Schadenfreude’s a lovely word , isn’t it ?
I was reminded of it, reading Robert Harris’ review of Gyles Brandreth’s autobiography recently. Seeing the failure of Brandreth’s career to take off, Harris remarked that “even Richard Dawkins might start to believe there is a God”.
I wish I'd said that.
In a similar vein, a lot of people have been asking me how I feel about Tim Lindsay leaving TBWA.
Because it was an argument with Tim last year that led to my leaving the place.
So I'd just like to say this. Tim is one of the most talented, intelligent and straightest people you could ever hope to meet.
We disagreed about the philosophy of the agency, because there was a lot of pressure on both of us to try to resuscitate a formerly great brand.
But Tim always treated people fairly, and I consider him one of the most impressive people I've ever met in the industry.
However, it's natural for people to ask, because advertising is a hideously competitive industry, and it would bring out the envy, back-stabbing and schadenfreude in Mother Teresa's nicer baby sister.
It's over-crowded with very ambitious people all jostling for a few crumbs. So it brings out a "scarcity" view of the world.
It's interesting. There are a few very high profile people I know who have prompted various attacks on their characters even though the attackers don't even know the people involved.
(Rather like the old Guinness poster which read “I don’t like it because I’ve never tried it”.)
The first one is my old buddy Rupert Howell. Rupert seems to put some people's backs up - but only if they don't know him.
I can actually understand this completely. Before I'd met him, I couldn't stand him.
In those days he used to appear with monotonous regularity on the front page of Campaign because he was new business director at Y+R and I suspect there has never been a more successful new business director in the history of advertising.
But the photo Campaign used made him look unbearably smug, so I avoided meeting him for about 2 years. Then I bumped into him and realised within 2 minutes that here was not only probably the most gifted account man of his generation, but also a man with absolutely rock solid personal integrity to match. The man was and still is a model of the very best personal qualities.
The second is Trevor Beattie. I once had to defend Trevor in a roomful of people judging some award or another. Because, like Rupert, Trevor's extraordinary success means that people assume there must be something wrong with him.
Tall poppy syndrome. Appropriate for this time of year, perhaps.
But I have to say that every time I've met Trevor, I've found him to be immensely bright, passionate, well-informed on a huge range of subjects, generous with his time and his talent and his money, and just a really nice guy to be around.
Mind you, I've only met him about 10 times, so maybe he really is a bastard.
I realise that this assessment may piss off a number of people who've never got nearer to him than 10 yards' distance at the Grosvenor House, but that's their loss.
This might all seem too saccharine, and I apologise if it does. This isn't me full of the Xmas spirit (because I hate Xmas) or merrily pissed (because I stopped drinking four years ago).
(So as you can imagine, I'm a bundle of laughs at a Xmas party).
It's just an attempt to point out something in advertising which I've never liked. The sniping and the envy.
Of course adland has more than its share of twats, arseholes, rats, prats and pillocks. There are several sharks, and at least two people at the top of the pile whom I would consider to be certifiable psychopaths.
But this industry, which sometimes seems like it's on its knees, would stand more chance of revival if it knew how to celebrate and cherish its heroes better.
