Volvo ‘Patter’

For my partner Greg Martin and I our big break was being hired by David Abbott.

Once at Abbott Mead Vickers, we were working enormously hard trying to prove ourselves.

Volvo was the industry leader in car safety and Greg walked in one day with an idea around the different interpretations of the word ‘patter’.

The idea that you buy a Volvo to protect your children rather than because of some sharp sales talk felt emotionally compelling.

The visual pretty much suggested itself and was unusual for a car ad and I wrote the line pretty quickly.

I’m not sure which was more thrilling – our first Cannes Lion or that David Abbott loved the ad. 

Volvo ‘Madness’

My partner Greg Martin had heard about an upcoming TV show that was to feature clips of extreme bad driving captured on police cameras and thought it would be perfect for a Volvo safety message. 

Acquiring the footage proved to be difficult, though, so I spent months ringing different police constabularies around the country begging for permission until we had enough great material.

Greg suggested the music track and I wrote the line.

The film was nominated at D&AD and won a Cannes Silver Lion.