Bil Bungay interview

My brother. He got bounced from what was Ayer Barker because of the recession, they gave him a bundle of cash to go - so I suggested that if ‘I was him’, I’d nip off around the world for a while – use the opportunity to open my eyes a little. He went to Canada and immediately (and I mean immediately) met his eventual wife. He is now a successful artist doing some pretty weird stuff – check out Angus’s work and buy a piece, he’ll be famous one day…

Assuming we don’t all find the love of our lives in the next six months, what can we learn from the last recession that will help us through this one?

Use the angst it creates to up the ante on your creative thinking. Better and preferably less expensive ideas engage more with consumers which means greater effectiveness, happier clients and better portfolios which in turn leads to more business.

So less expensive ideas are more effective?

All a big production budget can offer you is options. That might sound like a good thing – but have you ever gone shopping for, a suit say, and been so overwhelmed by the options that you either come home with nothing – or worse still bought the wrong suit? Having a small budget (ie. less options) can be a brilliant thing as there is a greater possibility that you and your clients will opt for a brave, simple, uncluttered thought. Also, I believe that the smaller the media budget the bigger the idea you need to create impact. The polar opposite - the huge media budget – can throw weaker clients into a tiz and they end up becoming precious about the creative, resulting in lowest common denominator advertising. I call it Blandvertising - you’re surrounded by it but won’t have noticed because it is invisible.

What’s the best idea done on a shoestring – yours or anyone else’s?

An idea that you won’t believe was a shoestring campaign because of the monumental impact it had around the country - FCUK; a superbly simple and cheeky thought right from the heart of the brand that generated literally hundreds of (free) PR articles.

What makes you optimistic about the future?

Mozart used to spend his way to borderline destitution before using his self-inflicted ‘tough times’ as inspiration for his best compositions; Van Gogh’s few awesome years of work were set against a backdrop of poverty and failure - having never sold a single piece of work; Punk Rock (possibly the best creative idea ever) was born of an era of ‘stagflation’ - strikingly similar to the circumstances we find ourselves in. The point is that creativity has a tendency to thrive in tough times – so if you work in a creative industry, you should be feeling pretty energised right now.

What’s your goal for 2009?

To attack not defend. An American industrialist once said that ‘a crisis is a terrible thing to waste’. I have to admit – I bitterly detested what I saw as the superficial, self-serving, ‘grab ‘em when they’re down’ nature of the quote (I am particularly in contempt of the city and the way they greedily trade stuff from afar with no connection whatsoever to the reality of the products they trade – credit friggin’ crunch…). But having thought about it, if everyone saw a crisis as an opportunity and sought to build off the back of it, we’d get out of recession quicker. If all we do is hide under a rock waiting for other people to make it better, not only will it take longer, but those that hide won’t be in the running when things eventually get back up to speed.

Where do you go for inspiration?

I am influenced by as much of everything as the few fragile brain cells I haven’t yet destroyed can handle. From global politics (I have a life-size cut out of Obama in my office – fresh from the hustings in the US) to why shampoo and conditioner are put in identical bottles; from history of practically any description (great for helping understand that things are often the way the are for some pretty daft reasons – and are ripe for changing) to all the obvious stuff, like movies, books, mags, vegetables… etc. I guess I’m just plain curious.

If you could steal one campaign for your agency showreel, what would it be?

That’s easy – Apple’s crazy ones. The most inspirational ad ever, made for the best brand in the world, by one of the most inspired business innovators in the world: Steve Jobs. Full house. In fact I’m not sure if it isn’t on the reel? I’ll have a check.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given?

‘Don’t do that’. He did it. He got hurt. That and ‘Everyone has what it takes to get to where they instinctively feel they should go – they simply have to believe they can and have the stamina to keep going’. Not as catchy as ‘Just do it’ admittedly, but then I am an art director.

Who do you admire most outside of advertising? And inside?

I love ‘trouble makers’. People that are prepared to stick their necks out to change things for the better: Mandela, Ghandi, Rosa Parks, Emmeline Pankhurst, Doreen Lawrence, Martin Luther, Barack Obama. Real inspirations one and all. Not too many people I really admire in advertising – though my mate Trev has always gone his own way, and I love him for that.

What’s the best thing about being a creative at the moment?

Opportunity. As I’ve said, this is the prefect climate for inspired creativity - there is nothing like a great idea to revive spirits, businesses, economies etc. Obama is the first of many brilliant ideas to come out of this recession I’m sure.