John recently became an independent consultant having exited Sparkler, the award-winning business he co-founded, grew, & then sold to global innovation consultancy PA Consulting in 2018. Following a successful integration, and expansion into the US, he left the business at the end of 2021.

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John has 30 years’ experience in consumer insight, brand strategy & comms strategy – and is adept at brand positioning, brand architecture, innovation processes, proposition development, and CX & UX development.  

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He is also an angel investor, and a member of the Angel Academe syndicate.

He spent the first ten years of his career as an award-winning strategist in some of London’s leading advertising agencies – including AMV BBDO, St. Luke’s, and Lowe’s.

Seeing the early shift away from traditional marketing channels towards digital channels in 2001, John then co-founded Sparkler to provide neutral brand strategy & consumer insight.  Sparkler grew to become one of the leading companies in its sector specialising in digital insight & strategy with clients including Google, eBay, Twitter, Spotify, Microsoft, Amazon, McDonald’s, TUI, Diageo & Sainsbury’s. Sparkler has won MRS Agency of the Year twice.