BMF creative legend Warren Brown set to leave the agency he co-founded over 20 years ago
BMF creative legend Warren Brown is to leave the agency he co-founded in July 1996.
Says Brown: “It has been a privilege and a joy to see so many brilliant careers helped along by BMF over the past 20 years. My vision was for BMF to be a world-class agency that happens to be based in Sydney and I’d like to think we achieved that.
“I wish everyone at BMF continued success and happiness and without doubt, BMF will be something I’ll always be enormously proud of.”
Brown grew up in the suburbs of Melbourne, Box Hill and Doncaster. He left Australia for the UK in 1980 to begin a career in advertising. His first TV campaign won two D&AD Silvers and British Television’s Commercial of the Year.
His awards include 19 Cannes Lions, including three Golds and seven D&AD Silvers spread across TV, Print, Posters, Direct, Promo and Integrated categories.
At Cannes he’s been a juror for Titanium and TV and jury President for Promo and Activation. At D&AD he’s been a juror for TV, Press and Poster and chaired Radio. At Clio he’s been a juror for TV and Print and chaired Radio. He’s also chaired every Australian award show.
Brown features in several books including the D&AD Art Direction Book and D&AD’s The Best of 40 years, 100 best Posters of the Century, Cutting Edge Advertising and appeared on the cover of Shots.
In 1993 he returned to Australia and co-founded BMF in 1996. BMF has won hundreds of awards along with Agency of the Year several times. In 2009 BMF was also awarded Australian Agency of the Decade.
His passions outside of advertising are surfing, skiing, cars and man caves.
11 Comments
A legend departs. An era ends. Congratulations Warren. As you might say, it took you 20 years to become an overnight success. You built something truly amazing and helped a hell of a lot of people along the way. I was lucky enough to be one of those, and the countless things you taught me have stayed with me to this day.
You have an amazing gut instinct about what will connect with your average punter, a passion for great ideas and a dislike of advertising that’s too “up itself”. But perhaps the most important lesson of all was to remind us to keep our feet on the ground, keep our egos in check and keep things in perspective.
So whenever people around me are getting worked up over the day-to-day minutiae and sweating the small stuff as if it were a life and death struggle, your words always ring in my ears: “At the end of the day, it’s only advertising.”
Congratulations Warren
A career making money, having fun, and doing amazing work. I’d like to see that.
It was always a pleasure working with you over the years Warren, and especially on the Anti Smoking campaign. Its probably one of the ONLY times in advertising where we actually were saving living and certainly a career highlight for me and all those who worked on it with you at BMF. Hope the next adventure is fun, don’t stop making things.
Warren, you have been great to the industry and i hope and think the the industry has been good to you. Thanks for doing it all with integrity, for being truly creative, for nurturing all who surrounded you, and a for being a great bloke. Bloody hard to do in this industry of subjectivity and flux.
Thank you Sir. Forever in your debt.
Warren, so many of us are very lucky to have worked with you and are grateful for your relentless support and desire to make the work better.
What you achieved at BMF is a huge deal and testament to this is that there are so many of your old team doing well in their careers. I hope you know, that we all know you helped us get there.
Hope to see you soon mate.
NG
Congratulations Warren – it’s a fantastic achievement! x
Warren,
You set the bar high, were the Master Builder of a world class agency and for those of us who were privileged to work with you, we all had ridiculous amount of fun doing it. Rest assured that your creativity, common sense wisdom and good humor will continue to live on, as we all pass them on to others and the next generation in our own different ways everyday.
Congrats mate, you’ve earned a XXXX.
congrats waz, you did what most creatives dream of in creating your own successful agency and doing the job you love on your terms. see you at hugos.
All the good ones are leaving. Why?
was lucky enough to work for warren as a jnr
one of the most inspiring and motivating leaders this industry has ever seen
was an absolute privilege to call myself a bmf’er