About me

Overview

Sometimes it can a be a little tricky to categorise my role as I enjoy working in many areas to a deep level. Am I a creative director? A kids digital expert? An innovation director? A game maker?  The easiest way I can answer this is to say that I like working in roles that allow me the potential to draw on my varied experience… but work under familiar job descriptions.

So whatever you’re looking for, just get in touch. I’d love to find out what you need and what I can offer.

What do I do?

As a digital creative director, I can draw from a much deeper and pool of experience and inspiration. I’m not afraid of technology, strategy, social media or learning new skills. I build teams, run departments, mentor staff and inspire clients.

As an innovation director, I have one foot firmly in the technology camp but the rest of me is in the creative world, the real world. I have 18 years experience in the advertising world so can realise when innovation and technology answer the brief, solve a problem and make a real-world difference to the audience. Technology itself is not innovation.

As an entertainment marketeer, I draw on several areas of specific expertise and deep practical knowledge that I am happy to infuse in to other roles or treat as stand-alone skills. Specifically:

• Kids and family digital marketing and content
• Entertainment and movie marketing
• Casual games and advergaming
• Animation and IP creation

Examples

I’m also aware my main page has a huge amount of varied work on it. This is intentional but to help pick out some of the more useful projects, I have made a list below. Please do contact me if you would like any further information on what you see.

Entertainment Innovation – VIP Me face substitution

A project currently in development for a prime-time impression show. This Facebook app allows users to use their web cam to see their face replaced by a celebrity. They can then record an impression and submit it to the public gallery or share on their timeline. This is the promotional clip created to intro the app.

Animation – Pfizer Thinkathon

Pfizer run an initiative each year called Thinkathon, where Pfizer staff help charities and organisations by donating their expertise. This animation was put together in less than a week to showcase the results of this year’s Thinkathon event to the company.

Practical technology – Project Black Mirror

This viral campaign was created to launch Channel 4’s new drama Black Mirror. It fed upon the hype for the just-release iPhone Siri feature and made people believe Siri could be mind-controlled. My role was to make it happen, create the actual electronics and write the script. From conception to delivery took 4 days.

Thinking different – Time for a Story

Originally created to help introduce Noddy to the US as a brand that made a real difference to pre-schooler’s lives. Rather than go the traditional kids site with games route, we chose to create a platform that had a real-world benefit. The concept was to allow parents (and grandparents) to read and interact with stories over video call with their kids. Microsoft were so keen, they ended up co-sponsoring the project.

Movie trailer sharing – Tron Face Mapping

The goal of any movie marketing campaign prior to release is to get people to see the trailer. This campaign used innovative face mapping and replacement technology to snap the user’s face on Facebook and then deliver a fully rendered movie trailer back where they were the star. I worked with the research lab to bring this code to commercial fruition with Disney. A version was also created in HD specifically for the primetime Letterman Show in the US. This link show the final video that a fan has uploaded to Youtube.

 IP and game creation – Zoikz

Zoikz is one of the intellectual properties I have created. The aim was to challenge the accepted way of launching a new property by launching digitally first. It was picked up by Zodiak Rights, invested in my Miniclip (the worlds largest gaming site) and developed into a 6 month double-page spread in Toxic Magazine by Egmont. The two games that were created for Miniclip have attracted over 80 million plays to date.

Pirate Island

This innovate marketing campaign used the just-launched Google Earth to create an entirely new content experience. A new island was created dynamically on Google Earth that, when zoomed in, revealed exclusive content. It has featured in many of the ‘Secret Places on Google Earth’ videos on Youtube and won several innovation awards at the time.

Sorcerer’s Apprentice 3D browser game

This project was inspired by a fast-paced driving sequence around New York featured in the movie. The game used cutting edge 3D browser technology, Unity 3D to deliver a near-console level of graphics and 3D effects directly in a web browser. The same technology was used in different guises for Tron Legacy and Pixar Cars 2.

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Mr. Men Pinball

This campaign was aimed at nostalgic parents who remember the Mr. Men and would be the crucial link to reconnect their young family with the new series. I not only created the game but also programmed the underlying physics engine from scratch. This game was featured on Miniclip and had over 100 million plays. It also averaged over 12 minutes play time, more than the TV show itself! It also occupies the #1 spot on Google for the global search term ‘pinball’.

Other links

• Jelly Beats A co-production with Aardman to create a new music-based IP.
• Fantastic Mr. Fox iPhone game A companion game to launch the movie.
• Pixar Cars 2 Mega Poster A ‘Google Earth’ style movie poster explorer.
• Split Second Facebook game This game used the trailer itself as the game.
• Brit Awards 2012 App The first time BRITs have allowed voting via an app.

Recent articles

• You are the 6th screen The future of marketing is feeding messages directly into your brain.
• Technology v’s Creativity Has the digital world got too complicated for traditional digital creatives?
• The importance of frictionless sharing You don’t need to press buttons to share any more, but what are the implications?
• Facebook music for marketers A beginnerd guide to Facebook’s new deals with Spotify and other music streaming services.
• 45 tips when designing online content for kids Words of wisdom from the coalface of kids digital media.