BILL DUNN
STOP
INTERRUPTING
The best creative work doesn’t interrupt people’s lives. It earns a place in them.
That’s the principle that’s guided my work since I started my career in magazine publishing, where I learned to find authentic human stories and understand what makes people choose to spend their time with them. Advertising taught me how to turn those stories into ideas and content that build brands.
Today, I create desire by making work people genuinely want to engage with – developing the thinking, writing the words and leading the work from idea to execution.
My unique palette of skills: brand strategy, scriptwriting, Tone of Voice, long-form writing, creative direction across every platform.
Bill Dunn
Creative Content
SCRIPTWRITING & CREATIVE DIRECTION
LOVE MATCH
CLIENT: Mercedes-Benz
AGENCY: AMV BBDO
Rather than write a TVC and cut it down for social, Love Match was planned to be modular so that each of the dates and the final resolution could be used as a short 10-second hit on Facebook, or a digital banner, as a 30” TV spot, or enjoyed on YouTube as a 60” “director’s cut”.
Love Match is branded social comedy for the digital world. I've written for the BAFTA-award winning sketch show Smack the Pony, and director Ben Taylor has directed the critically acclaimed Catastrophe starring Sharon Horgan, Sex Education and The Avengers.
GRASSROOTS
CREATIVE DIRECTION, INTERVIEWING
CLIENT: E.ON
AGENCY: House 337
E.ON wanted to promote its role in helping grassroots football clubs with their energy costs. There's nothing like meeting your heroes, so I devised this series of films and worked with the young interviewers to help them get the most out of their afternoon with their idols.
OUTSIDE
CREATIVE DIRECTION, INTERVIEWING
CLIENT: Land Rover
AGENCY: Redwood
Why tell an audience about Land Rover's capability when you can show them? I found Larry Burke, pioneer editor-in-chief of Outside magazine. After five years exploring remote regions of Africa, South America, the Middle East, Russia, and many more, he came back to America and realised there was no magazine that covered the adventurous lifestyle that had come to define him.He created an entirely new type of media brand, which would go on to change the outdoor industry forever. I interviewed him about his life and philosophy while we drove a Land Rover across his land near Santa Fe.
KING’S CROSS
COPYWRITING
CLIENT: The King's Cross Group
AGENCY: Elvis
I wrote a "poetic" series of OOH ads that reflected the relaxed rambling way you experience the King's Cross site. Luckily we got these out before the summer heatwave.
SENT TO COVENTRY
CREATIVE DIRECTION, SCRIPTWRITING, INTERVIEWING
CLIENT: E.ON
AGENCY: House 337
E.ON partnered with Coventry City Council to create the UK’s first Strategic Energy Partnership, helping power it to a more sustainable future. Coventry is also E.ON's home town. I researched, interviewed and created this video to show everything Coventry has to be proud of – its music, innovation and a multicultural “can do” spirit. Directed by Rob Sanderson.
BRAND STRATEGY & CREATIVE DIRECTION
THE OUT
CLIENT: The Out
AGENCY: House 337
The Out – Jaguar Land Rover’s luxury hire car division – wanted to inspire people to get out of London and explore the British Isles. I created “The Lost Art of Losing Yourself” and created a series of video and written content that explored meeting creators and makers like Gareth Ward, the iconoclastic chef owner of Ynyshir in Wales and North Norfolk artist Fred Ingrams. Due to our content, The Out literally sold out of available cars for several months. I also used social content from our carefully chosen creators to highlight the USPs of The Out's range of cars. See more at The Out's journal page.
CREATIVE DIRECTION
THE DESCENT
CLIENT: Volvo
AGENCY: Redwood
When there's no story, you create one. We took ultra runner Anton Krupicka, mountain biker Tom Oehler, paragliding pilot Jean-Baptise Chandelier and the new Volvo V60 Cross Country to the Pyrenees. The idea was a weekend away with a group of friends who all find different ways of getting down the mountain.
