Whoever it’s with, whenever I do these podcasts, personal links seem to turn up along the way. Things I’d forgotten or been unaware of – Paul Weiland was once my landlord, I judged the One Show with Gerry Graf 15 years earlier, David Holmes drew a poster for me 25 years earlier. This isn’t like that, this time it really is personal (isn’t that the Jaws 2 strap line?) Malcolm and I started out together; he’d shoot pictures for free,Read more
Posts tagged: #Mark Reddy
THE MOST UNFASHIONABLE FORM OF ADVERTISING?
What was the last product demo you saw? Not on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, they’re all over those, but on tv, billboards or press (does press still exist?). You just don’t see agencies doing them anymore. Odd, because, and I hope I’m not giving away any trade secrets here, the goal of most advertising is to persuade people that the product featured is good. Ideally, REALLY good. So showing it in action, performing well, seems like it might be aRead more
PODCAST: David Kolbusz.
When you start out in your advertising career, Pentel in one hand, MacBook in the other, you seem to be surrounded by good work. Awards books are choc-a-bloc with it. As you go on, year by year, you seem to see less and less. For example, the first D&AD Annual looked at probably had an 80/20 ratio of good to bad. 10 years later those percentages are likely to have flipped. As you move on you become less swayed byRead more
PODCAST: Me. (Pt. 1)
A lot of people have suggested that I do a podcast on myself. Aside from the obvious difficulties of trying to ask yourself probing questions, it felt a little bit indulgent, particularly as I did a whole series of them with my friend Ben Kay, (I think we recorded more episodes than the latest season of Game Of Thrones). But when someone who’s kindly agreed to be interviewed by me asks me to be interviewed by them, it feels rude to sayRead more
PODCAST: Neil French.
Former rent collector, bull-fighter, porn director, klacker salesman, Judas Priest manager, account man, copywriter, art director and Chief Creative Officer of Ogilvy Worldwide. (Warning: Some areas of the recording may have been adversely effected by a rioja.) BLACKER HYDE ASSOCIATES Ltd. An early Neil French concept. HOLMES KNIGHT RITCHIE. L.E.C. Glenmorangie. The Daily Express. Ideal Homes. Pioneer. Tefal. Dyno-Rod. BATEY SINGAPORE. Singapore Airlines. THE BALL PARTNERSHIP. Beck’s Beer. I.D.S. XO Beer. Continental Airlines. The SundayRead more
NOT IN-CAMERA: Giles Revell.
Where did you grow up? The sleepy town of Sawbridgeworth, it’s on the Hertfordshire and Essex border. When did you take your first picture? There was no eureka moment, I inherited my grandfather’s Silver Ilford Sportsman.I do remember being intrigued by its beauty; a matt silver finish with shiny brown hinged leather case. I wore it across my waist in my early teens, but had no idea what I was doing with it. It felt sophisticated, technical, way beyond anything I’d ever come inRead more
LESTER BOOKBINDER: Advertising.
The third and last post on Lester Bookbinder, unless by some miracle I get to interview him. If I thought finding the pictures was tough that was nothing compared to finding the words. But here’s what I’ve managed to discover. a) He was born in New York City in 1929. b) He trained with the photographer Reuben Samberg. c) He opened his own studio in 1955. d) He moved to London in 1959. e) Long before the New York Police Chief Bill Bratton started talkingRead more
IPA POSTERS: Investment opportunity.
It’s tough for newbie creatives to get noticed. If you aren’t in an agency that produces good work it’s hard to produce good work. If you don’t produce good work it’s hard to get a job in an agency that does. One of the ways around this is to find a client that will accept good. Up and coming copywriters Mike McKenna and Alastair Wood spotted one of these opportunities back in the late eighties; The IPA Society, they heldRead more
O’CONNOR DOWSE: A successful ad.
It’s one of the first campaigns I ever made. The agency was Cromer Titterton, my writer was Alastair Wood, the typographer was Andy Dymock and the photographer was Duncan Sim. But the key person involved was the photographer’s assistant, a scruffy, curly-haired Brummie called ‘Malc’. We shot for three weeks to get the three shots above. Malc was treated like a 17th century slave. We shot in the freezing, windy Highlands of Scotland, at the end of the day DuncanRead more