November 16, 2021

This Week’s Work

Creative work 1st-7th Nov 2021

I shipped daily ad pitches this week. Here are a few highlights.

Client: Welcome To Yorkshire Industry

Brief: Create posters to position Yorkshire as the food & drink capital of the UK, challenging the perception that the county is just about Yorkshire Puddings and hearty food. (Same-day deadline.)

People have a positive emotional reaction to food images, so the obvious approach was to leverage this and use full bleed shots of attractive food spreads (sourced from stock) then focus the message with the copy.
I came up with several ideas for this brief. These two were both shortlisted.

Client: Wickes

Brief: Create posters to support the launch of Wickes’ Fitted Home Office range and home installation service. (Same-day deadline.)

This idea hinges on the dual meaning of “installation.” The word immediately made me think of software installation. This idea was reinforced by the fact that software and living spaces can both be “upgraded.” This shared language gave me the idea for a concept that tied together both types of upgrade installations; software and living spaces.
Referencing software in the artwork echoed the idea of building a home office space—something highlighted in the brief—which made the concept stronger. It also allowed me to play on people’s fear that upgrading software or living spaces can be complex and challenging and perhaps best left to the professionals. 

The client supplied the photograph. Overlaying the familiar software installation screen as a device to communicate the simplicity afforded by Wickes’ service helped the whole idea hang together in a humorous, reassuring manner. This submission was shortlisted.

Client :The Drum

Brief: Create posters to advertise #WhyTheWorldNeedsB2B for the Drum’s upcoming B2B World Fest. (Same-day deadline.)

I had two concepts for this. One was playing on the idea that “A to Z” is synonymous with “everything”, and everything relies on business. So, I could visually communicate that nothing would exist without business services by using the alphabet and omitting the letter B.

The second concept was putting a twist on the familiar, “To be or not to be, that is the question.” line from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. I had a few variations for this idea, which I couldn’t quite refine to a single preferred option in the seven-hour submission window, hence the range of similar options presented here.

Client: Canva

Brief: Create ads that show how easy it is to use the new Canva Video editor. (Same-day deadline.)

I would have loved to have done something animated involving a product demo, but I only had a short window to turn my submissions in, so I opted for static ads.

I am happy with all three concepts. They appeal to people’s aspirations while highlighting the simplicity and user-friendly nature of the product. I particularly like matching the “not your scene?” line with the image of the movie clapper board.


These were all rapid-turnaround pieces and fun, welcome prompts to stimulate my creativity and visual thinking.

If you’d like me to work on a creative ad project with you, drop me an email. I’m always happy to lend my copywriting and design skills to creative ad campaigns and I’d love to hear from you.