Mad Men Of The World – an obituary

"Timmi was one who polarized – somebody with a mind of his own. Smart, generous and visionary."

Behind the scenes of five exciting decades in the international advertising business 
– an obituary for Hans-Joachim Timm.

  

Casino Kampnagel, Hamburg.

Barmbeker Strasse – A warm welcome to Hamburg. Warm? No Chance. It's cold. It's cloudy. It's windy. And snow covers the roofs of the city's skyline. During my last trip to Hamburg, the weather conditions were, let's say, more pleasant. But that's another matter. However, what does actually lead my way to Hamburg? Well, I am meeting Manfred Schneider to have a talk about Hans-Joachim Timm – a genuine archetype of a Mad Man. Regrettably, Hans-Joachim Timm surprisingly died in October 2012 at the age of 70 – questionless much too early. Manfred and I are meeting at Casino Kampnagel – it's a nice restaurant and café belonging to Germany's largest production and performance facility for national and international freelance artists. It is one of the most reputable venue for the performing arts. The Casino Kampnagel is located straight around the corner of Manfred's office. You just have to cross the street. Today, Manfred runs his own small agency focused on lifestyle communication. Manfred and "Timmi" were colleagues. But they were more than just colleagues. They were companions. And finally, they were friends. Manfred is a true advertising guy too. He worked for renowned agencies such as BBDO, Ogilvy & Mather and TBWA on the creative side of life: as a copywriter and later as Creative Director. And in collaboration with Timmi, Manfred was co-founder of HEADS' Communication which advanced to an absolute hot shop in the German advertising industry during the 1980s. Finally, it was at BBDO in the late 1970s, when their ways crossed for the first time. Accompanied by Manfred, I will once more run the Mad Men's timemachine and travel through five exciting decades in the advertiser's life of Hans-Joachim Timm. It would be a pleasure to welcome you on board. So please check in.

Hans-Joachim Timm, Manfred Schneider and Manfred Vogelsänger.

Now then, who was Hans-Joachim Timm? Well, Hans-Joachim Timm – his friends called him "Timmi" – was one of those original Mad Men. And more than that. Timmi really was one of the rare Mad Men of the world: he was a globetrotter and a cosmopolitan. Eventually, he worked in Hamburg, Duesseldorf, Stockholm, New York City, Barcelona, Frankfurt and Zurich. Timmi's employers were doubtfully of distinction. He worked for advertising agencies such as William Wilkens, McCann Erickson, Ted Bates, BBDO, Leo Burnett, Publicis, Saatchi & Saatchi and TBWA. During his career, Timmi won more than 50 international prices including the treasured Cannes Lions. And in the 1980s, Timmi was responsible for introducing the famous ADC Nails as one of the most well-respected awards in the German creative industries. It was even Timmi who built the prototype of the Nails. But first things first.

1960s – Joining the Mad Men's family

It must have been the mid of the swinging 1960s: the people were watching Winnetou, James Bond or Edgar Wallace. And almost everybody was listening to the songs of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones or Bob Dylan. Ludwig Erhard was running West Germany and the German economic miracle was in full swing. While the women's skirts were becoming shorter day by day, Timmi did his first professional steps after finishing his studies at Kunstschule Alsterdamm in Hamburg. His first position: the publishing house Axel Springer. Timmi promoted subscriptions of the daily newspaper Die Welt. But that wasn't challenging enough for him – not anywhere near. And it doesn't really sound thrilling. That's why he rapidly changed the branch and joined the advertising agency William Wilkens. Founded in 1876, William Wilkens is considered as one of the first advertising agencies of the world. Today it is known as Draftfcb. Chartering William Wilkens meant Timmi's entrance in the advertsing business. And it can be seen as a real enrichment for a whole sector. Thank God. His first clients included British Petroleum (BP) and Johnnie Walker. Delicious. All in all, Timmi was a young guy in the mid of his twenties joining the exciting advertising world globally inspired and influenced by the Madison Avenue of New York City. From that time onwards, Timmi was part of those infamous Mad Men. He actually joined the Mad Men's family.


