Work
If you want to hear me talk about stuff…
Flock
Wooden Pencil, D&AD One Show
As a part of the ongoing R/GA Ventures program, we lent creative capital to a drone insurance start-up, growing their ambition by helping them see themselves as a risk engine, not just drone insurance. We built them a brand, experience, design system and some key messages to get them to their next round of funding. They are currently underwritten by Allianz and set to show a stuffy and antiquated industry what their future looks like - with predictive risk assessment, not probability based on previous claim data.
Google Year in Search 2014
D&AD - Branding/Digital Brand Expression - Wooden Pencil.
Cannes Lions - Shortlisted for: Cyber: Copy/Editorial, Cyber: Use/Curation of Image and Creative Data: Data Storytelling.
Unleashing data-powered storytelling to reignite the love for Google at a time when people were taking the tech for granted. Year in Search is the story of 2014, told through the trillions of searches people made. From a film with 32m views, to a mobile-first website, a supplement for the NY Times and a monument to the year in Times Square, our data-driven snapshot of humanity became part of the fabric of popular culture.
Google World Cup Trends
Cannes Lions shortlisted - Cyber: Social: Real-Time Activity
CLIO GOLD - Digital/Social: Websites
A-List Hollywood Awards - Bronze for Branded Entertainment, Best Use of Social Media and Silver for Interactive - Social Media
Brand Impact Awards Winner - Sports
Giving Google an unofficial role at the 2014 World Cup by offering a unique insight into culture based on what the world was searching for. Our Search Trends took on a life of their own, earning over 3.4B impressions without a cent spent on media. The project established a new format for Google and changed how their Trends Tools actually worked. ‘Trends’ have become an editorial staple for Google ever since. Fast Company
Google Outside
Featured in the Creative Review Annual
Outdoor Planning Awards Grand Prix
Building the technology that transformed outdoor sites across London into contextually-driven storytelling demonstrations of the Google Search App. Using the context intelligently to not only improve brand metrics, but make GSA a behaviour before anyone even downloaded the app. WIRED
Siemens Employer Brand
2018 Red Dot Winner
Over 3 years we unleashed the full power of the marketing and experience toolkit to change Siemens on the inside and out. Shifting the internal culture and external perception of the German engineering giant, empowering their people to show the company in a way that the world’s most sought after talent would want to join. I led the project together with a Project Lead and Creative Director building a team of over 120 people across 5 markets building websites, apps, AI, design systems, 6 x 360 films, graduate schemes, university engagement strategies, job ad builders, sub-brand strategies and VR experiences for the Web Summit. This guy has a great writeup of our work together. So does Campaign
Happy HolidA.I.
Sold out in the first 4 days
As a little side-project, I created a little holiday cheer by showing how AI and people are better together. We created Season’s Greeting cards to raise money for a tech company training refugees and other disadvantaged folk. The cards sold out in the first 4 days and effectively established AI as an official offering at R/GA in partnership with Google Tensor Flow. LBB
Here’s a few of the principles I live (and work) by…
Get comfortable with uncomfortable
If you really want to invent something, you’re going to find yourself in situations you’ve never been in before. Lean into it. It’s exciting, scary and usually the beginning of something fantastic.
Find clarity in complexity
Defining the right problem has always been the first move of any strategist, but I try to see past the immediate problem and see the wider context. By fully appreciating the complexity of a situation you can find a clear, but often unexpected, path through the madness and end up with solutions that last a lot longer.
When you get to ‘right’, keep going… until you get to ‘interesting’
Being ‘right’ is no longer a competitive advantage - just about everyone has the tools to get there. If you want to be competitive, you have to be interesting. And the only way to do that, is to back creativity and let it take you somewhere unexpected.
Play to where culture is headed
I believe that being culture-first is critical to carving out a role for businesses and brands to play. But if you’re doing it properly, you’re finding a role that helps moves culture and business forwards as well.
Welcome different perspectives to open new possibilities
I’m passionate about creating the space and opportunity for new and previously unheard ways of thinking. Particularly in supporting emerging talent from unexpected places. I will always prioritise my time to grow people and mentor fledgling talent to find their thing and to start flying. Fresh thinking is essential if you want to go to new places. And fresh thinking requires a nurturing and supportive environment to belong and thrive
If you look after people, you’ll look after business
Everything revolves around people and what they need. Both in terms of the work we do for brands but also in how we organise ourselves to do it. If you’re ever not sure if you’re doing the right thing… ask yourself ‘why would anyone give a s*** about this?’. Make decisions about how you work based on how to get the best from your people. Optimise for creativity, the rest will look after itself.