Robert Phillips

Robert Phillips started out his professional life with serious political ambition but soon realised that his chosen brand lacked full emotional engagement with the needs of the British consumer. As the SDP faded into distant memory, Robert turned his love of brands from politics to the consumer arena - and, in collaboration with his business partner, Jackie Cooper, helped conceive and deliver some of the most memorable brand marketing campaigns of recent times, through their consumer brands agency, JCPR.

In 1993/4, Robert and Jackie built upon their heritage with underwear with the now legendary 'Hello Boys' campaign for Wonderbra - a PR industry Gold Standard. This, along with the launch of PlayStation 2, was subsequently voted into PR Week's Top 20 Consumer Campaigns of All Time.

Alongside PlayStation and Wonderbra, other award winning campaigns have included extensive work for Mars; the transformation of BT Cellnet into market-leading O2; the re-invention of Sherry with Ten Star Tapas; and, more recently, the launch of Halo 3 for Xbox 360 - and the metamorphosis of Covent Garden into what is fast becoming London’s most vibrant shopping and residential district.

A passionate believer in Responsibility, Transparency, Accountability and Making PR Work For Sales, Robert's heartfelt belief is that now, in the Age of Conversation, PR's time has finally come. Robert believes that the changes in the media landscape beyond the Digital Revolution are both seismic and permanent – and that the convergence of all ‘traditional’ marketing disciplines is now inevitable.

In May 2007, having sold JCPR to Edelman three years earlier, Robert was asked to become CEO of all Edelman companies in the UK, including Edelman London and JCPR. The combined power of this group ranks Edelman UK as the largest independent firm in the UK PR marketplace and among the top three multi-geography, multi-practice consultancies - with fees in excess of £22 million per annum and about 260 staff.

Robert has consulted at a senior level with a broad cross-section of business and political leaders dating back over twenty years – including top-level media training, brand and corporate reputation and crisis and issues management work.

Robert is currently co-authoring a book that examines the changing communications landscape brought about by the unique confluence of Digital Democracy, Climate Change and the emergence of a Wellbeing Imperative.