He is the head of one the largest media agencies in the world, employing 8,000 people in 100 countries.
But Stephen Allan says his journey to the top began by buying strangers a drink in a pub.
Stephen, 55, is global head of MediaCom, which handles advertising for giants like Tesco, Gillette and Budweiser.
Reaching such heady heights probably felt impossible when, aged 17, he sent 82 letters to agencies asking for a job - and got back 82 refusals.
A photography enthusiast who “thought there was no point” in going to university, Stephen had decided he wanted to pursue a career in advertising, but soon realised he needed he wouldn’t get a foot in the door without knowing someone in the industry.
He told the BBC : “I didn’t know anyone in advertising. I mean no-one.
“I found out a particular pub in Soho in London where the advertising industry were known to go and water.
"I literally went in there cheeky 18-year-old and started buying strangers a drink.
"Amazingly, one of the people that I bought a drink for told me that he working in an advertising agency.
"And he said to me, 'if you come back this evening at six o'clock to our offices, I'll get you in to see my CEO."
Stephen turned up at the office, where at first nobody knew of the man who had invited him - until they realised he was the agency's lowly projectionist.
He recalled: "Eventually after a lot of searching they found him.
"He was the man who was spooling up the ads to show the clients in the in-house cinema.
"But it didn't matter. And you know what? He did give me that introduction."
Stephen was offered two-weeks' work experience, which he spent analysing TV ratings for football programmes, as the company was doing consultancy work for the FA.
With a good reference in his hands, he wrote to some of the media agencies he had written to before, and this time got two interviews.
Both agencies offered him a job, and Stephen chose The Media Business, one of the UK's first media planning and buying agencies.
The ambitious young entrepreneur worked his way up the ladder, and when, in 1999, the agency was bought by MediaCom, he became Mediacom UK's chief executive.
During his enture, he quadrupled its billings to become the first UK £1billion media agency and catapulted the agency's ranking from sixth to first position.
He was appointed MediaCom Worldwide's chairman and CEO in August 2008, the same year he was voted Campaign Media Achiever of the Year.
He has been responsible for some of the world's most recognisable ad campaigns, such as Burweiser's 'Wassup?!' campaign which increased brewer Anheuser-Busch's domestic market by 50 per cent.
Not a bad return for a chance meeting with a projectionist after buying rounds for strangers in a pub.
As well as serving as a lesson to others trying to find their break in a competitive industry, Stephen says the experience has taught him to take nothing and no-one for granted during his incredibly successful career.
He said: "I think the lesson there is to treat everybody with respect. You never know where opportunities may come.
"However important or unimportant you think people are, treat everyone the same, it's the right thing to do in any event."
