Here you’ll find a collection of some of my favourite brand campaigns I’ve worked on over my 25 year career.
For more recent work try: Neil and Kelvin’s Portfolio.
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‘One thing leads to another’ was a global brand positioning for the Nescafe portfolio that explored how the catalytic nature of coffee made the world a more interesting and richer place. At the time the ‘start with the ending’ was an innovative narrative, and useful in that it finished with a person drinking the product. The plot lines in, Twister, Millionaire and Mexican Wave literally moved backwards, however, the next set Elvis, Vampire, Snowboarder, Dog and Red Pants started with the out-come then returned to the beginning to explain how it happened.
Eventually the campaign fell into decline and Nescafe once again went into it’s multi-strategic approach across the globe, along with new product developments such as Hot can and Black ice.
The next attempt to create a universal campaign was for Nescafe Classic. The Arctic series is about the the day-to-day life of two characters who live out a crazy life out on the ice flow – a kind of Mash on ice, except with coffee instead of martinis. What worked well was that they were trapped by their environment and so the product became an important part of their everyday ritual. The cold isolation of the Arctic weather station suited the ‘morning start’ proposition as well as helping us avoid the usual problem of what a global kitchen looks like.
I ended up writing nearly 60 scripts to help get this venture off the ground. Some of the best scripts never made it, such as the visit by the Norwegian all women’s arctic expedition and the time they find a mammoth frozen in ice and decide to have a bbq. Eventually the campaign came to an end, as Russia moved onto Nescafe Gold as their everyday coffee which suited their taste for bling. Nescafe classic being red had come to stand for the old communist Russia – proving that in the end that one thing does in fact lead to another.
Interflora have always advertised to women, after all they are the ones who mostly buy and receive them. Interflora had never made a concerted effort to pitch flowers directly at men – especially the younger end – and inform them of the benefits if they bought them for women. This was an FHM campaign aiming at the baser instinct, dragging Interflora’s image away from the more stifled, price led, women’s institute approach by suggesting humorously that by giving girls flowers they will see you differently. The plan was to use stunning photography that showed the flowers off at their best then off set this with crude but realistic headline.
Some years back this campaign won the Austin Reed pitch for AIS . I like the creative strategy of ‘keeping up appearances’ because it reflects Austin Reed’s position in the modern world of fashion. A stalwart of traditional tailoring made available to a broader market. Up until then Austin Reed had fought against it with high-end fashion imagery that just didn’t ring true, rather try to use it to their advantage and make something of it. With keeping up appearances we suggested that there was more going on than meets the eye – like Agatha Christie’s England there is always something more human and interesting lurking under the surface.We gave the more traditional cut and values a more human and edgy personality. The William Burroughs execution epitomized this idea. Here was a man who had probably taken every drug available but was always pictured wearing a suit. This some how put an acceptable front to his writer’s experimental lifestyle.
Although the work won the pitch, as is often the way, the client then just continued pursuing their previous creative approach. I’d like to thank Avedon for the use of the pics, would have like to have used him if it had gone ahead.
This was an interesting project we undertook for Martell to help launch a new product called &Co. It was intended to be a brandy that could be used as a mixer, which was a little different to say the least. It had a slight hint of hazelnut to it’s flavour, hence the strapline of ‘Profound and slightly nutty’. The film was directed by the very able David Scheinmann, and featured a couple of well known faces including Sasha Baron Cohen (see inset before his Ali G days). This is the ad version of a much longer film that was designed to be played in clubs and venues where the product was being launched. The print work played on the confusion that some learned people utter that when taken out of context seems more than a little profound and slightly nutty. The original 3 minute version used the quotes too which helped make some sense to the visual story. One day I’ll get it digitized and post it.
Unfortunately due to a my portfolio accidentally being chucked out in an agency clear out, this is the sole remaining print I have left of a campaign I did for Four Roses Bourbon. It ran across Europe featuring mainly in Holland, Spain and Italy. Four Roses is a relatively unknown Kentucky bourbon with a more feminine image compared to the more famous brands. Quite simply it was about letting the inner you express itself, by living life in full bloom. A simple thought that revolved around the brand, in a clean graphic manner that used the double page spread like the ink blot test to reveal the two polar sides when peeled apart. Being international words were kept to a minimum (we had enough problems with the meaning of ‘bloom’ alone). Other executions featured a waitress letting customers know what she thinks of them, a couple of old ladies down the pool hall and a guy jumping off piers dressed as birdman.
While I was in Vancouver I worked on a project with the local police in their fight against shoplifting. The decision to shoplift is often an impulsive one, so we wanted to remind them that while they may get away with it, the odds were against them and they would get caught eventually. The police didn’t want to be too heavy handed and just seed the thought that maybe this time could be the time they got caught. This poster and press ad were part of a much bigger PR and in-store programme.
When asked to produce a print campaign for Whiskas we settled on the idea of actually explaining why Whiskas is good for the cat. A simple effective approach. It was like car advertising for cats actually singling out stories of what the ingredients did to help cats live their lives. Other executions explained how Whiskas helped maintain their coats and their tongues. No other cat food had really attempted this approach at the time, and that coupled with some very strong photography from the likes of John Claridge and Paul Bussell, made for a great campaign.
I know that this campaign is not far off being 20 years old, but it still has a certain freshness about it, even by today’s standards. The approach was simple – letter writing says as much about you as your clothes and for considerably less cost. Something that social media has tapped into today What better way to do this in women’s magazines than use fashion spreads and the usual credit listings of something ‘by’ someone for whatever price. The last on the list being a letter by Royal Mail for 18p (that shows you just how long ago it was). We were there way before the early Mastercard concept.
It was one of my first successes as an art director. It featured photography from then unknowns like Jergen Teller and Brad Branson who brought this campaign to life. Interestingly Jergen Teller wrote in one of his books how he was mugged when he first came to London. I remember this because he was on his way to a pre-production meeting for this very ad at the time.
Our campaign for Royal Mail international featured people abroad reading letters they had received from England. We took a National Geographic approach and I got to do a fair bit of traveling to far flung places, such as Australia, the States, Japan to name a few – an art director’s dream really.
A couple of other favourites of mine were some press ads that we did for mother’s and father’s day. The first ran and the second didn’t for obvious reasons.
When I was working out in Hong Kong we got the brief to do some press ads for the Audi Quattro. Being a 4 wheel drive and a distinct absence of decent hills on Hong Kong island we decided to use the most famous one there was the Victoria peak. It won numerous awards out in Asia as well as a Gold pegasus. You’ll find a second press ad in my print portfolio.
