P&G’s Duncan to Deliver 2022 Irwin Warren Lecture in Advertising and Digital Media

Phil Duncan, a 1987 art studio graduate and chief design officer for Procter & Gamble (P&G), will deliver the 2022 Irwin Warren Lecture, titled “Building Brand Experiences for the Future,” from 5-6:30 p.m. Monday, April 18, in 118 White Hall Classroom Building. The program, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Department of Integrated Strategic Communication and the University of Kentucky College of Communication and Information.

Duncan leads P&G’s global design discipline in transforming the strategies of the company’s 10 product categories into holistic consumer experiences, applying design thinking and technical expertise to all aspects of product, package, retail, digital and environment design.

In addition, Duncan leads company-wide immersive and reputation-building initiatives, including P&G’s worldwide Olympic sponsorship and consumer electronics show experience. He is also one of the original founders of P&G Ventures, an entrepreneurial group within P&G that works with internal and external innovators and entrepreneurs to create new brands, technologies and business models.

“It’s always great to welcome UK grads back to campus, so it’s a particular honor for ISC to host Phil Duncan,” said Beth Barnes, ISC’s director of undergraduate studies. “The Warren Lecture allows our students to hear from leaders in the strategic communication field. With the series’ focus on advertising and digital media, it’s a chance to explore topics from many aspects of the strategic communication spectrum.” 

Barnes added that Duncan, as point person for P&G’s ongoing Olympics sponsorship, “will be able to give our students a behind-the-scenes look at what goes on in a major global sponsorship effort, and how P&G’s Olympics work plays out across the company’s strategic communication efforts. There’s not a much bigger stage for brands than the Olympics, and so this year’s lecture is a great fit with the focus of this lecture series.”

The Warren Lecture in Advertising and Digital Media honors the memory of Irwin Warren, who created some of the nation's most successful advertising campaigns. During an advertising career spanning more than 40 years, Warren worked at Doyle Dane Bernbach, BBDO and other leading agencies, before moving to McCann Erickson, the world's largest advertising agency, where he retired as senior creative director in 2006.

The lecture series was established by Patrick Mutchler, a graduate of the School of Journalism and Media, formerly the School of Journalism and Telecommunications, in the UK College of Communication and Information, who worked with Warren while in marketing with Johnson & Johnson.

Past Warren lecturers have included Chuck Brymer, chair, DDB Communications Group (2019); Mark Carroll, partner, Bandy Carroll Hellige Advertising and Public Relations (2017); Dan Hartlage, principal, Guthrie/Mayes Public Relations (2017); JoAnn Sciarrino, Knight chair in Digital Advertising and Marketing, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (2015); and Jim Alessandro, senior vice president, Marketing and Sales Strategy, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts (2015).