Behind The Billboard

Visuals: https://getbehindthebillboard.com/episode-89-liam-and-alison

Episode #89 features Liam Bushby & Alison Steven, Global Creative Directors at Ogilvy London and two of the finest, most humble creatives you could ever meet.

We talked at length about what it’s like to work on Dove and in particular their multi award-winning campaigns Reverse Selfie and #TurnYourBack which won more metal than you can shake a stick at, including a Cannes Grand Prix.

We also discussed their first ever poster for McDonald’s, a wonderful idea that has a great story about timing, opportunity and being open to nailing a brief, even if it’s over lunch on a Friday when you’ve got shitloads of other work on.

We also heard about Liam & Alison’s outdoor work which is not confined to billboards, in particular two audacious campaigns for Hellman’s Mayonnaise, the Charli XCX inspired “Club Classic" sandwich and the The Margaret bag that debuted at London Fashion Week. Both sound be appearing at an awards show soon.

Thank you so much Liam & Alison for coming on and sharing your stories.

Visuals: https://getbehindthebillboard.com/episode-88-hermeti-balarin

Episode #88 features the charming, uber-talented Hermeti Balarin, joint CCO at W+K London.

Hermeti works with his wife Ana, who was Behind the Billboard guest no. 9, which means the Balarin’s are our first ever married couple on the show 🎉

Hermeti & Ana started out at as interns at Mother before rising to Partners a decade or so later. Under their leadership, Mother was named International Agency of The Year twice by Ad Age thanks to iconic award-winning work on Stella Artois, IKEA, KFC, Boots and more.

We talked about recent minimalist OOH campaigns from brands such as BA, Kellogg’s, McDonald’s and Tesco, before focussing on Hermeti & Ana’s similar approach on Heinz and KFC and how ‘less is more’ is not really new at all, citing campaigns such as Silk Cut, which was the Daddy of them all.

We did a deep dive into KFC and the stories behind the Covid and AFC to ZFC work. Covid was a great example of every cloud having a silver lining. KFC and Mother decided to embrace the madness with ‘The World's Least Appropriate Slogan’ campaign, which resulted in the brand emerging from the pandemic stronger than ever. Never let a good crisis go to waste.

We discussed #FreeTheFeed, an incredible campaign featuring huge 50ft breasts dotted around the London skyline to raise awareness of the stigma surrounding public breastfeeding.

And we discovered how Hermeti is an Exec TV Producer, a decent basketball player, a Star Wars geek and the owner of the coolest hair in advertising.

Thank you so much Hermeti for coming on and sharing your stories and creativity. Hi to Ana and please both come back soon?!  

NB: In this episode Hugh repeatedly mispronounces the words Wieden & Kennedy. We have no idea why this happened. We apologise if this affects your listening pleasure and Hugh promises it will not happen again. Arse.

Visuals: https://getbehindthebillboard.com/episode-87-jeremy-craigen-part-2

He’s back! Jeremy Craigen returns for episode #87, talking all things VW.

Jeremy worked on the brand as a creative / CD / ECD and Global CCO for over 20 years, winning endless awards with iconic campaigns for every model in the range, even getting a free appearance on Top Gear (estimated viewing audience 90million).

How did it feel to be the creative lead on such a prestigious account? Who were his inspirations? What is the essence of VW? And did he play as hard as he worked?

Jeremy tells all and more.

We found out how two creative teams independently came up with same Polo Cops idea. And how, for the same brief, King Kong was also in the mix and the client was persuaded to run it a year later.

The Polo Ice Car was another fascinating story … a press ad that became national news, involving a life sized car carved from 9.5 tonnes of ice. We also discussed the Surprisingly Ordinary Prices Wedding execution, which is still the most awarded print ad ever (facts by Neil Dawson).

Then there was Swear Box, Ele-pump, Cabriolet, Dr Who x3, Nightdrive and more. A phenomenal body of work. Thank you again Jeremy. It was an education. Apologies we didn’t have any booze, schoolboy error. Next time promise 🍷

We’ll close with a quote from Jonathan Hill, Former U.K. and European Business Director Volkswagen:

"Jeremy is the best ECD I have worked with for spotting a good idea. It might just be the one line in a pile of 100 scripts but he will spot it every time. And there is no one better at turning a good idea into a great idea."

Amen to that.

Visuals: https://getbehindthebillboard.com/episode-86-jeremy-craigen-part-1

Episode #86 features legendary creative, CD, ECD, CCO, bonvivier and lover of life, Jeremy Craigen.

