When The World Zigs, Zag - Sir John Hegarty, BBH

Apr 25, 2022

Sir John Hegarty, founder of BBH, reflects on 40 years of advertising, discussing the importance of entertaining over informing, following cultural trends, and the lack of evidence for brand building through social media. He shares stories about iconic campaigns like Levi's, the making of the Laundrette advert, and how illogical choices can be the right ones. The podcast also explores personal branding in advertising agencies, the process of creating commercials, the importance of focusing on the work, and the value of purpose in marketing.

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Introduction

00:00 • 2min

The Journey into Advertising

01:40 • 10min

The Power of Personal Branding in Advertising Agencies

11:16 • 14min

The Making of a Commercial and Establishing Audi as German

25:15 • 5min

Focusing on the Work

30:15 • 18min

The Importance of Purpose in Marketing and Making the Best Product

48:07 • 2min

Reflections on Creativity, Trust, and the Value of Play

49:41 • 3min

It's 40 years since the founding of one of the most famous and iconic advertising agencies; BBH or Bartle, Bogle, Hegarty. Today I speak with founder, Sir John Hegarty to find out what it's been like to be at the helm of one of the world's most successful ad agencies for 4 decades.

We take a look back over a long history of advertising to see what's changed, what we can learn and maybe what new techniques today are worth investing in. We touch on many of the great campaigns that come out to BBH, two of my favourites in particular being Levi's from the early eighties and more recently, Audi, which was in fact, one of their founding clients and spanned the entire 40 year history of the agency. As you would expect an amazing storyteller full of wit and wisdom and lots of great advice.

Here's what we covered:

How Sir John got into advertising
What advice he would give after 5 decades in Advertising
Why you should entertain rather than inform
How advertising followed cultural trends
Why advertising appears to be making worse creative but expect better results
The lack of evidence for brand building via social media
How BBH turned Levi’s around and inspired their own agency positioning
The making of Levi’s iconic Laundrette advert
Why the model ended up wearing Boxer shorts
How Levi’s ad revitalised famous music tracks
The longest running BBH client
How the ‘factory visit’ inspired one of the most famous taglines
Why being illogical can be the right thing to do
Being defined by your work
The importance of creative people at the top of the company
How creativity helps solve business problems
Advice to clients for how to get the best out of their agency
How the audience ended up coming last in our priorities
Why we are all making creative decisions and how to be more creative
The importance of being Fearless and not being afraid to fail
Advice for selling in creative ideas to clients
The one piece of creative work John is most proud of
Why purpose gets you on the pitch but doesn’t win you the game
Advice to a 20 year old John

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