What makes a creative partnership work?
What’s the secret to a creative partnership that lasts? Andy Greenaway and Bruce Matchett, creative directors at Sapient Nitro, have known each other for almost 30 years. The duo nicknamed the “grumpy old men” talk about the secret to longevity in a creative team.
Greenaway (pictured, right) and Matchett first met at one of Neil French’s regional creative meetings when they were both working at Ogilvy & Mather (Greenaway in Singapore, Matchett in New Zealand). They struck up a friendship straight away. In 2009, Greenaway asked Matchett to join him at Saatchi & Saatchi as ECD for Singapore and Malaysia. They worked there together for three years. The old team was reunited in February at SapientNitro two months ago when Greenaway, who is APAC chief creative officer, appointed Matchett, who’d left Saatchi’s at the end of 2013, as regional creative director. In this interview, the duo talk about what makes a strong creative partnership, and how to hold it together.
Tell us about your first creative partnership.
Matchett: My first was an odd one. I had just turned up for an interview at a big UK agency. The CD quite liked me. He asked me to hang around and have lunch with a writer he was also interviewing. He thought we would make a good team. I met the guy in a pub. He was English. After ordering a Quiche and an orange juice, he sat down and crossed his legs. Being Scottish, I’d never had a drink with a bloke who crossed his legs before. He wrote poetry and was a vegetarian. I was a heavy drinker then, not very well read and Scottish through and through.
On paper it was a disaster.
But our differences propelled us into surprising creative solutions. We each brought different experiences to the table. We didn’t socialize together at all, but when we worked together, magic happened time and time again. We trusted each other and found our collective strengths. Eventually he became my best friend and best man at my wedding. He still crosses his legs, poor sod.
Greenaway: It took me quite a while to find a lasting creative partnership. In my first job at O&M Direct, I was used as the ‘fixer’ to sort out difficult people in the creative department. I remember being paired with an old bloke called Philip. He was old school and would write envelope headlines which were 45 words long. He didn’t believe in partnerships and would leave the copy on my desk to subserviently artwork up the way he’d written it. Being a young upstart, I would proceed to rip up his copy and write my own. He didn’t last long. Frustration got the better of him and he handed in his resignation. After he left, I was put onto the next one and the next one and the next, until there was no deadwood left.
So what about a partnership that worked?
Greenaway: I’ve had a fair few of them. My first one was with a lady called Randy (I say lady, because she was twice my age). We clicked immediately. We enjoyed working together, enjoyed each other’s company and, like Bruce and his crossed legged writer, have been friends ever since.
And what about the Andy and Bruce partnership?
Greenaway: It’s been a blast. Which is why we keep on working together.
Matchett: Laughter, said Victor Borge, is the shortest distance between two people. Andy and I laugh all day long, we make it look like fun. Others want to join in.
Greenaway: We give each other a lot of banter. Which is half the fun. Some people have called us “The Grumpy Old Men,” and we play up to that because we know it entertains people – and makes the working environment enjoyable for them, too.
What about the work?
Matchett: We have 85 years of industry experience between us. So we’re fast. And we still have the passion to seek out the big idea. The world has changed a lot, but it’s still about that big cuddly idea in the middle.
Greenaway: We never hang onto ideas too firmly. We let them writhe, transform and change, hopefully for the better.
Matchett: And we don’t take ourselves too seriously. We tend to lunch together with a pad but it doesn’t feel like we’re working. It’s just fun solving problems together. Yes we slag each other off, we duel and tease, but that’s where the gems lie.
Does your partnership ever fail to produce an idea?
Greenaway: When you’ve been around the blocks as often as we have, you don’t panic. We know we will always get something. People around us don’t panic either, because they see that we are calm and having fun. It’s always very spontaneous between the two of us.
Matchett: Funnily enough, we come at problems in different ways. Which is good, because if we thought the same, it would be easy for us to hit a brick wall. Sometimes I get a kernel of an idea and Andy will jump on it and help flush it out. And sometimes Andy gets a thought and I’ll jump on it and help flush it out. And sometimes, very rarely, we’ll both stumble across the same territory.
Can you give us an example of a campaign you created together?
Greenaway. One is ‘Germ stamp’ for Safeguard that we created while at Saatchi & Saatchi.
What would life be like without a creative partner?
Greenaway: We’re both creative directors. And we’ve been doing it for a long time. So it’s easy to partner with anyone, really. In fact, the new partnership is more than just two people. It’s now six or eight or ten.
Matchett: The skillsets you require to make a campaign come to life is far more diverse than in the old days. Our teams are now made up of UX people, IAs, eesigners, writers, journalists, technologists and art directors.
Greenaway: And some old buggers like us thrown in the mix, of course. We bring wisdom and a brand lens to the work, I suppose.
So, what’s the key to a lasting creative partnership?
Matchett: Fun.When that goes, it’s time for the partnership to go, too.