It’s hard to know where to start with Jeremy’s incredible body of work, which has won every gong going for just about every client going.

So we took a corporate decision and split him in two. Ooeerr.

Part one is all about Optrex, Marmite, Budweiser, The Labour Party, The Financial Times and Harvey Nichols.

Iconic work with brilliant stories told by the man himself. Hear how Jeremy’s chest hair inspired a marmite billboard. How the Optrex brief was cracked in the blink of an eye 🤓 And how the original Love / Hate Marmite line came to be. And much more.

Jeremy is a complete one-off. Charming, talented, passionate, honest, generous and ultimately someone who always strives for great work … all with a cheeky glint in his eye. We like that.

His only drawback is an apparent hatred of flapjacks. No one’s perfect right?!

We hope you enjoy this episode as much as we did. And there’ll be more Craigen very soon. He’ll be back in a couple of weeks for part two, the VW special, which promises to be another cracker.

Visuals: https://getbehindthebillboard.com/episode-85-felipe-serradourada-guimaraes

Episode #85 features Felipe Serradourada Guimaraes, the recently appointed ECD at BBH. It was a real pleasure talking with Felipe, who we think is the only creative ever to go from being on placement at BBH, to being the ECD at BBH. That is some achievement, but no surprise considering his portfolio of work. During his 14 years with the Black Sheep, Felipe has been behind some incredible campaigns and yet feels like he’s only getting started.

We discussed Tesco’s and discovered the stories behind the recent ‘Bags’ campaign. We also had another chat on ‘Icons’, which was fascinating. Hearing about the craft that went into both campaigns a real lesson and reminder in how to get to great work. And making it happen.

We also covered Burger King and three fantastic campaigns - Grill Lines, National Burger Day and Bundles of Joy. Some great insights into how the work came about, especially the perseverance and passion to get Bundles of Joy made.

Then there were the Paddy Power ‘A shirt is not just for Christmas’ billboards, posted next to the grounds of various Premier League teams in suitably un-PC PaddyPower fashion. And we even had time to find out how an Alexander McQueen dress inspired the campaign for F+F Homeware.

Felipe thank you so much for being such a charming and gracious guest. We loved it and v much look forward to you coming back with more stories.

This was also the first episode in our new streamlined approach, where we get in and out within the hour. It feels more focussed that way, but apologies if any listeners miss Hugh droning on ;-)

To (belatedly) welcome in the new year, we decided to go forth into The Great Outdoors and discuss plans for 2025.

We covered all sorts of stuff: the need for a new sponsor, upcoming guests, a book of the show, masterclasses, talks, merchandise and more. Let us know if you have any feelings about any of this as we always want to hear what our listeners think.

The hoody tops are amazing - high quality stitch and super warm - if there’s a desire we can deffo put in an order. More details on this to follow.

We also covered the crucially important football issues - a very short conversation - and what Dan is going to do with his new found freedom. The walk itself was amazing, taking in a beautiful golf course, a slightly creepy wood and a view across a valley where we saw where James Bond was blown up. It’ll make more sense when you listen.

Cheers all and here’s to a great 2025.

Visuals: https://getbehindthebillboard.com/episode-83-aidan-mcclure

Episode #83 features the super-charming, super-talented Aidan McClure, CCO and co-founder of Wonderhood Studios.

We caught up with Aidan just before Christmas and had a great natter.

We heard the story of how he got onto the Watford Copywriting course by pretending to be the Queen.

We discovered how Aidan (and partner Laurent Simon) got their first job after winning the Diageo Best Student Team in the UK doing placements at Mother, BBH and JWT before settling at AMV. Not a bad start.

We even talked about Aidan’s musical side hustle, playing the violin nearly as well as Stefan Grappelli.

And of course there were many brilliant billboards, starting with some classics for The Economist and VW before the incredible BBC Russia World Cup tapestry … still hanging in the Football Museum in Manchester today.

We found out how Aidan worked with our Dan on the ground-breaking Google Front Row campaign that featured the world’s first live stream to pitch side hoardings.

Then there was Nike ‘The 93’, The Migration Museum and the changing of the signage of Coral’s betting shops during the last Euro’s.

Every piece of work has a story, a vibe that makes it feel more than advertising. It’s a theme throughout Aidan’s award-winning career which includes ‘The Bear and Hare’ campaign for John Lewis, which won a Cannes Gold and BBC1’s Christmas campaign ‘The Supporting Act’ that was one of the Beeb’s most successful commercials ever.

