What are your current roles and responsibilities, and what do you love most about the work? How is the same or different from your last role?
My role at TBWA\Ireland is to explore new advertising formats, discover useful tools and find better, faster ways to bring ambitious ideas to life. What I love most is connecting a creative idea with the technology that makes it possible. The biggest change since earlier in my career is the pace. Clients need campaigns yesterday, and AI has raised expectations of how quickly we can deliver. Our job is to make sure originality, ambition and craft keep pace with that speed.
What initiatives or projects are you working on now that excite you?
One project I’m particularly proud of is The Replay, an audio website we launched this year to support people living with dementia. It features the iconic voice of Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh, one of Ireland’s most legendary Gaelic games commentators. It’s won several awards and was shortlisted at Cannes Lions, and care homes across Ireland are already using it. That’s what excites me about this kind of work: seeing a creative idea become something that brings people together and makes a lasting difference to their lives.
What’s the most challenging part of your job and/or the industry right now?
Keeping pace with technology without sacrificing ideas for speed. AI helps us develop and sell in concepts faster, but we still need to be careful about what gets approved. Just because we can make something doesn’t mean it’s worth making. The challenge is choosing the right ideas, then using AI to make them as good as they can be.
What’s your advice for someone trying to get to where you are?
Don’t get too attached to how you do things. Keep moving. Keep learning. Work hard. Learn the tools that help you do better work, then be ready to let them go when something better comes along. Stay curious and be willing to change your mind.
Off the clock: what do you do when you’re not working? How do you recharge your creative battery?
Do anything but work. You’d be amazed what comes to you when you’re doing something completely different. It’s hard to think differently if you’re doing the same things as everyone else. Personally, I love being on a football pitch coaching young players. It’s amazing what you learn from kids who just get stuck in and live in the moment. Let life happen. The ideas tend to follow.
What defines great creative video work these days?
The same thing as always: something unexpected that makes perfect sense. An idea that feels so simple and obvious once you’ve seen it, you wonder why you didn’t think of it yourself. The best ideas make you smile the moment you get them.
