One of the many tasks we were given to do over the Easter break was to rewrite some existing press ads. Copywriters were handed several ads with the copy omitted; our job was to rewrite the copy according to the headline in a tone of voice suitable for the brand. My best ones were for [...]

Future Lions is an awards scheme organised by AKQA. It’s the same brief every year;   Advertise a product from a global brand in a way that couldn’t have been done five years ago, to an audience of your choosing.   This is my response.

Marc thought it would be fun to create some novelty placards, and take them en masse to the TUC demo on Saturday 26th March. We were each given 500 pieces of paper and asked to produce 500 ideas for placards, with only the vague instruction that the placards should ‘spread some love.’ I perhaps went [...]

During those heady days when I worked as an account executive at Ogilvy Action I was occasionally given writing assignments. I really enjoyed getting them, partly because I felt it was my creativity that had gotten me the place on the Ogilvy grad scheme and was glad for the chance to show my worth, and [...]

Marc asked me to write an article in favour of the recent increase in tuition fees for students. It turned into a bit of a rant, but I edited it down and the finished version can be read here. We were also asked to make a piece of communication about the matter. I put together [...]

This term I don’t want to have a mad rush to finish all of the books on the reading list at the end of the term – so I’m going to take a cue from the book ‘Nudge’ and apply some choice architecture to my own lifestyle to make sure I allocate sufficient time each [...]

Some of the smartest advertisements piggyback the news – taking advantage of ‘trending’ news stories to create ads linked directly to the story, giving them a freshness and relevancy that strengthens the audience’s relationship with the brand. They can included a strapline which relates to a news-story, or sometimes it can be simply a case [...]

I’m a big fan of Angry Birds, and was pretty much hooked the first time I played. It wasn’t available on my craptacular Nokia N96, so I’d play it on my girlfriend’s iPhone when she’d be getting ready. This is from an Israeli TV show – It’s interesting to see the characters from the game [...]

During one of the many times I’d spend my days staring blankly into the abyss a friend of mine drew my attention to the fantastically dynamic world of advertising. He recommended that I apply to graduate training programmes as a way in. I’d hear of the fantastic lengths people went to impress advertising agencies, particularly [...]

Just before I applied to SCA I’d already applied to the D&AD (Design & Advertising) workshops. For those who don’t know the D&AD workshops give aspiring creatives the chance to work on briefs set by top London agencies, and get feedback on their ideas by leading creatives at each agency. You then make a portfolio [...]