Why some of Australia’s biggest brands rely on Big Red’s Ted Horton to deliver the goods
October 17 2011, 9:46 am | | 25 Comments
Simon Canning profiles top Aussie adman Ted Horton – and one of the most awarded – in today’s Media section of the Australian, pointing out that Westpac, Coles, David Jones, and Jetstar all rely on Horton’s Melbourne-based Big Red agency to promote their brands.
Big Red has recently released more spots in Westpac’s ‘Australia’s First Bank’ campaign, promoting Super, Insurance and Financial advice.
25 Comments
Terrible article. ‘This new breed of mercenaries who are delivering for some of the nation’s biggest brands’ , CRAP!
It’s the lowest common denominator advertising that most creative people in the industry hate. He isn’t a new breed. He’s one of only a few people, thankfully, creating excruciatingly annoying campaigns like ‘Down, down, prices are down’.
Ted baptised me into the industry many years ago. When Ted speaks to a room full of clients they really engage with him – they’re captivated. I’ve never seen anything like it before nor since.
Ted’s studied human psychology very deeply and whilst he doesn’t brag about being a ‘consumer psychologist’ he knows people inside out and his work really engages us at a subconscious level. Since training in this area I know this more now than ever.
At his best Ted is a real gentleman. At his worst Ted is only driven by a passion for doing the right thing by his clients and for great work. Ted’s a legend and I credit him my early success – by stretching me and expecting me to come up with solutions.
I’m sure that Ted wouldn’t be speaking to the press because he just doesn’t make a noise about his work and chooses a low profile. There’s method in that too no doubt… 🙂
Seriously? As has been reported before, that Jetstar ad was the same as the Estrella beer spot from Spain, including even using the same music, and as for ‘Down Down prices are down” that was well, what can you say really?
I read the article. Where’s the profile?
It’s an interesting subject, why Australia’s biggest brands aren’t choosing Australia’s biggest agencies.
But Canning doesn’t answer the question posed in the headline.
Ted’s grasp of human psychology is astounding, he’s managed to convince some very large brands to do some truly amazing and brave pieces of work – Oh wait a minute he hasn’t.
Ted is one of the very few creatives who understands why clients spend their money.
Clients don’t give you millions of dollars to indulge yourself trying to impress your peers with how bloody clever you are, they want you to help them build their business.
Ted consistently does this and is why he has a very successful agency.
It reminds me how Mojo, at their peak, were criticized by the advertising trendoids for producing so many jingle TVCs. I believe it was Alan Morris who replied,” While you trendies are trying to impress each other, your mothers are singing my jingles.”
I was in a supermarket about a week ago and saw two four or five year olds dancing down the isle singing, “Down down prices are down”.
Not high art but beats the crap out of so much of the mindless, brainless and brandless waste of money that passes itself off as “creative”.
Each year Ted comes to Sydney, at his own cost, to speak with some of our young writers at AWARD Copy School. These young writers come away with the best understanding they will get anywhere on the value of a clients brand and why it has to be at the core of any successful campaign.
Ted is a “giver”, not a “taker”.
Ted is in equal parts
(a) a wise old head we’d all benefit from listening to
and
(b) creator of inane, annoying but catchy work that us industry wankers hate but punters apparently love – and more importantly – respond to. He realised early that trying to impress a bunch of precious creatives at award shows was an unimportant vanity, and that rapport with the true audience – the consumer – was more important. That’s where, as much as we hate it, the mainstream is. His advertising has the common touch. Since 99% of people are morons, it connects, and it sells. And unlike most of us creatives, he’s got a good head for business & the real world and is connected and respected at the highest levels.
That’s why he’s so successful.
Ted has got it right kiddies. You can’t sing a press ad in the shower.
Let alone an awesome social media campaign. . .
Let’s hope Big Red open in Sydney; so clients get a chance to invest their marketing loot wisely here as well.
@ Anne Miles.
What is not widely known or reported is that Ted and Mark Pearson have been at the helm of most Federal Liberal Party election campaigns since 1996. Ted is a shrewd POLITICAL operator. Ted has built up some incredibly strong connections through the Liberal Party Brotherhood, men (and women, like Gail Kelly) who lead Australia’s largest companies.
Hey, “Known him for decades”, I’ll bet you any money that Ted himself would never agree that 99% of people are morons. You don’t create successful comms by hating your audience, you do it by identifying with them.
Love this comment from The Old Breed:
“It’s the lowest common denominator advertising that most creative people in the industry hate.”
It’s a classic. Yep, what matters isn’t what the public thinks or what sells or any of that other old fashioned stuff; no, what matters is the opinion of “most creative people in the industry…”
Yep, keep your mates happy, have a nice little in-joke, then off to the bistro to pat yourself on the back.
“Old Breed.” Talk about someone with a pseudonym that’s way, way off beam!
If anyone wants to know why the Australian ad industry is in such a pit, don’t go throwing rocks at Ted Horton, just have a look at comments like that.
