Dream Teams: Charlie Lindsay and George Bartlett on Puerility and Stupidness

Charlie Lindsay and George Bartlett, an associate creative director duo at Truant London, met more than ten years ago at Bournemouth University. And although Charlie wishes he could share a ‘love at first sight’ story about their blossoming friendship on the advertising course, he calls it more of a ‘slow burn romance’. “We didn’t even talk much for the first three years of knowing each other,” shares George. “In the fourth, we were thrown into a house at university together by a mutual friend and forced to make awkward conversation.” But, once the awkwardness was overcome, the two clicked and have been inseparable ever since.

As far as first impressions go, both of theirs are quite unique. “My first memory of meeting George was watching him faceplant while walking to a club in flip flops, in the rain. It was grim,” shares Charlie. It was precisely this first impression that gave a start to the three silent years between them. “Hate is too strong a word, but committed avoidance fits well.” And the same goes for George.

“When I first saw Charlie we were both 18 years old and he was dressed like the love child of a ‘60s surfer and an RAF pilot from WWI. Floppy highlighted hair, big flying jacket, wayfarer sunglasses and a silver hoop earring.” A very classic coastal university look. “But, the strangest thing is that he had two actual bricks - the ones you’d usually build houses with - attached to the bottom of his Reeboks with elastic bands, like platforms.

“I honestly don’t know what I thought of him, but I don’t think I said a word to him for three years after that encounter,” admits George. Later it turned out that the brick-platforms were part of an assignment to advertise bricks to someone who didn’t need to build anything. “He got bottom of the class for that idea. But jokes on the lecturers because giant platform shoes became extremely fashionable a few years later. He’s always been ahead of his time like that.”

After the ‘committed avoidance’ season of their show ended, the two started living together and finally bonded, not over advertising, but instead over chess and Jenga. “Charlie would always win at chess and I’d sometimes, win at Jenga,” says George. “Eventually it just became a bit of an unspoken partnership, always helping each other out on projects on the course. I remember pitching Charlie the idea of becoming a creative team and his response was something along the lines of, ‘fuck off, that’s not a thing’. It’s one of the only times I’ve been able to prove him wrong.”

It was actually over a game of Jenga that Charlie was first faced with the possibility of being in a creative duo - “I thought it sounded like bullshit but we decided to give it a shot regardless,” he says. 

Following the big decision, Charlie and George met their first shared project - for a hotel chain, code named ‘Project Remix’. “Obviously we were absolutely gassed to be working on anything, let alone something with a code name. Plus, we were the new kids on the block with a lot to prove.” So, after two days of non-stop writing and scamping, the two had a whopping 92 slides of ideas (which George made sure to check before this interview, so no, this is not an exaggeration). Why so many? According to them, the brief was too vague for them to not cover literally every possibility. “I think we even had a point of view on the kind of plug sockets they should have in the hotel rooms. I don’t think we were very selective in the early days,” George admits.

And after a few ‘very average uni projects’ together, as Charlie remembers, the two tried to cobble together ‘what they thought a portfolio should look like’. This led to an interview with a creative director, who got them in just to let them know that might have been the worst and most arrogant portfolio he had ever seen. “But he was confused as we both seemed quite nice,” says Charlie. “So he told us to do the opposite of what we’d created and then ended up hiring us.”

So, after three years of not talking to each other and having to mend those years by restlessly bonding over Jenga, making the worst portfolio ever and not believing in what creative partnerships can achieve, Charlie and George ended up in an incredible work duo. After starting their journey together, they have been working tirelessly together on projects that they are proud to discuss today. One of them, for Charlie, is a poster for a climate march. 

“George thought we should do a Greta Thunberg poster,” he says. “I thought she would look cool in the place of Lord Kitchener’s ‘YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS YOU’, so I made a shit mockup which I believed was good. George, however, thought it looked shit, so redid it in a cool distorted style. I thought that looked shit and mine was better. But subsequently, I realised I was wrong. We printed a load and took them down to Westminster.” 

Regardless of the back-and-forth creative disagreement, the poster got shared around a fair bit, but the reason Charlie is so proud of it is that two years after its publication, they got an email from a company that publishes the school curriculum books in Switzerland. “They were asking if they could use the image in their history books. Which it is now in. So if you ever find yourself in any Swiss history classes, keep an eye out for it.”

Speaking of the disagreement behind the Greta Thunberg poster, both Charlie and George believe they’re quite stubborn, which is either a winning or dire formula for creative duos. “One time we disagreed on a direction and we didn’t talk for two weeks,” remembers Charlie. “But we got through that and now we’re really good at not letting it get between us.” The one thing they both agree on for sure is that they are best friends before work partners, which is the glue that holds them together.

And although they both approach projects with great passion, they know they would never lose each other as friends. “We respect each other on a really personal level,” says George. 

He continues, “Creatively, we both have different approaches. Charlie’s brain works at an incredible speed. I sometimes think time works differently for him. Like if a flea took acid. And I’m more like a hippo on crack. I get really excited about a word or phrase Charlie says and stampede towards it.” Analogies like these take quite some self reflection, so it’s quite that these two had more than ten years of working together to figure out the best ways to get over fights.

