Promoting luminary Dame Annette King has died at 57. 

In an announcement, King’s husband, Henry Stevens, stated: “On Wednesday, we stated goodbye to our Annette, my AK, Dame Annette. A deeply beloved and loving spouse, mom, buddy, and peer to so lots of you.”

Thanking folks for his or her condolences, Stevens continued: “As anybody who had the privilege of being in Annette’s world will know, there was nothing she beloved greater than folks. She cared deeply about her work and the promoting business at massive, however nothing lit her up like being within the firm of the folks she held shut.”

One of many U.Ok. advert business’s most outstanding figures, King began her profession 35 years in the past at Wunderman, the place she spent eight years, largely in New York. 

Within the 2000s, she began at WPP’s Ogilvy, the place she remained for 17 years in varied management roles, together with head of recent enterprise, the place she led the crew to reclaim British Airways’ artistic account. She was later the managing director of OgilvyOne and, lastly, U.Ok. group CEO. 

In 2018, King joined Publicis Groupe as U.Ok. CEO, main companies together with Publicis.Sapient, Saatchi & Saatchi, and Zenith. 

King left Publicis in 2023 to join Accenture Song, main its world advertising apply. In the identical 12 months, she was acknowledged as a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) within the King’s Birthday Honours for providers to promoting and the artistic industries.

In January 2025, she stepped back from her executive career to focus on her health. 

On the time she stated: “To those that know me, it’s no exaggeration to say that this business has been one among my nice loves. I think about myself terribly fortunate to have been embraced by it.”

‘A pacesetter like no different’

Stevens acknowledged he couldn’t let the companies King “led and beloved” during the last 35 years go unmentioned: “It was no secret how a lot Ogilvy meant to her. How proud she was of what she achieved at Publicis. And her delight at working alongside David Droga at Accenture Music.”

He stated these chapters had given King a few of her “closest mates and most cherished moments in life.”

He described King, who additionally chaired the Promoting Affiliation since 2022, and sat on the board of broadcaster Channel 4, in addition to being a member of the UK Funding Council and a mentor for the Advertising and marketing Academy, as “a pacesetter like no different.”

“She had the uncommon reward of seeing alternatives the place others felt worry and one way or the other, bringing everybody collectively regardless of regardless of the odds have been. It was this unwavering self-belief that gave so many individuals the prospect to realize unimaginable issues,” he stated.