John Singleton (Australian entrepreneur)

John Desmond Singleton AM (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.

John Singleton

AM
Born (1941-11-09) 9 November 1941
Enfield, Sydney
NationalityAustralian
EducationFort Street High School
OccupationEntrepreneur
Years active1958–present
Net worth A$728 million (AFR 2020)[1]
Spouse(s)
Children8
Awards

In 2019, Singleton sold his 32.2% stake in Macquarie Media for A$80 million, which Nine Entertainment purchased for $1.46 per share.[2]

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 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.

Life-size bronze statue of John Singleton by sculptor Linda Klarfeld

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.[3] 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 ocker advertising[4] 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 and created the advertising for Bob Hawke'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[5] 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'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.[6]

Honours and awards

In 1994 Singleton was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia for service to the community through his own personal support and fundraising activities more broadly.[7] In 2000 Singleton was awarded the Australian Sports Medal.[8] In 2009 Singleton was included in the inaugural twelve inductees to Ad News magazine's, Australian Advertising Hall of Fame.[9]

Personal life

He has eight children from six marriages. He has been married to Margaret Wall (Jack born 1971), Maggie Eckardt, Belinda Green (Jessie born 1982, Sally born 1984), Liz Hayes, Jennifer Murrant - de facto (Joe born 1993, Hannah born 1995) and Julie Martin (Dawnie born 1998, Summer born 2000, Daisy born 2006).[10]

Wealth rankings
Year Financial Review
Rich List		 Forbes
Australia's 50 Richest
Rank Net worth (A$) Rank Net worth (US$)
2010[11] $230 million
2011
2012
2013[12] $355 million
2014
2015
2016[13] 155 $416 million
2017[14][15]
2018[16][17] $534 million
2019[18] $670 million
2020[1] 142 $728 million
Legend
Icon Description
Has not changed from the previous year
Has increased from the previous year
Has decreased from the previous year

References
  1. Bailey, Michael; Sprague, Julie-anne (30 October 2020). "The full list: Australia's wealthiest 200 revealed". The Australian Financial Review. Nine Publishing. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  2. "Singo sells out of radio". The Australian. 23 September 2019. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
  3. Blackman. "Post War Advertising in Australia". Australian Public Intellectual Network.
  4. Crawford, Robert (2008). "History of Sydney Advertising". The Dictionary of Sydney.
  5. "John Singleton Advertising Limited: Listing history". Delisted. 26 February 2002.
  6. "Singleton's Advertising Age profile". AdAge. 2002.
  7. "Member of the Order of Australia (AM) entry for John Desmond SINGLETON". It's an Honour, Australian Honours Database. Canberra, Australia: Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 10 June 1994. Retrieved 12 November 2020. AM/FOR SERVICE TO THE COMMUNITY THROUGH PERSONAL SUPPORT AND FUNDRAISING ACTIVITIES FOR CHARITABLE, SPORTING AND RESEARCH ORGANISATIONS. QUEEN'S B'DAY 1994
  8. "Australian Sports Medal entry for John Desmond SINGLETON". It's an Honour, Australian Honours Database. Canberra, Australia: Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 25 October 2000. Retrieved 12 November 2020. Outstanding supporter
  9. "Australian Advertising Hall of Fame". Ad News Hall of Fame. 2009. Archived from the original on 13 February 2011. Retrieved 30 January 2011.
  10. "The six wives of Singo". The Sydney Morning Herald. 27 July 2002.
  11. Mayne, Stephen (2 November 2020). "The Mayne Report Rich List". The Mayne Report. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  12. Mobbs, Adam (31 October 2013). "Racing's super-rich owners in a race for Melbourne Cup glory". Herald Sun. Melbourne. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  13. "Radio millionaires in BRW Rich List". Radio Info. 27 May 2016. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  14. Stensholt, John, ed. (25 May 2017). "Financial Review Rich List 2017". The Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
  15. Mayne, Stephen (26 May 2017). "Mayne's take: The top 25 Australian billionaires, as claimed by Fairfax". Crikey. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
  16. Stensholt, John, ed. (25 May 2018). "2018 AFR Rich List: Who are Australia's richest people?". The Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
  17. Young, Andy (25 May 2018). "Industry big guns named on AFR's Rich List". The Shout. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  18. Bailey, Michael (30 May 2019). "Australia's 200 richest people revealed". The Australian Financial Review. Nine Publishing. Retrieved 31 May 2019.

Further reading
  • Stone, Gerald (2002). Singo: Mates, Wives, Triumphs, Disasters. Harper Collins.
  • Crawford, Robert (2008). But Wait, There's More: A History of Australian Advertising. Melb Univ. Publishing.
  • Tungate, Mark (2007). Adland: A Global History of Advertising. Kogan Page Publishers.
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