Mark Wnek On Advertising

The insider's guide to everyone who is anyone in British adland

As part of my continuing effort to paint the landscape of UK adland, this week I'd like to people it with the leading British characters in the ad-agency world. Unlike other lists, which are not so much a Who's Who as a "Who's he?", the following are the movers and shakers that you really need to know about.

Legends

John Webster of DDB - The Man; Dave Trott - still doing it; Nigel Bogle and John Hegarty, the suit and creative behind BBH; Tim Delaney, copywriting genius; Lord Saatchi, adman and Tory party co-chairman; Robin Wight of WCRS, still terrifyingly fresh and brilliant; Bill Muirhead, Lord Saatchi's partner at M&C Saatchi, best-connected man in adland; Tom Carty and Walter Campbell, creators of the Guinness Surfers; Paul Weiland, most successful commercials director of all time; Michael Baulk of AMV BBDO, the suits' suit, the Guv'nor.

Master of the Universe

Sir Martin Sorrell, boss of WPP, the world's second-largest ad group, and one of the UK's only true world-class businesses.

Worldwide heads

Andrew Robertson, unstoppable young boss of BBDO Worldwide, probably the top suit in the world; Adrian Holmes, creative head of Lowe Worldwide and, along with Tim Delaney, the greatest writer of copy there is; Miles Young, head of O&M Asia-Pacific, urbane and brilliant former head of Westminster City Council; Simon Sherwood, mild-mannered worldwide player at BBH; Tony Wright, new young boss of Lowe Worldwide.

Euro heads

Paul Bainsfair, the dapper head of TBWA Europe; William Eccleshare, head of Y&R Europe, ex-McKinsey - probably the brainiest man in adland; Rupert Howell of McCann-Erickson, true adman with daunting new job; Mike Walsh, long-serving boss of O&M; Richard Pinder, rising star at Leo Burnett.

Chairmen

Uncle Bruce Haines, at Leo Burnett; Jeremy Miles of MCBD, brilliant operator having a brilliant year; Tim Lindsay of Publicis, weirdly dropped by Lowe, very able and a hit with the girls; Steve Henry of HHCL/Red Cell and Trevor Beattie of TBWA London - not only chairmen but also creative gurus; Cilla Snowball of AMV BBDO, UK adland's First Lady; Paul Weinberger of Lowe, Mark Roalfe of Y&R, Greg Delaney of DLKW - three more chairmen with creative backgrounds; too infamous to leave out: bad Ben Langdon of Euro RSCG, adland's Gordon Gekko.

CEOs

Paul Hammersley of DDB London, formerly led Lowe to Agency of the Year; Johnny Hornby of CHI, from zero to Agency of the Year in record time; nice guy Jim Kelly, just left Y&R but soon to return somewhere, surely; Robert Senior, head of Fallon; Helen Calcraft of MCBD and Mark Lund of DLKW, new business monsters; rakish Moray MacLennan of M&C Saatchi, the 007 of adland; Farah Ramzan Golant of AMV BBDO, red-hot new top woman at UK's biggest agency - go girl! Stephen Woodford of WCRS, Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) chief, top of the new business league, an agency reborn; Matthew Bull of Lowe, unique position as the only ex-creative CEO; Stef Calcraft, runs Mother, nuff said; Simon Boulton of JWT, rumoured to be losing his job since the day he arrived - instead is thriving; Charles Vallance of VCCP, whose 02 campaign is best of the year; Gwyn Jones, CEO of BBH New York. David Jones, smart young boss of Euro RSCG New York

Creative directors

Nick Bell of JWT, growing into big job; John O'Keeffe of BBH, filling John Hegarty's shoes; Robert Saville and Mark Waites of Mother, geniuses both; Peter Souter of AMV BBDO, proof that nice guys can come first; Charles Inge of CHI, flawless ad machine; Leon Jaume, part of WCRS resurgence; Paul Silburn, master copywriter and new CD at Fallon in the US; Mark Tutssel of behemoth Leo Burnett in Chicago, the CD with the biggest job of all; Steve Aldridge, creative supremo at Partners Andrews Aldridge.

Planners

Simon Clemmow of white-hot shop CHI - the Master; Jim Carroll of BBH, the brains behind the beautiful work; Neil Dawson of TBWA, aka The Nugget, brain the size of a planet; Mark Earles, worldwide head of planning at O&M, author and innovator; Lawrence Green of Fallon; Alison Hoad of CDD, convener of judges at this year's IPA Effectiveness Awards; Richard Swaab, veteran big-shot at AMV BBDO.

Creative teams

Richard Flintham and Andy McLeod, creative bosses at Fallon, brilliant minds; Nigel Roberts and Paul Belford of AMV, press ad supremos; Ben Walker and Matt Gooden of Wieden + Kennedy, creators of the Honda Cog spot. Tony McTeer of TBWA, multi-award-winner.

Art gurus

Look no further than Dave Dye of CDD; Rooney Carruthers of VCCP; and Tiger Savage of M&C Saatchi.

New business directors

M&C Saatchi's Judy Mitchem is The Governess; young Christian Hinchcliffe at McCann is the heir apparent; Sarah Gold, now MD at trailblazing CHI.

Directors of commercials

John Glazer, more or less lost to Hollywood; Chris Cunningham, Ridley Scott's brilliant protégé; mega-award winner Frank Budgen of Gorgeous; Danny Kleinmann; Robbie Williams's mate Vaughn Arnell.

Financial directors

Your money's safe with Peter Walker of CHI; Richard Jameson, formerly of D'Arcy; and Robin Price of McCann.

Headhunters

Gay Haines of Kendall Tarrant, best headhunter in the world; Gary Stolkin of Stolkin & Partners, coming up on the rails.

Matchmakers

Martin Jones at the AAR, still the top agency finder for clients; Suki Thompson of the Haystack Group; the people's choice, Stuart Pocock of Agency Assessments; Andrew Melsom from Agency Insights.

Adland journos

The Daddy, Dominic Mills, Haymarket editorial director; Craig Smith, editor of Marketing; Claire Beale, editor of Campaign; Lucy Barrett, deputy editor of Marketing Week, world-class feature writer; Alex Benady, freelance, knows the biz inside out; Stefano Hatfield, editor of Metro, New York, no longer in adland but still the biggest repository of knowledge on the subject; Peter York, style guru; Raymond Snoddy, media guru.

Angels

Kate Harris, the fantastic woman who runs the National Advertising Benevolent Society.

Officials

Hamish Pringle, director general of the IPA; "Gentleman" Hugh Burkitt, chief executive of the Marketing Society.

Wild cards

Vince Squibb at Lowe, part-Stella writer, part-commercials director; Jay Pond-Jones, first adman truly creating content with his show Flipside; Steve Parish, the power behind many adland thrones and CEO of print and TV production comers TAG; Mitchell Everard, manager of power-lunch venue The Ivy.

WNEK'S BEST IN SHOW APPEALNOW.COM

These viral films for Appealnow.com are being targeted for a ban by Westminster City Council. They're spoofs of the lengths some traffic wardens will go to, directing you to the above website address if you think you've been ticketed unfairly. In one film, a group of wardens rock a van until the disabled sign on the dashboard falls from view, thus rendering the van ticketable. In the latest, one warden holds a driver down while his colleague issues a ticket. Despite the controversy, this campaign strikes a chord with all drivers and offers a non-violent solution to an unhinging issue. Creators: Mr & Mrs. Director: Eden Diebel at Great Guns.