mike harris a copywriter and art director in one.a copywriter and art director in one. he also...

Mike Har r isA Copywri ter and Art Director in one.

, or to partner

Clients I have worked on.

The EconomistBTBayerBritish AirwaysFidelityFordHalfordsHomebaseIKEAILVANorwich UnionNatWestRenaultSainsbury’sTescoThomson HolidaysTravelodgeVolkswagenVolvoVauxhallW.H.SmithYellow Pages

I am a senior Copywriter and Art Director in one, so I can work by myself and save you the cost of a team.

I am also available as a team or to partner an art director or copywriter.

Available freelance or full time.

AMV BBDOI was hired by David Abbott at AMV to work on Sainsburys, I was at the agency for ten years also working on The Economist, Homebase, Halfords, Volvo, Bayer, BT and other clients.

AWARDS WON AT AMV BBDOAMERICAN ONE SHOW FOR THE ECONOMIST CANNES GOLD LION FOR THE ECONOMIST D&AD FOR THE ECONOMIST CAMPAIGN PRESS FOR THE ECONOMIST CAMPAIGN PRESS FOR SAINSBURY’S CAMPAIGN PRESS FOR IKEA

I have also worked at JWT, Lowe, McCann and many other good London agencies.

I have freelanced for M&C Saatchi, Adam & Eve, Leo Burnett, ARC, Ogilvy, Ogilvy One, CHI, KROW, Euro and Saatchi Masius.

Also for agencies outside London.

My ads for The EconomistCopywriting including long copySainsbury’s Digital ExperientialDirect mail FinancialB2BRecent work

Recommendat ion f romDavid Abbott .

Work I have wr i t ten and art d i rected.

I have worked in many London agencies but working on The Economist posters for David Abbott at AMV was a time I shall never forget. (Particularly as I was hired to do Sainsbury’s price ads).

I worked at the agency for ten years. Some really great work had been done on this highly acclaimed, award-winning campaign by some very clever people, including of course one of the best creative directors in the world.

One day I found myself in the unusual situation of not being head down on the Sainsbury’s work which David had hired me to look after, so I wandered into his office and offered my services.

He said we needed a new idea for The Economist London taxis.

After numerous trips to David’s office the verdict on my taxi ideas so far was “As you can see I am not jumping up and down.” His favourite saying when discussing creative work that wasn’t quite there.

I began to worry. Getting this brief all to myself was a gift and I just had to make it work.

One quiet afternoon – I was probably looking out of the window – the word pedestrian came into my mind ...pedestrian ... ordinary ... (my mind was racing now) ... read The Econo-mist and avoid the ordinary ... no ... taxi ... pedestrians crossing busy London roads ... avoid the pedestrian ... blimey this was it!

Back into David’s office. He didn’t jump up and down (he never did). But he did point one finger high in the air and exclaim “That’s the one!”

And it was.

For hire. A copywriter and art director in one.

He also managed to fit in some very good ads for our other clients, notably The Economist.

David Abbott

Created when working as a team with Gideon Todes at AMV.

Poster on the London Eurostar concourse.

Sainsbur y’s

Not some ‘knock it out quick, it doesn’t really matter’ kind of chap but someone who would use all his craft to make the ads as good in their way as the Sainsbury’s brand ads were.

David Abbott

Grapes pressed in Reims.

Price squeezed at Sainsbury’s.

Grapes pressed in Reims.

Price squeezed at Sainsbury’s.

Not only did Mike bring order and quality to the account, he ended up writing most of the copy too.

David Abbott

Digi tal

Email to BA customers advising them of low price offers

on Golf holiday flights.

Email to BA customers, advising them of Christmas wine offers and the

air miles they can earn when they buy wine from the BA Wine Club.

Long copy

Ogilvy

Copy for BA Wine Club email to customers.

An early Christmas present from The BA Wine Club.

The season of goodwill is fast approaching and who do you think deserves some the most?

Exactly.

So why don’t you get some Christmas presents and treat yourself at the same time, by taking advantage of the superb choice of wines from across the world, and the attractive prices, available from The BA Wine Club?

