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John Desmond Singleton (born 9 November 1941) is an Australian entrepreneur. He built his success and wealth in the advertising business in Australia in the 1970s and 1980s. He now has diverse investment interests in radio broadcasting, publishing and thoroughbred breeding and racing. In 2019, Singleton sold his 32.2% stake in
Macquarie Media Nine Radio (formerly Macquarie Media Limited) is an Australian media company, owned by parent company Nine Entertainment Co. and headquartered in North Sydney, New South Wales, the company operates radio stations nationally in the capital ci ...
for A$80 million, to
Nine Entertainment Nine Entertainment (registered as Nine Entertainment Co. Pty Ltd) is an Australian publicly listed media company with holdings in radio and television broadcasting, newspaper publications and digital media. It uses Nine as its corporate brand ...
.


Early life

Singleton was born in the Sydney suburb of Enfield and educated at Fort Street High School.


Advertising career

He commenced a career in advertising in 1958 as a mail boy in the Sydney office of
J. Walter Thompson J. Walter Thompson (JWT) was an advertisement holding company incorporated in 1896 by American advertising pioneer James Walter Thompson. The company was acquired in 1987 by multinational holding company WPP plc, and in November 2018, WPP merg ...
and after five years took a creative role at Berry Currie Advertising. Five years hence he was the Creative Director at that agency. In 1968 together with his Art Director partner Dunc McAllan, he started his own agency in Sydney and the pair soon teamed-up with Rob Palmer and Mike Strauss who had an existing small Melbourne shop with media buying accreditation to start Singleton, Palmer and Strauss, McAllan. SPASM opened with offices in Sydney and Melbourne. SPASM (and Singleton in particular) are notable in the history of Australian advertising for embracing an ocker voice in their communications at a time when multi-national agency groups were making their presence felt with the advent of strategic planning and British or American-imitating tones of voice. SPASM's clients were largely local Sydney retailers and rather than using polished voices, Singleton's ads embraced the tone of working-class man. A successful campaign was created for the wholesalers David Holdings. The voice-over screamed the retailer's prices before the irritating catchphrase "Where do you get it?". Similar "low-brow" approaches were taken for Jax Tyres "Jax the ripper Tyremen with the deals" and for Hudsons Timber and Hardware using a toothless old handyman spruiking "'udsons with a haitch". Critics derided this style as ocker advertising but it would pave the way for the later success of the laconic and self-deprecating style of local Australian advertising such as that created by the Mojo agency in the 1980s. In 1973 Singleton and his partners sold SPASM to the US Doyle Dane Bernbach and Singleton for a time was managing director of DDB's Australian operations. Working for a large multi-national with overseas owners was a challenge for Singleton and he left the business in 1977 triggering a long non-compete provision in his contract. In 1985 Singleton started up again on his own with "John Singleton Advertising". Sydney stockbroker Rene Rivkin bought a silent-holding in the agency during its development in the 1980s. Singleton developed close ties with the
Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms th ...
and created the advertising for
Bob Hawke Robert James Lee Hawke (9 December 1929 – 16 May 2019) was an Australian politician and union organiser who served as the 23rd prime minister of Australia from 1983 to 1991, holding office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (AL ...
's successful 1983 election campaign. John Singleton Advertising listed publicly, became the Singleton Group Ltd in 1994, then grew to become the STW Communications Group Ltd in 2002 which now owns over fifty Australian marketing and advertising businesses including the Singleton Ogilvy & Mather ad agency and holds an interest in
J. Walter Thompson J. Walter Thompson (JWT) was an advertisement holding company incorporated in 1896 by American advertising pioneer James Walter Thompson. The company was acquired in 1987 by multinational holding company WPP plc, and in November 2018, WPP merg ...
's Australian operations. Along the way Singleton acquired personal stakes in ventures including the 1990 buy-out of the Ten Group TV network from receivership and an acquisition in 2000 of Indonesia's No 3 network SCTV. These personal holdings in addition to the success and growth STW Group interests enabled Singleton to amass a massive personal fortune. In 2019, Singleton sold his 32.2% stake in
Macquarie Media Nine Radio (formerly Macquarie Media Limited) is an Australian media company, owned by parent company Nine Entertainment Co. and headquartered in North Sydney, New South Wales, the company operates radio stations nationally in the capital ci ...
for A$80 million, which
Nine Entertainment Nine Entertainment (registered as Nine Entertainment Co. Pty Ltd) is an Australian publicly listed media company with holdings in radio and television broadcasting, newspaper publications and digital media. It uses Nine as its corporate brand ...
purchased for $1.46 per share.


Honours and awards

In 1994 Singleton was appointed as a
Member of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Go ...
for service to the community through his own personal support and fundraising activities more broadly. In 2000 Singleton was awarded the
Australian Sports Medal The Australian Sports Medal is an award given to recognise achievements in Australian sport to commemorate Australian participation in major sporting events. Original recipients of the award included competitors, coaches, sports scientists, offi ...
. In 2009 Singleton was included in the inaugural twelve inductees to ''Ad News'' magazine's, Australian Advertising Hall of Fame.


Personal life

He has eight children from six marriages. He has been married to Margaret Wall (Jack born 1971), Maggie Eckardt,
Belinda Green Belinda Lynette Green (born 4 May 1952) is an Australian model and beauty queen who won the Miss World 1972 contest at the age of 20. She became the second Australian to win the title; the first, Penelope Plummer, was crowned Miss World in 196 ...
(Jessie born 1982, Sally born 1984),
Liz Hayes Elizabeth Hayes (née Ryan, born 23 May 1956) is an Australian reporter, journalist and television presenter. Career Hayes is best known for her work as a reporter on ''60 Minutes'', and as a former co-host of ''Today''. Hayes was born in T ...
, Jennifer Murrant - de facto (Joe born 1993, Hannah born 1995) and Julie Martin (Dawnie born 1998, Summer born 2000, Daisy born 2006).


Wealth rankings


References


Further reading

* * *


External links


''Original Singo''
27 July 2002
History of Sydney AdvertisingBlackman "Post War Advertising in Australia" 1997Singleton's Advertising Age profile 2002
{{DEFAULTSORT:Singleton, John 1941 births Living people Australian advertising executives Australian copywriters Members of the Order of Australia Recipients of the Australian Sports Medal Businesspeople from Sydney People educated at Fort Street High School