Career
I began my career in the now merged O'Connor O'Sullivan Advertising, cutting my copywriting teeth on ethical medical accounts before moving on to enjoy some success with Scrumpy Jack, TnaG and Beamish.
I spent the last 19 years in DDFH&B/JWT where I was initially recruited as a copywriter. After eight years doing that I became joint Creative Director and then ultimately Creative Partner, with responsibility for the agency's full creative output.
Over the course of my career I have worked on brands ranging from Amstel to Zantac covering every category including automotive, alcohol, lottery, telecoms, healthcare, fmcg - in fact virtually every category you could imagine.
Awards
Yes I've won awards. My fair share of them. Ireland's first TV EPICA. Numerous Shark Awards. A fair smattering of ICADS. NNI Awards. OOH awards. I even won the 98FM Ad of the Quarter a long time ago!
My work has also been featured in The Drum, The Guardian as well as the usual trade papers here in Ireland.
ICAD
I spent two terms as President of ICAD (The Institute of Creative Advertising and Design). It's hard but rewarding work and alongside a brilliant board I believe we left the Institute in a slightly better shape than when we found it.
OFFSET
I was delighted to be asked to speak at Offset in 2013 on the main stage and have chaired a couple of round table discussions at the festival as well.
If you have a spare 40 minutes you can watch that here:
Judging
You could say I spend most of my working time judging work, but I have also had the privilege of sitting on a number of awards judging juries and committees over the years including (but not limited to):
Best Yet (Oslo)