Alan Brown, founder of advertising agency Robson Brown

Apr 26 2010 by John Hill, The Journal

Leading North East agency Robson Brown was sold last month to Californian firm Round2, ending Alan Brown and Stuart Robson's 26-year association with the business they founded. But this doesn't mean that Alan Brown will be disappearing into retirement on his Northumberland farm.

JUST off the road between Chollerford and Bellingham in Northumberland is a farmhouse, perched amid 70acres of farmland. It's been the home of Alan Brown for more than 30 years.

By his own admission it’s an unusual dwelling for a man who, until recently, controlled the North East’s biggest advertising and marketing agency.

Brown set up Robson Brown with Stuart Robson in 1984, turning it into a huge agency that boasted revenues of more than £37m last year. After work, he’d drive 30 miles home into the countryside to the farm run by his wife Judith.

He said: “She told me I wouldn’t make a good prospective husband because she wanted to marry a farmer. So obviously I had to buy a farm.

“Most people thought we were nuts. When clients would become friends, we would invite them up here and they would get lost.

“I was working for a dynamic, creative, extrovert and brash industry, but as soon as I got in the car and got into rural Northumberland, I felt better.

“I would have a stressful week at the office and then I’d be on one of my horses following a pack of hounds. You never have the opportunity to think about work at that stage, and afterwards you’re too tired.”

On the morning of this interview, Brown sported a broken arm caused by a fall from a young horse. That accident came just a few days after he and Robson earned millions from the sale of the successful agency to Los Angeles agency Round2. But Brown denies he will now be devoting himself to leisurely pursuits.

He said: “Do you remember when Alex Ferguson was going to retire from Man United? It seemed like a good decision. He had achieved everything. He was 60. He had fantastic racehorses. But he couldn’t give it up.

“There’s a word that’s banned in the house and in interviews, and that’s ‘retirement’. I haven’t retired. The thought of it ...”

Alan Brown was born in Darlington and went to art college in Middlesbrough, where he came up with a cunning ruse that unwittingly helped him stumble on his calling.

He said: “I’d always liked London and realised if I applied for jobs in the trade mags regularly enough, I’d get interviews there.

“I went down one Friday, and instead of a traditional interview they gave me a project to work on, writing and designing these ads. They said mine were pretty good.

“I really wasn’t interested in the job, and my girlfriend was waiting outside to spend the weekend in London like we usually did in these situations.

“I went to college the next week and a letter popped through the letterbox at home. I opened it up and there was the most amazing job offer. The salary was twice as much as my father was earning.

“I told a couple of pals about it and they mentioned it to a lecturer. Later that afternoon, the lecturer said the principal wanted a word. I told the principal that I was going to carry on with my studies. He said, ‘I’m afraid not. You’re expelled’. He told me that the chances of getting through all the lessons and getting an offer of this quality again were pretty unlikely.

“Two weeks later, my mum was cooking Sunday lunch and I came down with a packed lunch and told her I was heading to a job in London.

“I had nowhere to stay. I saw a sign saying YMCA and slept in there. I was about 200 yards from the agency, but I got stuck in the one-way system and was two hours late for my first day.”

Brown started working for Austin Knight as a graphic designer in 1965 and transferred to Napper, Stinton and Woolley two years later.

It was during his time in London that he married Judith, his wife of 42 years. He remembers London as an exciting time for advertising , but headed north again at the end of the 60s. He said: “I was doing some good work and getting paid a fortune.

“It was the time when flower power was going and it was the place to be, but there was always a desire to come back and my wife wanted to bring up a family in the North East.

“I joined the Chronicle, Journal and Sunday Sun as a creative and marketing manager. It was a wonderful job, with wonderful opportunities and training, but there was always this desire to do something on my own.”

During his time with the newspaper group, he hired a man called Stuart Robson.

He said: “Although we were a partnership in legal terms, we were also a duo through almost all of our working careers.

“He was a brilliant writer, a fantastic artist and a good businessman.”