1970s – Time for globetrotting: Stockholm, New York and Barcelona

Timmi must have been a guy driven by openess and curiosity. Because he absolutely wanted to go abroad. The first destination on his wishlist: Milan. But it turned out quite differently. Timmi joined McCann Erickson and they sent him to Sweden. After four years of living in Stockholm, Timmi joined an eight month Management-Training at McCann Erickson in New York – cheeck by jowl with the original Madison Avenue. That followed, Timmi switched to McCann in Barcelona and was responsible for the creative output of the Spanish settlement during the early 1970s. An extremely sensational campaign during those years were the so called Colors of Liberty. It was a campaign created for the nail polish company Ponds. A couple of years ago, Timmi called this campaign his "entreé into the small Madison Avenue of Barcelona". Finally, the campaign was stopped by the church. Obviously it was too provocative.
Although Timmi travelled around the world, he eventually regards BBDO as his "job-related home". And there at BBDO, Timmi and Manfred met for the first time. I am asking Manfred about his first impression of Timmi. "Well, most people thought that Timmi would be arrogant.", Manfred remembers. And he continues in a nostalgic undertone while smiling: "Because of his manner of walking." But to explain the appeal of being arrogant more seriously, Manfred declares: "As the most advertising guys are, Timmi was cocksure of himself. Anyhow, some people are dubious about themselves but not Timmi. He was one who polarized – somebody with a mind of his own. He always knew where to go. That was admirable. That was great." And Manfred finishes the characterization of Timmi with the words: "Smart, generous and visionary."

1980s – The golden years
After working for Leo Burnett and Publicis during the late 1970s and early 1980s, Timmi turned his back on the big advertising networks. That was a bold step. In the middle of his life, he wanted to be more independent. And so he became. Although they never worked in the same team at BBDO and the job-related ways separated for almost ten years, in 1985 Manfred and Timmi founded HEADS' Communication which rapidly advanced to an absolute hot shop in the German advertising industry during the following years. Amongst others, HEADS' Communication worked for Ellen Betrix and IKEA and were ranked within the top five agencies in various creative ranking lists. The first work of HEADS' was the so called Gummsky Conspiracy. It was a cinema spot for Candy & Company. And it instantly won a Silver Lion at Cannes as well as an ADC Nail and a Clio Award. HEADS' created the spot in cooperation with the famous German producer and director "Bulle" Berndt – a lad who won over 380 numerous international awards and who was highly formative for the development of the advertising film business in Germany. Well, the spot is really oldschool. And it's pretty cool. A must-see!

"Timmi always thought more bigly, more widely and more overhelmingly.", describes Manfred the visionary mind of his friend. And that's why an ordinary office was absolutely out of the question. It had to be something special ... something great ... something unique. And so it became. During that time, the airport of Frankfurt on the Main had been remodeled. And the huge departure lounge was out of use. And what does an available departure lounge and a visionary advertiser mean? Right. An advertising agency residing on 1.000 square meter – including its own shuttle service. Crazy. But how do you furnish such a large office? Well, driven by passion, Timmi did the whole interior design for the office. One day, a painter should color the steel lockers in a specific shade of green and blue. Everybody was happy with the result – except Timmi. In the end, the painter had to color the lockers three times in a row. Well, one item that was certainly one of the office's highlights: a huge glass dome with a white ground that was installed in the middle of the departure lounge. It should be the home of the art directors. The bureau of HEADS' must have been the craziest agency in Germany during the 1980s.

