HUGH TODD

England and football. It’s the hope that kills you. But the dodgy refereeing decisions are pretty painful too. Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’. Lampard’s volley two feet over the line. Shearer’s ‘nudge’ on the Argentinian keeper denying Sol Campbell’s winner. ‘Should’ve gone to Specsavers!’ screamed the nation.

At the 2024 Euros we helped other nations cope with such heartbreak with ‘Should’ve Translations’ a campaign that translated the famous slogan into the languages of the other 23 nations. 

Huge thanks to Jon & Bertie and Richard James who kept the idea alive, which we originally came up with for the World Cup in Qatar. All credit to the lads. We all gave 110%. One layout at a time. A great advert for the game. 

After five years of writing in between freelance gigs, it finally happened. My debut novel was published. Cue the trumpets, cheering and a gentle sigh of relief from Mrs T.

It’s been quite a journey from attending the writing course at City, University of London a few years back, to seeing my book in print. Told over the course of a year in one of London’s most loved parks, twelve stories intertwine to form a vibrant tapestry of modern London life. The one line synopsis: ‘Love Actually meets Short Cuts in a North London park.’

I was invited to speak at the legendary Stokey LitFest about how walking round the park trying to think up ad ideas eventually became my debut novel, which is currently a best seller at Stoke Newington Bookshop.

It was quite a challenge to retrain my advertising brain to create longer rather than shorter content; to let ideas and characters breathe, instead of squeezing them into ever tighter spaces.

But I eventually got the hang of it and I enjoyed it so much I'm thinking of going again. Watch this space for more news around 2029. 

If you're interested in buying the book, or at least reading some more blurb, here's the link: rb.gy/okuzs5

I spent three months as Interim ECD at neverland. It was a brilliant experience working closely with co-founder Jonny Forsyth and his incredible team. New work for Ladbrokes, Kopparberg and Innocent took up the bulk of my time. But I also ran projects for Right Move, Tetley, giffgaff, Age UK, Gala Bingo and the hugely important agency Christmas card brief 🤓 

No matter the client or the size of the project, I found myself working with smart, talented, charismatic people - creatives, planners, suits, producers, designers, the folks from finance - every one of them a diamond. It’s no surprise neverland has become one of adland’s most exciting independent agencies. V proud to have played my (interim) part.    

I was very fortunate my first project at BBC Creative was Vigil, a brilliant submarine drama from the makers of Line of Duty. ‘The deeper you go, the darker it gets’ was our platform idea that launched a huge number of executions. Highlights included a vertical trailer interrupting the East Enders credits, cross track posters that were literally under sea level and a pre-roll film featuring a sinking Suranne Jones, all of which helped the show become the most watched new drama on BBC in the past 3 years with 13.4 million viewers.

After two years away from our screens, Lord Sugar, Karren, the candidates, the boardroom, the dreaded interviews and a whole lot more…were back. We celebrated with an irreverent campaign featuring as many tropes of the show as possible. Cue the theme tune and sweeping shots of tall buildings.

A 360 campaign to recruit much-needed nurses. Since launch the work has proved incredibly successful, helping reverse the negative trend in UCAS applications, with figures up 6%.

Stephen Fry and Holly Willoughby tweeted about the campaign helping the NHS knock Apple off the top spot as ‘the most relevant brand in the UK’.

It also performed well at award shows, winning Effie’s, DMA’s and shortlisted four times at British Arrows. And the work also played a major role in MullenLowe being awarded Agency of the Year for Good in 2019.

A campaign to raise awareness of the silent suffering thousands of people have endured since being abused as children.

Part of the Government’s Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) the work has so far helped over 1300 people come forward and be heard.

The brief was two-fold: make people feel pride in the NHS and increase recruitment figures. And can you do it in 6 weeks please?

We shot in real hospitals with real NHS staff over an intense 72-hour period, including the very real live birth of a baby for the first time in an ad.

The campaign launched during the England v Colombia World Cup game - a good moment to engage with viewers - as England finally won a penalty shoot out.

The results were amazing - the biggest ever spike in searches for ‘nursing careers’ and the TV was voted the most popular ad of the year.

Behind the Billboard is a podcast that discovers the stories behind some of the greatest billboards of all time. It’s a passion project I started with Dan Dawson from Grand Visual.

We are both slightly obsessed with everything to do with posters, billboards, digital installations, projections, stunts - basically the whole OOH space. We had a book deal going for a while but it fell through, so we decided to make it a podcast instead.

And yes we realise it’s a little ironic we're discussing the world’s most visual medium on an audio platform. But somehow it works and we’ve had some amazing guests including Sir John Hegarty, Alexandra Taylor, Nils Leonard, Tiger Savage, Dave Dye, Rosie Arnold and Graham Fink.

We broadcast a live show from Cannes in 2022 and more recently we were invited to speak at the UK Creative Festival about the current state of the OOH industry.

Click here for a link to the series.

I was Creative Director on the Co-op for three years and loved the intensity of a retail account, working with a huge mix of creative teams and briefs often to incredibly tight deadlines

I ran every part of the business from TV, OOH, press, radio, digital, social and in-store, even getting involved in re-labelling products and starting a schools’ food initiative.

The high point was when my daughter’s headmaster played the Christmas ad at a school assembly as an example of human kindness.

The Territorial Army had a problem. Everyone thought they were just weekend soldiers. More Dad’s Army than the regular Army.

The truth was the TA fight right next to the regular Army. Same guns, same uniform, same pride in protecting their country.

So we decided to show just that. With 'Live' broadcasts from Afghanistan. Recruitment went up 40% and the campaign won the Grand Prix at Media Week Awards.

