John Baylon is Director of EMEA Agency Development at Reddit. With over twenty years of experience working in the media industry, John has held a range of senior investment and agency development leadership roles across both advertising agencies (Leo Burnett/ MediaVest/ Starcom/ Publicis) and sales organisations (AOL/ Yahoo!/ Reddit). Joining Reddit in 2021, John is EMEA Head of Agency Development. His team is responsible for the formulation and execution of Reddit’s partnership strategy with the big six global agency Holding Companies.
Who is your digital hero?
Sir John Hegarty
What has he done to win hero status in your eyes?
From creating iconic campaigns, from Levi’s “Launderette,” to Heineken’s “Water in Majorca,” and VWG’s “Vorsprung durch Technik,” Sir John is a legend of the industry and one of the greatest creative minds of our generation. Who didn’t buy a pair of white boxer shorts after seeing the Launderette TV ad?
Fun fact, Sir John went to my secondary school. I remember Sir John coming to the school to do an ex-pupil “inspiration talk.” A sharp suited Advertising Exec working in Soho and talking about all the amazing ads he was a part of creating was pretty inspiring for a North London working class boy.
How has his heroism helped drive digital?
Sir John continues to advocate for the industry to keep creative thinking at the heart of everything we do.
This is especially important in “digital,” where we have shifted so far to optimising to an audience to the nth degree, somewhere along the way we have forgotten that we are still in the art of advertising. It is still about great storytelling and connecting with audiences in a meaningful way – to elicit a feeling, an emotion, a behavioral change.
At Reddit, we place innovative creative solutions at the heart of our work with advertisers. Our in-house creative strategy team, KarmaLab, are some of the best talent in the business. The team actively partners with brands to help unlock the power of our communities by unearthing compelling user insights and crafting amazing creative storytelling.
What are the biggest challenges in digital we need another hero to solve?
The toxicity of content, the addictive nature of algorithms and the mass dissemination of falsehoods online is detrimental to the wellbeing of our children and wider society. This makes me sad.
I think as a society we will look back at this era and think to ourselves, “why did we allow this to happen?”
There is a better way and we need our leaders and the industry as a whole to drive change through the collective promotion of businesses that are purpose driven and are a positive force for good in society.
At Reddit, our mission is to empower communities and provide human perspectives to everyone. We have communities built around shared interests and passions – like my personal favorite, r/gardening – trusted word of mouth recommendations, and even spaces for support during challenging moments in one’s life. We truly believe Reddit can be a force for good.
What is your most heroic personal achievement so far in digital?
I’ve not achieved anything “heroic” in digital, I work in advertising, making/ buying/ selling ads!
What I would say (and I tell myself this everyday), is how fortunate I am to have fallen into such a great industry. I have worked with some amazing people over the years who are smart, inspiring and genuinely caring. I have made lifelong friends along the way and I am grateful to the industry for providing me the opportunity to experience such an amazing journey.
