E96: David Wheldon

David Wheldon began his career as an ad exec at Saatchi and Saatchi in 1983 and retired as CMO of Royal Bank of Scotland earlier this year.In between these dates, Wheldon established himself as one of the most influential marketers of his generation, a career in which sport and sponsorship played a big role. His name is associated with several of the biggest spending sports sponsors of the last three decades, from Coca Cola to Vodafone, and more latterly across the big bank brands of Barclays, NatWest and RBS. So he brings an informed and experienced eye to bear on the biggest sports properties in the world, from the OIympics and Fifa World Cup to the Premier League, Formula One, Ferrari, McLaren, Manchester United, the England cricket team and the Six Nations rugby championship to name just a few.What has David Wheldon learnt about how sport works and when it doesn’t.This is a conversation that starts by going back to one of his earliest and most famous marketing campaigns.

Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry.
To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartner

We publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. 

These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. 

Our entire back catalogue of 500 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. 

Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify and every podcast app. 

If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series and live events, you can reach us via the website.