A Bit of Inspiration...

This post is dedicated to a big personality and a great example to follow in the UK advertising industry: the legend, Paul Arden.

He was the mind behind some of the greatest British advertising campaigns including British Airways and Silk Cut, founded several projects, and wrote 3 great books; one of them remains as a remarkable best-seller.

But, how did he manage to do all these things? With huge passion and extreme perfectionism:
Paul Arden was born on April 7th of 1940 in Sidcup, Kent. He was the son of a commercial artist. He attended Beckenham Art College.

His first job as a graduate was washing out water pots for the artists. He later moved through different agencies, such as Ogilvy & Mather and Doyle Dane Bernbach, for many years where he gained lots of experience; until in 1979, he was hired as an art director by Saatchi & Saatchi, where his career as an advertiser boosted to the top.

He worked there for 14 brilliant years. For much of his career we also worked with Jeff Stark, with whom he later became joint creative director for the agency until 1987, when Stark said goodbye to the agency and Arden became executive creative director. In all these years, he contributed to the development of campaigns for Nivea, Toyota, Anchor Butter, British Airways, Ryvita, Trust House Forte, Fuji, Alexon, Silk Cut, among others. He left Saatchi and Saatchi in 1992, but he still acted as a consultant on important accounts until April of 1995.

Later on, he spent the next years developing new personal projects and helping students and young creatives to succeed. He once said: "We are all advertising, all of the time. Even the priest, with all his or her fervor, is advertising God".

He founded with his daughter in law and her brother Arden, Sutherland-Dodd, a film company, starting a career as a commercial director mainly in Europe.

He also fostered a very successful second career as a writer. He wrote for many years a weekly column in The Independent, which was followed by the publication of his first book "It's Not How Good You Are, Its How Good You Want To Be" (2003), which sold over half million copies. Later on, he also wrote "Whatever You Think, Think The Opposite" (2006), and "God Explained In A Taxi Ride" (2007).

Additionally, he ha a big passion for photography, so in 2003 he settled up with his wife Toni the gallery Arden & Anstruther, in Petworth, West Sussex.

He was always outstanding because of his unpredictable behavior and exuberant perfectionism, which really, only reflected his intense passion. People who worked for him often tell stories of having seen any artwork considered by Mister Arden as mediocre ripped of by himself.
He strongly believed in the power of the will and he was utterly positive. In one opportunity, he did a conference with a naked man next to him. Arden said: "He has no labels, no Gucci or Armani, you don't even know his name. He could be the manager of a shoe store, he could be the director of the company with a Jaguar, he could be a government minister with two Jaguars... All he has to do is want it enough."

Paul Arden passed away the 2nd of April of 2008 due to a heart attack. There is no doubt that he notoriously marked the British advertising industry.