Dominc Proctor, one-time president of WPP’s GroupM and a man who served in the front line as media agencies took over from creative agencies as the drivers of the big ad holding companies, has died. A one-time boss of full service JWT in London he rose to the top as JWT tried to adapt from its grouse shootin’ roots (it was then the biggest UK agency) to a new era under Martin Sorrell’s ultimate leadership. Proctor, popular and affable, was then the first boss of Mindshare (in effect the combined media departments of JWT and Ogilvy) before heading GroupM to 2016.
Here he is in a Forbes interview from 2012, being remarkably prescient about the changes on the way. Changes that would lead to media becoming the unholy mess (some would say) it is today.
It’s fair to say that the ad business (indeed most businesses) could do with more Proctors today. Were he starting his career now, though, he’d probably pick something else. There are many tributes to Proctor in former colleague William Eccleshare’s Linkedin post here.
