By Robert Goldrich

RICHMOND, Va. --

The week got off to a somber start with the news that Mike Hughes, The Martin Agency’s longest serving creative director and its president since 1995, had passed away on Sunday (12/15) in his Richmond home after a long and valiant fight against lung cancer. He was 65.

“Mike was my friend and business partner for 35 years,” said John Adams, chairman of The Martin Agency. “He was sent home in January with two weeks to live but rejected that prognosis in favor of his own timetable. Mike helped build the creative reputation of The Martin Agency and we will miss him terribly. And while Mike would understand our grieving, he would be impatient with it, preferring that we celebrate life rather than mourn death.”

Hughes started at The Martin Agency as a copywriter in 1978 and moved up the ranks. He was also deeply involved in the founding of the VCU Brandcenter, which honored him by naming its building “Mike Hughes Hall.” His work over the years for the likes of GEICO, Walmart and UPS has been lauded for its creativity as well as its success in the marketplace. A member of the One Club’s Creative Hall of Fame, Hughes will be inducted into the American Advertising Federation’s Hall of Fame next year.

Hughes and his wife of 38 years, Ginny, had two sons, Preston (deceased) and Jason.

Chat Room
I had the pleasure of talking to Hughes a handful of times over the years and he always left an indelible, positive impression. An accomplished creative, he also was a down-to-earth man though he refuted in his own obituary (to be shared later in this story) the prevalent notion that he was a man of great humility. The last time we talked was in February 2010, a conversation prompted by his then pending induction into The One Club’s Creative Hall of Fame. Excerpts from that Chat Room discussion speak volumes about Hughes. Asked what the Hall of Fame induction meant to him, Hughes shared, “So many of the corny things that people say at times like this are so incredibly true. The fact is that I’ve been surrounded by wonderful, talented, hard working people who make me look good. I really see this as an honor for the whole group. I wish I could find a less cliched way to tell you that.

“I believe every creative person walks out of a meeting thinking, ‘I know what to do with this.’ But invariably he or she struggles a bit and can’t quite nail it. Somebody else says something that maybe sparks an idea or a different approach, that enables a creative person to find some part of him or herself in the creative brief. Once you find that, you are on your way to something human and interesting, work that can become true for the client and the people they’re trying to reach. So I’m that person who says, ‘Nah, you’re not quite there yet.’ It’s a depressing–but at the same time inspiring–part of the process. I’ve been able to surround myself with people who I have the confidence in to dig those answers out of themselves.”

Regarding how advertising and marketing have evolved, Hughes said at the time, “If you had asked anybody 15 years ago about The Martin Agency and what it does well, they would have said we were a great print agency. A couple of years ago, a great television agency with GEICO, UPS, Free Credit Report, Walmart. It seems whatever medium they say is dying, we specialize in. What has worked out well for us is that these media aren’t dying. So many talk about apocalypse right around the corner. The fact is that what we have is a broadening of the media. People are spending so much more time on computers but not less time on television. A lot of them, mainly people younger than me, are doing both at once.”

Hughes continued, “I’ve been through stages in the industry when the creative work was better than it is now. But at the same time, the opportunities have never been broader and bigger than they are now. An idea that can take place on TV isn’t limited to the networks–or for that matter to 30 or 60 seconds. There are other ways to get your video idea out there. Or an audio idea with podcasts, Pandora, and a hundred different digital ways of connecting with people. I’m hoping that we can take advantage of this broadening of opportunities.”

At the same time, several essential dynamics remain unchanged, noted Hughes. “The joy has to come from actually doing the work. It cannot come at the end of the process or when you have reached the peak. In work there are constant frustrations, many ideas that go through rejection, sometimes for good reasons, other times for not-so-good reasons. The key is to enjoy the process of doing the work, of being creative, of collaborating. And there’s joy that can be found in the new sets of possibilities we discussed.

“One thing I hope we can lead the way back to is craftsmanship,” he continued. “There isn’t as much craftsmanship in the business now as there was years ago. Things like design online, marketing in the digital space and social media haven’t been quite figured out yet. Those things haven’t had their Bernbach. This means there are opportunities for people to rise up and show how those things should be done. Ten years ago if you asked me to name the 10 best advertising people of all time, chances are eight of them would have been copywriters. But today you cannot just think strategically and conceptually. You have to apply some design thinking, some digital thinking. We all have to stretch our minds, our muscles and our capabilities.”

As for his mentors, Hughes cited Harry Jacobs, “my predecessor at The Martin Agency, the man who hired me….He stands out but I’ve had so many heroes. In the 1970s, I’d look to Ed McCabe and David Abbott. In the ‘80s, Lee Clow and Tom McElligott. I always kept tabs on what those people were doing. They were pure advertising people. I studied them. I could recite McCabe’s ads. I’d look through awards journals for their work. Later on I had the privilege of getting to know some of these people. From afar in Richmond, I had thought they were perfect. Now that I know them, I realize that they are just crazy. But it’s the kind of crazy that creates great work.”

Final word
Hughes documented his thoughts about living and dying on his blog, unfinishedthinking.com, through which over the past year or so he connected with assorted readers during his hospice-at-home tenure. Hughes asked a colleague to release, once he passed away, his final post on unfinishedthinking.com. It serves as an autobiographical obituary. Here is Hughes’ final blog post:

“After many unexplained delays, I have finally lived up to my prognosis and have at last departed this life. It’s been a life I’ve loved.

“In the months leading up to this moment, I was astonished at the outpouring of love and caring and respect from hundreds of people.  There were handwritten notes, emails, blog posts, comments, letters, magazine articles, personal visits and phone calls. The tsunami of glorious thoughts sent my way has made it increasingly hard to justify my deep insecurity about my place in the world—an insecurity I’ve clung to all my life.

