John Philip Jones was born in Wales in 1930 and graduated in economics from Cambridge University.
From 1953 to 1980, he worked in the advertising agency field. This experience included 25 years with J. Walter Thompson - as a market research executive in London (1953-55); advertising account executive in London (1957-65); account supervisor and head of television in Amsterdam (1965-67); account director and head of client service in Scandinavia, based in Copenhagen (1967-72); and account director in London (1972-80).
He worked with a wide variety of advertising clients, and was most concerned with major brands of packaged goods (which in his research he entitles Beta brands). His responsibilities included many brands marketed by Unilever, Chesebrough-Pond's (before its acquisition by Unilever), Beecham, Gillette, Nestlé, Pan American, Pepsi-Cola, Quaker Oats and Scott Paper. He was international account director on Lux Toilet Soap (the largest-selling bar soap in the world) from 1972 to 1980.
He was extensively involved with advertising education both within and outside the agency. He conducted his last agency seminar in January 1981, just before he became a full-time educator on joining the faculty of the Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University. He is a tenured full professor, and was chairman of the advertising department in the Newhouse School for seven years. He has taught a wide range of advertising classes, at both the graduate and undergraduate level.
For three years, he edited the university's inter-disciplinary journal of ideas, Syracuse Scholar. He was a member of the Mellon Foundation project group which spent two years exploring the connection between liberal and professional education and which published a book, Contesting the Boundaries (Syracuse University Press, 1988). He was a member of the Chancellor's Panel on the Future of Syracuse University, which reported following a two-year study in 1986.
He has published widely in the professional press, with articles in Admap, the Harvard Business Review, International Journal of Advertising, Journal of Advertising Research, Journal of Marketing Communications, Marketing Management, and many other publications, including journals in Germany, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, and Switzerland. He has also been responsible for a number of pieces of journalism in the New York Times and other publications. His books, What's in a Name? Advertising and the Concept of Brands (1986); Does It Pay to Advertise? Cases Illustrating Successful Brand Advertising (1989); and How Much Is Enough? Getting the Most from Your Advertising Dollar (1992), are all published by Simon & Schuster - Lexington Books. They are widely used in the advertising profession in the United States and overseas. His books have been translated into German and Japanese. Translations into Korean and Spanish are currently in hand.
A new book, published in 1995, When Ads Work. New Proof that Advertising Triggers Sales, has stimulated a great deal of interest in professional circles.
He has developed the measurement devices of STAS (Short-Term Advertising Strength) and AIC (Advertising-Intensiveness Curve), which are used in professional practice. These are described in his books.
He is employed as a consultant by many leading consumer-goods companies and advertising agencies in the US and abroad. He also regularly addresses major professional conferences.
In 1991, John Philip Jones was named by the American Advertising Federation as the Distinguished Advertising Educator of the Year. In the same year he became a member of the Council of Judges of the Advertising Hall of Fame. In 1994, he was elected a member of the National Advertising Review Board.
In 1996, John Philip Jones received a major award from Cowles Business Media and the American Association of Advertising Agencies for leadership in the media field. There were two prize winners, the other being NBC Sports.