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We started Duckworth Finn Grubb Waters in 1989.
Through the 90s we became one of the UK's most successful independent agencies, handling major blue chip clients such as Pizza Hut; BBC; Toshiba; UK Government (COI); The Walt Disney Company; and famously launching the previously unknown Daewoo cars.
During my 15 years before leaving for Asia, we produced way too much work to showcase here, so this is a tiny selection of some of my personal favourites.
BBC
The greatest artists in Europe.
Heading 2
The World Cup in Japan & Korea. Well it had to be anime...
Bring on the Superhumans
2002 Commonwealth Games
Daewoo
We launched Daewoo from absolutely nothing.
Within a year it had the highest unprompted recall of any UK car manufacturer, and went on to become the most
successful car marque launch ever in the UK, as documented by the IPA.
Here is a very small selection from a huge library of work...
H.E.A. Anti-drugs
Rather than preach "don't do drugs' we decided to instead give kids information about what they do to your body, in a dramatic visual way.
This campaign was proven to have reduced drug usage amongst the target and became the first piece of Government business to win the coveted IPA Effectiveness Grand Prix.
Pizza Hut
We made around 30 retail tvcs for Pizza Hut but this is my favourite.
Again, playing with the medium, this time, utilising the famous BBC 2 logo idents, on commercial television, which everyone said was impossible.
But you don't ask, you don't get, so we asked the then BBC Controller Michael Jackson (yes that's his real name) and he was more than happy to oblige, helping promote BBC whilst shifting plate-loads of pizzas.
Easy Jeans
In 1991 this tongue-in-cheek gender reversal was way ahead of it's time, when all jeans advertising was macho dominated.
Sadly the best quality version I can find of this snapshot of time...
Walt Disney Corp
You don't make better films than Disney.
You just make their retail advertising more fun.
D&A spectacles
They're just glasses. Or are they...
Independent Television Commission
We even pushed the boundaries of the censors themselves - the ITC were the TV Regulators for commercial programming and advertising. There were some uncomfortable meetings to get to this point:
Melitta
I love a clean, simple press ad, and they don't get much simpler than this
New Musical Express
Our poster campaign for NME was purposely iconoclastic and redolent of illegal fly-posters
Mothercare
An early example of URL advertising
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