“I want to take this last opportunity to clear up one common misjudgment in the oft-repeated, highly exaggerated list of my virtues.  Many of you have credited me with humility.  That’s not even close to true.

“No one has ever been prouder of a marriage than I’ve been of my 38 years with Ginny.   There have been outrageous laughs, tears, squabbles, joys, illnesses, heartbreaks and thrills.  We’ve shared eye-opening travels and surrendered to high calorie challenges.  We’ve held hands during quiet moments that I’ve treasured more than any other.  Although we’ve never quite recovered from it, we somehow survived Preston’s death, holding on to each other the whole way.  I’m proud of that.  There’s been love and friendship and high expectations.  She’s made my life feel extraordinary even in its most ordinary moments.

“Our sons have been the source of unending pride.  Preston, who provided some of the biggest adventures in my life, was always a handful, but he was also always his own man.  What father wouldn’t be proud of that?

“And Jason.  Quick and smart and passionate and outspoken and funny and competent and good and nurturing.  I’ve never met a better man.

“Jason brought us Carley and Ella, the daughter and granddaughter we wanted and needed.  There’s no room for humility in my feelings about my girls.  Carley is the best baker in the world and Ella is, as she’s quick to tell you, “the best drawer in the world.”   I’ve always been afraid of women and I’ve always been a feminist.  These are two of the reasons why.

“I’m proud to have been the son of Ann and Jim. They loved each other as much as they loved Patti and me: there’s no better gift parents can give their children.  I’m proud we shared our home and I shared my room growing up with my uncle, Jim Kennedy, known to all as Foo Foo.

“You can’t help being proud if Patti Hughes is your sister.   My whole life has been a quest to be as funny as Patti.  She’s lived a life filled to the top with great friends and great adventures around the world.  She’s taken care of our mother with a gentleness and strength few people could muster.

“‘Uncle Doctor Todd’ Jarrell is an honorary third son and I’m proud to have him in the family.  And I’m equally proud to have Preston’s partner, David Jackson, as an honorary son-in-law.

“I’m proud of my most intimate friends.  I won’t name them all, but it would be wrong not to mention George and Megan Douglas, Craig and Beverly Bowlus, Larry Hall and Flinn Dallis, Bruce and Nancy Mansfield, Ed and Eileen Kitces.   Over many years, they’ve put up with my crazy work hours and my general unreliability.  The conversations we’ve had have been invigorating.  I am especially proud to count many of their grown kids among my closest friends today.

“I’m proud, too, to have lived and worked alongside incredibly talented people who were also incredibly good and generous people.  My mentors always treated me as valued friends.  Father Augustine made high school bearable and made me try new things.  During my newspaper days, Jerry Finch was the editor every young reporter should have.  Larry Kaplan was my first advertising boss, encouraging me early on to reach higher—even if it meant working somewhere else.  Bill Wynne was my first partner/mentor.  He brought out the entrepreneurial side of me.

“Then there was Harry.  Harry Jacobs made The Martin Agency a contender in the industry worldwide–and he made me an advertising man.   He put me on a wonderful track that I’ve stayed on for 34 years.  I hope he’s half as proud of me as I am of him.

“I’ve learned from many of the industry leaders I’ve worked with at The Martin Agency, but none taught me more or stuck with me longer than John Adams.  He’s the wonderfully stubborn, highly principled partner every creative director desperately needs.  He and I have had the extreme good fortune to work side by side with the best agency management people in the business.

“I’m proud to have been one of the hundreds of people who put The Martin Agency on the map.  We owe a lot to our clients and stockholders, of course, but no one gets in this line in front of the men and women who earned their paychecks doing things a little group in Richmond, Virginia, wasn’t supposed to be able to do.  I can’t begin to list the account, planning, media, design, tech, administration, finance and business partners who have done the work for which I’ve been given so much credit.  I hope they know how much I’ve needed them and how much I’ve loved them.  I can’t remember the first time I said “I do work I love with people I love,” but I know I’ve said it thousands of times.  Every word is true.

“A special call-out is due to the magnificent, crazy, elegant, messed-up, damn-near-perfect gaggle of creative partners who have put up with me for so long.  Hundreds of writers and art directors have come through the doors of the agencies I’ve been lucky enough to serve.  A huge number of those writers and art directors taught me valuable lessons—not just in advertising, but in how to live a meaningful, all-in life.  The greatest joy in our business comes not from a gold medal or a place in the industry hall of fame—it comes from doing the work and from doing it with people of integrity and ambition and good humor.

“I’m embarrassed that I get way too much credit for the success of the VCU Brandcenter.  Diane Cook Tench, Rick Boyko, Gene Trani, Helayne Spivak, the students, the alumni, the faculty and the administration deserve all the bows.  Still I’m proud (if a little self-conscious) that my name’s on the side of the building.  And I proudly liberate the current administration from any obligation it might feel to keep that giant painting of me hanging over the stairway.

“I should say I’m proud of all the honors I’ve been accorded in my career, but the truth is, I’ve never been sure I deserved them.  I’m a hall of fame creative director because I’ve worked for and with hall of fame caliber people.  My honorary doctorate—and every other citation and award I’ve collected–is also an honor for those people.  I am inordinately proud to have represented the groups I’ve represented.

“I’m both proud of and grateful to the people who have taken care of me in the cancer years.  Julie Garner made the appointment for me to visit Johns Hopkins.  Helen Vennard and Susan Lueke have been eternally patient with America’s medical systems and with me.  I have no idea how they do that.  They wrapped their arms around Ginny, Jason’s family and me and made us feel safe and protected and indulged.

“One final thought.  I hope each of you enjoys every minute of your life.  You’ve all contributed so much to mine.

“And one last favor.  Keep me in your thoughts. I love you.”

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