Andy Fackrell became ECD at 180 Amsterdam in 2003, alongside Richard Bullock. He grew up in both Australia and New Zealand, and is not really sure which place he likes better. Maybe that’s the reason why he lived ‘overseas’ most of his professional life. Like the founders of 180, Andy worked for Wieden + Kennedy (Portland) on the Nike account for several years before he joined 180. His most famous work for Nike was the Cannes Grand Prix in 2002 for the Nike ad ‘Tag’ – with that brilliantly contagious song:  tutututu-etc. Andy is working on the World Cup (soccer) 2010 campaign for Adidas at the moment.

As a kid, what were your most creative moments?
When I was 9, the most popular kid in my class was the one who could draw rude cartoons. Usually of the teachers, naked. So I started drawing. I specialised in Napoleonic battle scenes, as my friend Steve had cornered the market for smut. He’s now a cartoonist for an Australian newspaper.

Which creative effort has given you the most satisfaction?
I once had a TV ad exhibited at the Pompidou Centre. I was proud that I had something in an important gallery but ironically it was just an awful piece of crap.

Actually, one of the least known ads was something that I enjoyed doing the most; a film I did with Sampras and Agassi for Nike that had them verbally rallying a point. We asked them 500 intimate, rapid-fire questions from choice of breakfast cereal/political stance/breast or leg man, etc. We assumed by their respective games they’d be complete opposites, and that turned out to be about 90% true.

A lot of what we do is based on hunches. The adidas Beckham and Wilkinson spot “Kicking It” was the same. Rich [Richard Bullock, AAB]  and I assumed that two world-class athletes would like hanging out together on a football field, talking shit and trying to outdo each other, if we just left them to it. Which was really all that ad was about.

What fascinates you?
I like the conflict between what’s perceived as good and bad.  And at what point you decide which camp it sits in. So you see something new, like Anthony Gormley’s plinth in Trafalgar Square; it’s initially kind of controversial or at least topical. But you don’t know, or at least I don’t, whether it’s great or not. Sometimes it takes a while to make your mind up. And I have been known to change my mind a bit. Not so for Cadbury Gorilla. I love that ad. Because it’s so illogical in terms of formula. There definitely is a fine line between great and crap; sometimes that comes down to execution.

Ted.com interests me because I had to do a Cannes speech this year. It’s incredible seeing how passionate the speakers are about their fields; it also showed me that enthusiasm counts for so much, it distracts from all your stupid hand gestures (note: never watch a video of your own speech.)

Music Videos have always been a great influence (Aha’s “Take on Me”.) I could spend all night watching them on YouTube. In fact they are sometimes a little underestimated as a creative medium.

Who is your favourite creator?
Growing up, I loved Kurt Vonnegut and Woody Allen’s writing. “The only thing standing between me and genius is me.” And Vonnegut was just out there; “The Sirens of Titan” was my favourite.

Musically, I’ve been obsessed with one band per year since I was 18. Generally, miserable guitary stuff. Right now, Fleet Foxes. It’s like a Welsh mining choir relocating to Seattle.

In film: The Complete Works of Akira Kurosawa, Stanley Kubrick and Bill Murray; Groundhog Day is maybe the best film of all time.

I like illustrators as artists these days. Tadanori Yokoo, because he used to do Santana covers (my 1978 obsession) and a guy called Jules de Balincourt. I would love to able to paint like those two. But my ultimate duo-feeling of inspiration and uselessness is when I visit the Picasso museums in Paris or Barcelona. I’m very mistrusting of work that I think I could have done.

When did you decide, I want to work in advertising?
When I overhead the first ever ad I made being sung by a 10 year old in a supermarket – a really stupid jingle – I admit I was excited, but at the same time sort of appalled about what I was doing. But I didn’t love advertising, creatively at least, until a few years into it. My first agency in Wellington was like the Department of Statistics. As you’d probably guess, I really wanted to be an illustrator, but wasn’t any good. The ad that turned me into loving the business was Carling’s “Dambusters.” But I couldn’t imagine how someone could come up with that. Then some years later, Nike’s “Frozen Moments” came along, then that’s what I aspired to; the element of art came in. Funny is not my thing.

What do you like best about advertising?
I love that process of getting an agency fired up about an idea; they really don’t happen that often, so you’ve got to embrace them when they do. And it’s a buzz to hear other people getting excited about good ideas, even better if they’re yours. I remember working on the World Cup for Nike and thought we had something. Then someone told us another team’s idea. “The Brazilian Team, bored at airport gate. Having a kick around. It breaks out.” You hate losing out, but you can’t not love a great idea. “Oh, and John Woo is directing it.” Fuckers.

What’s your most important lesson in advertising?
In my second agency I was told to entertain first. I hate 99% of advertising because it doesn’t do that. I have been deluding myself to the business aspect of advertising for over 20 years. That advice wouldn’t have come from my first agency.

What’s the most exciting ad project you ever worked on?
For Nike, my partner Jose Molla and myself wrote and directed 120 live ads in Buenos Aires and Mexico City. They were all one-shot films, obviously, and had to be timed exactly to fit the ad break. It was scary, but exhilarating, to literally watch it in the ad break the same time as you were filming. This was ten years ago now, and it’s funny to me to see what fuss people make of the immediacy of YouTube, when I think back to this project. But talk about a brave client. It worked though. It was all over the news, and made Nike cool and relevant, as it hadn’t had much of a local presence prior to this. And right now, the 2010 World Cup project for adidas, which launched with “The Spark” film. It’s new territory in its own right, but I can’t really say much more.

What’s your favourite place in Amsterdam?
I love the little one lane bridge at Ouderkerk. A couple of times I’ve been clattering along the Amstel on my racing bike and have been forced to wait as it’s being raised. But then there’s this beautiful church in front of you, the jokey old bloke raising the bridge, and a smell of bread from the bakery next to it. You could be in one of five centuries, but then I look down at my latex.

What would you like to change in Amsterdam?
The museums. It’s a bit of a disgrace to the city that such amazing institutions like the Stedelijk are closed for so long. And breakfasts. There’s nowhere that does a decent one and that’s my favourite time of the day. But I do like Krentenbollen with coffee.