Visuals: https://getbehindthebillboard.com/episode-116-tim-riley-the-economist-years-part-1
Episode #116 features legendary copywriter, creative leader and man of many pithy award-winning words, Tim Riley.
Tim, who was one of our first ever guests back in 2020, returned to draw back the curtain on his 12 years working on the same brief: The Economist.
It was a fascinating chat where we heard about any and everything to do with possibly the greatest billboard campaign of all time. We’re aware we have featured it many times, but this really was the full reveal of ‘white out of red’.
We discussed the history of how the client came to Abbott Mead Vickers and very nearly left before any ads had been made. We heard about the early years which featured one or two nice ads, but no real campaign to speak of. And then a moment of genius from David Abbott, who spotted the masthead of the magazine was the same pro as a 48 sheet poster and the rest is history.
We heard about Tim’s job interview with David Abbott, his first ever Economist ad, rules for writing Economist ads, why Richard Foster & John Horton were so important, tricks learnt along the way, special build ideas, ideas that worked, ideas that didn’t work, fuck ups, rejected ideas, minimalist ideas, ideas involving rappers, Presidents and a Middle Eastern country with a 3.3% growth rate. And bizarrely how Homer Simpson v nearly made it onto an Economist billboard.
There were so many new things to hear, so much to learn, so much to admire on how a brilliant campaign like this is built to last. There was so much of everything we have made it a two-parter. To be honest we could’ve done parts 3 and 4 … hmm now there’s an idea.
For now, sit back and enjoy the dulcet tones of Tim and the more gruff ones of Dan & Hugh.
Tim, thank you so much for sharing this incredible story. We loved it, esp the fancy video screen in our temporary new studio, which bathed us in white out of red.
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