A highly respect leader in our industry, Joe Lunn began his career as a government intelligence officer before making the leap to advertising - a great gain for our industry.
Over his 20-plus-year career, Joe has worked for WPP, Omnicom and Publicis in media, digital and creative agencies, including two years in London and five years in Paris. He recently switched to client side with a highly coveted role as Uber's APAC Head of Media.He has won multiple awards for his work including Cannes Lions, Effies and MFA Awards and is a published author in La Publicité à l'Heure de la Data (Advertising in the Age of Data). Joe is passionate about our industry and the role of media in delivering growth for clients and making a difference in broader society.
As part of the MFA Awards Committee for seven years - including five years as Chair he has been an enthusiastic and proactive champion for the value media agencies bring to our client partners. His commitment to the Awards program and the MFA EX conference, introduced in 2019, was considerable and steadfast throughout his tenure. This was particularly significant because Joe took over as MFA Awards Chair at a time of immense change, when the MFA Board made the decision to pause the Awards for a year and redesignthe program to focus around effectiveness while adding greater rigour to the selection of finalists. In leading this process, Joe consulted widely with media agencies, media owners and advertisers, to create a true industry awards program, designed by the people whose work we are celebrating.
Throughout this process and at all times during his tenure, Joe was positive, passionate and undaunted, gaining agreement and the collaboration of all MFA Awards Committee members. He channeled the same energy and enthusiasm in designing the inaugural MFA EX conference program in 2019, again involving widespread industry consultation, and the subsequent 2021 program, postponed due to Covid.
WPP Chief Strategy Officer Katie Rigg-Smith, who worked closely with Joe at Mindshare for seven years, says: "Something that always stood out for me was Joe's genuine passion for great strategic thinking. He would champion that internally at Mindshare, but the step change for me was when he was appointed the role as the Chair of the MFA Awards Committee and he had a chance to make his mark on the whole industry. "Joe's mission was always quite clear, he wanted to celebrategreat work and the impact it could have on a client's business. A purist at heart, he didn't care where the work came from - he just wanted our industry and the agencies to be recognised for the difference we can make.
During his time as Chair Joe also instigated MFA EX, an event that allows our whole industry to come together to learn, to challenge our thinking and to celebrate great work. Again, it spoke to his passion to make learning something accessible to us all no matter what level we are."It's not an exaggeration to describe Joe as the driving force of the MFA Awards and MFA EX over the past five or more years. He is a passionate champion for demonstrating and celebrating media agencies' contribution to achieving tangible, long-lasting results for clients and his role in elevating the perception and value of our industry cannot be overestimated.