During lock down, McDonald’s wanted to cheer the nation up with a free live music event. I was tasked with creating an adaptable, exciting look and feel to advertise the event and encourage downloads. Hundreds of thousands of downloads later and over 500 pages of media generated, the live event was a total success.
BRIEF: Show what a TUI holiday really feels like in a single image.
We wanted to create a non stereotypical football ad for McDonald’s during the World Cup to stand our from the crowd and show the little touches that make McDonald’s one of the UK’s favourite brands.
Nothing hits the spot quite like a McDonald’s breakfast. This integrated campaign reminded the public that there is only one place to go for a ‘proper breakfast’.
A younger demographic weren’t downloading the new improved McDonald’s App, because they saw the previous version as a drawn-out process. So we designed and produced some desirable limited edition McDonald’s phone covers to show that getting your favourites in your hands, was now quick and easy. We ran a competition on socials offering the cases as prizes.
I was working and living in Amsterdam at the time, when Gerry Farrell from the Leith agency asked me if I wanted to drop everything and come work on the IRN-BRU account. There was no decision to be made. The ad went down well with the Scots and won the grand prix at the Roses.
Like getting your moneys worth? Well, here are three McDonald’s Saver TV ads just for you.
I'm still very proud of this work for Johnnie Walker especially as it was created way back in 2007 (7 years before EX Machina ripped off our design). The campaign ran globally and generated a lot of discussion and fame for Johnnie Walker.
McDonald’s only use the highest quality Rainforest Alliance beans in their coffees. But no one knows about it or the ones that do don't believe it.
Time for some arresting print and posters.
Our posters became part of the permanent collection in the NYC Poster House Museum.
With free air-time on CNN and a tiny budget we needed to create a powerful TV commercial to highlight the positive impact girls have on their communities when they get access to an education.
This motivated us to then create the Plan Talks. A series of talks by inspiring women to gain awareness of Plan's mission, and to provide a revenue stream for their important work.
Posters for the up-coming talks were created using the speaker's words.
Big Mac turned 50 years old. And to celebrate we created two new sizes – The Mac Jr and the Grand Big Mac. Each one becoming a whole new Big Mac experience… it’s like having your first time, all over again.
To launch the new sizes, we created a 60” spot that went through the ages of Big Mac first times, took a trip down memory lane with classic McDonald’s print and turned London's iconic BFI Imax theatre into the world's biggest Big Mac. Plus a huge social media and influencer push.
The launch was successful, after 72 hours Big Macs had sold out nationwide. Panic!
A campaign that blurred the boundaries between advertising and TV programming. We also got to smash-up some nasty old kitchens in the process and bagged Thinkbox Gold and the Kinsale Grand Prix.
Our thinking went a bit like this: Hate is the enemy of peace, so let's destroy hate with a weapon of hate.
From the ground up, we built and launched a 20ft missile filled with hate and by begging, borrowing and stealing, produced a 360º campaign that didn't cost a bomb but got us on the final White Pencil shortlist.
As CDs on the Happy Meal account, we moved the focus off simply advertising the latest licenses to creating worlds that kids really identify with. This new direction saw greatly improved sales.
We avoided using tons of cgi in this campaign because transforming your home doesn't just happen by magic.
I wrote and co-directed the christmas spot that was produced on a tiny budget and a single day.
The Co-op bank is different from other banks because it cares about community as well as profit. This campaign celebrated how doing things a little bit different can have a big positive effect.
We also re-designed the entire Co-operative Bank's corporate identity.
As part of the Great Tastes of America promotion, each week for four weeks McDonalds offer a different American-themed burger. We created a campaign of four TV commercials, set in the same town, on the same street, using the same people, to show the effect each of these burgers had on one quintessentially British town. The campaign beat all previous records for this promotion.
We already had footage of one Skoda SUV driving in the desert but SKODA needed us to show two more… during lockdown. Working with the very talented and patient crew at ETC we storyboarded and directed this spot for the new SUV range, to a very tight deadline.
The campaign lead to record enquires and sales during lockdown.
They say never work with babies but this lot were as good as gold. The TV spot was made for 60K which in itself is a little miracle.
A one-off spot for AXA Ireland where we couldn’t show the great rewards you can get by signing up and so we showed the feeling instead.
