Saatchi & Saatchi's spectacular reminder of how things were

Chris Blackhurst
13 Sep 2010

At the party to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the founding of Saatchi & Saatchi, I felt my age.

There was no faulting the event held in the Saatchi Gallery — it was truly spectacular.

No, partly it was because the advertising industry doesn't hold such gloriously boozy, no-expense-spared, gatherings any more.

This was a true bash, a throwback to the adland parties of the Eighties, a sensation heightened by the fact that many of those present were themselves stars from that mad but wonderful period. I don't think I've seen so many bouffants and all-year tans in one place before — and that was just the men.

These days, it's hard to imagine the power of the Saatchi name.

No business, or political party even, thought it was anything unless it could claim that the Saatchi brothers were in their corner. No agency since has come close to matching their magnetism and clout.

“Year one,” said Maurice, “11 people in a room. Year 10, biggest agency in Britain. Year 20, biggest advertising agency in the world. Year 25, bang!”

What he was detailing is how Saatchis grew and then, in 1987, fatally, thought it could buy Midland Bank. That venture failed, civil war ensued, culminating in the boys quitting to set up elsewhere. Today, there are two agencies: Saatchi & Saatchi, which carried on from the original, and the M&C Saatchi, which they broke away to form.

Maurice and Charles have been criticised for their tilt at Midland but we forget: the bank was going for a song (just ask HSBC, the eventual buyer). They were right at the top of their game and as their credo said, “Nothing is impossible.”

The brothers' star was tarnished. They'd proved that even for them, some things are impossible.

It's easily forgotten, too, they could have stopped there and then. Yes, there was a split and the two successor agencies have never recaptured the sheer dominance the original enjoyed. But they've not done badly either.

As for the brothers, Charles withdrew and built a reputation as a modern art collector. And as he showed in a well-crafted speech, Maurice can still inspire.

The M&C Saatchi mantra now is “brutal simplicity”, reflecting an industry that also changed. Advertising may not be what it was but for one, crazy night we were able to roll back the years.

The Saatchi party was graced by an almost naked lady, a “living exhibit”. The crowded rooms were hot and I said to Bill Muirhead, the permanently smiling Aussie genius who has stayed with the brothers through thick and thin, that I felt like stripping off and doing the same. “That wouldn't be a good idea mate,” he said, as Lady Thatcher joined the throng.