Leslie Butterfield Explained

Leslie Butterfield
Nationality:British
Occupation:Advertising executive
Awards:Commander of the Order of the British Empire

Leslie Butterfield is a British brand and communications expert.

Career

Early career

Butterfield joined the advertising agency, Boase Massimi Pollitt in October 1975. He joined the agency Abbott Mead Vickers as Planning Director in April 1980.

Butterfield started Butterfield Day DeVito Hockney in March 1987 with three partners. Initially, he was the planning director and later chairman. The company grew to become a Top 20 UK advertising agency by 2002.[1] In 1998, the agency was sold to Snyder Communications.[2]

Political involvement and work

Butterfield became involved in work for the UK Labour Party in 1985.[3] He also conducted qualitative research to evaluate the impact of Margaret Thatcher's policies on voting intentions, and how Labour might respond to this. In his book, 'The Unfinished Revolution', Philip Gould (later Baron Gould of Brookwood) described this as "the single most influential piece of research ever conducted for Labour".[4] Butterfield conducted another piece of research after the 1992 election, concluding that more re-assessment of Labour's offer to the electorate was necessary. He undertook further research and advised on Labour's communications with the voters for each of the following three elections, all won by Tony Blair.[5] [6] [7]

Early Brand Consultancy roles

Butterfield left BDDH at the beginning of 2001 to pursue a career focusing on brand and communications consultancy. His first venture, Butterfield8, was a consultancy company that included himself plus seven partners.[8] [9] Butterfield8 was sold to The Ingram Partnership in 2003[10] and Butterfield joined TIP as a partner.[11] [12] Then, Butterfield briefly ran a new consultancy, Butterfield Partners, from 2007 to 2008, before joining Interbrand in November 2008.[13] In recognition of his services to the Advertising Industry, Butterfield was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the Queen's 2007 Birthday Honours list.[14]

Recent career

Butterfield joined Interbrand in 2008 as Global Chief Strategy Officer[15] [16] and was later promoted to the Executive Leadership team of the company. Based in London from 2008 to 2012, he moved to Shanghai with his family from 2013 to 2015.[17] On returning to the UK in 2015, Butterfield and his partner left their corporate roles to start a new brand consultancy business - Butterfield Harris.[18]

Butterfield also acted as a Non-exec Director in the recipe box business Mindful Chef from 2015[19] until its majority sale to Nestlé in 2020. He was also Non-exec Chairman of the research company Join the Dots Ltd. from 2017 until 2019.

In 2022, Butterfield became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.[20]

Books

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Agency provocateurs? . Marketing Week . en . 7 February 2002.
  2. Web site: BDDH debates future after Havas deal . Campaign Magazine.
  3. Web site: Politics: The Labour revolution 10 years on . Campaign Magazine.
  4. 'The Unfinished Revolution. How the Modernisers saved the Labour Party.'; 1998; Philip Gould; Little, Brown & Co.
  5. Web site: CLOSE-UP: NEWSMAKER/LESLIE BUTTERFIELD; Perfectionist planner keeps BT at Butterfield Day . Campaign Magazine.
  6. Book: Rentoul . John . Tony Blair: Prime Minister . 20 June 2013 . Faber & Faber . 978-0-571-29987-4 . en.
  7. Web site: Mandelson's role in Labour's communications revealed . Campaignlive.co.uk.
  8. Web site: Butterfield fronts new consultancy . Campaign Magazine.
  9. Web site: Butterfield8 lifts wrappers off revamped youthful TUC . Marketing Week . en . 19 July 2001.
  10. Web site: Ingram Partnership buys Butterfield8 to boost strategy . Campaign Magazine.
  11. Web site: Ingram partnership recruits Innocence founder . Marketing Week . en . 3 June 2004.
  12. Web site: Tilley and Butterfield launch ventures as Ingram closes . Campaign Magazine.
  13. Web site: DoH establishes life stage model for social marketing . Campaign Magazine. en.
  14. Web site: Birthday honours: London list . BBC . 16 June 2007.
  15. Web site: Interbrand recruits Butterfield as strategy chief . Design Week . en-UK . 7 October 2008.
  16. Web site: Interbrand appoints Butterfield as group chief strategy officer . Campaign Magazine.
  17. Web site: Interbrand's global chief strategy officer Leslie Butterfield relocates to China . The Drum . en.
  18. Web site: Join the Dots appoints branding expert as board chair . Prolific North . 27 June 2017.
  19. Web site: 'Farm to Fork' Healthy Eating Investment Opportunity . BBP Media.
  20. Web site: LESLIE BUTTERFIELD CBE . RSA.
  21. Advalue : twenty ways advertising works for business, Leslie Butterfield (editor) : book review . MFSA Journal of Marketing . 1 January 2004 . 10 . 1 . 60 . 10520/EJC75273 .
  22. Web site: CLOSE-UP: ADVALUE - 20 WAYS ADVERTISING WORKS FOR BUSINESS. A new way of looking at the concept of the brand . Campaign Magazine.
  23. Web site: Mercedes must be magic, not just another car . the Guardian . en . 15 October 2005.