Greenaway: There you go again. Stealing my lines.
Lovely idea for a column…would be more exciting and believable if we could see a few samples of nice real work that came out of this obviously legendary collaboration.
ReplyWorking on that Jonah – will add some work to the article shortly. Andy and Bruce are currently on a plane, but we’ll update it this afternoon.
Cheers,
ReplyRobin – Mumbrella
The last line was omitted from the interview:
Matchett: Fuck off. (Laughter).
And just for clarification, we were the CDs on Safeguard, not the originators. We helped the team identify the best idea, craft it, sell it in and make it award entry worthy.
ReplyOnly one case study video….and its not even advertising….david abbott and ron brown had hundreds….i thought they have been working together for years.
Maybe a video of them doing some digital work:
Andy: Says here we have to do a banner
Bruce: Whats that guvnor?
Andy: Fkd if I know….let’s hit the pub.
(Laughter)
ReplyThis is the entire list of credits of safeguard germ stamp below…taken off the cannes website. Dont see greenaways name anywhere…i thought we woud see work they had partnered on together….something special that proves that great creative partnerships produce great work…something to that effect. I bet neither of them even came up with the idea.
Bruce Matchett Saatchi/Saatchi Executive Creative Director
ReplyJennie Morris Saatchi/Saatchi Creative Director
Cinzia Crociani Saatchi/Saatchi Art Director
Mariuze Jino Moreto Saatchi/Saatchi Copywriter
Paolo Agulto Saatchi/Saatchi Copywriter
Ruth Ibbotson Saatchi/Saatchi Art Director
Pei Pei Ng Saatchi/Saatchi Art Director
Andrea Cid Saatchi/Saatchi Copywriter
Celevel Butler Saatchi/Saatchi General Manager
Neel Chaurasia Saatchi/Saatchi Global Equity Director
Ann Jingco Saatchi/Saatchi Regional Account Director
Ruth Barcelona Saatchi/Saatchi Account Manager
Lolita Ham Saatchi/Saatchi Agency Producer
Siti Muttalib Saatchi/Saatchi Traffic Manager
Vittorio Badini Confalonieri Freelance Director
Massimo Bettarelli Freelance Director Of Photography
They say theyve been working together as a team for over a decade and not even one piece of their own work to show for it.
Not surprising:
http://www.adnews.com.au/D97636C2-79A0-4320-999D2F0167964149
Replywhere’s the work you promised Mumbrella?
ReplyWaiting with bated breath to see the work
ReplyHi hmmm,
I’ve added a campaign for Safeguard to the story, which I’m told Andy and Bruce oversaw the creation of. See Andy’s comment above.
Cheers,
ReplyRobin – Mumbrella
Finding even one piece of work personally done by this legendary team seems to be as tough as finding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
Show us anything lads….even a leaflet…..just dying to see what impact a great creative partnership has on quality of work.
That Safeguard stuff….any honorable ECD would give ful credit to the junior team that cracked the idea instead of muscling in on the credits…disappointing stuff.
ReplySomethong tells me Andys gonna be on that plane for a while. He is probably super busy on briefs with bruce given that digital is so exciting and all, but the links below show some of his inspiring work….my favourite is the one for guinness….or was it for a big spending local irish bar…..maybe some clients will recognise it.
http://www.advertolog.com/guinness/print-outdoor/topless-4764605/
http://www.adforum.com/people/andy-greenaway-16944/work/18005
ReplyHey Robin, what’s Mumbrella’s POV on a legendary creative partnership that only has one piece of work to show for? Isn’t it a bit like award-winning ads that run once? 🙂
Reply@ Batman:
Doesnt matter what mumbrella’s pov on this is….all that matters is the pov of clients (current and prospective) who are reading this puff piece by the ‘grupmy old men’ and wondering where’s the work?
ReplyNo response from Mumbrella? If this site is serious about scam, it seriously needs to reevaluate some of the individuals it spotlights.
ReplyHi Anti,
I posted just one example, but I would imagine there are more. I’ve asked. Hold tight.
Cheers,
ReplyRobin – Mumbrella
What about the fact that Greenaway’s name is not on a piece of work he claims to have CDed? These questions need to be asked and answered.
ReplyMy spies at saps inc. tell me that they are working on something special for us right now…..but seriously…..this little foray into social media age self promotion seems to have backkfired on the two grumpys…..theyre obviously not savvy enough to realise that you cant BS your way through things on the internet.
ReplyMumbrella’s question to these two was pretty clear:
“Can you give us an example of a campaign you created together?” Not supervised.
Yet the answer given is Safeguard….which is false.
Strange that a couple of super senior grown men cant or wont answer a simple question.
