Drew Simmons, Brand & Creative Professional. Leader in Marketing, Content , Production & Creative Strategy
I believe that Marketing is becoming an increasingly diversified experience for both consumers and Marketers alike. The last 15 years in the industry have taught me that collaboration, passion and drive enables brands to do some exceptional work but that people are the crucial cog in making that happen.
My specialism is in Brand Strategy, Creative & Media Planning Leadership and managing end-to-end Creative teams, be that running large-scale international TVC production, developing lower-funnel social campaigns, editing a great sounding radio spot, I love nothing more than getting stuck in and exploring ways to make something more real, more attuned to people’s lives and more effective.
Storytelling, for me, is the most important thing I do every day. What brands have to say, why they should be saying it, and the intrinsic benefits should they do it well, is my bread and butter.
Sling in pulling together overarching insights or some great piece of Data, and you’ve got my attention.
Here’s just a taste of some of the stuff that I’ve had the pleasure of working on…
“Eat Me” — comms strategy and development of Fibre One’s culture-commentary to undermined traditional diet season (2024)
This campaign came from inception to delivery in 7 weeks. We internalised all creative work to turn-around quick thinking to drive cut-through during the brand’s busiest period in the consumer’s calendar, January Diet Season.
These OOH sites are the figurehead of a campaign across social, digital and influencer that drove the highest engagement in the brand’s recent history.
Get Equipped for Life with Nature Valley was the consumer-facing solution born out of a huge overhaul of Brand Strategy that I led Internationally (2023)
This 30" TVC is the lead creative of a suite of nearly 50 AV and social assets of ranging creative to embed Nature Valley as an essential in the family snack cupboard by elevating our emotional role in happily-hectic family life: the key of always being prepared.
The campaign to-date has delivered a +75% increases in revenue ROI and >50% increases in volume and profit ROI.
Quest from Facebook — doing Gaming, but on their own terms, by bringing back the 90s classic and much loved format, Gamesmaster, with Channel 4 (2021)
Quest didn’t just want to do your standard media activation. They wanted to own a moment for audiences and gaming fans across the country. We came up with a content strategy for Facebook that meant we had to take control and run media on our own terms, to truly disrupt the market. And we did that in a big way, bringing back Gamesmaster to screens across the country in ad-funded programming running across Linear, Social and VOD.
WhatsApp — showcasing their View Once functionality on one of the biggest days in Football, Transfer Deadline Day (2021)
We sponsored the whole day of content across Linear, Social and VOD. Integration WhatsApp and View Once branding cues as well as a bespoke content thread to showcase the functionality with presenters using View Once to share exclusive progress of the transfer decisions and speculation.
Volvo — extending our core market-leading Sky Atlantic sponsorship in to a co-branded content series. (2021)
The Sky Atlantic sponsorship has been running for nearly 8 hugely successful years, building brand love and strengthening the core values of Volvo for a broad range of premium demographics. But, Volvo’s challenges continue to diversify, with a strengthening of female buyership here in the UK and a growing complexity to sustainability in the wider category and media mix. I had the pleasure of devising a way in which Volvo could get closer to the Sky Atlantic IP and its talent than ever before through this two-part series. We also launched a new way of delivering a connected content experience through a data stacking strategy that retargeted ad-exposed audiences to content and back to purchase through Sky Advance for the very first time.
Mindshare — with BLM shaking the industry to the core, I began a process to deep root Inclusion in to our workstreams with The Production Charter. (2020/21)
This document is our pledge to work and be better. To think differently and more relevantly. To explore new perspectives and insights. To work with new people and explore new conversations. I authored this document, which is now a key product for Mindshare in-market, to work with production and media partners to share facts, share insights, and better inform how we work and bridge conversations with marginalized groups within Media production. It helps inform insights, it helps inform hiring, and it does so by removing as much personal bias as possible. A real stand out highlight in my career that has helped reshape some of our biggest client’s work.
Dove – being part of Channel 4's #BlackToFront day of programming was one of the most important media moments of 2021. We helped Dove repurpose assets in to 3 eye-grabbing and thought-provoking pieces through a creative strategy to elevate empowering visuals with key, provocative statements. The direction for this drawn from key insights taken from our work with The Diversity Standard Collective.
Volvo — when the answers to sustainability effect the next generation most, best we listen to them! (2021)
Volvo came to us with a thought: what if adults were part of the sustainability problem. When the hurdles facing Electric Vehicle owners are boring things like mileage and performance, why are we listening to them? Surely, we should be taking the view of the future generations, after all they are the ones where an Electric Future really will be a reality.
We devised and commissioned this amazing piece of content which was a huge step change for Volvo. Working with the newly formed 4Studios — Channel 4’s digital and social commissioning arm — to create a truly stand-out narrative for the brand.
KFC — Celebrating super-fans the only way KFC can, because…Your Chicken Could Never! (2021)
2021 saw the launch of KFC’s band line — Your Chicken Could Never — celebrating the huge power the brand has over the hearts and minds of consumers, dedicated or not to the love of the secret blend of 11 herbs and spices. We commissioned a 3 part series with LADBible exploring the lengths people go to for their love of KFC. From climbing Everest Basecamp with a Boneless Banquet to Wedding Breakfasts, this culminated in an epic 6 sheet installation of the UK’s most heroic fans.
