Born in 1947, Jean-Marie Dru, a graduate of HEC Business School, began his
career in advertising in 1971 with Dupuy Compton (now Saatchi & Saatchi) and
quickly rose to the position of Executive Creative Director.
In 1977, he joined Young & Rubicam in Paris as Managing Director, before
becoming the agency’s Chief Executive Officer in 1979.
In 1984, he co-founded BDDP, which was acquired by Omnicom and merged
with TBWA in 1998. He became President International of TBWA\\\\\\\\Worldwide in
1998 and was appointed President and CEO Worldwide in January 2001, a
position that he held until January 2008, when he moved to his current role of
Chairman.
Jean-Marie Dru has published five books on advertising and marketing: “Jet Lag”
(PowerHouse Books, 2012), “How Disruption Brought Order” (Palgrave, 2007),
“Beyond Disruption” (John Wiley & Sons Inc, 2002), “Disruption” (John Wiley &
Sons Inc, 1996) and “Le Saut Créatif” (Lattès, 1984). His new book, “The Ways
To New. 15 Paths To Disruptive Innovation” (John Wiley & Sons Inc, 2015) is due
for release in the first week of December this year.
Jean-Marie Dru has been President of the Film Jury of the Cannes Advertising
Festival twice - first in 1982 and again in 1998. He has also been the Jury
President of the first-ever Cannes Creative Effectiveness Award in 2011.
Jean-Marie Dru is a professor at the Paris Institute of Political Studies, officially
referred to as Sciences Po Paris. He became Chairman of the French Academy
of Medicine Foundation in 2013 and Chairman of UNICEF France in June 2015.
In 2008, Jean-Marie Dru was awarded the French Légion d’Honneur for his longlasting
contribution to the advertising industry and to the business world.