Charles Brian-Boys: A tribute to the Hong Kong ad legend

Charles Brian-Boys, one of Asia’s original Madmen, died unexpectedly but peacefully in his sleep in Hong Kong on 2nd October, aged 62. He leaves behind his two daughters, Jasmine and Poppy, their mother Ghislaine who was his former wife, and his partner, Brenda. 

 

Charles was part of the local advertising firmament, where he ran some of the key trophy clients in the region including Singapore Airlines, Intel and Tag Heur. 

 

Following the stellar success of Batey’s in Hong Kong with his partner Simon Hayward, he was concerned they were not saving enough for the future, so went to see a financial advisor who asked them to provide a summary of what they spent their money on. The advisor looked down the list and commented on one of the larger line items: “US$2,000 a month on fine wine—excellent. Where do you lay it down?” They looked at each other askance and replied in unison: “Down our throats!”

 

He became Regional CMO for Alfred Dunhill, where he was a wonderful ambassador for the brand with his dapper Englishness and commitment to luxury style. Driven by his entrepreneurial spirit, he went on to join the Eight Partnership as a partner, where he was pivotal in winning Apple across China and the region. In 2011 he set up Alchemy Asia, a highly successful strategic communications consultancy, with Andrew and his partner, Brenda.

 

Wherever Charles was working, he brought his whole self into every project as well as a razor-sharp intellect, and a passion that was as contagious as it was unstoppable. On one occasion we went to see the CEO of AIA for an initial introductory meeting and within 30 minutes, Charles had on-the-cuff given him a business strategy and a full comms plan roll-out. We—or rather I should say he—won the business on the spot.

 

His daredevil approach to business and life and unrelenting passion was personified in two anecdotes from his friend and Creative Director, Jeremy Clarke: 

 

“Charles’ whole being was nervous energy. Like a bottleneck of ideas and strategies fighting to get out of his body, from the second he entered the office. Newspaper and notepad, clutched in hand, briefed, prepared and ready to up-end whatever may have been decided the night before!

 

I recall we had an Alchemy off-site, paintballing. We broke off into two sides, and each sat for a while strategising. The second the whistle blew, Charles charged, at full speed, ignoring team orders, and simply raced for the flag, firing at anyone he saw. He captured the opponents’ flag within about 20 seconds! He saw a gap, understood the terrain and the mindset of the other players, and switched tactics at the last moment, reasoning that no one would expect a surprise lunatic kamikaze attack. He was right.

 

On another occasion I was with him in a client meeting watching him get more and more frustrated, then suddenly he stood up and addressed the most senior client with the words: “You know what the actual issue is here, don’t you? It’s that you’re a ****ing idiot and you have no idea what the **** you’re doing, nor do any of the ****wits who work with you!” He turned to the team, and said” “Come on chaps, we can’t work with these idiots, we’re leaving.” Which stunned the clients, obviously. And so, they tried to talk Charles off the ledge and softened their position and ended up buying the campaign. An hour or so later, I was sitting with Charles at the club. No words. Just a beer in hand, and a big silly grin, and then laughter. Masterclass.

 

It was impossible not to love the fellow. It was a privilege and a real pleasure spending time with him. There was never a dull moment.”

 

Charles also put his whole self into whatever he did out of work, night scuba dives, high thrill skiing, cooking roast chicken. His mind was constantly on fire, exploring every field from physics to music. One day when Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony came on the radio he jumped up and whilst wildly conducting the imaginary orchestra gave a running commentary on how Ludwig had composed each phrase in a way that revolutionised music.  

 

Charles was inventive, huge fun and generous beyond his resources. Above all, Charles was a loyal and tenacious pal. I will never forget him for that.

 

Charles constantly surprised all who knew him, so perhaps we should not be surprised that his departure was so unexpected. He would have wanted it that way.

 

Charles has passed, but his electric energy will surely take a long time to leave this planet.

 

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As a beloved member of the advertising community, many of Charles' colleagues and friends have shared tributes, including industry veteran and co-founder and creative director of KymeChow, Chris Kyme. You can read his full note to his close friend and the contributing comments here.