What single word links Bryn Cartwright’s home in Welsh cult movie Twin Town, the Cartwright family’s Nevadan ranch in TV series Bonanza, and Richard Midgley’s creative agency across the road from Kirkgate Market in Leeds?
The answer, as lovers of slightly obscure cultural references will attest, is Ponderosa.
“After my wife and I watched Twin Town we said that if we could ever afford a big house – and we had our eye on one in Ilkley – we were going to call it the Ponderosa,” says Bradford-born Midgley, 52.
“Well we never got the big house, but we got the agency and we called it Ponderosa.”
Judging by the upward trajectory of Ponderosa the agency in recent years – and the accumulation of a multi-service group called The Audience Collective – the house may follow sooner or later.
A University of Cambridge graduate, Midgley’s 30-year advertising journey began in ignominious fashion with a series of job rejections from London agencies. Eventually he secured a placement as a media buyer at Principles, where he went on to spend 15 years before becoming MD at An Agency Called England, formerly MediaWorks in Leeds.
It was there that his big break came.
Midgley led the Halewood International account at An Agency Called England and became a trusted partner of John Halewood, the Wirral-born multi-millionaire who introduced Lambrini to a generation.
“I got to know him very well and he said to me, if you ever want to set up on your own I’ll back you,” says Midgley, “and I thought, I’m probably not going to get a better chance.”
