Brett Gosper

Brett Gosper (born 21 June 1959 in Melbourne, Australia) is CEO of World Rugby and a former advertising executive and rugby union player.

Early life

Gosper was educated at Scotch College, Melbourne and Monash University; Faculties of Law and Economics.

Advertising career

In 1981, Gosper began his advertising career as graduate trainee with Ogilvy & Mather in Melbourne and Brisbane, Australia. On being offered a place with the Racing Club rugby team in Paris he transferred to Ogilvy & Mather Paris in 1982 where he would become Group Account Director in 1986.

In 1989 Gosper left Ogilvy & Mather to go on to become Deputy managing director of France's 3rd largest agency BDDP Paris (now TBWA) in 1992. While at BDDP Gosper led a number of international account wins including TAG Heuer watches for whom he wrote the concept of their first worldwide campaign "Don't Crack Under Pressure". Gosper led the successful pitch for BMW in Germany in 1993 which led to him spending a year in Germany launching the BDDP Frankfurt office.

In 1994 Gosper was recruited by Havas to relaunch Euro RSCG's struggling entities in London as chief executive officer of newly branded Euro RSCG Wnek Gosper. For almost a decade Gosper led the agency on an industry acclaimed run of new business acquisition that included Abbey National, Argos, Bass Brewery, Cadbury, Coca-Cola's Atlanta roster, Commission for Racial Equality, Credit Suisse, Evian, Häagen-Dazs, Intel, Microsoft, Philips (Gosper was the author of the worldwide brand slogan "Let's Make Things Better"), Reckitt Benckiser and The Independent.

The rise of Euro RSCG Wnek Gosper to number one in the Campaign Magazine's Business Performance League ensured the agency a Top 10 London agency ranking and several years as finalist in Ad Age's International Agency of the Year.

In 2003, Gosper moved to New York and McCann Erickson as CEO of their flagship New York office.

In 2004, Gosper was appointed President of TBWA New York Group (comprising TBWA\Chiat\Day New York, Tequila New York, and Brand Architecture International). Gosper led the successful pitch for the newly merged Sprint-Nextel business. With billings of $800 million, it was the biggest marketing services pitch that year in the USA.

In 2005, McCann Erickson re-hired Gosper as President of McCann Erickson USA. During the time of Gosper's leadership at McCann, the agency's new business wins included Goodyear, Staples, Smith Barney, Verizon, US Army, Viagra, Lunesta, Weight Watchers, USA Today.

Back in London since 2007, Gosper became the chief executive officer of McCann Erickson Europe, Middle East and Africa, until March 2011. Gosper was also a member of the McCann Worldgroup Executive Committee, and Board Executive responsible for European-based global accounts including L'Oreal, Nestle, Unilever, Sony Ericsson, InterContinental Hotels Group.

Rugby career

Early club career in Australia

Gosper begun his first grade rugby career in Melbourne in 1978 with the Melbourne Rugby Union Football Club. In 1979 at the age of 20, Gosper was named captain. In 1980, he represented the State of Victoria against the New Zealand All Blacks.

Gosper moved to Brisbane in 1981 where he joined GPS Old Boys and the Queensland rugby union squad.

Racing Club de France (1981–1990)

Gosper left Australia aged 22 when recruited by France's oldest rugby club, the Racing Club de France (now Racing 92) in Paris, where he played from 1981 to 1990. The team was also famous at the time for wearing pink bow ties in the 1987 and 1990 finals of the French Championship.

International career

Gosper played trials for the Australia national rugby union team tours in 1979 (Argentina) and 1981 (United Kingdom). He represented the Australian Under 21 Rugby Union team in 1980, versus New Zealand at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Gosper represented a French selection ("Séléction Du Manoir") against British Barbarian F.C. in 1982 at the Parc des Princes.

Gosper was selected by the French Barbarian Rugby Club to play against the touring All Blacks at La Rochelle in 1986. Gosper was captain of the Italian side at the Monaco Sevens in 1986 at the Stade Louis II.

Rugby honours

• Racing Club de France: Best Club Player, 1987.
• Melbourne Rugby Football Club: Best Club Player, 1978-1979-1980.

World Rugby

In July 2012, Gosper was appointed as the chief executive of the International Rugby Board, now called World Rugby.

As CEO, Gosper has overseen Rugby's successful return to the Olympic Games (after 92 years absence) in Rio in 2016 as well as a record-breaking Rugby World Cup in England in 2015. With 2.47 million tickets sold and commercial and ticketing revenues in excess of £600 million, the 2015 Rugby World Cup generated over £160 million in total surplus to World Rugby for reinvestment in the global game.

Gosper also led the repositioning and rebranding of the former 'International Rugby Board' to its current name; World Rugby, which was designed to raise the profile of World Rugby's various 15s and 7s tournament assets and properties. The rebranding has contributed to the dramatic increase in World Rugby's social media presence as one of the most extensive and engaged of the Olympic sports federations.

Personal life

Gosper is the son of International Olympic Committee member and former Vice-President, Kevan Gosper and brother of Dean Gosper who is a member of the Executive Board of the International Ski Federation (FIS).

He is married with three children.