Will Farquhar

1/64 Robinia Street, Frankston, Victoria 3199 | Mob. 0431 404 132| email:

Linkedin: /willfarquhar | Website:

Career Summary

Passionate Digital Content Writer/Copywriter who lives and breathes brands and the key role they play in the hearts and minds of organisations, communities and the world at large.

A dedicated and results oriented thought leader in the business of managing brands across all media. Extensive stakeholder and project management skills enabling successful collaboration with product managers, marketing, PR and social media to produce effective and compelling brand messages that work, on time and on budget.

Offering the benefits of over 20 years’ experience working at the highest level in creative industries producing effective, award winning work for international brands such as The BBC, Adidas, PatekPhillipe, Hyundai, Nescafe, Lloyds Bank, Goodyear and Bank of Melbourne.

Success in career has required the following:

  • Unique blend of creative flair, strong business acumen, with the ability to cross effortlessly between Digital, Social and Conventional media
  • Extensive experience in numerous industries in Australia and internationally, with the ability to immerse into new sectors, quickly understand the key issues and craft successful campaigns
  • Depth of planning knowledge, and understanding as well as, creating briefs, distilling complex information down to one thought
  • Visionary with a passion for exploring possibilities and opportunities
  • Solid research skills and ability to turn findings into successful campaigns
  • Strong leadership, providing guidance and direction that bring the best out in a team

Qualifications andTraining

Bachelor of Communications and Advertising Thames Valley University

Design & Art Direction (D&AD) Student Course D&AD

FEDAS (Film, English, Drama & Art) Diploma University of West London

Writing for the Web and Mobile Gymnasium

Team Management and Leadership Programme (TMLP) Landmark

Key Achievements

  • Successfully launched 50Unleashed, (the brand for Generation X) on Facebook. By blogging and vlogging triple the amount of recommended posts,50Unleashed outscoresMashable Australia.
  • Recently recruited by Telstra to launch a new product in a new category for the company, Telstra Smart Home. Writing everything from the homepage to the instructions in the box.
  • Re-positioned GE in consumers’ minds from being un-Australian to securely being part of Australia’s economy and future by creating the ‘Two Words For Tomorrow’ campaign.Ignoring conventional media ‘Two Words’ was launched entirely on Social Media.
  • Enabled the BBC to be reinstated as a beloved icon through the creation of a series of films, one of which, ‘Perfect Day’ went to number 1 in the charts, became a program in its own right and is considered a standard bearer for the brand.

Employment History

Freelance 2010 – present

Content Writer / Copy Writer / Creative Director

Worked with a variety of the most recognised agencies and organisations in Melbourne and Sydney including Telstra, The Good Guys, Saatchi & Saatchi Melbourne, JWT Melbourne, Grey Melbourne, Disciple, Dentsu Sydney, Oddfellows, The Senior Agency, Marmalade, Vive Group, Cornwell, The One Centre, AdMark, BMF Sydney, M&C Saatchi Sydney and SP Health.

Key achievements include the following household brands including:

  • Telstra
  • Bank of Melbourne
/
  • 50Unleashed
  • Toyota Mechanical Parts
/
  • Devondale
  • The Good Guys

  • The Domain Principal Group
/
  • RACV
/
  • Accor

  • Toyota Yaris
/
  • Toyota Accessories
/
  • Toyota Ownership Solutions

Select Key Achievements

Successfully launched 50Unleashed as the ‘Facebook page for Generation X’. Drilling into this untapped MTV/Punk mind-set, 50Unleashed has leapfrogged Mashable Australia. Posting daily two to three times the recommended number of posts, 50Unleashed is well on the way to the magical twenty thousand likes.

Recruited to launch Telstra Smart Home, an exciting new product category for Telstra. Working closely with stakeholders from Melbourne, Sydney and Mumbai, as well as working alongside UX designers to make sure Smart Home is foremost in the mind of anyone who wants to control their home from the palm of their hand.

On a small budget NB wanted to bring their “always on the move” philosophy to life. Ainnovative piece of installation art, The Magic Box, was proposed. It looked from afar like a huge NB shoebox but with giant shots of product and corresponding QR codes on the inside, so runners could buy on the run. NB loved the concept and has requested additional Magic Boxes in other locations.

Re-positioned GE frombeing un-Australian, to being part of Australia’s future by creating ‘Two Words For Tomorrow’. A campaignthat highlighted GE’s contribution to the Australian community, while moving GE’s media from conventional to Digital and Social.

Not having Victorians prepared for a storm had cost tax payers millions in insurance claims only a few months before. Success for the resulting Storm Safe activity was measured with over 10,000 Victorians applying for free Storm Safe work gloves, to help them prepare their homes for the forthcoming storm.