George’s favourite project also leans into the duo’s love for activism. ‘Text From the Trenches’ was a remembrance campaign for Armistice 100, which had the goal of reconnecting young people with remembrance. “There was no money. No time. No media,” he says. “Charlie and I were the creatives, project managers, designers and social media managers. We even fly-posted the work up around London ourselves on a bleak November morning.” And although due to the lack of help, this project could’ve easily not seen the light of day, the boys pulled through and it ended up winning them their first D&AD pencil. 

“We got a call from the New York Poster Museum to ask if they could add it to their permanent collection,” he adds. “It gave us a lot of confidence, and we proved to ourselves that we can actually do it, with or without a big budget and network behind us.” So, there we have it - two pieces for the history books to remember from Charlie and George. 

But, although this creative duo is akin to activism, they also have a comedic side that they have been nurturing. “Humour is something we’re trying to ingrain into our work, whenever we can,” says Charlie. “It’s something we want to become known for because it just really resonates with us. The way we see it is that people are never going to be annoyed that you made them laugh. But they might be if you shove a brand message down their throat.” So, the balance between infusing creative with humour but still resonating with the brand, to Charlie, means having the brand at the heart of the advert but never forgetting that you have an audience to entertain.

And to George, one of the most important things about comedy is truly knowing the audience, and adjusting accordingly. “I found that out the hard way when I performed a five minute stand-up comedy set about my sex life (which went down very well at a London comedy club) to my extended family over the Christmas dinner table. That said, I think it’s important to lead the charge when it comes to injecting humour into brands. A lot of them are too scared to do it, but it’s a hugely missed opportunity.”

That is reflected in a recent project the two did together when there was a national egg shortage. From a message on Slack saying ‘apparently there’s an egg shortage at the moment, something we can do?’, the duo quickly came up with a propaganda campaign for chickens, to encourage them to lay more eggs. Charlie says, “We used an AI generator to create WW2 style chicken propaganda posters. We printed them off, chicken size. And headed to a farm in Shoreditch, to try and motivate the birds. Before taking the posters onwards around the country.

“It worked. Chicken morale went through the roof. Egg production went up by 600% in just two weeks. Laying strikes were called off. The media narrative about the egg shortage was reversed, and the public panic subdued. We’re working on the Cannes case-study film as we speak. And if you’re eating an egg whilst you're reading this - you’re very welcome.”

It’s fair to ask, however, how does one not only manage to match their humour to that of their creative partner, but also grow an aesthetic and feel for the creative that is also complementary. “Well, we don’t wear matching onesies for sure,” jokes George. “I find it exciting project by project. Sometimes Charlie solves it, and sometimes I do. But we aren’t overly precious and usually, work together to improve the best decision. The more we do it, the more defined our own shared style and approach has become.”

Although Charlie agrees that their communication and approach have more seamlessly blended together, he knows it took a while to develop. “It’s like a merging of the way we think and like to do things. The middle ground has become our aesthetic. It has progressed from quite a scrappy, protest-y feel to something that is much more lighthearted, colourful, a bit weird, a bit stupid.” And when asked what inspires them, he turns to that lightheartedness once again - “Puerility and stupidness are what I think a lot of brands are missing. They take themselves too seriously, and people like to be entertained. So the stuff that inspires us now is mostly stupid stuff. Harry [Enfield] and Paul [Whitehouse] sketches about kitten stomping inventions. Pisstake Eurovision songs. Things that make you go: ‘Why? Just, why?’.”

From a non-believer, Charlie seems to have come around to creative partnerships in the industry, after ten years or so of developing alongside his friend and finding their best pathway to the lightheartedness and simplicity that defines their work today. He goes as far as to say that to him, ‘the single best thing’ one could have is a professional partner. And George agrees, believing that more industries should adopt the approach. “Working with your best mate is awesome,” says Charlie. “Share shit and great times. In my opinion, any idea, headline, song, artwork, or even email can be improved by another’s perspective. Even if you don’t take it, at least you get to look at it in a different way.”

George echoes his friend: “I don't want to get too soppy, but it really is like working with your best mate all the time, so work feels a lot less like work. But most importantly, you have somebody you can be completely honest with and they’re also not afraid to tell you when you’re wrong. That’s really important to push creative ideas. I bet Elon [Musk] wouldn’t have done half the stupid shit he’s done if he had a Charlie or a George.”

And, regardless of the fact that the two spend eight hours together a day, that hasn’t deterred them from hanging out. “We see each other outside of work as much as in. We go to gigs, football and tennis. Go on ‘work’ surfing trips to Cornwall,” says Charlie.

So, what kind of lessons does one learn when working with their best mate? Well, all of them, according to Charlie. “Everything we know about advertising we’ve learnt together. George is a deep thinker. A great finisher. A captivating presenter. Super passionate about ideas. Working with him has taught me so much over the years. Thankfully I just haven’t picked up any fashion advice from him.” And for George, he’s learned from his partner to never overthink, just do. “It’s not about caring less though, it’s about doing more. Get an idea down at pace, doesn’t matter if it’s shit or obvious. Or any of those niggling doubty things that get in the way, don’t let them. We’ll work on it together and make that shit amazing.”