So here’s the second episode. Thank you for your patience, and thanks to Paul for his.
Here’s my chat with Matt Follows, an award-winning creative turned mental health professional and coach.
His early advertising career.
Transitioning into mental health.
The mental health stuff, including…
Fear.
The ‘Creative INDUSTRY’.
Battery farming creativity.
Lack of control, clarity, purpose and self.
As mentioned in the pod, you can find out more about Matt’s book The Dopamine Switch by clicking on this link and watching the little film that’s full of endorsements from the great and the good of the ad world. Then support its existence by preordering it.
Here’s the iTunes link, the Soundcloud link and our chat:
Here’s my chat with Mr. Jeremy Craigen, one of the first names that sprung to mind when I first had the idea to do this podcast.
He’s a very good bloke, an excellent creative and one of the best CD/ECD/CCOs in the business.
Here we discuss…
Beginnings.
Getting to a good agency from a bad one.
It doesn’t matter how long your product is in the ad, as long it makes the strongest impression.
Many logos can lead to excellence.
Demon Baby.
Working with Jonathan Glazer.
The ‘DoC’ system.
Larry Barker’s arrival.
Different styles of CD-ing.
Ewan Patterson’s arrival/becoming ECD.
Hiring people.
‘A ridiculous awards machine’.
The merger with Adam and Eve.
International vs local.
From VW to Kia/Innocean.
The future of advertising…
Here’s the iTunes link, the Soundcloud link and the chat:
Apologies for the poor quality. If anyone has a better one, let me know. For clarity, these are all the Budweiser logos through history with attendant historical events. The missing one says ‘Prohibition’.
A couple of the ads Jeremy mentioned from his time as ECD (for the rest, just check through D&AD from 2003-09):
Hi there.
Apologies for the wait since the last episode. I’ve been busy.
Anyway, this one’s a corker.
Ian Reichenthal is the one US creative I really wanted to speak to.
This is because he’s been involved with most of my favourite ads of the century so far. Here are just a few (the rest can be found here):
So if you want to find out how and why they were made, have a listen.
We also discuss life at Cliff Freeman, W&K, TBWA NY and Barton F. Graff, all at their absolute peaks.
So grab a cup of tea, hear Ian’s words of wisdom, watch all those crackers again, then tear your hair out because you might have done one stone cold classic, but you definitely didn’t get into double figures. AND he’s a jolly nice chap!
Here’s the Soundcloud link, the iTunes link and the little button you can click on right here:
Jo Arscott is a true pioneer.
When she started in advertising she was a teenage girl of colour. And that was back in the 1980s, when the planet was a lot less woke (as the kids say) than it is now.
Then she paved the way for ‘Integrated’ work long before ‘360’ became an adjective.
Then she worked everywhere from Arkansas to Qatar.
And she’s now a walking diversity debate who doesn’t think there should be one.
So she’s had an advertising career unlike any other, but met every twist and turn with relentless positivity.
Have a listen as we discuss…
From Gloucestershire to Watford.
Inspiration from Margaret Thatcher and Boy George.
‘Oh my God, she’s black! Oh my God, she’s a girl!’
Integration was a thing.
That asthma poster.
To the BBC via Paris.
Saatchi and Saatchi under Dave Droga.
Being groomed by Michael Howard to become an MP.
Off to Coke in Atlanta.
Shopper Marketing and Bentonville, Arkansas with Saatchi X (Amish, Cowboys, KKK…).
And no real love for Chicago.
So back to the UK… before quickly off to the Middle East.
It’s all an education.
Is the whole diversity thing a good thing or a bad thing?
Colour of skin isn’t necessarily expertise in multicultural advertising.
A ‘cultural collage’.
It’s not about hiring people; it’s about how you talk to people.
Design Week interview about Jo’s career.
Jo’s Campaign article about working abroad.
And here’s the iTunes link, the Soundcloud link and the chat:
Last week I had the idea to interview a client.
Come on. Haven’t you always wanted to know what they hell they’re all thinking?
So I put the word out and found one: an automotive client for a big brand that works with a good agency, so he knows what good ads are and has been somewhat responsible for bringing them into the world (he also wanted to remain anonymous).
I actually found this to be one of the most revealing chats I’ve had, possibly because it was a window into a world I knew much less about.
We discussed…
How he became a client.
How things have changed (money/digital).
You need a big idea! And know what your brand stands for!
How they measure what the hell they’re doing and what the agency is responsible for.
Who gets to choose the overall idea, and how does it please everyone?
How well do the different agencies collaborate?
Giant power point decks suck.
His learning curve.
Why digital isn’t bollocks.
Responsibility for surveillance.
How do they decide what to spend their money on?
Outthink rather than outshout.
Giving feedback.
Face-to-face client contact is good.
Is ‘creativity’ important?
