'Starting a business is a creative act' - Sir John Hegarty on applying creativity

Welcome to an audio-led edition of Unmade. Today we talk to one of the world’s most celebrated advertising creatives, Sir John Hegarty.Further down, the Unmade Index lifts back towards 500 points, but Seven West Media slumps back to its four-year low.If you’ve been thinking about upgrading to an Unmade membership, this is the perfect time. Your membership includes:* Member-only pricing for our HumAIn and REmade (October 1) conferences;* A complimentary invitation to Unmade’s Compass event (November);* Member-only content and our paywalled archives;* Your own copy of Media Unmade‘Take off those f*****g headphones’ - Sir John Hegarty on why creatives need to stay connected to the worldAd agency BBH is among the most significant advertising agencies of the last half century. It may never quite have opened its doors in Australia - the closest it came was Singapore - but its local influence on advertising is still remarkable with many of its alumni having built agencies locally.Created four decades ago by John Bartle, Nigle Bogle and John Hegarty, BBH is now owned by Publicis.Sir John Hegarty - who also cofounded Saatchi & Saatchi and TBWA - is behind some of BBH’s most celebrated ads. In February he’ll be coming to Australia as part of his Business of Creativity course.In this wide ranging conversation with Unmade’s Tim Burrowes, Sir John discusses the sliding doors moment early in his career as an art director when he ended up paired with copywriter Charles Saatchi; how a black sheep came to define his career; and the nature of creativity.He also explains his provocative premise that the reason why Sydney is not a great creative hub is because the weather is too good. "A lot of creativity comes out of struggle. You can’t sit outside a lovely beach bar and have a beer. You’ve got to go in and have an idea.”Sir John also argues that the only way for creatives to stay relevant is to stay in touch not just with culture, but with their surroundings. “If you’re a creative person, please, will you take those f*****g headphones off? Great creative people are absorbers. They absorb things around them all the time.”He also tackles the separation of media from creative agencies: “one of the greatest mistakes our industry made”.And he shares the anecdote of how his second thoughts about a weak campaign his agency had already sold in, became the acclaimed “Cream of Manchester” ad for beer brand Boddingtons.Further links:* Business of Creativity* Training Day:* The Stormtrooper Scandal* Apple TV: Stones in Exile* Disney+: The Beatles: Get Back* Hegarty on Creativity: There are No Rules* Leonardo Da Vinci by Walter Isaacson* Backstory book subscriptionToday’s podcast was edited by Abe’s Audio.If you’re interested in retail media, don’t forget that earlybird tickets are now on sale for the next edition of REmade on October 1. And our call for entries for the REmade Awards is now live.Toodlepip…Tim BurrowesPublisher - [email protected] This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit unmade.substack.com