IPA marks Bartle’s retirement with Effectiveness award

John Bartle’s retirement from the ad industry is being marked with

the naming of an IPA Effectiveness award after the Bartle Bogle Hegarty

chief.

From next year until 2008, the award won by the best new agency in the

competition will be known as the John Bartle Award.

Meanwhile, BBH, the agency that he helped found 17 years ago, will award

a pounds 3,000 bursary to the winning agency, enabling it to send a

member of staff on the IPA Stage 3 training course for middle-ranking

executives.

Bartle has been a frequent lecturer on the course, which looks at

advertising issues from a client perspective.

Bartle, 55, announced five months ago that he would quit BBH in December

to focus on other business options.

No living senior agency figure has been honoured in such a way before

and the decision follows an approach to the Institute of Practitioners

in Advertising by John Hegarty, BBH’s chairman, and Nigel Bogle, its

joint chief executive.

Bogle said: ’John has had such a long and deep involvement with the IPA

in the area of effectiveness and making advertising more accountable

that we thought it was the most appropriate way to mark his

departure.’

Rupert Howell, the IPA’s president, commented: ’We thought the idea was

absolutely right and were happy to endorse it. John has probably done

more than any other agency principal to promote the effectiveness

awards.’

Bartle, who was the IPA’s president between 1995 and 1997, was told of

the move at an agency meeting at the end of last week. ’I was completely

taken aback and thoroughly delighted,’ he said. ’I feel very proud and

honoured.’

This article was first published on Campaign