How do you judge an idea before it’s made?
Pitches!
Not choosing creatives to work on your account.
Research vs gut.
Disaster vs Success.
Do you care about directors etc.?
General client perspective on the agency.
Here’s the chat, the iTunes link and the Soundcloud link:
Here’s my chat with my old AD, Cam Blackley.
Looking at his awards haul since we worked together, you could make a good case for the fact that I was just holding him back: D&AD Gold and Silvers, Titanium and Gold Lions etc., along with a rocket-like career trajectory that has seen him go from AD to CD to ECD to CCO.
Thankfully I’m not in the least bit put out by this, because Cam is such a good bloke.
Check out his many excellent ads, along with our chat, which touches on the following…
Good old laziness leads to advertising.
Grey.
Find the best people and places to work for.
London (another Grey).
AMV!
Working with me.
The ‘benefits’ of redundancy.
Paul and Nigel.
Publicis.
Dave Droga.
NY.
Million.
Sydney.
CDing.
ECD@BMF.
‘Do you really want to make that?’
M&C CCO.
‘Be careful of long term dreams.’
Here’s our chat, the iTunes link and the Soundcloud link, along with some of the ads he and I did together:
Like most episodes of ITIAPTWC, my chat with Hugh offers many thought-provoking lessons on creating work, doing your best for different bosses and working out what to do next.
In addition, Hugh started around the same time I did, so I found the parallels and separations between his career and mine an interesting lesson in how you can choose many different paths in this business.
So we discuss that, and…
Watford.
Journalism.
Teaming up with Adam.
Trudging round Soho.
Making Harley Davidson.
BBH.
Euro 96.
Good brief/tough brief.
Gail Porter.
Hegarty.
Saatchis/Droga (he made shit happen).
Coco De Mer.
Toyota radio ad from real life.
Tony Granger to Nick Bell.
JWT.
Golden Skins. 30 albinos.
Post-Nick (Russell).
Post-Adam.
Lonely-o Burnetts, then a new team.
Co-op.
Back to Saatchis (and HSBC).
Then VCCP.
Man Shitty.
(Slight) return to journalism.
This is Hugh’s site, which contains all the work we discuss, along with his writing. And this is his blog.
Here’s our chat, the iTunes link and the Soundcloud link, along with a special topical link I think Hugh will enjoy:
Here’s my 6th, and hopefully not final, chat with Dave Dye. It’s the story of DHM and the various occurrences that created the excellent work at the bottom of this post.
As always with Dave, there are many excellent lessons for anyone who is either running or starting an agency, including…
Temporary time with Paul Silburn.
Looking for new partners (trust).
The name: Thingy? Not Thingy. Alphabetical order.
The Publicis breakaway that wasn’t.
‘Commissioning editor’.
New business/’interesting’ first pitch.
Fiddly and not lucrative but fun and good quality bits of business.
Creative Circle/David Abbott/awkward.
‘David Abbott in parts?’
Vertu: the unblingy-blingy phone.
Freelance: expensive quality over cheap quantity.
The Economist.
Jorian’s departure.
Hello Soho Square/Hello People/Goodbye Justin.
The hell of the name thing (‘Thingy’ rejected again).
‘My favourite thing I’ve done’.
A ‘disappointing’ new business ‘funnel’. ‘The very difficult thing is winning business’.
Further chats: digital; the rarity and difficulty of ideas that hold things together; the role of art directors way more important now; what you can say at different ages; has the job really changed?; the skill of distillation; more writing needed today.
It’s best to be cynical.
Here’s the chat, the iTunes link and the Soundcloud link:
And the aforementioned excellent work:
Two ads written by David Abbott:
And that ‘Beano’ Creative Circle Annual page:
46. ‘Mindmap’ The Economist, DHM 
50. Fallon Campaign dps 2 51. Wiedens Campaign dps2 52. Mother Campaign dps.2 
This week’s guest is the lovely and excellent Mr. Dan Germain, whose name almost looks like ‘Dangerman’.
His involvement in advertising, writing, branding and design has almost entirely been in the service of Innocent, which is now a big, global company with plenty of funny writing on the sides of the bottles.
So he’s basically created all the stuff that you love about Innocent beyond the mixture of some bits of fruit.
To find all about that and the following, click on one of the links below…
Starting as an English teacher.
A friends ethos.
Quite tiring/difficult at the beginning.
The words on the labels.
Social before there was social.
What does a Head of Brand do?
Working with external agencies.
Help from Richard Flintham and Andy Macleod.
And Ed Morris, George Prest, Johnny Leathers and Steve Paskin.
Doing exchanges at Wolff Olins and Method.
Ethics and sustainability. And health.
Getting together with Coke.
Designer of the Year 2014.
The future…
Here’s the chat, the iTunes link and the Soundcloud link, along with some of Innocent’s labels:
