Greater London, England, United Kingdom
I’m a commercial production professional with 20+ yrs experience working in London, Hong Kong and Singapore. Craft and a passion for the work has always been at the heart of what I do – something instilled in me from the word go at M&C Saatchi, working in a dept led by Sandy Watson, under the Creative gaze of Simon Dicketts (and of course Jeremy Sinclair…). I followed Sandy to Ogilvy in 2004, and have been in the WPP family every since. I currently work for Hogarth World Wide (a source of great pride to me), but am based in the Ogilvy office in Sea Containers, running broadcast operations for Ogilvy and the HWW team based there. So I’m blessed to be able to work for not one but two companies I love ! I have been lucky enough to film all across the globe, and luckier still to have been relocated with my job 3 times. To Hong Kong in 2009. Then to Singapore in 2010. Then back to London in 2018. Having the chance to live and work in different parts of the world has been a great privilege. It was also eye opening and enabled me to broaden my horizons. The UK market does love to only focus on the UK market – but there is a whole world of production and commercial making out there. I’ve worked with some great Directors. And some not so great ones. I’ve made work I’m very proud of. And work I’m not. I’ve had the opportunity to lead teams in HK, SGP and London – which has been a huge honour, and the greatest challenge I’ve faced. Learning to lead (which is still very much a work in progress) is both very rewarding and hugely humbling. Along the way I have made some great friends. The world of commercials production has changed a huge amount since 1998 when I started. It will continue to change. That’s the most exciting thing about the job (if a little scary at times). I’ve cycled over the Alps 3 times, and from San Francisco to LA once with the Fireflies, to raise money for Cancer research. Most importantly, I’m lucky enough to have an amazing wife and two sensational daughters. If I won the lottery tomorrow, I’d spend a lot of time following the English Test team around (great locations – the family would love it!), and watching Chelsea FC whenever possible (possibly not so much family interest). Having been doing this job for sometime, what is clear to me is, it’s all about the people. Find good, nice, hard working and talented people. And work with them as often as you can. Contact: [email protected]
I relocated back to London after 9.5 yrs in Asia to take up a role for Hogarth Worldwide as the Head of Moving Image for Ogilvy London. With an extensive background in Creative Agency Production covering 3 countries across Europe and Asia, and with a good understanding of the capabilities and ambitions of the HWW network, the role, which requires a continued push to improve the integration and understanding between the two organisations plays directly into my skill set. The role has been created to help bring more focus to the Moving Image output of the Agency with a view to increasing the craft and the quality of our output across all mediums. At the same time we are continuing to improve the integration and efficiency of the production processes across the Agency as OM London moves towards a more unified internal structure with Hogarth Worldwide at the heart of it's production offering.
A restructure in the position of production services for Ogilvy saw the relationship with Hogarth become more formalised. I was Production lead within OM helping bed in the partnership. The operation covered 'traditional' Commercial Production in TV and Print (working on brands, including Pond's (UL), Comfort (UL), Coca-Cola, Philips, IBM and Allianz), plus in house Directing and post production to help deliver content and social assets across multiple platforms for Clients given the changing media landscape.
In March 2010, the Regional Production function for the OM UL engagement was relocated to Singapore as the Regional UL office was now there. I moved down from Hong Kong and assumed control of the TV Production Dept in Singapore. UL were still the main Client (covering Pond's, Dove & Comfort), but we also worked on Coca-Cola, CIMB, Castrol, GSK, Kimberly Clark, IBM plus some local Clients. The team was only 4 people when I joined but it grew to 10 Producers at it's height, including TV and Print. I implemented a standardisation of documentation and put more rigour into the financial accounting of jobs. I also introduced insurance as standard on productions, which was not something that was considered prior to my arrival.
After 5 years with Ogilvy London, the opportunity to work in Hong Kong presented itself. OM needed a Broadcast lead to manage regional production work for some of our bigger multinational Clients, most notably Unilever and GSK. The move to Hong Kong was completely unexpected and was hugely challenging both professionally and personally, as we had a 10 month baby at the time. We spent a year in HK, at the end of which I produced a Brand film for Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, called 'Wolves', directed by Bruno Aveillan, which remains one of the highlights of my career. If you have time - have a look. https://vimeo.com/55875127
I joined Ogilvy in 2004 when Sandy Watson, my old Head of TV from M&C Saatchi, who was herself now at OM, asked me to come over. I worked on Cancer Research UK & Toblerone, plus some GSK & UL projects, but the majority of my time was spent working on the Ford of Europe Account. Reporting into Greg Burke, the ECD on the business, we got to shoot cars in some great locations around the world with some great Directors, like Noam Murro and Philippe Andre. This was my first exposure to an account delivering outside of the UK. The budgets were good, the work was not bad, the experience was invaluable...