After being told at a young age ‘sitting around thinking of ideas won’t get you far’, I wondered exactly how far that could be.
Since then, I’ve worked hard, been lucky, met and learned from some wonderfully talented people, and I’ve tried my very best to have fun along the way. And some of those ideas have helped others too.
I have over 17 years experience - in healthcare (and consumer advertising - before deciding that selling microwave pizzas isn’t the best use of my time - and I love pizza) - which includes running agencies from a creative leadership position; overseeing, inspiring and developing multiple creative teams, as well as directing and growing business units.
As CCO I’ve set the strategic creative vision, trained and nurtured creative talent - both young and old - implemented ways of working and best practices across disciplines to improve the agency’s position and growth.
Worked on global campaigns and local initiatives, including disease awareness, patient activation, brand launches and social programmes - across multiple therapy areas for various multi-national pharmaceutical companies as well as smaller health-tech start-ups around the world.
I’ve won more pitches than I’ve lost, and I even sang in one of them. And I really can’t sing.
I’ve been lucky enough to pick up a few awards along the way across all of the major awards shows - notably helping Havas Lynx become Healthcare Agency of the Year at Cannes Lions in 2018 - and I’ve judged on various international award jury panels, including D&AD, Clios and LIA.
But the idea I’m most proud of is for a local village library. With ten sheets of paper I managed to prevent its closure, tripled membership numbers and secured further funding from the council. I just think the world needs people who read books.
So, turns out that terrible advice I was given as a kid wasn't so bad after all, because I’m still curious, enthusiastic and love ideas. And I’m still wondering how far they can go.