I’ve always thoroughly enjoyed working on cause-led briefs, so when I moved to London, I joined DTV Group – a global fundraising agency.

DTV’s ads only have one goal. To get the audience dialling the phone number on screen to donate before the ad finishes. Making ads that serve that meant taking a massive step away from the big, bold, awareness-driven campaigns I was used to. The budgets and timelines were tighter than I could’ve possibly imagined, so conceptual creative often took a backseat, while quick, emotional, informative scriptwriting took the lead.

Without art directors, DTV writers work directly with in-house editors to produce the ads, which forced me to step-up my visual skillset. Footage selects, directing edits, storyboards, all fell to me. And I’m a better creative for it.

I was in charge of directing my own ads, and I even had the incredible opportunity to direct an international shoot in Kenya. I can’t even begin to explain how mind-blowing that whole thing was. Anyway. Enough preamble.

Here’s some of my work that ran: