How Mr.Spock was born.

As Mike Everett explains, giving birth to what was probably the greatest ever Heineken poster wasn’t without its pangs.

We’re back in early 1975. CDP is still located in its original dingy offices on the corner of Howland Street and Whitfield Street in London’s West End. Terry Lovelock and Vernon Howe are just beginning to get into their stride with the famous ‘Heineken refreshes the parts other beers cannot reach’ campaign, which they had created the year before. The latest commercial features a spoof of Star Trek, where the crew of the star ship are unable to beam up from the surface of an alien planet because the transporter is in need of refreshment. Of course, Heineken solves the problem and they are able to set off ‘to generally make nuisances of themselves throughout the galaxy’, to use Terry’s words.

Shortly afterwards, a brief dropped on to Tony Brignull’s desk asking for a 48 sheet poster for Heineken, using the ‘refreshes the parts’ line. Tony did most of his work with his long-time partner, the great art director, Neil Godfrey. But, on this occasion, Neil wasn’t in the agency. So Tony cast around for an art director to draw up an idea that had immediately occurred to him when he saw Terry’s commercial: use Mr Spock (or Dr Spock, as Tony kept referring to him, not appreciating the subtle difference in title between the child physiologist and the second in command of the USS Enterprise) with his pointed, Vulcan ears in need of refreshment.

Leaving his office on the 4th floor he failed to find an art director till he happened upon Paul Smith. Now Paul is many things but, luckily for this poster, he is a magnificent draughtsman. Until then, all Heineken posters had been two frame affairs, one depicting before and the other, the after, not least because the idea that Terry and Vernon had created was in essence a spoof of the tedious soap powder commercials that crowded the airwaves in those days. But Paul felt that Tony’s idea would work best as a triptych – one frame showing Mr Spock with limp ears, the second showing Mr Spock drinking Heineken, his ears starting to lift, and the third showing Mr Spock, his ears now erect. It was then, as he drafted out the three frames on his layout pad that a piece of pure genius occurred to him. On the third frame he drew a thought bubble and within it wrote the word ‘illogical’. This was what CDP creative director, John Salmon often referred to as ‘the wasp on the orange’ – the inspired finishing touch that turns a good idea into a great one. But not everyone agreed.

Tony Brignull hated the addition of the bubble and fought tooth and nail to get rid of it. I should say here that Tony Brignull is one of the most talented, award-laden copywriters it has been advertising’s good fortune to employ. He is undoubtedly an advertising genius. And, along with David Abbott, can justly lay claim to being the greatest ever advertising copywriter this country has produced . But on this occasion he was unmovable: the bubble must be burst.

So now we have Paul Smith sitting with one of the finest pieces of work he has ever been involved in, having to remove his stroke of pure inspiration. What to do? The ever-resourceful Mr Smith decided there was only one thing he could do: appeal to a higher authority in the form of John Salmon. Now, if there’s one thing you can say about John Salmon it’s that he knows a good thing when he sees it. He loved the thought bubble. ‘Let me talk to Tony’ said John and he did. Tony reluctantly agreed.

Needless to say, everyone who saw the ‘Spock’ layout fell in love with it, most importantly the client. It was rushed into production – sort of. There was the small matter of the copyright of the Mr Spock character to overcome, plus the not insignificant job of photographing Leonard Nimoy, the actor who played Mr Spock in the series. The copyright issue was soon sorted out with a £5,000 payment to Paramount, the studio that made Star Trek. Paramount’s only other request was a small line of type on the poster acknowledging their ownership of the character. But photographing Leonard Nimoy was proving insurmountable. For one thing, neither he nor his agent could be tracked down by CDP’s resourceful Whitbread account group. Time dragged on and the wonderful layout began to gather dust in Paul Smith’s office. It even began to be forgotten about by some – CDP was producing so much great work at the time there were plenty of terrific distractions – but one man hadn’t let it slip from his memory. Step forward again, Tony Brignull. Tony had now become fond of the Spock poster and had even begun to like the contentious thought bubble.

Now as well as being famous for the hundreds of great ads he has produced, Tony Brignull is also renowned for his mercurial temper. Countless account men had found themselves on the receiving end of it on many occasions. Now it was Paul Smith’s turn. Frustrated by the lack of progress in getting the poster into production, Tony burst into Paul’s office and demanded that he get on a plane to New York and photograph Leonard Nimoy with immediate effect. It has to be said that Tony’s choice of words was somewhat more colourful than those just recorded and, in any case, as far as anyone knew, Leonard Nimoy wasn’t in New York, he was in Los Angeles. But the point was, as Paul vainly tried to point out, nobody could actually get hold of the actor to even arrange a photographic shoot. So there was no point in him getting on a plane to either city.

Once again, Paul found himself sitting with his wonderful layout, still no closer to getting it produced – and now, through no fault of his own, with the not inconsiderable wrath of Tony Brignull falling about his person. At this point, Paul did what any sane art director would do. He took the problem to somebody who some people considered to be totally insane. He invoked the counsel of his group head, the one and only Alan Waldie, creator of the famous Benson & Hedges surreal campaign.

This again is a terrific example of what was already a great idea turning into an even greater one. Alan listened carefully to Paul’s problem, thought for a moment, studied Paul’s meticulously crafted magic marker layout, and then spoke. ‘It looks like a cartoon, the way you’ve drawn it, with that bubble. Why not make it one. Don’t take a photograph. Use Philip Castle to illustrate it instead. You never know, it might be better’. And it was. Not for nothing was Alan one of advertising’s most famous art directors.

So the poster was finally put into production and appeared to great acclaim on billboards all over Britain. Alan’s idea of using Philip Castle turned out to be a masterstroke. Castle delivered three fantastic drawings in bold, comic book style of the pointy-eared Vulcan, experiencing the three stages of Heineken refreshment. Coupled with Tony’s brilliant original thought, inspired by Terry and Vernon’s film, and with Paul’s smart speech bubble addition, not to mention the use of the first-ever Heineken triptych, the poster was a tour-de-force. In many ways, it was a typical example how CDP triumphed. In essence, this poster was the work of two men, Tony and Paul. But without the support system that CDP provided, the inspiration and help of the other creative people that surrounded them, and the sheer dogged tenacity that CDP displayed at getting its ideas made, this poster would never have seen the light of day – at least not in the form we know it. And there’s an amusing postscript.

It’s been said that Leonard Nimoy had been undergoing a difficult time psychologically. He’d been to see his shrink in Los Angeles who’d suggested that his problems might stem from the fact that he was intrinsically linked to the character of Mr Spock – that he was so closely associated with Mr Spock that he was in danger of becoming Mr Spock, to the detriment of his own personality. When Nimoy asked what he might do to rectify this, he was told to get away from the character and try and forget it. Find a country where the show isn’t being aired and go there. The trouble was, that was more or less impossible. Star Trek was such a success it was playing everywhere. Just about every country in the world featured it in their TV schedules – except one.

Strange as it seems, Star Trek was not at that time on TV in Britain. So, taking his shrink’s advice, Leonard Nimoy booked a trip to the UK. All went well until he took a taxi from the airport into London. On the way, he was assailed by CDP’s legendary media buying ability in the form of a massive 48-sheet poster adorning the side of the Cromwell Road. Yes, you guessed it. It was the Heineken ‘Mr Spock’ poster in all its glory. It is said that Nimoy turned the taxi around and went straight back to the airport. Whether this story is true, I’ve no idea. But it’s a good story. And as John Ritchie, one of CDP’s great account directors, once remarked, ‘there’s no point in having a story if you don’t tell it’. That’s especially true when it concerns a piece of advertising as powerful, as revolutionary, and as outstanding as Mr Spock.

Copyright: Michael Everett 2010.

Where are they now? Terry Lovelock is still writing, screenplays and advertising and is a member of CDP Celebration. Vernon Howe passed away in 2004. Tony Brignull went on to gain an MA in English at Oxford and still undertakes freelance advertising assignments. He is a member of CDP Celebration. Neil Godfrey is retired and lives in Devon. He is a member of CDP Celebration. Paul Smith is the Europe, Africa and Middle East creative director at Ogilvy and a member of CDP Celebration. John Salmon is retired and living in Hampstead. He is a member of CDP Celebration. Alan Waldie now paints and lives in Sussex. He is also a member of CDP Celebration. Sadly, John Ritchie is in ill-health and lives in London.