The advertising industry came together to celebrate the achievements of one of its best-loved figures and to bid farewell to Penny Hughes as AA President at the Shakespeare Globe Theatre on Wednesday, 15th June 2011.
AA President Penny Hughes, recently recognised with a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours, and AA Chairman Andrew McGuinness hosted the evening while personal tributes were paid to Jeremy Bullmore by WPP CEO, Sir Martin Sorrell and Amelia Torode of VCCP - a past WPP Fellow.
The Mackintosh Medal recognises outstanding ‘personal and public service to advertising’ and has been awarded only eight times since 1979. Previous Mackintosh Medal winners Archie Pitcher and David Bernstein were present to enjoy Jeremy’s acceptance speech which was as funny, pointed, entertaining and self-deprecating as the many tributes to Jeremy had suggested it would be.
The evening culminated with the announcement that Gavin Patterson, Chief Executive of BT Retail, has been appointed as the new AA President. Andrew McGuinness described it as a real coup for the AA to attract not just a major UK advertiser, but someone so immersed in the online world and at the heart of the UK’s creative, digital economy.