My First Creative Department

I was reading this post by ‘Hey Whipple’ author, Luke Sullivan, when it occurred to me that my first creative department was also quite good (not as good as 90s Fallon, but good in its own way).

When I started at Y&R in 1996 my boss was Mike Cozens. He was a very good CD, turning boring old Y&R into the agency that produced this (by Ewan Patterson and Graeme Norways):

He had two D&AD golds from his time at CDP and TBWA, then did a lot of BBH’s best ads of the 80s. He also had a great phrase: ‘Stick it on the wall and see if you can beat it.’ The nicest way of saying ‘that’s shit’ I’ve ever heard.

Also in the department was Paul Catmur. He did the wonderful Dime Bar ads with Harry Enfield, but has since moved down under to CD Pencil-winning work in a variety of agencies:

Another team who got together there was Richard Denney and Dave Henderson, who went on to make the odd decent ad at Saatchi and Saatchi:

And then there was Lee Goulding and Leighton Ballet, who did this ad which was big and awarded and well-loved (I have since reconnected with Lee during a stint at Lowe last year. A thoroughly good bloke):

And Ben Carey, who went on to become half of the huge-selling, D&AD-nominated Benrik team.

Also, Richard and Andy who have been doing some of the better work at BBH in recent years:

That wasn’t all, but that’s all I have clips and links for, so sorry, Anita, Rob, Majella, Sam, Martin, Andy and others.

Anyway, this is a long way of saying that I wasn’t as good as them, so I deserved the sack for playing ping pong on my desk (among other things).