The First Mammal

Mammal founder and creative director Andy Firth passed away on Sunday afternoon after a relatively short illness. Mammal pays its respects to him, his many friends and his family.

Along with Gary Cunliffe, Andy established Mammal, and the name is his. We will be proud to continue the tradition he began: of questioning and interrogating, of doing more with less, and of having a laugh whatever the situation.

As an indication of the gruff humour and contrariness of the man, perhaps the most appropriate obituary for him is his own – which he wrote on his Facebook wall a couple of years back:

Yet again, I hear on the radio this morning about the unfortunate death of some young man who was ‘well-liked’, ‘a popular member of the local footy team’, ‘always smiling’. I’m sure he was and his demise is sad. However, I can’t help wondering why it’s always ‘nice’ people that seem to bite the dust. If I die an early death and the media comes knocking on your door, can you please say something like ‘He was ok mostly, and occasionally amusing, but not always well-liked by everyone, often a grumpy, crude, opinionated f***er that was difficult to work with, drank too much and seemed to have difficulty with commitment in relationships’, or whatever springs to mind. Just once it would be refreshing to hear a realistic obituary.

The censorship, of course, is ours. Andy would never have been so prudish. He was a valued colleague, a firm friend, a talented advertising creative and a great bloke. Many, many people will miss him – and the team at Mammal can certainly be counted among them.

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