The famous ADC Nails

At that time, Timmi also suggested to introduce the ADC Nails as the annual award of the German Art Directors Club. He is alleged to have said: "Therewith, they can nail their framed certificates onto the wall." The ADC guys obviously loved the idea. Up to the present day, the ADC Germany awards the creative folks with these ADC Nails. The Nails advanced to a real trademark. But that is not the only story which has been told and re-told inside the German Mad Men's society. One story that is still circulating in the branch is the lifesafing of Othmar "Otti" Severin who was president of the ADC Germany during the first half of the 1980s. Otti and Timmi were lodged in the same hotel while visiting the international advertising festival in Cannes. In the dead of night, Otti gave a phonecall to Timmi to tell him that he is really unwell. Manfred narrates that the first thought going through Timmi's mind must have been: "Sure thing, Otti drank too much. Well it's Cannes." Nevertheless, Timmi entered Otti's room, called the reception and asked for a doctor. Thank God. Because it was a heavy heart attack. Otti survived it. Other than that there must exist some more gossip about the Mad Man Timmi … All in all, the 1980s under the flag of HEADS' were doubtfully the golden years in the advertising career of Timmi. This era consisted of self-realization, independency and success.

1990s – Shock and re-start

As mentioned above, Ellen Betrix and Ikea are counted among the clients of HEADS'. And the account of Ellen Betrix was the heavy weight on the clients roster of the agency. In 1992, the brand was bought by Procter & Gamble. "Over night, Procter & Gamble cut us off.", Manfred remembers – still in disbelief. And that meant losing a million dollar baby over night. Because the agency's fee was a seven-digit amount. Game over. "It was like a punch in the pit of my stomach.", Timmi described the sudden end of his baby HEADS' Communication in an interview a few years ago. And he continued: "At first I had to lick my wounds." It was an absolute shock. Well then? "Actually, I hate repeats.", Timmi once told. Unfortunately, he indeed took part in a repeat and chartered again a big tankship in advertising. It was Saatchi & Saatchi in Frankfurt. Obviously, he was unhappy with this situation and started his second try to work autonomously. And the second try was called TIMM'S Communication. During that time, Timmi incredibly managed the creative output of the brand Hohes C almost on his own. Today, a whole department would be necessary to work on an account like that.

While listening excitedly to Manfred and riding through several decades within a few minutes, the ringing of Manfred's cellphone brings us back to the here and now. It's just a short stop in our time journey. When having a look outside, snow starts falling down. You can't miss it because of the huge glass front of the Casino Kampnagel. And what's going on inside? Well, a curry flavor dominates the air because of today's lunch specials. It mixes up with the flavor of our cappuccinos – which meanwhile are empty by the way. And out of the boxes comes the voice of Emilio Santiago ...


2000s – The mountain is calling
Entering the new millennium, Timmi entered a new challenge. The mountains of Switzerland were calling. And Timmi followed. So he joined TBWA in Zurich and worked several years in the position as Chief Creative Officer. That's really astonishing, considering the fact that he was almost 60 years at that time. In the shark tank of advertisers this seems to be an applaudable step. After having his affair with TBWA, he joined a small agency named Guhl/Partners. It was the final part in a big career. During the recent years while working for Guhl/Partners, Timmi shuttled between Zurich and Mallorca because his family was living on the Spanish island. In 2012 he finally decided to move completely to Mallorca …

2010s – Many ideas, endless energy, but too little time

Timmi

Through and through, Timmi was a creative one. Apparently, there was no end of incubating new ideas. And Mallorca should become the place of generating and realising them. One of his lifetime dreams was always to build, design and furnish houses. And that was just one idea to realise. Another one was to create sculptures of steel. And naturally Timmi wanted to continue his work as a feelance art director in advertising. Certainly, that's just an abstract of the package of his ideas. "Timmi was full of vitality. He was bubbling with new ideas. Even at the age of 90, Timmi would have realise them. He was an incredible bundle of energy.", Manfred describes the attitude of Timmi. And he closes: "Maybe he brings in his ideas elsewhere. Maybe we will see him again."

Hans-Joachim Timm surprisingly died in October 2012 at the age of 70 – questionless much too early. The advertising world bows before one of its greatest heads. Dear Timmi, thank you for creating all of these amazing ads. Thank you for thinking out of the box. And thank you for being a humankind who advanced the entire advertising sector. Rest in peace.

Yours sincerely,
William James Carlton

Postscript: 
Hans-Joachim Timm was a Mad Man who really deserves to get posthumously awarded with one of the honorary titles of the German Art Directors Club. Dear ADC, think about it seriously.