AAR: Celebrating 50 Years of Innovation, Integrity, and Female Leadership at the Forefront of Change

For half a century, AAR has been a trusted constant in the volatile world of marketing. It’s a longevity marked by a pioneering spirit coupled with an unwavering commitment to the principles it still holds dear today: integrity, transparency, and impartiality to name a few. Across three generations of female leadership, AAR has repeatedly redefined its role in order to remain indispensable, balancing the constancy of its values with the necessity of transformation. 

As AAR now celebrates its 50th anniversary, its history is a narrative of consistency and disruption, with each leader shaping the company in response to the challenges of their time. Together, Lyndy Payne CBE, Kerry Glazer, and Victoria Fox have forged a legacy of trust that has kept AAR at the forefront of the industry.

Back in 1975, when Lyndy founded the company, the industry was an uncompromising bastion of male dominance, wary of new entrants, and resistant to change. Lyndy’s ambition to build a business rooted in honesty was met with scepticism. “The agency world was a very cynical audience,” she tells me. “Remember, this was very much a man’s world, and I had the affrontery to claim to offer agencies new business – and I was female!” 

Undeterred by the barriers, Lyndy saw clearly the need for neutrality in the agency selection process. By offering confidence and removing much of the anxiety surrounding agency changes, AAR gained traction. “The values we offered at the very beginning gave me a chance to establish the business,” says Lyndy. 

While her entry into the industry coincided with a very gradual acceptance of women in leadership – mainly strategists – the path was never easy. Lyndy reflects on the emergence of “brilliant creatives like Barbara Nokes” but notes that many women were still being relegated to behind-the-scenes roles. To support her peers, she embraced the spirit of sisterhood, hosting senior agency women at Women in Advertising and Communications Leadership (WACL) dinners. “[It] demonstrated that we females were here to stay,” Lyndy tells me. 

By 1995, AAR’s reputation was firmly established, earning the recognition of the agency world. Lyndy remembers the milestone with pride, “They threw a party to mark our twenty years in business – such a huge compliment.”

Taking the reins in 1999, Kerry Glazer inherited a business that had established itself as an essential intermediary. But things were shifting rapidly, driven by the explosion of digital technology, the rise of social media, and an increasingly data-driven approach to advertising. “The huge changes across the media and technology landscape led to the significant proliferation of excellent agencies providing solutions for brands,” explains Kerry. Operating through the complexity required innovation. 

Kerry, with her business partners Martin Jones and Paul Phillips, began introducing processes that transformed agency selection, such as the now-standard ‘chemistry meeting’ and workshop pitch formats. “We made pitching better and fairer, and easier for brand marketers to make good decisions,” she says. Beyond pitches, Kerry broadened AAR’s remit. From providing training for agency new business teams to creating resources for marketers on how to work effectively with agencies, AAR positioned itself as a partner in every stage of the client-agency relationship. “We created a trusted data source for agency commercials with benchmarks and introduced capability training for marketers,” she tells me. 

Kerry’s leadership was defined by the balance between honouring AAR’s foundational values and meeting new demands. “Throughout all of this, we maintained AAR’s outstanding reputation for fairness, confidentiality and candor,” Kerry explains. Among her most memorable moments was helping the London 2012 Olympic Games Organising Committee (LOCOG) select its marketing partner – a testament to AAR’s reputation for fairness.

By the time Victoria Fox joined AAR in 2019, the landscape had once again shifted. Technology was no longer just a tool, but a driving force behind the way marketing functioned. “I could see that the future looked fundamentally different to the past in this industry,” Victoria tells me. “Marketing that puts the customer in the driving seat, leveraging brilliant brand thinking to connect with customers across all channels by unlocking the power that lies in data and technology. A blend of short- and long-term tactics. To deliver on this will require a fundamental shift in marketing's resources.”

Victoria identified a growing need for expertise, not just in marketing strategy, but in the operational frameworks that support it. “Our belief is that marketing only works when it is underpinned by a great marketing operating model,” she explains. Under her leadership, AAR began to position itself as a consultancy that could tackle these operational challenges, advising on everything from people and partners to process and platforms. 

This transformation required AAR to evolve internally. “We’ve restructured, we’ve broken down siloes, and we have overhauled our consultancy offering,” Victoria explains. While these changes were necessary, shifting external perceptions of AAR was equally critical. “Unboxing AAR has been the hardest part,” she admits. “Those who work with us now know the new AAR, but we need to tell more people and new audiences that we exist.” For Victoria, AAR’s future lies in its ability to remain indispensable. “We will continue to be the trusted partner to our brand and agency clients that they need.” 

What binds AAR’s three generations of leadership is an unwavering commitment to its core values. Lyndy Payne laid the foundation with trust and confidentiality, principles that have echoed through the decades. Kerry Glazer adapted these values to a rapidly evolving digital world, while Victoria Fox redefines them to meet the complexities of today’s marketing landscape.

As the industry enters its next phase of disruption, AAR’s role as a trusted advisor has never been more crucial. While marketing strategies and tools may shift, AAR’s commitment to fair, objective expertise remains unchanging.

Now, at 50, AAR isn’t just looking back – it’s charting a future that balances innovation with its time-tested values. As Victoria puts it, “Although much has transformed, one thing hasn’t wavered: the strong, unyielding foundation that shapes how we engage and operate.”

The next 50 years won’t be without their challenges, but with a foundation built on trust, integrity and a legacy of innovation, AAR is ready to continue leading the way – just as it has since 1975.