Founder, Creative, BBH
Sir John Hegarty has been central to the global advertising scene for over six decades, but his message and passion has remained: when the world zigs, zag.
Hegarty started as a junior Art Director at Benton and Bowles, London in 1965. He almost finished with a degree in advertising 18 months later, when they fired him. He joined a small Soho agency, John Collings & Partners, which was going places. And they did – out of town.
In 1967 he joined the Cramer Saatchi but left in 1973 to co-found TBWA in London as Creative Director. The agency was the first to be voted Campaign’s, Agency of the Year in 1980. In 1982, he left with partners John Bartle and Nigel Bogle, to start Bartle Bogle Hegarty which was soon to become one of the most awarded advertising agencies.
Hegarty was responsible for campaigns such as Levi’s ground breaking commercial starring an unknown model who stripped down to his boxer shorts. He introduced the British to the phrase ‘Vorsprung Durch Technik’ for Audi, and was the first to pick Brad Pitt to star in a Levi’s commercial. He also pioneered the importance of music in commercials and was an early adopter of viral advertising. In 1999, he launched an online film for Levi’s starring a puppet called Flat Eric online which went on to be a hit in multiple countries.
Hegarty is also a ‘Godfather’ to participants of the Berlin School of Creativity and provides support as an industry mentor both inside and outside the classroom and has put his name to a scholarship for female creative leaders. Hegarty not only sits on the advisory board of the VCU Brandcenter but is also a board member of the Design Museum and he continues to serve as a mentor for the Ideas Foundation.
Hegarty’s creative awards are numerous. He has been awarded the D&AD President’s Award for outstanding achievement and was admitted to the One Show’s Advertising Hall of Fame. He was invited to be an Honorary Fellow of The Marketing Society in the UK. He was awarded a Knighthood by the Queen in 2007 and was the first recipient of the St. Mark award at the Cannes Festival of Creativity in 2011. In 2013, he was the honorary President of the Film Jury at the festival in its 60th year.
His most quoted aphorisms is, “Do interesting things, and interesting things happen to you”. With this in mind he has developed an interest in winemaking following his purchase of a vineyard in France. “Talking to people in different industries about what they do is fascinating,” he says, “It opens channels in your thinking you didn’t know were there”.
Hegarty wrote his first book (to prove that Art Directors can write!) which went into reprint within months. He is currently working on his second.
