This was published 7 years ago
Ad man led the 'Mad Man' life in the golden age of the 1960s
John Willett started in advertising by driving his boss to lunch but was soon travelling the world hosting the long lunches himself, caught up in the wild times of the industry in the 1960s.
One of the great men of advertising, John Norman Willett, has passed away peacefully with his daughter Rosalind by his side. He was born in 1933 to Myrtle Florence and John Alfred Willett in Melbourne, and in 1935 the family moved to Sydney and his father opened an office for his company Ayres & James.
They lived at Brighton Boulevard, up behind the steep steps down to the north end of Bondi. In his early years, John went to North Bondi Public School, where he remembered Don Burrows playing in the school band.
John Willett, advertising executive
John lost his father in 1945. Myrtle worked hard so that John and his older brother Russell could attend Scots College. They did it tough but the three of them found a way. His father's company helped and the school also saw to it that they were assisted. Both boys were top swimmers and Russell passed up a chance at the Olympics to go to university. John was also an elite rower and rugby footballer.
His early life on the beach set his love for the surf and being on the water. They used to ride long and narrow plywood boards that weighed a tonne and were impossible to turn. He later liked to call himself "Melbourne's oldest surfie".
Lugging those big boards up and down the hill with his best friend, Sydney jeweller Ken Mansergh, led to adventures along the coast on a plywood double ski. On one occasion after an exhausting paddle, as a southerly buster caught them, John pulled Ken from certain disaster off the rocks at the north end of Maroubra.
John's first sailing race was with his mate on Ken's Vaucluse Junior Stormy, at the Eastern Suburbs Sailing Club in Double Bay.
After finishing school in 1951, John started at George Patterson. Advertising was exploding as television came in and John entered into a golden age of sales and marketing and fast-moving consumer goods. But his first job in despatch included him driving Mr Patterson to and from the Australia Club for his lunch. Great start, and he was shortly elevated into account service.
In 1955 Russell had gone to London to follow his academic pathway in psychology and John was desperate to chase the advertising big time. He was going to use his superannuation to get there but he and Ken made a fantastic entry into the 2UE Secret Sound competition. They won and with his share of the prizemoney John was on his way all over the world, flogging big blue-chip companies' products: London, Toronto, Sydney, Melbourne, Kuala Lumpur, New York and back to Melbourne.
He met the mother of his two children, Lesley, in Canada. A beautiful, vivacious and wild product of postwar England from Stockport, Lesley was the perfect foil. As the industry boomed through the 1960s, they threw fantastic parties. John hosted long client lunches and he and his teams did all the work at night.
The energy expended was unsustainable. John had risen to second-in-charge at McCann Erickson International in New York, but he soon blew up. In 1970 he moved back to Australia and started at McCann's in Melbourne, but the damage and excesses of that '60s life was done. His marriage ended and he reset himself.
He bought his first yacht, Moonspinner, and started racing out of Royal Brighton Yacht Club in Melbourne. With some early success, yacht racing became an obsession and he won many races and club championships on Port Phillip Bay.
In the early 1970s John led the Melbourne office, working on iconic campaigns for TAA – "Up Up and Away", Nabisco – "Chips Ahoy", Coca-Cola – "The Real Thing", and the ALP – "It's Time". He took the Melbourne office from making a loss to being as profitable as the larger Sydney office.
John hosted long client lunches and he and his teams did all the work at night.
Always up for a change and a new project, John saw an ad for a little country pub, built out of limestone in 1853, at a place on the Curdies river near Peterborough in Victoria. He bought it and in 1975 became a publican. John and his new bride Suzy turned it into one of the first destination eateries in regional Victoria.
Russell came over from England to stay with the new baby Louisa and one night, full of juice, they invented the Australia v England Darts Championship. The English team would be on the end of the phone at The Cadogan Arms in Suffolk and the Australian team would be at The Sportsmans Arms at Curdie Vale.
In the first year they had Glenda Jackson at the "Dug" looking after the Australian team's interests and Peter Couchman at the "Boggy" looking after the English team. It went on for more than 20 years and Telecom Australia made a fortune. The Cup is still at the Boggy pub today.
After John recharged he went back to Melbourne and started with DDB Needham. He had a long and happy senior tenure there and formed a strong and enduring relationship with his client Cadbury, which continues today at Willett Marketing.
In 1991, John and his son Mark founded John Willett and Associates, now Willett Marketing. It was the first business of its kind in Australia, managing sponsorship and events exclusively for clients, but using all John's advertising skills and client relationship management.
In 1994 they plucked his daughter Rosalind out of the education sector and asked her to "tidy" them up. They cut her in so she couldn't leave and today she is the managing partner.
A family business that clocked over 26 years on the day he passed away, it was his greatest achievement. It brought him great pride to see all four of his grandchildren working there through their schooling. He hoped a couple of those kids might take it on. They still might.
A champion yachtsman on the Bay, John kept racing his sail boats. He had a go at the Sydney-Hobart in 1984. He only got as far as Maroubra that year, punching into a strong southerly.
A beautiful man who taught us all so much, honesty and integrity were his greatest message. He is now sailing to his next port with much love from Suzy, Ros, Jack, Henry, Mark, Virginia, Larry, Fergus, Amanda, Sara, Jonnie and Louisa and his schnauzer Tess.
*Written by John's family.