Over the last 24 years Olly has worked for some of the most effective and creative ATL and digital agencies in the world; FP7 McCann Dubai, JWT London, Dare London, Agency.com, BMP DDB Needham (now Adam and Eve DDB), and DMB&B. This ATL /digital split is still rare, even in this day and age, and his cross-channel experience helps him find those ideas that can work in any and all channels. In his career, he has worked for more clients than you can shake a stick at, across all brand categories, and some of this work has gone on to win Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Grand Prix’s at most, if not all the world’s prestigious award shows. In his previous position as Executive Creative Director at FP7 McCann Dubai, he helped steer the agency to the enviable position of the “Most Effective Agency in the World” not once, not twice, but three times at The Global Effie’s 2016/22 and WARC 2020. Fun fact, his current pitch win rate is 78%: AKA 4 out of 5.
Olly now brings his nearly a quarter of a century of experience to Mullen Lowe MENA, and while that may sound like a very long time, it is. But those years of experience have taught him many valuable lessons; your gut instinct is ALWAYS right; an idea can always be made better even when it’s been made better; a pixel out of place will get noticed; always rehearse your part of the pitch – ideally learn it by heart; there’s never enough time to crack a great idea; don’t worry, the brief can always be retro-fitted; a creative’s job is to extract the good from every bad brief; great planners should be cherished; great clients should never be let down, and if your mum doesn’t understand your latest, greatest idea, no one will.
When he’s not spewing out pearls of wisdom, Olly has been judging D&AD, Creative Circle, The Andy’s, ADFEST, and most recently on the Grand Jury at The New York Festivals. He has written articles for the Media Guardian, Campaign, NMA, and Revolution magazines and has been a key speaker at the IPA and The Dubai Lynx Festival.
If you discover Olly, you’ll most likely find him in any restaurant that serves sushi, the cinema, or a good book.