Stanley Pollitt was in the BMP pub one evening after work.
The head-of-art was there too.
They were discussing Dave Christensen.
Dave was then a junior art director, and he’d just been fired by the creative director, Gabe Massimi.
Stanley was furious.
He thought Dave was young and talented and it wasn’t fair.
Stanley began telling the head-of-art that he should have taken better care of Dave, looked after him more.
The head of art said something along the lines of, “Don’t fucking tell me what I should have done. It’s your fucking agency. You did fuck-all to stop it you fucking hypocrite.”
In the circs, this wasn’t a smart thing to say.
The circs being:
1) Cold refreshment had been liberally taken.
2) Stanley looked like a tubby, bald old duffer, but he’d been a boxing blue at Cambridge.
So Stanley hauled off and gave the head-of-art what we used to call a fourpenny one.
The head-of-art cartwheeled across the floor of the pub.
And, almost without stopping, picked himself up and ran out the door.
Stanley went back to his drink.
Shortly after, the head-of-art left the agency.
Gabe Massimi got fired.
And Dave Christensen was un-fired, and went on to win lots of awards.
That was definitely one way to run an agency.
Although not the one Stanley is more famous for.
However, another believer in this school of management was Kerry Millett.
Kerry was head of creative services at GGT.
She also used to sing in some of the roughest pubs in south east London.
In fact Kerry was from a very tough estate in Bermondsey.
Briefly, you didn’t mess with Kerry.
One evening there was an agency party.
Lots of drinking, loud music, flashing lights, everyone dancing.
One of our art directors was going out with Kerry’s secretary.
He’d had a few drinks and he was having a row with her, on the dance floor.
One thing led to another and, for some reason, he slapped her.
Kerry had been watching this.
She walked onto the dance floor and knocked the art director out.
One punch.
He went down like a sack of spuds.
Two of the other creatives went onto the dance floor and carried him off.
Kerry came back rubbing her knuckles.
She picked up her drink and said, “I don’t like blokes hitting women.”
That’s how Kerry ran the creative services department.
Tony Brignul was a creative director at CDP.
He was also a superb copywriter.
And a published poet.
Tony won more D&AD pencils than any other copywriter.
In short, Tony took copywriting very seriously.
One day an account man came back from the client and handed Tony a piece of paper.
It was Tony’s copy, with some parts scratched out and changed.
Tony said, “What’s this?”
The account man said, “The client had one or two problems, so I’ve rewritten a few bits. I think it’s an improvement.”
And Tony knocked him out.
But Tony was a sensitive man.
And he began to wonder if he’d been too harsh.
The account man had made a mistake, but he was only doing his job.
Tony began to feel bad.
So he went to see the account man, and he apologised.
He said, although the account man was wrong to change the copy, he felt he’d overreacted.
The account man accepted the apology.
Then he said he did however think he’d been right to change the copy.
His version was much better than Tony’s original.
So Tony knocked him out again.
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I think this post means that Harry Hill would make the best MD in advertising.
‘There’s only one way to settle this…FIGHT!’
does this sort of thing still happen? I hope so.
would love to think that somewhere there’s an obnoxious account man taking a kicking from a creative (doesn’t work the other way round for me)
A pal of mine was in a meeting when there was a knock on the door.
It opened, and there stood a guy in a suit and tie. He asked for ‘X’ (head of client services).
‘X’ stood up, and said, “That’s me.”
Whereupon the stranger headbutted him, knocked him to the ground, and put the boot in a couple of times, before saying, “Stay away from my wife in future”.
And of course, because he was an account man, and deeply disliked, nobody lifted a finger to stop it.
What goes around…
Those all sound like the same school of management to me, or am I missing something?
Dave, what advice can you give to people who work with violent bosses or colleagues, in situations where their behaviour seems to be tolerated (and even celebrated) in the workplace?
An interesting and sometimes effective approach.
A friend of mine, who was very good at fighting even though quite short, went to Australia to run a financial services business. The sales director was not keen on Poms. Still less keen on having one as his boss.
At a ‘welcoming’ drinks party the sales director, no doubt fuelled by the amber nectar and liberal amounts of bundeburg, made his views clear.
My friend suggested they go outside to discuss the matter.
One punch later he had the most commited sales force in the market.
But…and it is an important but….be aware of how many manslaughter cases arise from one punch. You can judge the punch but not where or how someone falls.
Knew I was doing summat wrong. I will commence with the punching forthwith. Though being only 5 feet 2 and a half may diminish my success.
I think there’s a big difference between a bully and someone who isn’t afraid to use violence. Violence could mean anything from a playful shove to GBH. It’s a tool that less and less people are brave enough to use. Whereas acting the part is very popular. I live next to a busy town centre pub where kids go to drink. I teaches you a lot about adolescent male behaviour. Most obviously, those that play tough aren’t. So if a fight starts with one or both screaming “I’m going to kick your head in”, they are 9 out of 10 times not going to kick each others heads in. A bit of pushing and shoving at the most. The real fights usually happen inside the pub - quick and explosive flashpoint. In the time it takes people to get outside they’ve rationalised their actions and by the time they’re squaring up they’re looking for a way out without loosing face, or any teeth.
Did that line for Shredded Wheat come from somebody saying to Mr Brignull, “I bet you can’t beat three”?
Delaney was rumoured to love throwing typewriters. And Indra was famous for throwing stuff. Just wondered if you ever spent fourpenny? Agencies don’t seem so physical these days. You think that’s because:
a. people are less passionate?
b. people are more matured?
c. the world has changed?
yup, in some situations words are totally useless.
people today don’t use this kind of “management” because idiots that deserve it think that “being a man” means calling a lawyer.
they have a right to smack his partner but when someone KO’s them they’ll be on a phone the minute they regain consciousness. it’s a sissy world.
Hi Everyone,
Just to be clear, I wasn’t advocating violence.
But it was a simpler time, when people took responsibility for the actions they provoked.
If you didn’t upset Stanley, Kerry, or Tony they were the nicest people you could meet.
Charming, polite, generous, friendly.
If you chose to upset them you took the consequences.
Dave, didn’t TB write an ad for Parker advocating that the pen is mightier than the sword?
Rachel. 5/2 and a half. Nuts. [You get the picture?]
“The pen is mightier than the sword” is a metonymic adage coined by English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1839 for his play Richelieu.
Aside, I always liked Shaun Mcilrath’s and Ian Harvey’s recruitment ad for a typographer, titled ‘The Penis Mightier Than The Sword’ back in ‘99
Grilla I don’t get the picture. Don’t you mean bananas?
Captcha: motley indefinite
Rachel, that would work too.
Sounds like the same school of management with different people on the end of the fist.
Hi Dave,
All the people on the receiving end seem to have one thing in common.
They all provoked individuals expecting their answer to be different.