I’ve been a copywriter since leaving high school, Creative Director of 5 advertising agencies (including 2 startups) and I’ve freelanced now for 20 years or so.

I’ve been lucky to work on some of the world’s biggest and best brands. Brands such as BMW, Nike, Ikea, Whirlpool, Heinz, Cadbury and Red Cross.

Also some of Australia’s hottest brands, like Sportsgirl, Sportscraft, Just Jeans, Country Road, RSPCA and Jardan.

My FMCG experience includes Leggo’s, Latina, Pantene, Berri, Always Fresh and Valencio, as well as those brands mentioned above.

I’ve worked at some pretty hot ad agencies, including two I co-founded. As Creative Director of The Ball Partnership – part of the fastest growing advertising agency group in the world at the time – I was responsible for six accounts in the Fortune 100. 

I’ve been fortunate to work with some of Australia’s best art directors, including Cesare Leonardi, Rob Dow and Gordon Trembath, founder of Campaign Palace and double inductee into the Advertising Hall of Fame.

I’ve also worked with some of Australia’s best designers. Mimmo Cozzolino, Andrew Hoyne at Hoyne Design and more recently Domenic Minieri of Micro, Maria Stavrakis at The Reflective and Anita McArthur and Matt McKenzie at Seesaw.

While mostly based in Melbourne, I worked at a Sydney agency for a year when I was 20, and have also lived and worked in Vancouver for five years, mostly as a freelance writer for a range of ad agencies and design studios. I also made a number of forays into the US, mainly on big property development projects.

Vancouver Olympics:
Writing the bid document that won the 2010 Winter Olympics for Vancouver, estimated to have generated over three billion dollars of new investment and 70,000 new jobs.

BMW:
Writing every BMW ad that ran in Australia and New Zealand over a five year period, creating the campaigns that took BMW from #3 in the luxury imported car category behind Mercedes and Volvo to #1.

Nike:
Creative Director of the first television commercial for Nike in Australia, taking the brand from mid ranking to #1 in a matter of months. The following year, introducing ‘Just Do It’ to Australia with a TVC featuring The Beatle’s song ‘Do It In The Road’.

Southgate/Southbank:
Creative Director for the launch of this new Melbourne precinct. The campaign shifted the centre of axis of the city to include the south side of the Yarra River, previously derelict factories. The media predicted failure, but it was and is a multi-billion dollar ongoing success.

Red Cross:
Creative Director of the then most successful fund raising campaign ever for Red Cross. The television commercial featured the Beatle’s song “Help!”, with publishing rights donated by Michael Jackson and the song generously re-recorded gratis by John Farnham.

Just Jeans:
Creative Director/Copywriter at two different ad agencies. Newspaper, magazine and radio advertising. Created Just Jeans’ first television commercial.

Sportsgirl:
Creative Director/Copywriter for three years. Newspaper, magazine and radio. Created Sportsgirl’s first television commercial.

Australian Air Force:
Co-creating the fast jet campaign for the Air Force that raised the enquiry rate by 500% and brought 32 new fast jet pilots online.

Launching a number of new product entries with campaigns that took them to category leadership – including Latina pasta, Valencio orange juice and Mediclear, an acne treatment that toppled Clearasil.

The last time I went in for awards, I won Best Press Ad, Best Press Campaign, Best Magazine Ad, Best Magazine Campaign, Best Cinema Commercial, Best Art Direction and Best Copywriting at the Melbourne Art Directors Club Awards.

When Rob Dow was Regional Creative Director Asia Pacific of Grey Worldwide, he wrote a letter of recommendation for me that said “If he wasn’t such a great writer, he would make a brilliant planner.” Even if that were only half true, it would be pretty good.

And Gordon Trembath, founder of Australia’s most creative ad agency ever and without doubt the best art director in our history, once described me as “One of the best writers ever to work in Australian advertising.”

Bless his heart, Gordon was always prone to a little exaggeration.