Trevor Beattie
Some have branded him superbrat others look up to his superstar status and creative genius. But what's Trevor Beattie really like? Annette Madjarian finds out.
SUPERSTAR, superbrat, outspoken, controversial.
TBWA London creative director Trevor Beattie has been branded many things. But the king of branding finds these titles a little hard to digest, in fact he's a bit amused by the whole thing.
"I'm very surprised by that [being labelled controversial]. I do stuff that gets noticed, so I guess if my work is standing out, then that's nice," Beattie says.
"I think I'm an ordinary bloke, I try and do stuff that makes people sit up and take notice. Playstation wasn't controversial, it was great branding.
"It's my ambition to be outstanding--this is what advertising should be."
And there it is, the one word that probably stands out most in Beattie's work life and life in general and an ethic he's moulded into everyday life--to be outstanding, to stand out from the crowd. To be daring, different from his peers, to give everything he touches an edge.
To name a few mammoth Beattie campaigns: FCUK, Wonderbra, Sony Playstation.
But being creative is not only about creating big brands. Beattie doesn't allow what may appear to be the smallest opportunity pass by.
An example, only days before arriving in Australia to be guest speaker at Outdoor Advertising Creative Awards, Beattie thought the heavens were smiling when just 100 metres down the road at Saatchi & Saatchi, there it was, a creative opportunity too delicious to resist.
With Saatchi's reception having a facelift, the agency had covered the front of its offices with massive white boards, leaving the top of the Saatchi & Saatchi sign just visible. And they'd erected a sign saying graffiti vandals would not be prosecuted.
As Beattie's brain ticked, the idea soon became reality and within hours he had the TBWA production team making a massive poster to fill the big white empty space.
As Saatchi creatives arrived to work that morning, to their horror they found: "You will find a better reception 100 metres down the road at TBWA".
The incident ended up being filmed by BBC, who'd just been tipped off by you guessed it, and there's some nice publicity on that evening's news.
"And who was I targeting? Yes, that's right, clients, while Saatchis were inconveniencing their clients, I was offering a perfectly nice reception at our agency," Beattie sheepishly explains.
Beattie takes such incidents in his stride and says his counterpart at Saatchis has vowed he'd "get him back" but "you know I told him I couldn't wait for the day".
"But this is what it should be about, it has to be fun, the advertising industry should be a community and we must be aware of each other," Beattie said.
Speaking at last week's awards, many would agree Beattie was inspiring about his advertising ethic.
"In advertising, we spend so much of our time obeying convention. Being told what we can't do. What we shouldn't do. Tell me not to do something and I'll do it twice with knobs on," he told the audience.
A major thing that gets under Beattie's skin is mediocrity in advertising.
"Why would you run the risk of not getting your ad, your brand, noticed. Mediocrity is the thing I hate the most. It's easy to be mediocre," he said.
The standards at this year's outdoor awards were once again dubbed "appalling" by local creatives, as The Palace's Ron Mather enforced in his speech.
But Beattie argues Australia could lead the world in advertising because of its "youthful exuberance".
"This young outlook comes across more in sport in Australia and it should be coming across more in advertising as well," he said.
According to Beattie, advertising overall is going through a poor patch.
"People are lazy [in the industry], we earn a lot of money and it's a lovely lifestyle, it's easy to become a fat lazy git.
"But this isn't what advertising is about, it's about the work. I love my work, it's what I love doing, it isn't a job, I love doing it."
So confident is Beattie about Australian creative that he's placed a bet with Australian advertisers, for A$10,000, that he could increase their turnover within one year, if given the chance.
"Australia can do good work, I want Australia to do good work."
"I'll make a bet, A$10,000, to any Australian client, they can email me, if they give me their contract, I'll increase their turnover in the next year.
"I want to see creative people not being scared, I can guarantee I will increase their turnover."
Some will raise eyebrows to these comments, and others will tell him to get his head out of the clouds. But it's all in a day's work for Beattie.
In his words, "life is a dash between two dates, that's all we get".
And it was his father's death that brought Beattie to this realisation.
"My dad died. My dad died and it doesn't get bigger than that."
"He was a car mechanic and this was his way, he was the least mediocre man. And I've started to turn into him [laughing]. He never saw me do any of this."
[Beattie entered the industry after the death of his father in 1980].
"And I look at that rectangle and I think am I doing something to change people's lives for the better? I'm trying to, I'm doing what I can and I'm trying," he said.
Many in the industry have knocked Beattie's ways, in fact, his peers have publicly lambasted his campaigns.
"I hate the people that work in this industry, they're wankers," he said.
So how do you work with them and vice versa?
"Well I know they find it hard to work with me and the same goes with me but we do it, it happens, we get it done."
Beattie said the "David Abbotts" of the industry should have got out a long time ago.
"I will never become an old fart. In five years I'll be gone. I won't block the top, I will make room for younger, brighter people, I'm getting old, there are guys half my age writing so much better stuff than me right now."
So what will you do?
He admits wanting to do "normal" things. "I'll lead a very simple life, I'll get married and have kids, do what normal people do."
Are your tired?
"I'm very tired, but I'm not tired of life or my job," he says, before adding that he hasn't taken a holiday since 1985.
Not surprisingly, Beattie doesn't have any heroes in advertising, he says this would be a "load of bollocks".
Instead, his personal heroes include former boxing giant Muhammed Ali, who's 59th birthday he attended three weeks ago, and Nelson Mandela, whom he met for the first time two weeks ago.
"I look at people such as Muhammed Ali and Nelson Mandela and they've just made such an impact on people's lives and I love that, I admire that," Beattie said.
His description of his meeting with Mandela: "I'm sitting in Nelson Mandela's living room and I'm waiting, and then the door opens and he says 'Hello Trevor' and I'm thinking 'What the hell am I doing here, how am I here?' and then I think I'm here because of this industry, because of what I do".
He admits it can be "glamorous" but "that doesn't mean you have to act like a dickhead. I'm trying to be an okay bloke, while doing my job and while trying to make a difference" It is a glamorous life but it doesn't mean you have to act like a dickhead. I'm trying to be an okay bloke, while doing my job and while trying to make a difference," he said.
"I mean this is my work, it's my life, I'm a populist, I love doing it.
"I believe the reason I'm here is to sell things, I'm a salesman. Half of my job is to explain the idea to the client and the other half to the public."
