Bill Bungay & Trevor Beattie

Trevor Beattie, 50, and Bil Bungay, 44, are two of the founders of London agency Beattie McGuinness Bungay. They started the firm in 2005 after leaving TBWALondon, where their work included campaigns for FCUK, Wonderbra and the Labour Party.

Why did you decide to start your own agency?
Bungay I have always had an entrepreneurial streak and have never been shy of taking calculated risks. Combine that with 17 years experience of working with the best and the worst in the industry, plus an increasing frustration at not being able to change the things that I felt were gradually suffocating the business, and you have the catalyst for a start-up.
Beattie Because the time was right. And mainly because Bil thought it would be a good idea. As ever, he was right.

How difficult was it to leave TBWA?
Bungay I started my career at TBWA and had the pleasure of briefly working with, and learning from, real gents: Bill T, Claude B and Uli W; sadly I never met Paolo A. They were an inspiration to me, and living proof that if you have the courage and put your mind to it, you can achieve some pretty amazing things. So was it tough to leave TBWA? Damn right it was, but it was time.
Beattie It was very emotional. I had given the place 14 years of my life and had an absolute ball. I wish them only the best for the future.

Where did you grow up?
Bungay My dad was in the [armed] forces, so I lived in Singapore, Germany and all over the UK. But my family eventually settled in Yeovil in Somerset, to be near my dairy-farming uncle. As a dark-skinned, flat-topped goth, I was taught two things — how to fight and how to run. And frankly, I’m a much better runner than fighter.

Describe your childhood.
Bungay Highs and lows. The highs were getting to see different places and cultures so early on — this is perhaps one of the reasons why I really don’t feel particularly English or British (plus my mother is Anglo-Indian and my wife French). My mindset is much more European, perhaps even global — what would that make me: a Globalpean? An Earthling? — which might explain why I have no reservations about doing business on a global scale. The lows were having to move as often as we did. It’s pretty tough for a child to constantly be saying goodbye to his best friends.

Were you happy as a child?
Bungay In childhood, definitely. I have a brother who I’m very close to. We were born in the same curricular year (there are only 11 months between us), so we were educated together and were rarely apart. At one point we even wore identical clothing. Then, within seconds of puberty kicking in like a freight train — along with the magic and colour of childhood fading out — I developed a rebellious streak that resulted in some pretty spectacular haircuts, and run-ins with my parents. In my teens, I was far from a happy chappy.

Who are your heroes/mentors?
Bungay My heroes tend to be revolutionaries and entrepreneurs: Gandhi, Mandela, Brunel, Steve Jobs, Branson. Mentors? T, B, W and A (Tragos, Bonnange, Wiesendanger and Ajroldi) perhaps? And Bill Bernbach.
Beattie Muhammad Ali, Prince, William Wilberforce, That Chinese Bloke Who Stood With His Shopping Bags In Front Of The Tank In Tiananmen Square In 1989, Donald Crowhurst, Buzz Aldrin, John Lennon, Elvis Aaron Presley, David Bowie, Duncan Jones, Edward Scissorhands, The Veterans of D-Day, David Blaine, Yoko, Roscoe ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle, Harry Houdini, Mark Borkowski, Iago, David Lynch, Nelson Mandela, Wilfred Owen, William Shakespeare, John Stewart, Al Green, Stevie Wonder, Otis, Toots and the Maytals, Alastair Campbell, WB Yeats, Maud Gonne, The Irish One In Girls Aloud, George Best, Marvin Gaye, Millvina Dean, Bob Marley, Eve.

How do you judge people?
Bungay I am attracted to people who have the courage of their convictions; who are prepared to stick their necks out. I simply love spending time with these people and will go out of my way to assist them if possible — but they are few and far between. Oh, and they have to be decent with it.

What was the first advert that made an impression on you?
Bungay The Charley Says “meeow woow oowowo” public information films for children in the 70s. That cat got me out of a lot of scrapes.

How did you get into advertising?
Bungay I was so determined to get into Central Saint Martins School of Art in Covent Garden that I turned up one morning and sat at a table in the design department and started working. I stayed there for about two weeks without being challenged — even asking for assistance from the tutors! This meant that when I went for the interview, they already knew me — as the phantom student — and kindly gave me one of the 30-odd precious places. Then, out of the blue, the tutors announced that they were starting an advertising course. I didn’t really have much idea of what constituted advertising creativity, but I had begun to feel that design might be too restrictive for me, so I simply raised my hand.

Where do you stand politically?
Bungay I believe that everyone should work for the benefit of the community, both locally and — obviously now, more than ever before — globally. So I will always align myself with the political force that best represents those issues fairly.

Which politician—living or dead—do you most admire? despise?
Beattie Admire? William Wilberforce, for writing to a newspaper “in condemnation of the odious traffic in human flesh”, while still at school. Then seeing his Abolition of Slavery Bill passed into law half a century later and three days before his death. Despise? Margaret Thatcher.