The Australian advertising industry has lost one of its greatest admen, with the passing of Jack Vaughan in Sydney on the weekend, aged 78. Vaughan was the first to be elected to the AWARD Hall of Fame and the ATV Hall of Fame in the late 80s and The Campaign Brief Hall of Fame in 2002.
Jack Vaughan has been declared Australia’s best advertising writer as well as top creative director with his work awarded at Cannes, Clio, The One Show, AWARD and Caxton.
He served as national creative director and executive creative director of agencies including The Campaign Palace, both Sydney and Melbourne, Young & Rubicam in Adelaide, Sydney and London and George Patterson Bates in Sydney. He then co-founded Principals Independent Brand Counsel, offering strategic and creative services, before becoming a creative outsource, Jack Vaughan Creative Services.
“Jack Vaughan is, in my opinion, the best copywriter in Australian advertising history,” wrote Lionel Hunt when Vaughan was inducted into Campaign Brief’s 2002 Hall of Fame.
Vaughan first came to prominence in Australia in the 70s at Y&R Adelaide when he penned ‘Hey Charger’ for Chrysler and ‘Where do you hide your Coolabah’ for wine casks. Both of these expressions entered the vernacular. In the 80s, while at The Palace in Melbourne Vaughan wrote the ‘Isaac Newton’ spot for Holeproof Computer Socks (“They fall up, not down”), one of the agency’s best ever.
“Like all Palace trainees he was not averse to a glass of chardonnay. He loved a good time and he loved a good laugh, in fact he had one of the most infectious lunchtime laughs in the business,” said Hunt.
Vaughan leaves behind his beloved wife Marilyn and son Tyson.
In Campaign Brief’s Millennium Book, published in 2000, Vaughan was naturally included in our All-Time Dream Team.
In 2002 Vaughan was inducted into the Campaign Brief Hall of Fame, with a tribute penned by the great Lionel Hunt.
Lionel Hunt’s tribute to Jack Vaughan
~ Campaign Brief Hall of Fame 2002
Jack Vaughan is, in my opinion, the best copywriter in Australian advertising history.
No taking anything away from that, in fact probably accentuating it, it’s not as though a great many other contenders spring to mind.
John Bevins perhaps? Or Peter Carey? Derek Hansen? Bryce Courtenay? Maybe. If they’d stuck to proper writing.
There must be some younger ones, but I’m buggered if I know where they are or what they’re doing.
Some people have even been kind enough to mention me in this regard but I’m usually too lazy or too bored to go much beyond the headline and the first couple of lines of body copy. Mind you, most readers feel the same, unless it’s been written with real talent and passion.
Put me down for posters every time.
No, I think it’s Jack.
There are, first and foremost the print ads.
For Thredbo: “After one lesson at Thredbo you’ll be skiing like Jean Claude Killy. After his first lesson”.
For lamb for pregnant mothers: “Mary had a little lamb. And felt a lot better for it”.
I remember once he went on holidays from The Palace in Melbourne and we found this ad on the wall for Rio underpants: “Ronald Biggs seen in Rio”. He’d put it on his wall as a joke but while he was away we sold it and it ran. I think he was pleased…
Another time he was staying with us for the weekend and he had this difficult ad to write for some water authority. He had to put a balanced case for the damming of a river for flood control versus the environmental impact a huge dam would have. His headline: “Dammed if we do. Dammed if we don’t”. I can’t see how any copywriter in the world could have said it better. And that was only last year.
Like the really great writers Jack made the transition to television easily. I fact, he first came to prominence in Australia in the 70’s when, at Y&R Adelaide he penned ‘Hey, Charger’ for Chrysler and ‘Where do you hide your Coolabah?’ for wine casks. Both of which expressions entered the vernacular.
In the 80’s at The Palace in Melbourne he wrote the ‘Isaac Newton’ spot for Holeproof Computer Socks (They fall up, not down.) which was one of The Palace’s best ever and could just as easily run today. And does.
Later at the Sydney Palace he got Gold at Clio and AWARD with Bob Isherwood for the Harper’s Bazaar ‘Erte’ spot and Gold at Cannes with Rob Tomnay for Today’s Steak ‘Liferaft’.
There are literally scores, perhaps hundreds of others in print, TV and radio. I’ve never seen all his work together but it must be absolutely mind blowing.
He’s also a great bloke. Like all Y&R trainees he started on Camels and still smokes to this day. And like all Palace trainees he’s not averse to a glass of chardonnay either. He loves a good time and he loves a good laugh, in fact he’s got one of the most infectious lunchtime laughs in the business. About time we did one again, Jack.
Lest I sound too gushing, he can be a bit serious and intense when he’s working but that’s because he is so passionate and serious about his craft. I remember distinctly Ron Mather and I literally kidnapping Jack after lunch one day and forcing him to miss a meeting so as he could learn to be a little irresponsible. He couldn’t have had better teachers.
He called us ‘The skimmers’ and we called his team ‘The wristslashers.’ But they were both terms of endearment.
Another time, again when he was returning from holidays, we wrote a list of ‘allegedly’ overdue jobs on a page, photocopied them two hundred times, stuck them together in a hundred metre long line that snaked out of The Palace door and down the street to greet him as he arrived for work. I think he thought it was funny.
Jack’s been inducted into the AWARD, Caxton and ATV Halls of Fame and won countless other awards and accolades, all of them well deserved. And now he’s being recognised again.
What’s also remarkable is that unusually for a great writer, except perhaps Winston Churchill, he’s also a very fine oil and water colour painter, many of which feature one of his other passions, classic wooden powerboats, one of which he owns.
He lives with his very talented wife Marilyn and their very talented son Tyson and their not quite so talented dog Roger.
Good on you Jack, I’m proud to have worked with you, and to count myself amongst your friends.
Keep up the great work.
Lionel Hunt
Sydney
