Advertising at the Crossroads

John Philip Jones, an American citizen born in Britain, graduated from Cambridge University with the Economics Tripos (BA with Honours, and MA). He had two careers. The first lasted for twenty-seven years in the advertising business, mostly with J. Walter Thompson in Britain, the Netherlands and Scandinavia, as an account director on major brands from Unilever, Nestlé and other large international companies. His second career, which also lasted twenty-seven years, was as a member of the faculty of the Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University, New York. He was a full professor with academic tenure, and is now emeritus. He won a number of awards, including the Syracuse Chancellor’s Citation for Exceptional Academic Achievement. He was also a visiting professor in universities in Australia and Denmark. He has worked on consulting assignments for major companies in forty countries. He is the author of 23 books and 70 articles, mainly in professional journals.

Mary Baumgartner Jones graduated from Mount Holyoke College with a degree in International Relations. Her twenty-year career in New York included account management and strategy roles at major advertising agencies. She then took a job with her client, HBO. At HBO Mary worked on the advertising team before taking over the leadership of the interactive team responsible for overseeing hbo.com, exploring interactive TV, and launching the e-commerce business for the network. Mary and her family left New York to move to Maine where she led a small national advertising agency for a decade. Mary currently serves as Vice President for Communications and Public Affairs at Bowdoin College. For over a decade Mary has also served as a moderator for Collaborative Gain, building and managing a peer-learning, cross-industry executive council that focuses on sharpening the members’ leadership skills and business capabilities.