Iain Hunter has been ECD at Stack for the last five years working on brands including Nivea Men, PSA and The Trussell Trust. Before Stack he was digital creative director at Wunderman London where he was creatively responsible for Orange, Land Rover and San Miguel. Before that he was associate creative director and copywriter at Harrison Troughton Wunderman working on Microsoft, Jaguar and Vodafone, winning a number of D&AD and Cannes Awards.
Desert Island Ads
Remember Leon? Seminal ‘90s hitman film where Leon (Jean Reno) teaches fourteen year old Mathilda (Natalie Portman) how to become a professional hitman by mastering all the tools of the trade – from the easiest (the sniper rifle) all the way down to the hardest (the knife).
So here’s true mastery of our trade, from what I consider to be the easiest medium (to do something brilliant), right through to the hardest – I’m leaving out radio for obvious reasons.
Online content
You’re not limited by time. No one above the rank of marketing manager has to sign it off. Research groups leave you alone. It shouldn’t be difficult to get great online content away, but fair’s fair – this was really smart.
Technology
Yes, it’s a wee bit indulgent. Here’s a load of cash, and a load of time – make something really interesting please. But when the majority of people are using data, technology and creativity to make things that put my feet to sleep, these guys produced The Next Rembrandt – which is pretty cool.
Social media
A little trickier. But you already have an engaged audience. And the only person you have to convince to get it to run is a 17 year old client intern called Reuben – and he thinks it’s Sic! Never the less, Whopper Sacrifice was truly of the moment.
TV (30 secs)
It’s getting harder. You’ve got a decent budget but literally everyone has to sign telly off. Plus it’s impossible to build a story, feature the product, and get a laugh in 30 seconds anymore…isn’t it?
DM
There’s no genius Director or DOP to turn a 7 out of 10 idea into a D&AD Pencil. And the budget is f*** all. So this one’s all down to pure creative problem solving. And sending a detergent sample out in a pack wrapped up in a white T-shirt and challenging mum to get rid of the grime it picks up on the journey, with the sample inside, is really clever.
Press
I’ve always admired great press – a medium where you have to be interruptive, elegant, persuasive, and memorable, all at the same time. Here’s how you do it.
Poster
You literally have seconds to make your point. Your word count is about five (max). In other words you have to be brilliant, immediately. No wonder you rarely see great posters anymore – it’s too bloody hard. So before Xmas ads became the bar it was political ads, and we all remember the best one.