It’s so sad that the award chasers in this caper haven’t a clue how good at advertising Ted Horton really is. I’d trade one Ted for a dozen Cannes junkies any day.
For those who trash Ted, riddle me this?
Where do you think you’ll be once you cross your 45th birthday?
Trying to secure a paycheck on the back of your old awards from a young turk ECD, or writing the final check for your bay view house?
If you are going to print such an article Mr Canning, get your facts straight. “When ad agency DDB needed help with Coles, it brought in Horton as an adviser.” Utter rubbish. I doubt you checked this fact with any of the three parties involved. Certainly two of the parties would not attest to this statement. Such ill founded, sweeping statements can be severely damaging to peoples reputation. But you wouldn’t care about that Mr Canning, would you. Reading your article, you are not a very nice person.
Meeeoooow Meeeeeooow Meeeeeeoooow!
I hate reading threads like this. The vitriol tends to come from the mediocre rather than the genuinely talented. There’s enough room in this industry for guys like Ted. And I for one am glad we have these guys still here after all this time bashing out scripts. What a legend. Look around you, how many of you think you’ll still have a job let alone start your own agency later in life? Most of the old guys suffer a miserable death.
At the end of the day, advertising is just as much about emotion as it is the idea. Ted has got the emotion side down pat. And he knows how to really sell. Clients believe in him clearly. If you haters can’t get your ideas over the line it’s because you’re not connecting with your other audience… The client. Take a leaf out of this guy’s book. You’ll be better off for it.
Nuff said. Smart head. Go Ted.
What do Westpac, Coles, David Jones, Jetstar and John Howard have in common?
Shit ads. But good on the guy, if he can back it up with figures and graphs showing increased sales (without discounting prices), let it rip.
A few comments here seem to decrying the presence of haters on this thread, but all I’m hearing is respect. As it should be.
John Howard had shit ads? Oh, that would explain why he lost all those elections.
If only someone had told him earlier. Instead of spending his entire career in opposition, he could have been PM.
Makes you think doesn’t it.
Erasmus, whether he lost (yes he did, big time) or not, they were appalling ads. Enjoy the gravy train.
I first met Ted ( we called him Teddy then in 1969! He became our Under 15 School Footy Coach because we didn’t have one! Ted was a natural, he had style, undersold himself but during the turbulent.Vietnam War years he negotiated lunchtime rock band concerts with senior teachers and the Principal of the Day [as Head Prefect] at the University High School!
SkyHooks, DaddyCool,Axiom (first played their hit ‘Little Ray of Sunshine’ and Paco Pena and Clio Lane! Ted would have barely 18 years old! Tickets were inexpensive and Ted added a level to school life that was early proof that he was going to be a Rock Man par excellent! Sadly he never matriculated but he was like many geniuses ~ attending school was kind of like being babysat. An absolute unsung legend/genius.
Over the years I have watched his ad work and he still displays that genius he had back in the 1970s.
The L Plate ad sunk Mark Latham and his Yellow Pages ads when he needed trouser repairs are almost Aussie Pythonesque Without doubt he could have written hilarious comedy.
Teddy really deserves his legendary status and the narks out there are just plain jealous Good on you! A great Aussie talent.
.tara Rua. RuaHine Kia Mana Wah!
David Nolte
The criticism of Ted here is driven by envious losers, wannabes who are neverwiilbes,
losers who made excuses instead of effort, and names we’ll never hear of. Ted is an honest down to earth no bullshit guy. The world needs more of him and less of the cashew sized limp willies masquerading as creatives criticising him here.
I can’t believe the bollocks in these comments.
When i started as GM of marketing at Jetstar, Jetstar were the third most profitable airline out of three in Australia. When I left we were the biggest LCC in Asia Pac heading towards $3bn in revenue (from about $400m 5 years before), in the top 50 most loved brands in Japan and the most profitable airline in Australia. Show me another Australian brand that has had that degree of success in the last 10 years….then tell me that the ads that we made with Jetstar were shit. Wankers.
We used two of the top 5 agencies to make us ads during my time at JQ and the experiences were awful, the costs ridiculous and the finished products not even 10% of what Big Red did for us.
I can name you thousands of Australian ads that ARE shit. But they aren’t Ted’s. And the people who want to tell Ted he doesn’t make great ads? ….are the ones producing turgid shit for everyone else.
It’s just jealousy.
Ted is a great man, kind and generous, who has helped some of the biggest brands in Australia do some very amazing things.
And anyone who says differently doesn’t know him, and doesn’t know what clients want.
Oh and the estrella damm thing was my fault not Ted’s just FYI.
I have known Ted Horton since he began in advertising. In fact I think I found him his first job. He has an uncanny understanding of what makes people want to buy. To do this he goes to the grass roots of a product, and decides WHY they should want it, then creating the creative message. I believe he is one of Australia’s best creatives ever, even though some jealous people writing above may disagree.