I’ve been leading projects, running teams and building companies at a creative director level since 1996. I’ve also helped launch the international digital campaigns for many clients, including more than 45 Disney movies.
I work closely with strategists, I’m passionate about tech, love stats but most importantly, I’m driven by understanding the needs of the client and delivering the audience something they actually want.
Note: The majority of the campaigns I have worked on are no longer live however, some examples of the range of projects I have been responsible for are:
Alice in Wonderland – Site and content
This multi-phase destination site was for Disney’s iconic Alice in Wonderland remake by Tim Burton.
• The site itself started as a teaser with a 3D ‘infinite fall’ through the rabbit hole.
• Nearer the launch date, the full site was revealed. It featured interactive 3D galleries, curious video jigsaw, secret areas and the hugely popular photo booth activity.
• It then morphed into a DVD campaign site and was used across many international territories.
• All of the games and activities were created as separate partner versions to extend the promotional reach.
• A full raft of media creative formats were created too, including Youtube takeovers, expanding MPU and ‘microsites in an ad’ formats.
Tron Legacy – digital partner content
The strategy for Tron was to target several audiences at different times and on different partner sites. Each piece of content was created with external assets files so that it could be customised byt local Disney offices or partners. The face mapping app was also used on live TV chat shows and at the official movie launch junket.
• For gamers, we created an amazing in-browser Unity 3D game that immersed the player in a music based driving game.
• For the core fans, we created a virtual showroom in 3D to allow them to explore the iconic lightcycle.
• For the general audience, the aim was to get them to share the trailer by personalising it. This was done on Facebook using real-time video mapping technology that imported their face into the trailer itself. Here’s an example.
• And on Facebook, a unique app took your Facebook profile and re-imagined it in 3D (this app is no longer live).
• A wide range of pre, during and post ad creative was made available to Disney parters too, including a full screen video breakout format.
Jellybeats – Aardman co-production
Jellybeats is a co-production between Aardman and Digital Outlook Studios. This concept was to launch Jellybeats online and garner support from music themed social networks such as Bebo or MySpace. Each genre was represented by a jellyfish and was supported by the offical site as well as social content (images, audio etc), featured videos and an embeddable widget for social platforms.
NBC Universal Picturbox – Service relaunch
Picturebox is a subscription video on demand service from Universal. My role was to relaunch the brand as a primary contender to the other market leaders such as Sky, Love Film or Virgin’s own movie service. Only the logo remained the same. The strategy was about value, convenience and friendliness. A social voice was formed, informing the communication voice and social platforms.
Characters and simple animations were created to help add personality and a suite of call centre promotions were created to keep PictureBox ‘front of mind’ when customers asked about movie services. Latterly, the service migrated onto Samsung TVs via a widget and had its own iPad and iPhone apps.
Mr Men Show – Site and launch
When the Mr Men show was relaunched, we targeted three areas; nostalgic parents who need a nudge to introduce Mr Men to their kids, existing passionate brand fans and finally, the new audience… kids!
• A production blog was set up for the writing team to engage with existing fans, allaying fears and listening to feedback. This was active until after the new show was launched. One thread had over 2300 comments.
• A Mr Bump pinball game was chosen as the vehicle for nostalgic parents. They are a huge demographic on Miniclip and there wasn’t a pinball game at the time. The game had huge uptake and had engagement times of over 14 minutes, that’s longer than the TV show. It is also the top site link on Google for ‘pinball’.
• The official Mr Men site was created to follow how kids saw the Mr Men… personality first, not content sections like other sites. Each character had it’s own game to introduce their characteristics.
BBC Children’s CD-Roms
I was commissioned by the BBC to create the first Pingu CD-ROM back in 1996. I was the creator, creative director and developer, working with a small but hugely dedicated team. I then went on to work on the Teletubbies, Noddy, Blue Peter and Wallace and Gromit CD-Roms too.
• Each of these CD-Roms were intense development projects and in the case of Teletubbies, Pingu and Noddy, had to achieve and pass key stage educational targets.
• The Noddy CD-Rom won an BAFTA among other awards.
Virtual world consultancy
I have consulted heavily and have experience creating the strategy, social economy and technical underpinnings for virtual worlds. This includes a recent commission to create and new virtual world concept from scratch.
Virtual worlds can have extremely complex structures and intricate social economies at play yet have to seem simple and fun from the outset. This properties are transferable and help in many sectors of my work.
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