John Hegarty on the automated way forward for promoting
We speak to the Adland legend about his new appearance as chairman of AI recruitment company Genie and how he believes the industry will have to adapt after Covid
If there's one thing Sir John Hegarty has mastered in his five decades-long advertising career, it is knowing great creative talent when he sees it. The ad mogul began his career in the 1960s with agencies such as Benton and Bowles and Cramer Saatchi (now known as Saatchi & Saatchi) before co-founding TBWA in 1973 and becoming a founding partner and global creative director of BBH in the 1980s. Since then, the agency has created agenda setting work for everyone from Levi to Barnardo and has expanded into seven major cities around the world.
Of all the changes that 77-year-old Hegarty has seen in advertising over the past five decades, the rise of the digital is arguably the most seismic. New technologies have changed not only the way advertising is done today, but also the way agencies are run. A big part of that change has been the growth of freelancers as businesses and individuals can work faster, smarter, and more efficiently. Hegarty aims to capitalize on this trend with his newest venture as chairman of AI-based recruiting company Genie.
Founded in 2019, Genie is a recruiting matchmaking service for agencies and freelancers. It has an algorithm that compares a client's job with the best talent for a specific project. Dubbed "the world's largest creative department," the company was founded by three former recruiters, Nicky Badenoch, Nick Grime and Bonnie Harold, who were all previously partners in the LIZH boutique headhunting business. So far, their new initiative has caught the attention of customers from Droga5 to Warner Music Group.