senckađ
Group745
Group745
Group745
Group745
Group745
Group745
EDITION
Global
USA
UK
AUNZ
CANADA
IRELAND
FRANCE
GERMANY
ASIA
EUROPE
LATAM
MEA
The Work That Made Me in association withLBB
Group745

The Work That Made Me: Simon Hewitt

26/02/2024
Creative Marketing Agency
London, UK
326
Share
Orange Panther Collective founder on BBC One campaigns, working with Guinness and Fentimans ads

Simon is the co-founder and client partner at the Orange Panther Collective, the strategic and creative agency who make advertising that builds the next big things. Prior to the OPC Simon worked at the likes of M&C Saatchi, AMV BBDO, Leo Burnett on behemoth brands such as Guinness, Red Bull, McDonald’s and the BBC.


The ad/music video from my childhood that stays with me…

Simon> The epic milk ad with the two little Liverpool fans chatting and one being told by Ian Rush (legend – yes I’m a red) that if he didn't drink his milk he’d only be good enough to play for Accrington Stanley… “Who are they???” Loved it.

 

The ad/music video/game/web platform that made me want to get into the industry…

Simon> You’ve been tangoed – the original from 1991. It was the first time I remember seeing an ad that totally stood out, was wonderfully whacky but also made sense. It made me want to create work like that. I got into Tango for a while after I’d seen the campaign (until the immense sugar levels just became too much and I realised why the Tango man was quite so manic).

 

The creative work (film/album/game/ad/album/book/poem etc) that I keep revisiting…

Simon> I will break from everything being about ads for second and say either Joshua Tree (very obvious choice I know) or Van Morrison’s Moondance. Timeless, emotionally rousing brilliance.

 

My first professional project…

Simon> My first job in the industry was at M&C Saatchi. I was half on the grad scheme and half working live on the Dixons Stores Group account. Think there was a bit of snobbery in the building about the ‘dirty retail’ DSG account, and yes the output was pretty vanilla, but man it taught me a lot about client relationships as we made about 30 ads per week…. Also made some great friends there.

 

The piece of work (ad/music video/ platform…) that made me so angry that I vowed to never make anything like *that*…

Simon> Not sure it made me so angry, but I just never got the Confused.com campaign with James Corden and then some other fella in the old Merc (was a nice car though). Just felt random, messy and very unclear as to what the point was. Made myself promise we wouldn’t make any lame work when we started the OPC.

 

The piece of work (ad/music video/ platform…) that still makes me jealous…

Simon> Sorry for the cliché but I have to say Guinness Surfer. I was lucky enough to work on Guinness at AMV in the mid noughties, helping on the ‘noitulovE’ ad (Evolution backwards – aka Mudskipper). It was a great ad and I was very proud, but in all honesty everything was in the shadow of Surfer. Such an epic ad and what an amazing music choice. Oh and Good Things Come To Those Who Wait is still one of the best examples of flipping a negative into a massively valuable positive USP that has ever existed. Hats off to the strategic brains involved as always.

 

The creative project that changed my career…

Simon> OK so I doubt many people will know much about this but I’d say it was the Life on Mars Season 2 campaign that I led at Red Bee (basically predecessor to BBC Creative). We turned the whole of BBC One back to the 1970's (which is when LoM is set), taking over all the idents and junctions, making all promos 1970’ified. We also made a brilliant piece of experiential ‘The Rules of Modern Policing’ booklet that we gave out at cinemas and events, and won a D&AD Wooden pencil.

 

The work that I’m proudest of…

Simon> Ouch, tough one to call. I should probably say one of the campaigns I’ve led for the likes of Guinness, BBC, McDonald’s, Sainsbury’s or Red Bull but I think it has to be one of the first notable campaigns we made at OPC – our work for Fentimans back in 2022. The craft in here is immense, we took a long time building this dark, mystical, slightly unnerving world in order to elevate the positioning around alchemy. Then paired that with copy that talked to a healthy self awareness and sense of playfulness hats off to the core team of Russel Weaver (v talented art director) and Nigel Roberts (OPC’s creative partner and copywriter extraordinaire) on this.

 

I was involved in this and it makes me cringe…

Simon> Watch here – say no more.

 

The recent project I was involved in that excited me the most…

Simon> I’m a big fan of our recent work with the Financial Times and the most exciting point was probably when we launched our second brand film ‘Without Fear & Without Favour’ as a massive projection onto County Hall on the Southbank, opposite the Houses of Parliament on the eve of the United Nations’ National Day of Democracy. That was big. And the work is really good.

Main film.

Projection build up.

Agency / Creative
SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER
Work from Orange Panther Collective
Source: FT Digital
Financial Times
09/09/2024
14
0
Source: FT
Financial Times
09/09/2024
21
0
Our Round
Gipsy Hill Brewery
16/01/2024
24
0
ALL THEIR WORK
SUBSCRIBE TO LBB’S newsletter
FOLLOW US
LBB’s Global Sponsor
Group745
Language:
English
v10.0.0