Boards Creative Workshop Series

Alex Melvin

Founder & Managing Partner, 180 Amsterdam

Alex Melvin grew up in Scotland and spent the first 10 years of his professional career working as a Strategic Planner in various London agencies working on accounts such as Guinness, British Rail and Midland Bank, where he learnt to search relentlessly for the big idea at the heart of the brand.

In 1992 he decided to step out of the London business world to follow one of his sporting passions – sailing. Together with round-the-world yachtsman, Ludde Ingvall, Alex set up the Big Boat Racing Team in Stockholm and secured sponsorship from Nicorette.

Another one of Alex’s sporting passions was football and in 1993 he became Wieden & Kennedy’s first European Planning Director and was closely involved in the development of Nike’s global football strategy from 1993-98 –. He was responsible for the world’s first ever global football campaign (Nike’s ‘The Wall’ in 1994) and every Nike football campaign that appeared at a global, regional or local level during the first 5 years of Nike football. In 1995, Coca-Cola also approached W+K to help develop a Big Idea. Alex was responsible for developing the “Eat Football, Sleep Football, Drink Coca-Cola” campaign, the first truly integrated global football campaign undertaken by a non-sports brand. He also helped Microsoft unleash Windows 95 on the world.

In 1998, Alex became one of the founding partners in 180 Amsterdam, whose first client was adidas. For the past 8 years he has been on a personal mission to get adidas back to its rightful place as the world’s leading sports brand. Recent highlights include adidas receiving the prestigious “Advertiser of the Year” award at this year’s Cannes Festival and the highly successful “+10” global integrated campaign in support of adidas’ involvement with the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Other 180 client strategic planning responsibilities have included Motorola and Amstel.


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	Search for a speaker: View all speakers Alex Melvin Founder & Managing Partner, 180 Amsterdam Alex Melvin grew up in Scotland and spent the first 10 years of his professional career working as a Strategic Planner in various London agencies working on accounts such as Guinness, British Rail and Midland Bank, where he learnt to search relentlessly for the big idea at the heart of the brand. In 1992 he decided to step out of the London business world to follow one of his sporting passions – sailing. Together with round-the-world yachtsman, Ludde Ingvall, Alex set up the Big Boat Racing Team in Stockholm and secured sponsorship from Nicorette. Another one of Alex’s sporting passions was football and in 1993 he became Wieden & Kennedy’s first European Planning Director and was closely involved in the development of Nike’s global football strategy from 1993-98 –. He was responsible for the world’s first ever global football campaign (Nike’s ‘The Wall’ in 1994) and every Nike football campaign that appeared at a global, regional or local level during the first 5 years of Nike football. In 1995, Coca-Cola also approached W+K to help develop a Big Idea. Alex was responsible for developing the “Eat Football, Sleep Football, Drink Coca-Cola” campaign, the first truly integrated global football campaign undertaken by a non-sports brand. He also helped Microsoft unleash Windows 95 on the world. In 1998, Alex became one of the founding partners in 180 Amsterdam, whose first client was adidas. For the past 8 years he has been on a personal mission to get adidas back to its rightful place as the world’s leading sports brand. Recent highlights include adidas receiving the prestigious “Advertiser of the Year” award at this year’s Cannes Festival and the highly successful “+10” global integrated campaign in support of adidas’ involvement with the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Other 180 client strategic planning responsibilities have included Motorola and Amstel.