Episode 100 - Sir John Hegarty

Visuals: https://getbehindthebillboard.com/btb-100Yes folks it’s here. Episode #100!! It’s been an incredible time, 100 episodes over six years. Thank you so much to all our amazing guests and listeners for being with us on this journey. It’s been rewarding, inspiring and many other things. And it feels like we’re just getting started. 2026 is going to be full of great guests and more adventures. But for now sit back with a tipple of your choice and enjoy Sir John Hegarty counting down the greatest billboards of all time, as chosen by the people that write them. Our guests comprise conservatively over 2000 years of experience in the industry so in our humble opinion look nowhere else for your top 100.BBH features many times, so we took the opportunity to discuss BBH past and present with Sir John. Levi’s was obviously prominent with the black sheep billboard at number 20. We got behind the story of when the world zigs, zag. Plus a funny bonus story told about the Richard Avedon campaign and how the scrawled headlines came about after Heg told art director Martin Galton his original typography was ‘fucking shit’. Martin left the review in a fit of rage and returned minutes later with three hand written headlines and slung them onto Heg’s desk. And the rest is history.We did the no logo debate, discussing whether brands have gone too far in reductive executions.We chatted about how originating a campaign is like launching a rocket - it’s the first 6 seconds that count. We went over long running campaigns such as Silk Cut, Economist and Specsavers and pondered why there’s a lack of these any more.And of course Sir John revealed the winner.It’s an immense collection of work and one sure to fuel debate. Feel free to agree / whoop from the sidelines / add heart emojis. Or rage at what isn’t in there / or what was actually a press ad / or what actually ran or not?! It’s a brilliant way to sign off the year.A few final thanks to Jon Jones for being a starDitto Rob. And of course huge appreciation for our sponsors:Bauer Media OutdoorView2FillSuper OptimalGAS Music