David Abbott (advertising)

David Abbott
Born	London, United Kingdom
Nationality	British
Alma mater	Merton College, Oxford
Occupation	Advertising executive, copywriter, creative director, author

David John Abbott (11 October 1938 – 17 May 2014) was a British advertising executive who founded Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO. He was one of the most celebrated advertising executives in the world and regarded as the greatest copywriter of his generation. Highlights of his career include the creation of the J.R. Hartley television commercial for Yellow Pages as well as work for Volkswagen, Volvo, The Economist, The RSPCA, Sainsbury's Supermarkets and Chivas Regal.

Born in Hammersmith, west London, David Abbott won a scholarship to read History at Merton College, Oxford but left before graduating to nurse his sick father who was ill with cancer and who later died. Abbott started as a copywriter working in-house at Kodak after discovering a book at a market stall about advertising on Madison Avenue. In 1963 he then moved to the Mather & Crowther agency before moving to the Manhattan-based Doyle Dane Bernbach 1965.

At Doyle Dane Bernbach, Abbott was taken under the wing of Bill Bernbach, the visionary creative director of DDB. In 1971 he returned to the UK and founded French Gold Abbott. Then in 1977 Abbott co-founded Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO alongside Adrian Vickers and Peter Mead in 1977, having first met Vickers at Oxford University in 1959. The agency's clients included Volvo, Sainsbury's, IKEA, Chivas Regal, The Economist, Yellow Pages, and the RSPCA. In 1991, BBDO acquired a stake in AMV and appended their name.

Abbott retired from advertising in October 1998 at the age of 60 to concentrate on writing his first novel.

David Abbott was D&AD President in 1975 and President's Award Winner in 1986.

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