Behind The Billboard

Visuals: https://getbehindthebillboard.com/episode-75-phil-and-graham

Episode #75 features Phil Cockrell & Graham Storey.

Humble, funny, gracious and massively talented, Phil & Graham have quietly created some of the most iconic billboards of the past 30 years.

In that time they have won most major awards including 4 Cannes Golds, 5 BTA arrows, 7 Campaign Poster awards and 26 D&AD in book entries.

It seems a bit of a crime that we haven’t had them on the show before. But due to various circumstances / holidays / other guests taking their slot, we’ve only just got them on.

It’s worth listening for the Nike work alone. Phil flying to the south of France to meet Eric Cantona as ‘research’ for the redemption poster is a classic ‘someone’s got to do it’ story. But it was nothing compared to how the team met Peter Hull the Paralympian who’d run the marathon and became the inspiration behind one of Nike’s greatest posters ever.

Then there was Yellow pages, Toblerone, Virgin Atlantic, The Times and more.

Every campaign oozing simplicity, craft and class.

Thanks gents for coming on and sharing your incredible history. Long may it continue.

FOLLOW WITH VISUALS: https://getbehindthebillboard.com/2021/11/26/episode-32-mike-nicholson

We’d heard so many good things about Mike over the years and seen his work at all the award shows, but our paths had never crossed.

Until now.

The pod was the perfect opportunity for Hugh and Dan to find out more about one of adlands most talented and nicest blokes.

And he didn’t disappoint (esp in the wardrobe department, the signature Hawaiian shirt setting a bright positive mood from the get-go)

Mike’s billboards are a masterclass in how to do great ooh.

Brilliantly simple ideas distilled down to the absolute minimum (Heg would approve) art directed with craft and wit. There’s not an inch of fat on his work. This is why it’s so awarded and still looks so fresh today.

Quick example - The Tunes 6 sheet:

No headline, no endline, no website, no logo, no hashtag bollocks.

No need.

Just a plunger - made from 3 pack shots (3 packs!!! A client’s dream!)

That’s it.

The bare minimum.

Written on placement, it’s no surprise this was the work that got Mike hired at AMV.

And set a theme of simplicity and graphic brilliance that coursed through his work ever since - either with initial partner Daryl Corps or later with Paul Pateman.

As well as billboards we discussed Mike’s various ECD jobs in the UK and abroad, his teaching work at the SCA and his bedroom wallpaper, which was up there with his Hawaiian Shirts.

Thanks again Mike. Dan and Hugh loved it.

#behindthebillboard #btb #posters #billboards #ooh #outdoor #amv #tbwa #museumofchildhood #tunes #dunloptyres #theeconomist #sca #johnsmiths

Visuals: https://getbehindthebillboard.com/episode-68-dan-and-hugh

Episode #68 features two titans of the industry, huge characters with oodles of charm, awards and humility. Yep, we’re talking to ourselves, finding out what’s going on in each of our worlds.

We covered the following:

Watch advertising in Geneva Airport

Three dimensional screen mapping in Barcelona and New York

The delayed launch of Hugh’s novel

The billboards at the end of our streets

News of upcoming guests including Rachel Miles and the billboards hidden within her brilliant BBC Olympics promo

Digital ads on the subway

The 280ft billboard in the Oculus NYC

Flapjacks

And of course Jeremy Allen White’s pants (which Dan spotted will soon be usurped by Idris Elba’s suit)

We do hope this isn’t the equivalent of The Fly episode from Breaking Bad. Or worse still the finale of Beef. We’re just two blokes trying our best. Normal service will resume next week.

Visuals: https://getbehindthebillboard.com/episode-73-nicola-wood

Podcast episode #73 features Nicola Wood, Executive Creative Director at Ogilvy London, winner of many shiny prizes and someone with a liking for a farty Valentine’s Day card.

Strap in folks. This is an absolute belter of an episode.

The farty card was a good start. But the story behind the Relate campaign shot by Rankin is something we’d never heard before. And we’ve heard quite a bit in the past five years.

We don’t want to reveal too much but let’s just say Nicola’s Nan features quite prominently. And some of the conversations Nicola had to have to persuade Nan to appear naked on billboards up and down the country are quite something.

We also discussed the incredible craft that went into the British Airways ‘New York We’re back’ billboard which rightly won awards on both sides of the pond. Instead of choosing the easy AI / post production route to recreate workers sat on a girder atop a New York skyscraper, Nicola and long term partner Andy Forrest decided to do it for real. Or as ‘real’ as you can as the nation was emerging from Covid. Another brilliant story involving previous guest photographer Adam Hinton (episode #18) a real life girder and a lot of wardrobing.

We also found out how gardening and sex can help reduce STI’s in the over 65’s in another raunchy campaign for Relate ‘The Hornicultural Society’.

Cannes, flapjacks, you people voting, Maaate, Araldite Glue, Tony Cullingham, Nike ... we packed a lot in.

Everything Nichola does seems to have a story, an edge, a relevance to popular culture. We may need a part two soon. Maybe with special guest Nan?!

Thank you again Nicola for coming on and lighting up the studio with your incredible stories.

Visuals: https://getbehindthebillboard.com/episode-70-paul-banham

Can you project the two moons from Mars into the night sky?

Can you sell over 1,000,000 lights in the world’s tallest building?

Can you build an underwater mobile phone store to sell a waterproof phone?

These are just some of the questions, answered by MullenLowe MENA CCO Paul Banham on episode #70, where we take a deep dive into life as a creative in Dubai.

It’s an absolute fascinating chat and one we’ve been wanting to have for ages. We caught up Paul on a flying visit to London.

So we sat down with tea and flapjacks and a microphone and off he went.

It was a massive eye-opener hearing about life and all things outdoors in the Middle East.

Everything is different.

The weather.
The budgets.
The ambition.

But the one thing that thankfully stays the same is the desire for ideas.

And when those ideas happen, they are big.

And more often these days award-winning, with the previous mentioned campaigns picking up Cannes Lions galore.

Paul it was a total pleasure and we’re so pleased you managed to fit us in on your tour of the UK.

Looking forward to seeing you again in the summer, possibly for a second round and certainly a couple more pints than this time.

Take care and keep applying the factor 50 😎