Aidan thank you so much for coming on and bringing your warmth and creativity to us in abundance! It was a total pleasure.

Visuals: https://getbehindthebillboard.com/episode-82-best-of-2024

BtB best of 2024 / Christmas special

Yes folks it’s the biggie. The one you’ve been waiting for. Behind the Billboard’s ‘Best of 2024’ with some mince pies and festive cheer thrown in for good measure. Plus some big news from our Dan.

In our humble opinion it’s been another great year for outdoor. Some brilliant work from the usual suspects, plus nice surprises from new agencies. Hopefully you’ll agree with our choices but if not feel free to comment or drop us a note.

We decided to include a few new categories this year. So alongside the traditional Poster of the year, Agency of the year and BtB Instagram of the year, we’ve included the following:

- Best baked goods
- Jon Jones award for outstanding contribution to the podcast
- Incredibly high levels of patience in producing a podcast award
- Lifetime achievement best billboard bloke of past 20 years

And much much more!

A huge thank you to all of our guests for coming in and sharing the stories behind their billboards. It’s been a total pleasure chatting in the booth with you. And an even bigger thanks to you our listeners and followers - without you guys we honestly wouldn’t be doing it. Please keep liking and subscribing and spreading the good vibes.

Thanks to our sponsors for the last time ;-)
Talon Outdoor
Grand Visual
And thank you, Soho Radio - we’ll be back!

Visuals: https://getbehindthebillboard.com/episode-81-helen-rhodes

Episode #81 features Helen Rhodes, ECD at BBH.

We’ve been asking Helen to come on the show for ages, so we’re super chuffed she came on, not just for the stories behind her incredible portfolio of work, but also because we devoured her gift of cinnamon buns which were sensational.

The campaign for Stranger Things was enough for a whole episode - how the project came to be, the craft that went into making the fake 80’s posters and the secret pop-up experiences. Listen out for our chat on the smell of the slime in an underground corridor and whether it was authentic enough. Not a conversation we ever thought we’d have!

Then there’s this year’s most talked about campaign, Burger King’s ‘Bundles of joy’. We discussed how the work came to be part of the ‘foodfillment’ platform and the furore it created online and in the national press. And how it’s true ;-)

Then there’s the iconic BBC work - setting billboards on fire for Perfect Planet, and eerie shadows for the award-winning monster Dracula.

To top it off, a few weeks ago the Tesco ‘Icons’ campaign was launched, which has just been voted Campaign’s OOH campaign of the year. And rightly so. It’s a belter.

We covered Helen’s formative years working with Matt Lever (episode #67) and their rise to fame which eventually took them to W+K in the States.

At end of the show we chatted about tips to make great work, which Helen dedicated to ex-Watford College tutor Tony Cullingham. Helen talked with incredible fondness for TC, about his time at the BARN in BBH (still going strong) and she offered up some pearls of wisdom Tony would give students as they went off out into the creative world.

Thanks Helen for the buns and the billboards and remembering Tony.

Visuals: https://getbehindthebillboard.com/episode-80-mary-wear

Episode #80 features copywriter extraordinaire Mary Wear.

Mary wrote possibly the most important endline in the history of advertising: ‘Make Poverty History’ for Comic Relief in 2004 … a line and movement that involved Richard Curtis, World Leaders and saving lives. The line was everywhere - posters, bus sides, advans, on underpants, on Bono’s arm, on the side of St Paul’s Cathedral and the coup de grâce, on a lectern in front of Nelson Mandela, who was chanting the words ‘Make Poverty History’ to thousands gathered in Trafalgar Square.

That is more than most people’s entire careers and would easily have been enough to fill the episode. The way Mary tells the story of how the line came about is wonderfully humble, involving a planner and a rather talented chap called Peter Souter.

But Mary is no one-trick pony. Her locker is full of great work.

Starving a parking meter for TfL was a lesson in never giving up, even when the model maker had ruined the idea. What could have been a catastrophe turned into a seminal award-winning piece of work.

Then there was seemingly endless more award winning work for The Economist, the Famous Grouse (a double, a small one, a quick one, a large one - they all went down well) plus an Anti-Smoking like never before. Her partnership with Damon Collins at GGT, Saatchi’s and AMV was brilliant and prolific.

We even had time for some Russian Vodka and flapjacks ;-)

Thank you Mary for coming on and sharing some of the industry’s greatest OOH work. It was a real privilege.