Tim Ashton, principal and creative director of ideas agency Antidote who led this breakfast, has a wide range of business interests. Yes, he provides a mix of brand advertising and design for corporate clients such as Shell and Knorr. But he also decided when set up in 2003 that he wanted to do pro bono work.
"From day one we thought it would be a good idea to have a mix of corporate clients and pro bono work," explained Tim. "We launched a movement called 'We are What We Do' and created the book 'Change the world for a fiver', and we do work for Comic Relief - that's quite enough."
More recently Tim has become a shareholder in three companies that approached him to create a brand for them: Antidote works for nothing in
return for an equity stake in:
* Rapha - an upmarket cycle clothing business in which Tim describes himself as 30% client and 70% creative director
* Morrissey Fox ale - an artisan beer venture with actor Neil Morrissey and chef Richard Fox for which Tim estimates he is 70% client and 30% creative director (and as he puts it: "I have ended up being managing director")
* Ruk Jack - a specialist in outdoor clothing at which Tim is 50% creative and 50% client
"I thought we'd do a range of projects where we'd take on a equity stake," Tim told the Breakfasters. "It's an interesting dynamic. When it's your own money it's amazing how large you want to make your own phone number."
The Morrissey Fox venture was the result of an approach by Jamie Oliver's production company which had decided it wanted to make a programme that didn't feature Jamie. "Jamie Oliver had an idea about food and beer - an alternative to wine bars. Apart from an appearance fee for Neil and Richard, his TV people gave us no money whatsoever," said Tim.
"We had to do everything in eight months and we had to do it for real - since the debacle involving the Queen last year, everything in TV has to be
for real. TV programmes need some jeopardy and there was plenty."
In that eight months Tim and the team at Antidote not only came up with a beer and food matching concept but also found suitable premises (Ye Olde Punchbowle at Marton-cum-Grafton in Yorkshire - refurbishment went heavily over budget, from £25,000 to £165,000) and created a blonde ale recipe from a sophisticate home brew kit. After a month of discussions with supermarkets, they then negotiated an exclusiver contrat with Tesco to distribute its ale. "If you miss your delivery time by 10 minutes, there's every chance you'll become a villain and feature in the 'Heroes and Villains' list in the head office foyer," said Tim who described the supermarket as hard nosed. "Buyers are only too keen to talk to you about 'villains', which include some very famous brands."
Antidote commissioned the photographer Rankin to shoot the Warholesque beer bottle labels which Neil and Richard admired. However, Tim actually wanted something more traditional as he felt it would communicate quality and appeal to a wider audience. They also found a contract brewer to brew the ale. Following the success of the project, they now have two more beer products in the pipeline as well as two more pubs.
Looking back he concluded: "When you are the client and the creative, it is your own handwriting all the time. It's a good end result but not a great end result, because I didn't have a pushy client making me jump through hoops."
Moving on to Rapha, Tim explained that this was a venture with a partner who was once an accountant. Fortunately for Tim, this partner has the managing director role and he reported that Rapha had a successful first year and is now developing as an online retailer with an international audience.
He described how Selfridges approached the company to stage a store display during the Tour de France. "Selfridges gave us no money. In fact, people usually pay them. We had £10,000 to do all the design, commission the photography and buy fake asphalt for the 'road'. We built everything and took it there at 2am then worked through the night." He described it very much as a brand building exercise. "We didn't make the money back on sales." Subsequently, Tim and his partners launched a cycling magazine called Rouleur with a cover price of £9 and which includes Rapha ads.
The latest venture is Ruk Jack, a Dragon's Den type project, which will launch in Millets and Blacks in Spring 2009. "We were approached by an a group of young people with an interesting idea," said Tim. "They asked us to create a brand for them and only after the fourth meeting did they tell us they'd no money."
Tim's advice: he's not sure he'd advocate doing or do a TV programme again, although Channel Four is talking about a follow-up. "You have to be careful because TV can take up a lot of time. I always say that the projects with the least amount of money attached get the most attention." But he did think that projects with an element of risk could be a way through recession.