Ogilvy Public Relations 

www.ogilvypr.com 

PBN Hill+Knowlton Strategies 

www.pbnco.com 

Penn Schoen Berland ■ 

www.psbresearch.com 

Prime Policy Group 

www.prime-policy.com 

Quinn Gillespie 

www.quinngillespie.com 

RLM Finsbury 

www.rlmfinsbury.com 

Wexler & Walker Public Policy Associates ♦ 

www.wexlergroup.com 


Addison ● 

www.addison.co.uk 

BDG architecture + design 

www.bdg-mccoll.com 

Coley Porter Bell 

www.cpb.co.uk 

Dovetail 

www.dovetailfurniture.com 

FITCH ● 

www.fitchww.com 

Lambie-Nairn ● 

www.lambie-nairn.com 

Landor Associates ■,● 

www.landor.com 

PeclersParis ● 

www.peclersparis.com 

The Brand Union ● 

www.thebrandunion.com 

The Partners ● 

www.the-partners.com 

VBAT ● 

www.vbat.nl 


Feinstein Kean Healthcare † 

www.fkhealth.com 

GCI Health 

www.gcihealth.com 

ghg 

www.ghgroup.com 

Ogilvy CommonHealth Worldwide 

www.ogilvychww.com 

Sudler & Hennessey ■ 

www.sudler.com 

Direct, Digital, Promotion 

& Relationship Marketing 

A. Eicoff & Co 

www.eicoff.com 

Actis Systems + 

www.actis.ru 

AGENDA + 

www.agenda-asia.com

AKQA 

www.akqa.com 

Aqua + 

www.aquaonline.com 

Barrows1 www.barrowsonline.com 

Blast Radius + 

www.blastradius.com 

Brierley & Partners1 www.brierley.com 

Designkitchen + 

www.designkitchen.com 

Deliver/Hogarth 

www.deliveroffshoring.com 

Dialogue 

www.dialoguelondon.com 

Digit 

www.digitlondon.com 

EWA 

www.ewa.ltd.uk 

FullSIX3 www.group.fullsix.com 

Grass Roots1 www.grg.com 

G2 

www.g2.com 

– G2 Branding & Design 

– G2 Interactive 

Headcount Worldwide Field Marketing 

www.headcount.co.uk 

High Co 1 

www.highco.fr 

iconmobile ■ 

www.iconmobile.com 

Kassius + 

www.kassius.fr 

KBM Group + 

www.kbmg.com 

Mando 

www.mando.co.uk 

Maxx Marketing 

www.maxx-marketing.com 

OgilvyAction 

www.ogilvyaction.com 

OgilvyOne Worldwide 

www.ogilvy.com 

OOT 2 

www.oot.it 

RTCRM ■ 

www.rtcrm.com 

Smollan Group 1 

www.smollan.co.za 

Studiocom ■ 

www.studiocom.com 

These Days + 

www.thesedays.com 

VML ■ 

www.vml.com 

Wunderman ■ 

www.wunderman.com 


Corporate/B2B 

Ogilvy Primary Contact 

www.primary.co.uk 

Custom media 

Forward 

www.theforwardgroup.com 

Demographic marketing 

Bravo ■ 

www.bebravo.com 

Kang & Lee ■ 

www.kanglee.com 

MosaicaMD 

www.mosaicamd.com 

UniWorld 1 

www.uniworldgroup.com 

Wing ■ 

www.insidewing.com 

Employer branding/recruitment 

JWT Inside 

www.jwtinside.com 

Event/face-to-face marketing 

MJM 

www.mjmcreative.com 

Metro 

www.metrobroadcast.com 

Foodservice marketing 

The Food Group 

www.thefoodgroup.com 

Sports marketing 

9ine Sports & Entertainment 

www.9ine.com.br 

JMI 3 

www.justmarketing.com 

PRISM Group 

www.prismteam.com 

– G2 Direct & Digital 

– G2 Promotional Marketing 

Entertainment marketing 

Alliance 

www.alliance-agency.com 

Youth marketing 

The Geppetto Group 

www.geppettogroup.com 

Real estate marketing 

Pace 

www.paceadv.com 

Technology marketing 

Banner Corporation ■ 

www.b1.com 

Media & production services 

The Farm Group 

www.farmgroup.tv 

Hogarth Worldwide 

www.hogarthww.com 

Imagina 3 

www.mediapro.es 

MRC 3 

www.mrcstudios.com 

United Visions 

www.united-visions.de 

The Weinstein Company 3 

www.weinsteinco.com 

WPP Digital 

24/7 Media 

www.247media.com 

Blue State Digital 

www.bluestatedigital.com 

Fabric Worldwide 1 

www.fabricww.com 

F.biz 

www.fbiz.com.br/ 

Johannes Leonardo 1 

www.johannesleonardo.com 

Possible Worldwide 

www.possibleworldwide.com 

Rockfish Interactive 

www.rockfishinteractive.com 

Syzygy 1 

www.syzygy.net 

The Media Innovation Group 

www.themig.com 

ZAAZ 

www.zaaz.com 

WPP Digital partner companies 

Ace Metrix 3 

www.acemetrix.com 

Buddy Media 3 

www.buddymedia.com 

eCommera 3 

www.ecommera.com 

HDT Holdings Technology 3 

www.hdtmedia.com 

In Game Ad Interactive 3 

www.ingamead.cn 

Invidi 3 

www.invidi.com 

Jumptap 3 

www.jumptap.com 

Moment Systems 3 

www.miaozhen.com 

nPario 1 

www.npario.com 

Proclivity Systems 3 

www.proclivitysystems.com 

Say Media 3 

www.saymedia.com 

Vice Media 3 

www.viceland.com 

Visible 1 

www.visibletechnologies.com 

Visible World 3 

www.visibleworld.com 

WildTangent 3 

www.wildtangent.com 

WPP knowledge community 

The Store 

www.wpp.com/store 

Key 

1 Associate 

2 Joint venture 

3 Investment 

♦ A Hill+Knowlton Strategies company 

† An Ogilvy company 

■ A Young & Rubicam Group company 

● A member of B to D Group 

+ Part of the Wunderman network 

As at August 2012.

Advertising 






Direct, Digital, Promotion & Relationship Marketing 


www.wpp.com

Marketing Fellowships 2013 - WPP

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