WPNC to shut its doors as John Watson calls it a day

John Watson, one of the founding fathers of the UK direct marketing industry and a highly respected business leader, is finally hanging up his boots after over 60 years in the business, in a move which will see WPNC close at the end of this month.

Watson said: “I will be 77 this June and the time is right to stand down. I’ve had the privilege of being a part of WPNC for more than 20 years, and my partners over those decades – Maria Phillips, John Eversley, Bob Nash and Gail Cookson – have also announced that they will be stepping down or already have.

“Given these management changes and ongoing trading challenges that agencies are facing, I have taken the decision that the best thing to do is to close the agency.”

Having begun his agency career as a runner aged 16 at Brunning Advertising & Marketing, by the early Seventies, Watson had become a copywriter at Gordon Proctor & Partners in Knightsbridge, where he first met Drayton Bird. In 1975, he then switched to Samuels Jones Isaacson Page, an offshoot of BMP run by the late Ivor Samuels.

It was at SJIP that Watson had his first taste of direct response advertising, working for Bob Scott on the Scotcade business. Within a year, he joined forces with Bird and Glenmore Trenear-Harvey to launch what was one of the UK’s first direct marketing agencies, Trenear-Harvey Bird & Watson.

By 1982, Watson had quit, and, along with Chris Albert, Rinalda Ward and production man Bernie Varndell, set up Watson Ward Albert Varndell (WWAV). The agency had backing from Samuels, who was then chief executive of BBDO.

WWAV grew to become the largest direct agency in the UK with more than 1,000 employees across media, direct mail, list broking and IT, operating offices in Edinburgh, Bristol, Leeds and Amsterdam.

Omnicom acquired the agency in 1994 and then merged it with Rapp Collins to form WWAV Rapp Collins (now Rapp).

Watson stepped down in 2000 but was soon back in the business, joining with former WWAV colleagues Maria Phillips and Tod Norman to set up Watson Phillips Norman in 2002. In 2014, it merged with digital agency Chameleon to form WPNC.

Watson said: “Over the years WPNC has helped business as diverse as publishers, cruise lines, gold merchants and wine companies. I’m particularly proud of the work we’ve done in fundraising, where the team has produced literally hundreds of ground-breaking DRTV spots for large and small organisations and has helped them raise millions of pounds. But all good things must come to an end.”

Watson will remain non-exec chair of donation management platform goDonate and move into consultancy.

The agency will formally close at the end of March. However, WPNC has had a long association with Claire Daniels at Aha Agency and it is understood that some WPNC staff could join Aha, as well as some clients, to provide continuity.

Away from agency life, Watson was also founder chair of the Institute of Direct Marketing, served as a non-executive director of Which?, was on the board of the NSPCC Full Stop Appeal and on the RNLI Fundraising Committee. He was founder chair of media independent Mike Colling & Co, now The Kite Factory.

Watson concluded: “My retirement will, I hope, be a partial one. I will become a consultant and I hope to be part of the resurrection of direct mail, which is my favourite medium and offers massive possibilities for finding new donors and customers. Direct mail, so long neglected, is going to have a big come back.”