Volvo still got their driving footage for dealership use, but they also got an engaging long-form video that appealed to the target audience and showed the car's abilities. Directed by Martin Swift.
CREATIVE DIRECTION
BEING HUMAN
CLIENT: BBC
AGENCY: AMV BBDO
BBC Earth wanted to promote "Being Human", a series about the incredible potential of the human body and mind. I found Sophia, an advanced humanoid robot from Hanson Robotics. My film was intentionally a little Pinocchio-like – after watching the BBC Earth series, Sophia realises she can never quite share in the magic of being human. It created the most debate the BBC has ever had on its social platforms when we posted short teasers with the question, "Will robots ever be human?" Directed by Chris Thomas.
LIVE TRANSMISSION
CREATIVE DIRECTION
CLIENT: Mercedes-Benz
AGENCY: AMV BBDO
The skills of an editor and journalist combined with social media's restricted yet infinite palette helped me transform Mercedes-Benz's social offering. Sometimes, that involved meticulously planning innovative ways to add engagement to Mercedes' involvement at big events like London Fashion Week, Goodwood Festival of Speed and the Silverstone Grand Prix, using Facebook Live as a broadcasting device.
Sometimes it involved thinking – and editing – on your feet, like a reporter. Editing bite-size clips on an iPhone at an event. Choosing one picture from the 50 a photographer has just WhatsApped you. How can I best tell this story? What does it need next… an interview, a boomerang, a rewind, a video or a still image? They're the same questions I used to ask as an editor and writer; it's just now the results are so much more immediate.
CREATIVE DIRECTION & INTERVIEWING
PAUL SMITH
CLIENT: Land Rover
AGENCY: Redwood
Land Rover is more luxury and design-driven and less utilitarian these days. But there's still a lot of love for the iconic Defender, the vehicle that started it all. So when long-time Land Rover lover Sir Paul Smith decided to put his colourful design mark on one of the last Defenders off the production line, I created a film to celebrate it.
I've worked with Paul many times over the years, and I wanted this to feel like he was driving through London chatting comfortably with an old friend – even though I was actually crouched uncomfortably in the boot shouting questions over the back seat with the sound man next to me.
Like everything I do, the content is underpinned with a story. Paul wanted to be a racing cyclist until a bad crash meant his life changed direction and led him towards the creative field. Directed by Zac Assemakis.
FAREWELL, ANTANDEC
CREATIVE DIRECTION
CLIENT: Santander
AGENCY: House 337
Santander was wrapping up its "Bank of Antandec" campaign after six years and they wanted to mark the occasion. Rather than doing a simple "best of" mashup, I created a story in which Nicholas, one of the series' regular stars, doesn't actually realise he's been working for a fictional bank – until the reality finally dawns on him. This allowed us to feature some of the key Santander people who'd commissioned the original adverts in a natural way.
HEY STUDENT
CREATIVE DIRECTION & INTERVIEWING
CLIENT: Sainsbury's Bank
AGENCY: AMV BBDO
Sainsbury's Bank wanted a series of content aimed at new students for fresher's week (when a lot of bank accounts are opened). They wanted to show how they understand students and their needs. I worked with a casting agency to find a good group of parents and students and got them to talk about the realities of student life on camera. This involved interviewing technique – knowing when to be quiet and let the conversation flow, and when to move things on with another question. During the interviews, both parents and their offspring found things out that they didn't know about each other. The grill story was a bit of a revelation. Directed by Zac Assemakis.
HOUSE OF PERONI
CREATIVE DIRECTION
CLIENT: Peroni
AGENCY: Droga 5
The Droga5 team found eight emerging fashion designers who had the right stuff to go even further. We took them on to the next step by providing them with studio space in East London, mentorship from the likes of Alexander Fury and Pandora Sykes and the occasional free beer. It culminated in each producing a capsule collection which they showed at London Fashion Week 2019. Our challenge – aside from managing a very complicated project – was to create a video which told the whole story in 30 seconds.