Vale creative director Andy Firth: a real character who will be missed on both sides of the Tasman

Many in the ad industry on both sides of the Tasman, and in London, will be saddened to hear of the passing of creative director Andy Firth, co-founder of Sydney-based creative agency Mammal.

Prior to co-founding Mammal with long-term art director partner Gary Cunliffe in March 2009, he was creative director at Loud, Sydney for five years. Before that he spent four years as a senior copywriter at Saatchi & Saatchi, Sydney.

Born in Yorkshire, he started out in 1985 as a junior copywriter at Ogilvy & Mather Direct in London, rising to head of copy before emigrating to New Zealand in 1992, transferring to O&M Direct in Auckland. He then took the CD role at Ogilvy & Mather Wellington in 1994, where he spent the next four years. In 1998 he headed to Australia, switching back to a senior copywriter role for a year at Leo Burnett, Sydney before moving to Saatchi’s Sydney.

This tribute to Firth was posted on the Mammal blog: As an indication of the gruff humour and contrariness of the man, perhaps the most appropriate obituary for him is his own – which he wrote on his Facebook wall a couple of years back:

“Yet again, I hear on the radio this morning about the unfortunate death of some young man who was ‘well-liked’, ‘a popular member of the local footy team’, ‘always smiling’. I’m sure he was and his demise is sad. However, I can’t help wondering why it’s always ‘nice’ people that seem to bite the dust. If I die an early death and the media comes knocking on your door, can you please say something like ‘He was ok mostly, and occasionally amusing, but not always well-liked by everyone, often a grumpy, crude, opinionated f***er that was difficult to work with, drank too much and seemed to have difficulty with commitment in relationships’, or whatever springs to mind. Just once it would be refreshing to hear a realistic obituary.”