Replyironic, yes? creative, maybe.
http://www.adpulp.com/from_fake_award/
http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/ghost-creative-saatchi-singapore-16051
ReplyThe genius behind Andy’s Makak was that it took a piss out of Kim and his bloody rankings that killed what was left of our advertising industry. CB used to hunt scammers too. Then when they launched their book called The Work all the hunting stopped. Why? Because it needed the revenue from the agencies to fill the pages. Congrats, your work was accepted to The Work, now pay us and we will publish it. That blind eye is worth a hell of a lot of dosh my friends. Andy knows it’s a game, and he played it better than anybody. In the end, he is a good guy that knows it’s all bull**** anyway. Some of the posters here are having their own little attack on Andy, but hell, Andy will only get about 9 hours sleep tonight worrying about it so save your breath young men and get back to work.
ReplyRoger Makak was a fraud…much like his creator. Claiming it was a piece of satire after getting caught was perhaps the only way out and it says a lot about the person. Do you follow the news …suggest you do….its payback time for scammers now.
ReplyNo one is hunting Andy, we just want to see the real work created by the geniuses that the interview paint them to be. What is rich is how Andy is hunting scammers these days when not too long ago he was a monkey on someone’s shoulder. And if so it is true that he has ended his monkeying around and is building the future of the industry by creating amazing real work, we just have one simple request: show us the work. or rather works.
ReplyThat’s rubbish R. Makak. Kim could then, and still does recognise a scam when he sees it. He’s seen more than all of us put together, but if it won an award at the top shows it got counted in his rankings.
ThatsRich is spot on. That whole Roger Makak episode really hurt Kim and Campaign Brief. Being a great guy he took it on the chin, but to get that treatment from the very people that benefited I know was disappointing to him. He won’t admit it, but those who worked at Saatchi know the story and more than a few are ashamed of the whole fiasco. I think the subsequent fall of this once great agency was karma.
The fact that Andy, the co creator of the God and the local pub masquerading as Guinness, still claims credit from the Campaign Brief Creative Rankings in his jury bios is really more embarrassing than his now anti-scam stance.
Read this and make up your own mind http://adland.tv/adnews/singapore-agencies-cry-foul-against-ogilvys-scam-cannes-winners/189248639
Replyhttp://www.mumbrella.asia/2014/09/defence-grumpy-old-men/
ReplyRobin, where is the work you promised? Andy has been going after people he call scammers when he made himself famous doing it. Why are you not chasing him?
ReplyI have asked, but I have not received any. That’s not to say that none was ever done, only that it has not been passed to me.
Cheers,
ReplyRobin – Mumbrella
There’s nothing robin or mumbrella can do….the real work is not coming because I suspect they fear it will remove all the doubts people are raising here about their track record on real work.
Ask this same question to the CCO/ECD of ddb, ogilvy, jwt, grey, y&r etc and I bet you will get a similar lack of response.
ReplyI’m surprise they cannot even produce 3 campaigns. They have been in advertisng for such a long time. Mumbrella , pls call them now. They have very strong opinion about other people, and should defend themself when we question. And pls share there own work, not their team’s works. Come on Mr. Hicks
ReplyRe M’lord,
It is somehow not uncommon for agencies to omit credits for the people who had left the agency, even though they were involved in the work.
ReplySorry Graham. I don’t agree with that, mate. Andy and Bruce are big time fellows. Agencies won’t dare do that to them. Let’s stick to the point. Show us the amazing work you did together. After all the blasting you gave ogilvy, it’s time to stand up and be counted. Andy, Bruce, we’re waiting… Mumbrella, get to work please.
ReplyYou should all go to sleep. Andy and Bruce are sleeping well. Let it go, boys and girls. Those two senior citizens don’t have the goods. They shit on everyone for doing scam when they got famous from being the masters of scam, but when a mirror is put in front of their faces, they go into sleep mode.
ReplyJames Dean, I see your point now, you’re one of them at Ogilvy aren’t you.
ReplyI’m sorry, john wayne. I am not at ogilvy, never made the cut. But I’m happy in my small local shop doing nice work for my happy clients. I’m just curious why andy and bruce crap on everyone’s work for the same kind of work that made them famous… but now have no defence at all. It’s easy for old fogies to forget their past isn’t it?
ReplyYou’re right. Hope the clients are reading this.
ReplyRobin. Why you not chasing bruce and andy for the work? Are you compromising on your goal to bring dignity for advertising?
ReplyJust wondering why Robin and Mumbrella is letting these two mates go so easily. Maybe it’s true what they say about ‘that boys club’
ReplyEnter tumbleweed….
ReplySeems like everyone is after Andy, not Bruce, why is that?
ReplyScam kings and queens are the most insecure/ nasty people in advertising and would never ever hire anyone who they suspect of outshining them even slightly. Creatives with a strong survival gene know this well….they do exactly as theyre ordered to and play the part of the subservient underling quite well. Given the circumstances, I think matchett has played his cards quite well. He should be commended not hunted.
ReplyHave your say