British Paints had developed 4 Seasons outdoor paint, made to endure the extremesof the Australian climate. To demonstate its durability, a piece of installation art ‘The Climate Torture Chamber’, was developed. 4 compartments containing 4 different extreme weather conditions for the paint to endure over its 25 year guaranteed life span – Sun, Frost, Rain and Wind.

McCann EricksonLondon2007 – 2010

Creative Director

Responsibilities included raising the creative output and making McCann Erickson London office the most creative McCann office globally.

Select Key Achievements

Nescafe instant coffee was rapidly losing market share. People thought it was ‘unnatural’ and not sourcedfrom a plant. ‘The Spark’ campaign through Digital, Social and Conventional media disproved this, showing that the essence of Nescafe was completely natural and sourced from a coffee plant. The first time this had ever been done.

MasterCard bid for and won the sponsorship rights to the Champions League, the world’s premier club football tournament but were unsure of their fit. Created the ‘Witnessing History – Priceless’ campaign which became their new mantra and was adopted around the world by MasterCard and sport, most notably at the 2011 Rugby World Cup

MasterCard saw a gap in the European market for a debit card and wanted to launch one called Maestro however consumers perceived credit cards to be untrustworthy and complicated to use. Directed a team of planners, internal and external stakeholders and creatives across Europe. Maestro was successfully launched after years of planning without implementation

Although The Co-Operative had invented the supermarket category in 1948, they were perceived as the ‘little co-op’ around the corner. They wanted to form the ‘Big Four’ with Tesco, Sainsbury and Asda. Planned, designed and implemented the relaunch of The Co-Operative Supermarket and successfully uplifted it into the Big Four, winning the hearts of the British public as well as industry awards

Vinnie Advertising2002 – 2007

Creative Director/Founder

Vinnie was a London boutique advertising agency launched through a production company located at Pinewood Studios. Some of the many clients included easyJet, Metro newspaper and Wines of South Africa and occasional consultancy work was completed for ad agencies.

Select Key Achievements

EasyJet wanted to maintain its popular ‘oddball’ humour whilst launching six new destinations. The ‘Sex in the City’ campaign coincided with the ending of the show and sold more seats to the new destinations than ever before. Crashing the website and becoming a talking point on national radio

Metro, a free newspaper originally launched in London,were now printing localised editions in other major cities. The Edinburgh Festival, the world’s largest arts festival was on the horizon. The editor wanted to have a presence there throughout. One solution was to have a ‘Metro blimp’ made so that a punter could find the Metro area easily, a flying landmark in the crush of the crowds

Wines of South Africa had little to no profile in the UK. Not much was known about the wines and they had no point of difference other than geography. The resulting activity highlighted South Africa’s unique terroir coupled with its unique biodiversity, explained simply, why magical wines come from such a magical place

Leagas Delaney1993 – 2002

Creative Director

Leagas Delaney’s reputation was that of a print agency. It had just won adidas and the BBC, both major TV clients.

Select Key Achievements

Enabled the BBC to be reinstated as a beloved icon through the creation of a series of films, one of which, ‘Perfect Day’ went to number 1 in the charts, became a program in its own right and won British Television and D&AD Awards

Successfully launched Adidas’ Predator soccer boot through ‘The Rock’ campaign for the World Cup. Adidas gained back market share from Nike and apparel and equipment was sold out in many European cities

A subsidiary of adidas, Salomon had been making quality Xtreme gear for the French Alps since the 1940’s. Always looking forward the company wanted their communications on a limited budget, to do the same. The resulting communications highlighted the little known and largely out-lawed sport of base-jumping. Giving Salomon Xtreme credentials that their competitors could only dream of, a dangerous notoriety which reflected in record sales

Patek Phillippe’s president was nervous about the company should approach its first major launch of a ladies watch, The Twenty-4, at the Basel Watch Fair. The resulting strategy – a watch made for the spirited modern woman was revolutionary. The communications – an elegant but sexually charged story dropped jawsat retailers, airports, in flight, online and at the Basel Watch Fair itself and turned the Twenty-4 into an international best seller

The National Advertising Benevolent Society, a UK advertising charity exists to help industry people fallen on hard times. Relying heavily on ‘The Big Bash’, a glittering event where most of NABS’s funds are raised. The communications powerfully demonstrated that misfortune happens to anyone. The impact of seeing industry giants such as Sir John Hegarty, reduced to a shuffling wreck from a stroke, worked so well it was mentioned on the 6 o’clock news. The grand total at the Big Bash broke all records

The Hyundai mark was little known across Europe. Its philosophy of rigorous testing, aesthetically pleasing lines and complete confidence in its engineering was not even known to Hyundai dealerships. The thrust of the communications was to put forward a uniquely Korean philosophy that goes into each and every car. ‘Where reality exceeds expectations’ was well liked and test-drives at Hyundai dealerships tripled but more importantly the attitude of the dealers themselves towards the Hyundaisthey were selling had also shifted favourably

Awards

Please click here for a list of awards achieved

Referees

Available on request