John Desmond Singleton AMThe Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"...
(born 9 November 1941) is an
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n
entrepreneurAn entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
. 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.
Early life
He was born at in the
SydneySydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
suburb of
EnfieldEnfield is a suburb, in the Inner-West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Enfield is located 13 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of Burwood Council.-History:...
and educated at
Fort Street High SchoolFort Street High School is a co-educational, academically selective, public high school currently located at Petersham, an inner western suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia....
,
New South WalesNew South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
.
Advertising career
He commenced a career in
advertisingAdvertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
in 1958 as a mail boy in the Sydney office of
J. Walter ThompsonJWT is one of the largest advertising agencies in the United States and the fourth-largest in the world. It is one of the key companies of Sir Martin Sorrell's WPP Group and is headquartered in New York. The global agency is led by Worldwide Chairman and Global CEO Bob Jeffrey who took over the...
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
ockerThe term "ocker" is used both as a noun and adjective for an Australian who speaks and acts in an uncultured manner, using a broad Australian accent...
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 an aitch". Critics derided this style as
ockerThe term "ocker" is used both as a noun and adjective for an Australian who speaks and acts in an uncultured manner, using a broad Australian accent...
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 agencyMojo was an Australian advertising agency formed in Sydney by Alan Morris and Allan Johnston in 1979. Its lineage can today be directly traced to Publicis Mojo, an Australian subsidiary of the French multinational advertising and communications company holding Publicis Groupe.Johnston, initially...
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 RivkinRene Rivkin was an Australian entrepreneur, investor, investment adviser, and stockbroker. He was a well-known stockbroker in Australia for many years until his death in 2005.-Early life:...
bought a silent-holding in the agency during its development in the 1980s. Singleton developed close ties with the
Australian Labor PartyThe Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
and created the advertising for
Bob HawkeRobert James Lee "Bob" Hawke AC GCL was the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia from March 1983 to December 1991 and therefore longest serving Australian Labor Party Prime Minister....
's successful 1983 election campaign. John Singleton Advertising listed publicly, became the Singleton Group Ltd in 1996, then grew to become the STW Communications Group Ltd in 2002 which now owns over 50 Australian marketing and advertising businesses including the Singleton
Ogilvy & MatherOgilvy & Mather is an international advertising, marketing and public relations agency based in Manhattan and owned by the WPP Group. The company operates 497 offices in 125 countries with approximately 16,000 employees.-History:...
ad agency and holds an interest in
J. Walter ThompsonJWT is one of the largest advertising agencies in the United States and the fourth-largest in the world. It is one of the key companies of Sir Martin Sorrell's WPP Group and is headquartered in New York. The global agency is led by Worldwide Chairman and Global CEO Bob Jeffrey who took over the...
'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.
Singleton was the initial Executive Creative Director on the
QantasQantas Airways Limited is the flag carrier of Australia. The name was originally "QANTAS", an initialism for "Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services". Nicknamed "The Flying Kangaroo", the airline is based in Sydney, with its main hub at Sydney Airport...
commercials featuring a children's
choirA choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
singing
I Still Call Australia Home"I Still Call Australia Home" is a song written and performed by Peter Allen in 1980. In it, Allen sings of Australian expatriates' longing for home.It has been used to suggest Australian patriotism and nostalgia for home...
all over the globe. That campaign had been concepted by the
MojoMojo was an Australian advertising agency formed in Sydney by Alan Morris and Allan Johnston in 1979. Its lineage can today be directly traced to Publicis Mojo, an Australian subsidiary of the French multinational advertising and communications company holding Publicis Groupe.Johnston, initially...
agency in the 1980s but Qantas CEO
Geoff DixonGeoff Dixon is an Australian corporate executive and former CEO and Managing Director of Qantas.-Qantas:...
famously called Singleton on Christmas Day 1997 to propose the children's choir performance having seen them on
Carols by CandlelightCarols by Candlelight is an Australian Christmas tradition that originated in southeastern Australia in the 19th century and was popularised in Melbourne in the 1930s. The tradition has since spread around the world. It involves people gathering, usually outdoors in a park, to sing carols by...
the night before.
Businessman & associates
Singleton has been listed in
Business Review WeeklyBRW is an Australian weekly business magazine published by the Fairfax Media group. It regularly compiles lists which rank corporations and individuals according to various criteria, similar to Fortune magazine in the United States.BRW provides news and commentary on the economy, business and...
's Rich 200 list, and his investments range from radio (being the majority shareholder in the
Macquarie Radio NetworkMacquarie Radio Network is the name of the company that owns and operates 2GB and 2CH in Sydney and MTR 1377 in Melbourne. It is a publicly listed company, majority owned by John Singleton. The Chief Executive is Angela Clarke....
