After starting my advertising career in Wellington, a new job generally meant a new continent. From Sydney to Singapore, Portland, Amsterdam, Auckland, and finally Los Angeles. These days, I’m splitting my time between Sydney and Amsterdam writing branded content films, documentaries, as well as writing and illustrating picture books.

Born in England, raised in Adelaide and Wellington, I graduated from Wellington Polytechnic majoring in advertising and illustration.

My first advertising gigs were with feisty independent agencies; Mackay King in Wellington, followed by Connaghan and May in Sydney. Then, after a decent spell at Batey in Singapore garnering a few awards and a touch of notoriety, I found myself at Wieden+Kennedy in Portland, unlearning all I’d thought I knew.

The first project at W+K was for Miller Genuine Draft; a mockumentary on the annual Harley Davidson bike rally in Milwaukee, using a young, unknown director, Todd Phillips.

My first two major Nike campaigns were groundbreakers in alternative and digital media. Firstly, En Vivo, a live-to-air training campaign for Nike Latin America; 120 bespoke videos created and co-directed with Jose Molla. The one-take films, shot in real-time by local news crews, were broadcast three times a day in Buenos Aires and Mexico City.

Then, in 2000, came the Johan Renck directed whatever.com; the first ever campaign to deploy a narrative that originated on TV and resolved itself online. Creating three 60 second spots – featuring sprinter Marion Jones – supported by slew of web films with alternate endings, Nike invested as much as an experiment in internet content than a marketing solution for a generic sneaker; a test case that pioneered Nike’s investment in digital marketing.

Note: Neither of these campaigns were hugely recognised in award shows, as they didn’t fit the categories of 30 and 60 second TV spots; these were pre case-study days.

After one-off Nike spots Good ‘ol boys and Elephant came the hugely awarded Play campaign, featuring the films Tag, Shaderunning and Tailgating.

Shot by the great Frank Budgen, Tag went on to win The 2002 Cannes Film Grand Prix and is frequently rated in the top 20 ads of this century. This was Frank in his prime, and it certainly influenced my work for the next decade (or two); the multi-camera documentary style becoming synonymous with later work for adidas.

Finally at W+K, a retro funk basketball campaign featuring Vince Carter. Rucker Park was a reimagined documentary of a famous New York 70's street legend, Roswell Rayguns told a fake history of an ABA pro team — reissued in 2020 by Nike into a cult shoe and apparel line — and Funk Ship became a Soul Train homage starring Snoop Dogg and Parliament Funkadelic. This frenetic 6 years at W+K was spent mostly in editing suites in LA.

My next adventure, for nearly a decade, was co-running the creative department at 180 Amsterdam. After launching Impossible is Nothing for adidas, and becoming the third most awarded agency at Cannes, 180 was coined ‘The Kings Of Content’ by Shots magazine. The Backpacker Agency of 30 staff soon levelled up to boutique status, by opening an office in Los Angeles, after winning Sony Global.

In 2005, 180 became the most awarded independent agency in the world, and I was later named in Shot’s 50 most influential creatives of the decade for work that included Tag, Shaderunner, Tailgating, Whatever.com, Elephant, The Funk campaign, Kicking it, Wake-Up Call, +10, The Spark, Road To Lisbon, Last Man Standing, Gimme The Ball; all Cannes, One Show and D&AD winners.

Basketball has always been my muse. It started when I was seven years old, and 10,000 missed layups later, I'm still hooked. In my next role, as ECD at DDB Auckland, one of my more meaningful projects was writing The Boroughs campaign for Spark New Zealand. Starring NBA legend, Dr J and kiwi, Steven Adams, this was another long form content series (a carry over from 180 days). A good chunk of the budget was spent on building five high-tech street courts for Auckland, mirroring five iconic courts in the US.

In 2014, after winning awards for all of DDB's deep roster of clients, I moved home to Sydney and took a role as Asia Pacific Regional CD for DDB.

In 2017, I leapt the Pacific, again, for a short spell at R/GA in Los Angeles. Reunited with Nike, I produced the Kyrie Irving film Find Your Groove and launched the Twitter campaign See Every Side.

In April 2018, after deciding to go it alone, came A Guardian, a short film shot in Africa highlighting how drone technology was helping counter animal poaching, for NGO start-up Over&AboveAfrica.

Then in 2019, for running brand On, came the Clio-winning Superfrau, a three minute biopic of Swiss Olympic gold medallist Nicola Spirig.

Untethered, a documentary I both wrote and produced, was released in August 2021, featuring world 100-metre blind Paralympic champion David Brown and his running guide, Jerome Avery, with cameos from comedian JB Smoove (Curb Your Enthusiasm) and ‘The Roots’ co-founder Black Thought. The film was reported extensively in publications including The Guardian, Forbes, CNN, and ESPN while being shortlisted at Cannes, D&AD, One Show, while winning Gold at Creative Circle.

In April 2022, my first book, Group Hug! A Collective Noun Safari was published by Ford Street, Melbourne, in conjunction with the United Nations Development Programme. An educational picture book I both wrote and illustrated, Group Hug! teaches kids about animal biodiversity and the effects of climate change on their habitats.

My second book – that I purely illustrated – The Rabbit’s Magician, was published in September, 2022. Helping kids to deal with the loss of a loved one, I couldn’t turn down the offer to bring to life author Shae Millward’s touching story.

Contact: andrewfackrell@gmail.com