Portal from Facebook — adding cultural clout behind a product that connects. (2020)
In a year when video calling became the boring norm, Portal from Facebook came along and wanted to show that it could offer more. It’s smart tech and simply innovations mean that it captures more of the human experience. Allowing you to interact in a way that means you can feel there, even when you can’t be there.
Their challenges are twofold: awareness and connection. We developed a strategy to deep-root Portal in to the cultural narrative of the nation, Christmas 2020 saw this thinking finally come to life.
KFC — Putting the Brand Back in to Culture Through Content. (2020)
When Mindshare won the KFC UK&I account in the New Year, I was asked to on-board this iconic brand in to the team. KFC are amazing at getting their owned channels and comms out in to the world but applying content marketing principles in to a paid media plan needed a little bit of help.
I led the strategy and oversee the production of this leading sponsorship on radio station, KISS FM UK. Editing the radio spots , promotional copy across audio, digital and social, and aligning the creative strategy across all formats and product needs. Listen from 3–7pm every weekday, where we put KFC back in to a flexible, intuitive, everyday conversation with our core audience of 1644s at a crucial time for product consideration. Sounds amazing and getting some great editorial integration too…
Working with the PR team at Freuds and the amazing production team at Unilad, we asked ourselves the question ‘how is it even possible someone hasn’t ever tried a KFC’? Absolute shocker! This three-part series blew all of our expectations. All three in the top 10 of the UK viewing lists and one taking the UK and world by storming ranking number 1 and 4 respectively. All hail the master that is, Chris Eubank! Utterly Stupendous to steal a quote.
Watch it in its glory, here.
Red Bull, Exploding Owned Assets Out in to Media (2018/19)
Red Bull are master publishers so the team and I were brought in to see how we could make the most of the amazing content, events and talent access Red Bull has to drive a content marketing strategy in paid media.
Here, alongside the team at Kyra TV and PAQ, we helped launch the first UK Amaphiko Academy by interviewing up and coming young business talent in the UK’s more challenged regions, driving the creative strategy in to more niche, difficult to reach audiences.
Other Red Bull campaigns: various print and digital campaign for Red Bull sport and support for the infamous Red Bull soapbox race in Radio.
Twentieth Century Fox — Disrupting the Marketing Mix, and having a lot of fun on the way (2018/19)
20CF is a powerhouse in film making and needed someone who understands content strategy, big production, and consumer culture to lead their content marketing efforts. We achieved some amazing things.
This was an ballsy, quick-turnaround idea I had to place the cast of Kingsman, The Golden Circle, in to Channel 4 programming. We manage to get Julianne Moore to voice a Friday Night and opening weekend takeover of contextual spots directly infiltrating leading Channel 4 programming. Perfectly embedding ourselves in culture and cutting through with content. Box Office results went through the roof and we led a team across production and media to deliver this stand out campaign. One of my favourites!
This was the second of our Metro takeovers. The first, with Murder On The Orient Express, laid clues for readers to follow that dominated the paper across opening day. This for Isle Of Dogs, stepped it up a notch, by aligning direct script lines from the cast (all dogs) with content on the page of that day’s news cycle. Both afforded me the amazing opportunity of getting early access to scripts, aligning content directly to the movie itself. A multi-format domination, and a one-off experience I’ll never forget.
Other 20CF campaigns: multiple radio promotions, print content pieces, TV campaigns as well as experiential — takeover of Kings Cross and London’s Circle Line — and social takeovers.
Fox TV Networks — Brave Thinking, Brave Executions (2018/19)
This is one of my most-awarded campaigns. The TV show ‘Deep State’ came to the UK before anyone really knew what the term meant. I created a content strategy that a) explained the term, b) made it relevant to a UK audience and, c) built up anticipation for the air date on FOX. We commissioned the editorial team at The Mirror to launch a full scale investigation in to the workings of the Deep State here in the UK. Our campaign received 14 award wins and numerous award nominations because of its brave execution but strategy of using investigative journalism to unearth stories of real human interest, taking advertising in to a whole new world of storytelling.
https://www.talenthouse.com/articles/seen-it-the-walking-dead-london-gallery-opening
This was a long-term content execution to support the whole of The Walking Dead, series 9. Bringing together experiential, influencers, print, digital, social, and owned channel media to regain relevance and bring in new viewership. A great example of how a core content idea can exist across an entire Marketing ecosystem
Other project with Fox Networks: multiple radio activations and various print projects including the first editorial cover-wrap and content takeover of Heat Magazine.
Swarovski — A Subtle Use Of Product to Deliver Meaningful Storytelling (2017)
This was a 6 month content partnership with Swarovski where we let leading talent open up about what it means to #BeBrilliant. I managed the talent and social strategy for this content series as well as its connection back to the ecomm platform, tbseen.com to drive sales.
Other projects with tbseen.com:
Click to see our Boots’ Christmas ad campaign with SKY
Season takeover of Matalan’s ‘The Show’ with ITV:
