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Bill Kinlay

CEO, Mindshare Ireland

CEO Mindshare Ireland Mindshare employee since the beginning - 1998

Career history

Bill graduated from the College of Commerce and joined Bell Advertising in 1982 as a Media Planner / Buyer. In 1986 he moved to London spending one year at Saatchi & Saatchi before joining Ogilvy & Mather. He was appointed Media Director and joined the Board in 1994. He was part of the team to launch The Network and then Mindshare in the UK.

He returned home to Ireland in 1999 to set up Mindshare Ireland and assume the role of Chief Executive, which now involves managing over 50 staff and over €130m billings across a wide variety of clients. Bill is also in charge of GroupM in Ireland, the combined media negotiation arm for all WPP media companies (Mindshare, mediaedge:cia and MediaCom).

Account experience

Bill has a wide variety of experience on accounts such as Kimberly Clark, Heineken, Health & Safety Authority, Kellogg's, Nestlé, Volvo, eircom, Woodies DIY and Superquinn.

Other interests

Formula 1, reading, golf and entertaining three young sons!

Case studies

Mr. Tayto looking for Love
Tayto, historically the number one crisp brand in Ireland lost its position to international brand Walkers (PepsiCo), in order to reclaim this position we had to start an ongoing brand conversation across relevant connection points and sell more crisps.
Heineken Off The Ball Rugby Podcast
In 2008 Heineken were seeking a way to deepen their association with rugby and talk to hard core rugby enthusiasts – the real fans. MindShare commissioned the no. 1 sports show on radio in Ireland to produce a series of exclusive podcasts available to download from i-tunes featuring in depth rugby discussion.
HSE Mental Health
With the growing use of social networking between young adults, The Health Service Executive and the National Office of Suicide Prevention ran a campaign utilising this platform to allow young adults to discuss the sensitive topic of mental health.