A poster campaign to launch Golden Wonder's new range of Golden Skins crisps. Shot by William Seldon, it won a D&AD Yellow Pencil for photography.

‘Ginger Boy’ was featured on the front cover of Creative Review magazine - the first time the publication had featured an advert on its cover for 15 years.

We spoke to many directors about the script, searching for an alternative to the tried and tested POV approach.

Part of Simon Ratigan’s treatment was a test film of himself walking round his flat with a camera strapped to a tripod to give the effect of filming at boot level. Thanks Simon for stepping up.

Only 1 in 10 nurses are currently men. There is a stigma around the role with men being deterred by a perceived link between nursing and femininity.

The film seeks to overcome this gender imbalance, showing the incredible work men do every day across nursing roles in the NHS.

I worked as Creative Director and co-writer on this emotionally charged subject, bringing to life the idea of giving ex-offenders a second chance in the workplace.

The digital execution ‘Skip Ad’ was a media first, winning over 70 awards including two Cannes Lions and a D&AD Graphite Pencil. The overall campaign helped 700 + ex-offenders into full time employment.

1999 was the height of the lads’ mag era - a very different time to today - FHM and Loaded battling it out for enormous circulation figures.

Our task was simple: to sell over a million copies of FHM’s ‘100 sexiest women’ voting issue. We needed to do something audacious, so we created a guerrilla style voting campaign that included projecting Gail Porter onto the House of Commons.

The next day it appeared in every national newspaper and the BBC hailed it as ‘the greatest stunt of the 20th century’.

This was my first HSBC ad, first time shooting with Traktor and weirdly first drink with Lemmy from Motorhead. Click here for the full story.

A year prior to this campaign, Frank Budgen was meant to shoot an FHM TV ad for us. The night before the shoot it got pulled.

We were devastated. But Frank said if you ever get a job involving photography he’d do it as a favour as he was a keen snapper in his spare time. So naturally when we came up with the orgasms campaign for Coco de Mer there was only one person we called.

We spent the next week at our client Sam Roddick's house with various rooms blocked off so Frank could shoot people at the point of orgasm.

The work made it into the national newspapers and won Gold and Silver Lions at Cannes.

I was joint Creative Director on this project set by JCDeceaux to launch their new motion screen at Waterloo. 

#helpgetthemhome was the winner. A live digital and social campaign that won a D&AD Yellow Pencil. But more importantly helped get 6 prisoners get home.

The night the clocks went back we tried to persuade hard-working Londoners to take a break with this stunt in and around the City.

I had two very enjoyable stints at VCCP. During the first I ran and won pitches for Suzuki and eBay. In my second stint I looked after the TfL account, creating 'The air that I breathe' campaign for the new congestion charge ULEZ. I also worked on a Google campaign inviting CEOs to an executive summit at the rural setting of Soho Farmhouse, so we naturally created ‘The Smart Wellie’ by Google, patent pending.

A controversial campaign that became part of the 'yob advertising' debate'.

It won a Gold Arrow at the British TV awards and helped get us our first job at BBH.

Part of the 'Keep Walking' campaign, we shot on location in Acapulco, Mexico and met the legendary Raul who has been a cliff diver all his life.

A parody of the key-party scene from the film The Ice Storm. One of the most complained about ads of 2003.

A pro-active idea brought to life by JCDecauux and Grand Visual using bespoke technology to ‘drag’ an abuser away from his victim.

Together with brilliant team Matt & Jess and equally brilliant producer Carley Reynolds we made this idea happen, after repeatedly being told it was impossible.

We launched our very own radio station for a week with the help of a 200ft aerial in Scotland. A long story, but hugely worth it, with 2 Silver Lions as a reward and a first in radio broadcasting.

We ran and won this £40m global pitch, spending two years dedicated to lusciousness and lips.

A cinema only spot in the Crunchy Nut Campaign.

It was a labour of love for Danny Kleinman who insisted the whole crew shot in wardrobe of the period. 

A viral film for MTV. Thank you again Tony Barry for getting these performances without a drop of alcohol.

At BBH I used to do an impression of John Hegarty’s PA Peter Wardle, who had a very distinctive voice. One day Peter caught me doing it, cue much embarrassment and apologies from yours truly.

A few years later at Saatchi's, we used this cringe moment as inspiration for a radio ad for the Toyota Avensis.

The League of Gentlemen re-enacted the scene and we had a commercial that won many awards and was voted Best Radio Ad of All Time in the Aerials Hall of Fame.

Better still, listeners of LBC rang up and asked for it to be played. Apologies once again Peter.

I like to write short stories when I find the time.

My first attempt ‘Now or never’ was published here in Popshot magazine while ‘1 in 300,000,000’ was shortlisted for the Winston Fletcher Prize where I got to have a chat and a beer with Tim Waterstone.

Both stories were included in my novel 'It Happened in Clissold Park' which has just been published and racing up the bestsellers chart (currently ranked at 7,994 place in Short Stories)

I have also written for Campaign, Creative Review and shots magazines, as well having the occasional cathartic moment on my personal blog here.

I've had back issues all my life since injuring it when I was 18. Physio, red wine, painkillers all help alleviate the pain, but the very best thing is swimming. Around 10 years ago I started taking my regular dips in the pool more seriously and got into it with fancy goggles and speedy speedos, although I'm yet to master a tumble turn. Then I started doing fundraising Swimathons and met Duncan Goodhew, creating one of the worst puns of all time.

I once swam a pool a day for a month and wrote about it. It’s here if you fancy a read.