Paul Arden moved on, creative leader succumbs to a heart attack.

Sad news today as Paul Arden moved to greener pastures at 67.

Mr. Arden was such a perfectionist that he was often maddeningly over budget, insisting that the smallest details be perfect, such as searching for a certain pair of wildly expensive spectacles to achieve just the right look on a face that would be seen briefly in passing in a TV spot.

Have you heard about Paul Arden not playing football because "the colour of the grass isn't the right green."Would that be true, Paul? Paul: - "I like the quote. Put it in."
Paul Arden as drawn by his missus, Toni Arden.

He was the Saatchi perfectionist, father of the Silk Cut campaign, and in 1993 started a film production company, Arden Sutherland Dodd, as well as collecting photography. Back in 1993 I had the pleasure of being one of his pupils at the School of Communication Arts. You might never know what he was thinking but you could bet on it being brilliant. I can promise you all that we'll never see a man like Paul in advertising again, and we are all the poorer for it.

Paul Arden wrote several books in the past years, most recently Paul Arden on God,
Whatever You Think, Think the Opposite and here are some of my notes from Paul Arden's Lecture at the D&AD back in 1993, his book It's Not How Good You Are, Its How Good You Want to Be has even been translated to Swedish.

L.A: What would you write on your tombstone'
P. Arden: Knife. (It takes him 10 minutes to sharpen his pencil.)