Bob Isherwood is an Australian businessman, global advertising creative leader, and the co-founder of ONE School.[1]
Education
Isherwood attended RMIT to study Advertising Art, thanks to the intervention of Victor Greenhalgh – the head of department.[2] Isherwood established the Victor Greenhalgh scholarship programme for underprivileged students at RMIT.[3]
He is also a member of RMIT’s Acclaimed Alumni, and received the first ever Honorary Doctorate in Communications from RMIT in 2007.[4]
Career
Bob Isherwood has had a career spanning over three decades and three continents. [5]
He worked for six years as a creative group head for Young & Rubicam London and 10 years with Collet Dickenson Pearce & Partners before moving back to Australia in 1982 to become a founding partner of Campaign Palace Sydney.
Isherwood joined Saatchi & Saatchi in 1986, where he spent 22 years, including 11 years as the agency’s Worldwide Creative Director, and served as chair of its Worldwide Creative Board. Under his leadership, Saatchi & Saatchi’s global network of 143 offices in 83 countries consistently ranked among the top creative agencies in the world, winning more than 8,000 major awards – including becoming the #1 creative network at the 2002 Cannes Lions Festival – for clients such as P&G and Toyota, for whom Bob served as creative director for the global launch of Toyota Prius.
Isherwood, along with Richard Meyers, were tasked with taking over The Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors Showcase after its first year.[6] It has grown to become the most anticipated premiere[7] at the Cannes Lions Festival. Now in its 34th year, it has been rebranded as the Saatchi & Saatchi New Creators' Showcase. [8][9][10]
Isherwood left Saatchi & Saatchi in 2008, citing a need to "have more than one life in my lifetime."[11]
From 2010-2016, Bob Isherwood was adjunct faculty at Vanderbilt University,[12][13] teaching two Creative Advertising courses.
In 2011, Isherwood became a founding partner of Dialog Health, a two-way mobile messaging company created to improve patient satisfaction, compliance, and adherence, in healthcare.[14]
Bob Isherwood was named the Dean of the Cannes Young Lions Creative Academy in 2012, and served as its Dean until 2020.[13][15]
Isherwood joined Innocean as Worldwide Creative Advisor and in charge of the newly formed Global Creative Council in 2013.[16][17]
In February 2020, Isherwood was appointed Head of Creative Development at The One Club for Creativity, and in fall of 2021 he co-founded ONE School,[18] a free online portfolio program for black creatives with schools based in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta and the UK.[19][20]
Creative Accolades
Isherwood won Australia’s first Gold Lion award for Cinema at the Cannes International Advertising Festival. He was also the first Australian to win a D&AD Black Pencil (gold award) for Advertising.[21][22]
He was named Australia’s Leading Creative Director and received the Clio Lifetime Achievement Award. [1] and has been inducted into the Clio Hall of Fame.[23]
He was inducted into the Australian Writers and Art Directors Hall of Fame in August 2009.[24]
In 2024, Bob Isherwood was inducted into the Creative Hall of Fame.[25]
Appointments
President, Film & Press & Poster Juries at Cannes International Festival of Creativity[26]
Chairman of Executive TV & Radio Jury, Clio awards [27]
Participant in ‘2020’ initiative of Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd.[28]
Selection Panel Member, Advance Global Australian Awards 2012-2014.[29]
