About

First and foremost I love telling stories, which translates into a love of writing. I have a very analytical mind and I can think quickly. When briefed, most creatives look at the proposition and the budget first. Personally, I look at the objective, as it’s the fastest way to get the work right. I have done a lot of stage acting, so presenting to groups of any size is more of a pleasure than a fear. Two years ago I spoke at the AG Ideas Design Forum in front of 15,000.

Sure, I was as nervous as hell, but I loved every minute of it.

I have lectured and tutored award school, taught delegates at the RMB Radio Writers Workshop two years after being one and have judged numerous award shows and lectured on three continents. In that regard, I feel like I have a lot to give as a mentor. As someone who worked their way up from the mailroom, I appreciate how hard it is got find your feet without good advice from above. As such I treat everyone I work with the same regardless of their position.

I have a passion for writing radio. It is still by far and away my most awarded medium. While posters might be the purest medium for ideas, radio is the purest for having a conversation and making a genuine argument about your product with the consumer.

I get excited by new challenges thrive on the camaraderie that can form within agencies and the creative department.

I’m not a huge fan of entering awards. That’s not to say I haven’t. And it’s not to say I haven’t won them. I just think they’re judged in a bubble that produces the wrong outcomes and the work is rarely if ever shown in the same context as it is viewed by the consumer. I like effectiveness awards because at least they’re kind of measurable. We won quite a few of them with our Mercedes-Benz “Let’s Talk” campaign in 2009.

Creatively, I’ve won awards and had finalists at the BAD Awards, MADCs, Golden Stylus (when they existed), London International Advertising Awards, AWARD, ADMA and lots of other ones that may or may not still exist.

Personally I like to let the work speak for itself, not let judges tell me what to think about it. After all, I don’t write the ads for them.

I’ve been named employee of the year in an agency with over 150 staff. I’ve won $10,000 and two business class around the world flights for a radio ad about milk. Earlier this year I had a client tell me that she was disappointed that she never gets a chance to yell during our meetings because the work is always spot on. I’ll take that as an achievement over a door stop most days of the week.

I’m not saying I wouldn’t love to win a Gold Lion or a Black Pencil one day. But I’ve never written an ad with them in mind.