Trevor Beattie

FOUNDER AND CREATIVE DIRECTOR

BEATTIE MCGUINNESS BUNGAY, LONDON, ENGLAND

What do you think are the most important qualities an advertising creative needs above and beyond being able to write good adverts?

Balls of steel. The constitution of an ox. A thick skin. Big ears. An open mind. Bouncebackability. Self-belief. A nice shirt. A childlike sense of wonder at even the most mundane aspects of our world. A sense of humor. A total lack of interest in last year’s awards annuals. Oh, and luck. Lots of luck.

The main thing young teams want is simply a job. You are well known for giving young teams their first break—what are the behaviors and attitudes that make you want to hire a team? Why do some people get hired relatively quickly and others take longer, or maybe never get hired at all?

See answer to the first question. But also, so much of it is about timing. Some people are prepared and ready to make it. Some aren’t. Some find out that once they’ve got in, it ain’t as easy as they thought/were told it might be. Above all, I never hire people on what’s in their book. It’s what’s in their heads I’m interested in. I can tell from simply talking to a team whether they’ll make it or not.

You’ve worked at big network agencies, successful local agencies, and also start-ups (your own!). Do you think one type of agency is better suited for some people than another, or should anyone be able to work anywhere?

Easy. You should be able to work anywhere and everywhere.

Teamwork. As a CD, can you tell if a team is working well together? Do you think certain sorts of combinations work better than others, or less well? Can an unhappy team do good work?

Yes. An unhappy team can do good work. I disagree with the notion of an “odd couple.” All couples should be “odd,” i.e. an A and a B. A Lennon and a McCartney. A Yin and Yang. It’s when a team start acting alike that their work suffers. They become a pair. They lose perspective.

Is it important for creatives to be good presenters?

It’s increasingly important. More and more clients want to meet creative people. If you’ve created something, you should be proud to show it off, talk it up. Often presenting my work helps me explain the idea more clearly to myself! It can help reveal meanings in the work that you may not have realized existed….

Is it ever possible to convince a client they are wrong? If so, how?

Only if they are. Do it diplomatically. And only ever face to face.

Which department (TV, traffic, the PAs, planners, or account handlers) is it most important for creatives to have a good relationship with?

It’s bloody vital they get on with every single member of the agency. Everyone has a part to play in creating great work.

Do you think any creative can work well in any medium, or are there some teams who will always be a good print team or a good TV team?

Just have great ideas. If they’re great enough you’ll probably be able to stick ’em anywhere.

Do you approve of creatives doing scam ads/chip shop ads/whatever you want to call them?

No. I call it cheating. It’s a hobby, nothing more. An important part of your day job includes convincing a client/company to put their precious money behind your idea in order to flog product. Do your job and stop cheating. There’s no future in it and it won’t get you a pay rise. And one day you’ll get exposed and fired. And I’ll laugh. Ha.

Are awards important?

Yes and no. They’re rewards rather than awards. Enter them. Win them. But don’t build your career around them. And please, please, please, please. Don’t display them in your office, you puerile gormless tw_*t. (I used to do it, but I’m alright now.) Give ’em to clients. They love ’em. And never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever take old awards to your new agency. If you see someone doing this, steal the awards and throw them away. Never forget: awards have a date on them. It can become your career’s expiry date if you choose to live by them….

When is the right time to move agencies?

Today! (I’m serious. Don’t keep putting it off while you finish that shoot you’ve been waiting to go on….)

It’s sometimes said that all the best people have been fired at least once. I understand you were once let go yourself, by BMP, after a merger. Did that have an effect on how you viewed the business, or your career in it?

It was the low point of my entire career. It changed my life for ever. And I vowed it would never ever happen to me again. It hasn’t.

You are perhaps the best-known “ad-man” in the UK today. Did you deliberately set out to build a media profile for yourself? Do you think that’s an important skill for creatives to learn?

I’ve never set out to do anything other than my day job. Day-to-day, I tend to make it all up as I go along. It keeps me guessing as much as anyone else. I also have no idea whether that’s the right or wrong way to go about things. It just works for me.

You are very active with your outside interests—you have had exhibitions of your memorabilia, and been involved in promoting a rock band and a burlesque show, for example. Would you be worried if a creative had no other interests outside advertising? Another way of phrasing the same question—to be creative do you have to live creative? Is it essential that you love advertising, or is it healthier if your passions lie elsewhere?

Graham Fink has a phrase for it: be a sponge. And he’s the most inventive creative director in the business. I suggest we all follow Fink. Advertising itself (and old ads in particular) should be about 0.015 percent of your overall creative influences.

There are a lot of teams nowadays where there is no clear-cut art director/copywriter divide. What’s your view on that?

Two heads are better than one. Two silos aren’t.

Why do some creatives make it to creative director and others don’t?

It’s a thankless task. The most difficult and underrated job in our business. Most people want the title, but not the responsibilities (or the endless meetings!) that come with it. Ninety-nine percent of creative directors (especially those at big agencies) are not creative directors. They are group heads. Many of them are technically dick heads. But that’s another story. José Mourinho is a brilliant football manager. Yet he never scored a goal in his life. I don’t believe you need to have written a decade’s worth of brilliant ads to become a great CD. But you do need to be able to recognize and promote great work. Some can. Many can’t.

What advice would you have for a creative thinking of starting their own agency?

Stop thinking about it and start doing it.

Finally, when is the right time to get out of advertising?

Getting out of advertising is easy. Just make enough money to walk away and walk away. Getting advertising out of you is a different matter altogether. Most people who’ve lived their adult lives in advertising (to any degree of success) seem to find it difficult to let go. It’s probably best to treat the matter the way you’d treat a start-up: you’ll know when the time is right. When it comes, close your eyes and jump. The Geronimo school of career management. Good luck.