Andy Hobsbawm

British businessman (born 1963)

Andrew John Hobsbawm (born 12 June 1963)[1] is an entrepreneur, writer and musician from London, England.[2][3][4][5][6] He co-founded Online Magic, a British new media company, which was acquired by Omnicom in 1997.[1] Hobsbawm is also a founder of EVRYTHNG and Do The Green Thing.[6][7][8][9]

He is a member of the British Interactive Media Association’s Digital Hall of Fame.[10][11]

## Early life

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Andy Hobsbawm is the son of the historian Eric Hobsbawm and Marlene Hobsbawm (née Schwartz) in London, England.[12] Hobsbawm attended sixth form college in Montreal, Canada, but did not go on to university to obtain a degree.[13][14] He joined a rock band, Tin Gods, after leaving school.[14]

## Career

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While playing with Tin Gods, Hobsbawm responded to a newspaper ad soliciting entrepreneurs, which led to a position at magazine publisher APT Data.[14] During his tenure there, Hobsbawm formed Internet Publishing with Eamonn Wilmott to develop the first European e-zine, PowerPC News.[1][14][15][16]

Hobsbawm and Wilmott co-founded Online Magic, a leading British new media company in 1995.[1][17] Online Magic became the first international web agency and developed the first website that covered a British general election, GE97.[11][15][16][18][19] Omnicom’s Agency.com invested in Online Magic in 1997 and acquired it in 1998.[20] Hobsbawm, who had served as president of Online Magic, was appointed Agency.com’s chief creative officer for Europe.[21][22] Hobsbawm became chairman of Agency.com Europe in 2004. He left the company in 2009.[23]

In 2007, Hobsbawm co-founded Do The Green Thing, a social networking site for encouraging people to lead greener lives, with Naresh Ramchandani.[7][24][25] In 2008, Hobsbawm presented Do The Green Thing at TED in Monterey, California.[26] His lecture was later included as a TEDTalk.[27]

In 2011, Hobsbawm co-founded EVRYTHNG, a Web of Things software company.[9][28][29][30]

## Bibliography

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Hobsbawm has written articles for Forbes, the Financial Times and The Independent.[5][31][32] He was also a weekly columnist on the new economy for the Financial Times.[1][5][6][31] He is a co-author of The Economist’s Brands and Branding (ISBN 1576603504).[31][33]

Hobsbawm has also written three white papers, entitled "10 years on: The State of the Internet a Decade after Mosaic", "Small is the Next Big Thing: The Size and Shape of Commerce and Culture" and "Product Relationship Management: Turning physical products into owned digital media."[34][35][36]

## References

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1. ^ a b c d e "Me and My Partner: Eamonn Wilmott And Andy Hobsbawm". The Independent. London. 25 August 1999. Archived from the original on 7 May 2022. Retrieved 12 September 2013. "Andy Hobsbawm, 36"
2. ^ "Peer groups that harness an online community spirit". Financial Times. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
3. ^ Stuart Elliott (21 May 1998). "THE MEDIA BUSINESS: ADVERTISING -- ADDENDA; Agency.com Buys Rest of Online Magic". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
4. ^ Susan Krashinsky (15 May 2013). "If your fridge breaks, shouldn't you be able to ask it what's wrong?". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
5. ^ a b c Parmy Olsen; Andy Hobsbawm (14 September 2012). "Googling Your Lost Keys, And The Coming Revolution in Smart Products". Forbes. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
6. ^ a b c Andy Hobsbawn (9 December 2003). "Phone a foreigner". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
7. ^ a b Leonora Oppenheim. "Meet Change Makers Naresh Ramchandani and Andy Hobsbawm of Green Thing". How Stuff Works. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
8. ^ Cielo Lutino (28 January 2013). "Meet Andy Hobsbawm, the man making coffee mugs smarter than you". Econsultancy. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
9. ^ a b Graham Charlton (3 June 2011). "Q&A: Andy Hobsbawm on the 'internet of things'". Econsultancy. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
10. ^ "BIMA Digital Hall of Fame - second list of inaugural inductees announced including Pete Cashmore, Rory Sutherland and Alan Rusbridger". The Drum. 19 September 2012. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
11. ^ a b "Digital Hall of Fame 2012". Digital Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 15 September 2013. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
12. ^ Martin Kettle; Dorothy Wedderburn (1 October 2012). "Eric Hobsbawm obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 September 2013. "In 1962 he married again, this time to Marlene Schwarz, of Austrian descent. They moved to Hampstead and bought a small second home in Wales. They had two children, Andrew and Julia."
13. ^ Jack O'Sullivan (21 April 1997). "Media families; 10. The Hobsbawms". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 7 May 2022. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
14. ^ a b c d Andy Hobsbawm (13 March 2003). "Revolutionary thinking". New Media Age.
15. ^ a b Robin Hicks (23 September 2005). "The biggest agencies, top creatives and innovators in the digital world". Brand Republic. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
16. ^ a b "Online: Online's Finest". Campaign. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
17. ^ Robert Dwek (19 February 1998). "INTERNET: Online Oscars - As the nominations begin for the 1998 Yell Awards, Robert Dwek reviews last year's winners and the benefits that can be gained by the chosen few". Marketing Magazine. Retrieved 4 November 2013.
18. ^ Bruno Giussani (25 March 1997). "The British Election Online: Parties Seek Techno-Savvy Vote". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
19. ^ "Media Owners - I want a slice of that ... or how to be a media mogul". Marketing. 31 March 1998. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
20. ^ Jennifer Whitehead (17 November 2004). "Hobsbawm promoted to chairman of Agency.com Europe". Brand Republic. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
21. ^ Gordon MacMillan (26 May 1998). "Online Magic sold outright to Agency.com". PRWeek. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
22. ^ "Agency.com Acquires All of Online Magic". Clickz. 22 May 1998. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
23. ^ "Andy Hobsbawm Profile". Bloomberg BusinessWeek. Retrieved 12 September 2013.[dead link]
24. ^ Jemima Kiss (29 July 2009). "Elevator Pitch: Green Thing wants to change the world with creativity and inspiration". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
25. ^ Leisa Barnett (3 November 2008). "Dog Rosies". Vogue. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
26. ^ "TED: Andy Hobsbawm". TED. Retrieved 4 November 2013.
27. ^ "Andy Hobsbawm: Do the green thing". TED. Retrieved 3 October 2013.
28. ^ "Backed by $1M in Seed funding from Atomico, EVRYTHNG is creating the smart 'Web of Things'". Startup Beat. 14 December 2012. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
29. ^ Martin Bryant (20 February 2012). "How Evrythng could give any physical object a life online". The Next Web. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
30. ^ Mike Butcher (24 October 2012). "Funded By Atomico, Everything Hopes To Create The Internet of Things, Starts With Drinks Giant Diageo". TechCrunch. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
31. ^ a b c Rita Clifton (April 2009). Brands and Branding. ISBN 9781576603505. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
32. ^ "Andy Hobsbawm: From social media to social good". The Independent. London. 24 June 2009. Archived from the original on 7 May 2022. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
33. ^ Andy Hobsbawm (8 May 2009). "Social Media Beachcombing: Survival of the Twittest?". Business Week. Archived from the original on 13 May 2009. Retrieved 4 November 2013.
34. ^ Andy Hobsbawm. "10 years on..." (PDF). Retrieved 4 November 2013.
35. ^ Andy Hobsbawm. "Small is the Next Big Thing" (PDF). Retrieved 4 November 2013.
36. ^ "Make products smart". Evrything. Archived from the original on 30 September 2013. Retrieved 4 November 2013.

## External links

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* Andy Hobsbawm at TED