Norm Johnston

Global Chief Strategy and Digital Officer

Mindshare

Norm has been involved in digital marketing since graduating from Chicago’s Northwestern University in 1988. While at Accenture, Norm led a team that developed one of the earliest e-commerce sites for a large US retailer. After completing his MBA from Duke University in 1995, Norm joined the industry’s first digital agency, Modem Media, who revolutionized the advertising industry by placing the first banner ad on the Internet.

In 1997, Norm moved to London to launch Modem’s first international office. Modem Media soon became a leading digital agency in the UK, known for nurturing some of the country’s best digital talent, consistently placing in the top of the digital league tables, and a winner of numerous international interactive awards on behalf of clients such as Unilever, General Motors, and Citibank. Modem was responsible for the UK’s first rich media ad and first viral campaign, and in 2006 was named by Campaign magazine as one of the world’s most awarded digital creative agencies.

Norm joined Mindshare in 2007 as CEO of their Interaction digital specialists group in EMEA. Norm is currently responsible for leading Mindshare’s global digital specialists as well as managing the company’s strategy business division, a combined team of over 2,000 staff in 115 cities around the world delivering work for global clients such as Unilever, Nestle, Jaguar Land Rover, Chanel, and American Express. Norm is a member of Mindshare’s Executive Committee, GroupM’s Digital Board, and the GroupM Connect Advisory Board.

Norm is a long-time vocal digital evangelist and a frequent speaker at advertising conferences, including the Festival of Media, Ad:Tech, the Cannes Advertising Festival, Internet World, Spikes Asia, and numerous IAB events. Norm also regularly comments on digital news and trends in the media, including TV and print interviews with the BBC, MSNBC, Sky News, The Economist, the Financial Times, and the New York Times.

Norm regularly writes and posts opinions and predictions on digital marketing and trends. He recently won two prestigious WPP Atticus awards for his written work, the first-ever double award winner in a single year. Norm’s first book, Adaptive Marketing, will be published by Palgrave Macmillan in September of 2015 and is available for pre-uorder on Amazon.

You can follow Norm on Twitter @ntjohnston to read his latest views and news.

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