Chip Shop Story

On the last day of creative futures, Andy Cheetham of CheethamBell JWT, but his talk was about his time before his successful career and how he got his foot into the industry.

He started by drawing comparisons between the time where he was trying to get into the industry and to the current time, where we too are trying our hand. The 80's was in a similar climate as to what we are in now, redundancy was rife and it seemed like the odds were against you. Andy was a 24 year old, recently made redundant with no job to go in to and was made worse with things such as his car being stolen. He applied for a local newspaper job but was told that he was over qualified, that he should aim higher and go into advertising, and so he broadened his horizons and applied to ad agencies in Manchester. Although he got the job and stayed for a few years, he decided he wanted to move on and realised he needed a reputation if he was ever going to become part of the industry.

He realised that to build up a reputation he needed to get noticed and did this through the awards system. He explained that he collaborated with a friend and started their own agency, and planned on winning awards for advertising. He chose to advertise Barnacles, a North Wales fish and chip shop, which unbeknownst to the judges, was owned by his mother. They created press ads that were simple but effective, ads that ran in newspapers only and in mainly local press too before expanding after a few wins. He explained that they played on the fact that people love concept and that if you have a good concept then it will carry itself. At the time they were changing the way that things were advertised, taking it past long copy and making advertising more creative and effective.

Although he faced criticism and uproar by fellow agencies, due to the size of his agency, he went on to win numerous awards (D&AD, Roses etc) and top creatives loved it! The loophole that allowed smaller agencies with smaller press runs eventually closed, which put an end to Andy's winning streak but by this time he'd managed to achieve what he'd set out to. He'd created a buzz around him, showed his potential and became one of the biggest agencies operating outside of London. His story was also the inspiration behind the chip shop awards, an award set up for those that didn't fit into the mainstream categories, and shows that creativity has no limits.

CheethamBell JWT latest campaign for John West "Discover the story behind every can".

Tips that Andy left us with:

• People still love a good concept!
• You can't hide behind the economy - push through the bad times in order to reach success!
• Put the effort in.
• People who make things happen, don't know the word can't.
• spend time getting things right.
• Know what's good out there.
• Edit, edit, edit - always evaluate yourself - be critical.

Andy's talk was very influential, and although it's in an area that doesn't particularly interest me as an illustrator, his story can be applied to all creatives and further afield! It shows that determination pays off and that even when it seems that everything is going wrong, you have to pursue in order to reach success. Triumph over adversity. Although it is not the type of work that I would want to do, however it is something that can be applied to everyone; don't wait for things to come to you. If you want something then go after it, no matter what is put against you (rules of the competitions in Andys case) and that you should never give up.