, which comprises radio stations
2CH2CH is a commercial radio station in Sydney, Australia, at 1170 kHz AM. It broadcasts an oldies format, and is aimed to an older age demographic...
and
2GB2GB is a commercial radio station in Sydney, Australia broadcasting on 873 kHz, AM. It is one of Australia's most popular talk-back radio stations, and is the number one station in Sydney.-History:The station commenced broadcasting in August 1926...
), horse-racing training and publishing. Along with
Seven NetworkThe Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...
, Singleton is half-owner of
The Matty Johns ShowThe Matty Johns Show is an Australian variety television show largely focused on the National Rugby League competition, starring former rugby league player Matthew "Matty" Johns. It first aired in 2010 on Thursdays at 7.30pm in New South Wales and Queensland, on the Seven Network. The show usually...
.
Along with his friend,
Gerry HarveyGerry Harvey is an Australian entrepreneur best-known for being the executive chairman of Harvey Norman Holdings Ltd., a large company which runs Australian retail chain Harvey Norman...
, Singleton owns the
Gold CoastGold Coast is a coastal city of Australia located in South East Queensland, 94km south of the state capital Brisbane. With a population approximately 540,000 in 2010, it is the second most populous city in the state, the sixth most populous city in the country, and also the most populous...
- based thoroughbred sales company
Magic MillionsMagic Millions Sales Pty Ltd is an Australian Thoroughbred racehorse auction house which holds a sale each January at Surfers Paradise in Queensland. Eight days of auctions are joined by a major Thoroughbred horse race meeting where all ten races are only open to horses who were bought at auctions...
. Singleton is firm friends with his radio employees
Alan JonesAlan Belford Jones AO is an Australian radio broadcaster, former rugby union and rugby league coach and administrator.Jones hosts Sydney's most popular breakfast radio program, on radio station 2GB...
and
Ray HadleyRaymond Morris Hadley OAM is an Australian talkback radio broadcaster. He presents 2GB Sydney's morning show, and leads the Continuous Call Team, a rugby league-based talkback radio panel program.-Early Life:...
.
Style of the man
He is well known as a larrikin in Australia for his love of good times, evident in him buying drinks for the entire Rosehill racecourse in Sydney after his horse won the prestigious Golden Slipper. Singleton played for the Lane Cove Rugby Club during the 1970s. He has been a supporter of Australian working-class icons, such as the rugby league football team, the
Newtown JetsThe Newtown Jets are an Australian rugby league football club based in Newtown, a suburb of Sydney's inner west. They currently compete in the NSWRL Premier League competition, having left the top grade after the 1983 NSWRFL season...
. Singleton also owns the Bluetongue Stadium on the
Central Coast-California:* Central Coast Region of California, in California, United States*Monterey County, California*San Luis Obispo County, California*Santa Barbara County, California*Big Sur*Hearst Castle-Canada:...
which was originally built for the
North Sydney BearsThe North Sydney Bears are an Australian rugby league football club based in North Sydney, New South Wales. They currently compete in the New South Wales Cup, having exited the National Rugby League following the 1999 NRL season after 92 years of top-grade competition. The Bears are based on...
rugby league team and now hosts the Central Coast Mariners A-League team. Singleton helped fund the 2007 independent film
The Final WinterThe Final Winter is an Australian drama film released in 2007. It was directed by Brian Andrews and Jane Forrest and produced by Anthony Coffee, and Michelle Russell, while independently produced it is being distributed by Paramount Pictures. It was written by Matthew Nable who also starred as the...
of which the Newtown Jets are the subject.
Singleton became a
Member of the Order of AustraliaThe Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"...
in 1994 for his fundraising activities for charities
http://www.itsanhonour.gov.au/honours/honour_roll/search.cfm?aus_award_id=873048&search_type=simple&showInd=true. In 2009 Singleton was included in the inaugural 12 inductees to Ad News Magazine's, Australian Advertising Hall of Fame
Personal life
He has seven children from six marriages. He has been married to Margaret Wall (Jack born 1970), Maggie Eckardt,
Belinda Green Belinda Roma Green won the 1972 Miss World contest, representing Australia, at the age of 20.Growing up in Sydney, she became the second woman from her country to win the title; the first, Penelope Plummer, was crowned Miss World in 1968...
(Jessie born 1982, Sally born 1984),
Liz HayesElizabeth "Liz" Hayes is an Australian television presenter. She was born in Taree, New South Wales...
, Jennifer Murrant - de facto (Joe born 1992, Hannah born 1994, Dawnie born 1997, Summer born 1999) and Julie Martin (Daisy born 2005). His current partner is Yvette Hartman.
External links
Further reading