‘Getting Ahead’ from Angus Crowther

Name: Angus Crowther

Company: EHS Brann / Euro RSCG 4D

Job title: New Business & Marketing Director

What made you want to get into brands/advertising/media/marketing? I studied (BA Hons) languages and international marketing at Newcastle and just enjoyed the degree.

How did you get into the industry (including relevant qualifications and professional training)?

I fell into it as a lot of people do. Whilst on a gap year in 1995 I discovered that all my university friends had amazing jobs in Honk Kong. I flew out there and as soon as I arrived, I met a mate who knew the MD of Draft Worldwide HK. So I borrowed a suit and went for an interview at 9am two days later. By 11am I was at my desk working as a graduate trainee on The Economist and HSBC!

What was good and bad about your first job?

I would probably count the bad as not having a clue what I was doing when I met The Economist Marketing Director on my second day. It must have gone ok though as we’re still friends. The good was having an amazing 3 years witnessing the handover of Hong Kong back to China. We saw history before our very eyes. It is a fantastic place to work for the first three years of my career. There is an incredible spirit there that encourages people to go for it, no matter what their background may be.

List your jobs to date: Having been in Hong Kong, I joined Evans Hunt Scott as an account manager in 1999 and have loved it ever since

What were the best and worst, and why?

Best job was being sent out to Madrid to set up EHS Brann Spain in 2003. With the help of Terry Hunt, we won Barclaycard, the largest DM account in Spain within 3 months. And I still work on both the UK and International accounts. I owe Barclaycard a lot!

Who has been your biggest inspiration?
Ian Brown – my first boss in Hong Kong who gave me the job. He taught me plenty of lessons, the best of which was “it’s much harder for a client to fire you if they actually like you”. It’s a people business and I relish the banter.

Who in the industry do you most admire?

Terry Hunt – he’s still going strong, still grumpy, still winning pitches, still annoying us all, still good and above all still cares.

What is your biggest achievement to date?

I’ve been part of some great pitches. Being part of the team that retained the Barclays business has to be up there. Matt Atkinson galvanised and energised the entire process. I’m also proud of setting up EHS Brann in Spain from scratch. I remember feeling the heat when we were getting ready for our first potential client; printing out our logo and banging it above the door. We had to do everything but I learnt a massive amount

On what do you base your success so far?

Persistence and determination

What are your ambitions?

EHS Brann has looked after me for almost 10 years. I’m very happy here and hope they’ll continue to look after me.

Change one thing about your job:

That there could be less email and more chat!

Change one thing about your industry:

Less hot air – especially from the ad agencies. Given that we have nailed down direct and digital and clients know exactly what their ROI will be, they should be very worried.

Change one thing about the world: For there to be more laughter

What is your favourite brand? The Macallan

What is the next big brand in your view? English wine

List your “media diet

Papers: City AM, Metro, FT, Observer
Web: BBC Sports, Google, FT.com, Yahoo
Radio: 5 live
TV: Sky sports, BBC