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I started my career in advertising in July 2000. Here are some of the most memorable campaigns I’ve developed.

Allied Irish Banks

AIB had a problem: an outstandingly good pension plan but not enough uptake among employees in their twenties. They called me: “We’ve tried everything. Should we use humour? If so, how?”. I suggested their pension was as good as bank robbery — kinda ironic, really, seeing they’re a bank.

Three

Three had had a huge hit with a dancing pony; in the follow-up campaign, Sing It Kitty, they wanted a good-if-not-better success. I scripted videos, crafted promotions and wrote headlines and body copy. A month into the campaign, the ad had enjoyed over five million hits on YouTube, with hundreds of thousands of downloads of the #SingItKitty app.

Brittany Ferries

I was working at an ad agency, Bray Leino, when Brittany Ferries invited us to pitch for their business. In a series of funny ads, we sent up budget airlines as petty and trivial, overly concerned about the weight and size of your baggage. As for Brittany Ferries? They didn’t care one bit. We won the pitch.

BBC / CBeebies

In a short break from advertising, the BBC commissioned me to work on Gigglebiz, a comedy show for children aged six and under. This sketch, featuring Milkshake Jake, was one of my favourites. Toddlers worldwide loved the show — it stretched to 114 episodes over five seasons.

Getty Images UK

Getty felt they were seen as stuffy and dull. They wanted to loosen up their comms and inject some much-needed humour. I worked with them on two direct mail campaigns: the first (featuring Muhammed Ali), an iconic print promotion, got the best ever results for an end-of-quarter campaign. The second advertised a talk on drone photography.