Gawen Rudder: The getting of wisdom

Gawen Rudder, principal of The Knowledge Consultancy, reminds us of the importance of finding yourself a mentor – or two.

“Wisdom is the reward of experience and should be shared.” The agency workshop comprised twenty-something creatives, planners and account people. The topic was mentoring. The question was, “How many of you have a mentor?” The answer: three. Sad that. Telling too. But it begs the question, what exactly is mentoring, and can it be formalised in our always-on, too-busy, time-starved world?

Let’s redefine mentoring to mean ‘borrowing the experience and wisdom of others.’ Think Hegarty, Droga, Wieden, and Abbott (as in the late, great David).

Sir John Hegarty has numerous books to his name, and is generous to a fault with his sage advice: “Always be looking, thinking, watching. Absorb everything around you” and, “Remove your headphones.” (As he explained to Campaign: “I get really, really pissed off when I see my creative people coming in with headphones … they build a little wall around themselves … cut themselves off.”).

Love this observation from David Droga (pictured above) on what the industry demands today: “We may have a creative hat, but we need business boots.” For indie shops Dan Wieden’s “Giant agencies are wobbling like drunkards … the rest of you should be sharpening your knives.” And his message to successful startups: “Hold on to your independence, don’t sell out your culture for a money grab.”

There’s more than a little of Ogilvy in AMV’s David Abbott (right): “Words for me are the servants of the argument, and on the whole I like them to be plain, simple and familiar. I spend a lot of time fact-finding and I don’t start writing until I have too much to say. I don’t believe you can write fluent copy if you have to interrupt yourself with research. Dig first, then write.” Learn from the masters. Read, mark, learn and inwardly digest.

Curiosity is crucial to any creative. George R. R. Martin, puts it well: “Man’s curiosity drives him to find the answer to every question. It’s the unanswered questions that are the most exciting.”

Ogilvy scolded the wider world of agency people with his dictum, “Advertising is a business of words, but agencies are infested with men and women who cannot write.” Closer to home another alumnus of O&M, John Bevins (left), from his self- described ‘tin shed’ by the bay in Balmain: “Copywriting has taught me that you don’t write great ads, great ads write themselves. All you need to do is dig relentlessly for gems in the most unlikely of places.” A perfectionist always, his relentlessly re-written copy was stamped, “Drafted, not crafted.” He had his corny-but-sticky mottos, “Spell it out and it’s out with the spell.” We were admonished for using the word ‘hopefully’ and as one who attempted to write them, he could (respectfully) ignore the constraints of a brief and directions of the client. To John it was always how his words looked on the page, a task delegated to his equally modest master typographer and art director Brian Langford.

As anyone privileged to work at Waterfront Wharf will attest, his wisdom and knowledge was shared unselfishly. As it is today with the likes of Melbourne Copy School lecturers like Ted Horton (right), Ron Mather, Nigel Dawson, Mark Sharman, et al. These and others are what convener and father of AWARD School, Ray Black describes as mentors to the next generation of story tellers.

In thinking about the getting of wisdom, my thoughts inevitably channel back to Phillip Adams, sadly in denial of his advertising contributions (like ‘Slip. Slop. Slap.,’ ‘Life. Be in it.’ and Dame Edna for ‘Guess whose mum got a Whirlpool’) although he did leapfrog the likes of Fred Schepsi and Bruce Beresford from local TVCs to Hollywood. Adams passed on alliteration – his copy was dictated so it was always how his words sounded on the page.

Mackay still shares the magic of listening and literature and Mo is remembered for his ribald witticisms, nuggets of wisdom and uncomplicated commonsense. It should come as no surprise that each of these mentors learned from their mentors.

Adams would mention his brothers-in-arms Bob Hawke and Barry Jones; Mackay credits researchers Ian McNair and Dr Peter Kenny; and Mo his dad, Carl Morris of United Services Publicity (USP Benson), the predecessor of today’s DDB.

There may be the occasional octogenarian who recalls John Singleton’s prescient Communications Supermarket, formed in 1968, an amalgam of advertising, media, research (with game-changing qualitative guru Kenny), sales promotion, PR and the rest. “Pick your partner carefully,” he once said. In private life, perhaps not, with half a dozen or more wives to his name. But in his 2000 Annual Report, Singo (right) stated, “A lot of people (David Ogilvy included) talk about surrounding themselves with people better than themselves. I did it.”

Naming Rod Carnegie, Russell Tate and former client, retail/racing mate, Gerry Harvey.

Your mentor doesn’t need to be as close as the nearest café or pub. Jon Steel lives in Perth, but one can learn from his books (must read: ‘Truth, Lies and Advertising.’) Even our surf can’t tempt TBWA’s Lee Clow to leave Catalina Island and come visit.

Imagine having been at Cannes a couple of years back to see and hear the beach boy and potty-mouthed N.Y.C. bad boy George Lois (another who has resisted entreaties to visit our shores.) Next time you’re faced with the impossible brief take heart from his VW moment at DDB: “Selling a Nazi car in a Jewish city – now that’s hardly thinking small.” 

Clow names his heroes and mentors as Alder Hobie (creator of his eponymous catamaran and branded surfboards) and Walt Disney. Lois credits his mother, Vasilike Thanasoulis, with her advice, “George, be careful.” He ignored it.

For nigh on fifty years the name Jeremy Bullmore (a befitting name that) former chairman of JWT, WPP elder statesman, ‘agony uncle’ and mentor to the masses with his Campaign and Guardian columns. Two things resonate. “If you have a good relationship it eases the pain in those difficult moments.” And secondly, back in the sixties, the Brylcreemed Bullmore stole the show by gently chiding risk-averse clients in the wonderful scratchy 16mm film, Risk & Responsibility.

Jay Chiat was never short on advice. To a successful start-up, “How big can we get before we get bad?” On winning the Nissan US$150 million account back in 1987, “From the very moment you win an account you are losing it. Nothing is forever.” Sadly Chiat died in 2002, but TBWA still retains Nissan.

The last word on mentoring comes from Hugh Mackay, again: “The crucial role of mentors is often played unwittingly. An important message to senior, more experienced people in an organisation: remember that your behaviour is being watched, and copied, by more junior members of the organisation.”

Gawen Rudder [right] is principal of The Knowledge Consultancy, Sydney. This article first appeared in the September issue of Campaign Brief magazine.

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