Andy Gaunt |
Global Creative Director |
 Describe your role at Buchanan Group:
Multi faceted. It’s part HR, part quality control, part future development and part admin.
What’s been the biggest achievement so far in your career?
Hmm, tough one to answer. I think I'd have to say the launch of Brand Power in Canada. Of course it wasn't "my achievement" alone - there were two of us based in Toronto for a month and we had a team in Melbourne behind us. But starting from scratch in a market with four weeks to pull together ten ads was bloody tough. On the other hand it was was a small start in capitalising on the broader American opportunity and we had a ball pulling it together.
What are some of the things that stand out in your experience at Buchanan Group?
So many things. Here we go (in no particular order): Brainstormers, the reckless abandon with which we throw ourselves into creative pitches and the subsequent quality of those pitches, the aggressive pursuit of growth, shooting in a house that was home to 72 cats, the unfaltering commitment to Friday lunch (imagine seagulls attacking a discarded bucket of chips – that’s us) and the amazing and unrivalled effectiveness of our platforms.
What was the last book you read?
Oh the pressure of the book question. My opportunity to reel off a little-known title by a little known author and make myself sound clever. I think the second last book I read was something that would have fit that brief, however the last book I read was a Ludlum novel. I spend a lot of time on planes.
What do you do in your spare time?
Hang out with my family (wife, 3 year old daughter and 11 week old son). Weekends are all about breakfast – nowhere in the world has as many good breakfast options as Melbourne. Trust me, I’ve looked. A latte, scrambled eggs and crispy bacon are my standard order. I’m also into downhill mountain biking. There’s no better way to forget about the week’s work than flying down a stupidly steep and rocky hill on a bike. I play guitar, watch plenty of TV and read a million magazines. I’m a magazine junkie.
If you were a can of soup, what would you be?
Honestly? A can of soup? I suppose tomato soup – you can’t go wrong with tomato soup.
Which company would you love to work with?
Santa Cruz bikes or Taylor Guitars.
Where do you see BG in the next five years?
I see us helping people buy better the world over. I’m also excited at the prospect of having a genuinely two-way dialogue with the consumer – one that allows them to really participate in our communications. I also think that as we continue to expand we’ll see different platforms emerge as flagships in different markets. The translation of what we do into less of a TV-specific offering is underway already and poses so many questions and challenges. On top of that there’ll be 100 opportunities for growth and development that will present themselves. As we always have, we’ll take chances to grab those opportunities. There’s a hell of a lot to be pumped about.
What did you want to be when you were ten years old?
Michael J Fox in Back to the Future.
Five words to describe BG creative:
More creative than it appears.
Pet hates?
Negativity, bad coffee and undercooked bacon (it has to be crispy).
Words to live by?
Life’s too short to waste doing something you don’t love.
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