Sky brand campaign, TV spots

Frankie & Benny's 'Bringing back the good times' press campaign

TV spots for the launch of Sky Soundbox

A short story about how I caused Brexit. 

Here's some initial work for the 'Britain Stronger in Europe campaign', intended to get young people voting.

That work then evolved into this. Which we thought was OK.

However our client, the government, were insistent on a hashtag. #euin unfortunately looks odd.

So we added #votin - which we felt was OK too, just a silly play on words. No big deal.

We put it in ads like the one above, which was personally vetoed by David Cameron. 

And these. Until we were asked to create an ad featuring nothing but the hashtag. 

Amazingly, we still thought things were looking OK. 'Young people will love this', we said. They did not.

'The worst campaign of all time' and it's still in my portfolio. Read into that what you will.

'Products and prices that speak for themselves'. A wafer-thin idea. Taken far too literally. 

 A study in pastilles: 5 flavours in order

Old reliable. Sharp, citric, generous on the front of the tongue and an absolute riot at the back, it’s my default sweet for a reason. When talking about near flawless confectionery it’s hard not to fall back on lazy superlatives, but this sweet is literally the best thing that has ever happened, literally. Have you paired it with a green one? I once had the privilege of sharing a karaoke booth with Caroline Quentin, Paul Ross and one half of Los del Rios, and when I’m frequently asked about the events of that night, I simply say.... 

‘How good was Caroline and Paul’s rendition of Mambo number 5? Eat 16 orange fruit pastilles in one go, it was THAT good.’

Very much the thinking man’s pastille, some would say the Belgium to l’Orange’s arrogant French cousin. Plastique Bertrand, Jaques Brel, Hergé and Magritte, these are just some of the countless famous Belgians I could reference, and I bet they’d all like green ones. Like the Belgians, ‘Le Vert’ has something of the surreal about it. Aloof, subversive and ultimately un-knowable, to try a green one is to enter a unique world. Fill your mouth with three pack’s worth to have your eyes opened to a universe where up is down and down is up, where corridors run in knots and nothing is what it seems. It doesn't take Hercule Poirot to figure out the innate dangers of overindulging in Green Fruit Pastilles, but their sickly pleasures hold a unique fascination. ‘Chasing the green floozy’ has captivated countless ‘Confectioneurs’ over the years, and make no mistake, there will be many more.

Workmanlike, humble, ever so slightly forgettable, the Red one is nonetheless an indispensable part of Rowntree’s Masterpiece. What you see is what you get - looks red, tastes vaguely of strawberry.

Although not actively unpleasant, undertones of lemon scented kitchen cleaning products are hard to escape. Sometimes it tastes zesty and pleasant, sometimes it tastes like Cif. 

Controversial one here, there are many out there who would put the purple at the top of their lists, but for me, that sweet is a disgrace. For years I thought there was a ‘Truman Show’ type plot against me, but in place of the Ed Harris character was a malevolent member of the Rowntree Empire, laughing at me whilst thwarting every attempt to buy a pack of Fruit Pastilles that was not predominantly purple. I can’t say why, but there’s just something about that flavour that disturbs me. You might say, 'well, just stop buying fruit pastilles!’. Yes, yes I could, but what about the other flavours, life without those guys? You’re mad! Yeh, you’re mad, not the guy who’s just written nearly 500 words about Fruit Pastilles. 

Launch film for Penguin.co.uk. Voiced by my good friend, Richard E. Grant