The Wisdom of Sir John Of Hegarty

(Thanks to the Escape Pod Blog for the clip. See? I told you it was worth reading.)

It’s a fascinating interview and he seems like very good company, but there’s one thing I didn’t quite get: he says (and I fully agree) it’s a fact that the products the advertising industry makes have been getting worse and seems unable to understand why (see 4:27 onwards).

But isn’t this Sir John’s most recent ad?

I’m not trying to say he’s blind or a hypocrite, but I would have thought that the relative failure and low quality of this ad, by a great creative for a great brand, would have enlightened him somewhat.

It’s damn hard making good ads, let alone great ones, and for reasons I’ve gone into so many times, the situation is definitely deteriorating, but Sir John is right there in the epicentre of it all. He can explain why Levi’s became so dismal they chose to resign it, he can tell us why BBH haven’t won a TV Pencil for several years, and he can talk us through the creative process behind the recent BBH KFC ad I saw on a phone box, which had the headline ‘Ice, Ice, Maybe, but GOOD NEWS!’ then a picture of a Snack Box above the price, £1.99.

Don’t get me wrong: I fully believe that BBH is still one of the best agencies in town, but the bar has been getting so low we’ve had to dig a hole for it.

And if advertising genius Sir John Hegarty is just throwing his hands up and despairing of the situation then what hope do the rest of us have?