As an Executive Club member you will receive 1,000 BA Miles when you order your first case of wine and, if you have not orderd wine from us before, wait for it, a free corkscrew!

You will also recieve 250 BA Miles for every further case of wine you order and, if you have purchased from The Wine Club before, or shopped with any of our other everyday partners, you can take advantage of our Christmas Accumulator offer.

While you friends savour your much apprecited gift of a fine Louis Jadot Bugundy, or a crisp, cool Marlborough New Zealand Sauvignon, you will be equally content in the knowledge that they are helping you build up your BA Miles towards your next reward flight.

Cheers everybody!

Chris O’Shea

Copywriting for one of twenty websites written for Homebase Gardening.Mike was the one who would take on the reta i l ads, the trade campaigns and similarly messy jobs which every agency has, yet which many creative teams consider rather beneath them. He approached these jobs with enthusiasm and inte l l igence.

Homebase gardening website copy. Slugs and snails.

How to deal with slugs and snailsNo sooner do the fruits (or vegetables) of your labour appear, sotoo do the slugs and snails. You can tell if you’ve got a problemwhen you notice irregularly shaped holes in leaves, and thesparkly slime trails they leave across your planted beds.

But how do you deal with these hungry pests? Well, thankfully there are plenty of solutions, but first you need tofind out which one is causing all the damage.

Slugs or snails? You can tell whether you’ve got slugs or snails by the type ofdamage and where it occurs, and by the slime trails they leaveeverywhere. Slugs tend to stay around ground level and eat everything andanything. Keeled slugs are particularly annoying because theylive underground and eat the roots. Common in damp soils, they’llruin crops of potatoes by tunnelling into them and eating outlarge holes. Snails are the ones who are really good at scaling vertical sur-faces, so if you notice plants being demolished in a hanging basket, for example, it’s probably a snail. Snails are also quite fussy eaters. They tend to feast on the softerbits between the ribs of a leaf, leaving you with just a plant skeleton.

Key steps on how to get rid of slugs and snails responsibly andsafely.

Step 1. Go on nocturnal patrols: Slugs and snails feed at night, soyou can go out with a torch and pick them off the plants that areunder attack.

Step 2. Build a rough barrier: A common remedy is to create abarrier around your plants of sharp grit or egg-shells, slugs and

snails will find this uncomfortable to cross.Make sure the barrier is at least 5cm wide and has no gaps. Butwhen they find a really tasty plant even a rough barrier won’t stopthem.

Step 3. Set up a salt barricade: You can protect plants in pots bygreasing the rim with Vaseline mixed with salt. As they slither upthe side of the pot they take up the salt which dehydrates andstops them.

Step 4. Lure them with food and drink: Put jars of beer in theground making sure the top is level with the soil, these are irre-sistible to slugs and snails. They usually leave plants well aloneand head for the beer, falling in and drowning. Slugs also love to eat bran and will happily gorge themselves onit, the bran then swells in their stomach and that’s the end ofthem. It’s less effective on snails.

Step 5.Use biological controls: You can buy microscopic crea-tures called nematodes which aggressively search out and attackslugs. They’re a natural, non-toxic control method that’s safe forboth users and wildlife. The nematodes stay active for about six weeks, so a single dosewill protect plants when they are emerging in the spring and areat their most vulnerable. Can only be used in spring and summer when the soil is warm,they’re the best method of controlling underground keel slugswhich rarely come to the surface. Avoid using slug pellets, they can lead to hedgehog and songthrush death and we must protect wildlife.

Top tip: Check your problem isn’t caterpillars. They damage leaves in a similar way but need to be dealt withdifferently. If you spot tiny black balls of poo on leaves, you’ve gotcaterpillars. To get rid of them, try either picking them off orspraying them with a jet of water.

Exper ient ia l

Direct mai l

Financial

B2B

Latest work

If you do your own advertising don’t worry,

no one will notice.See how much better your advertising could be.

www.mikeharris-ad.com

Michael Harris AdvertisingBlackwall Studio Rye East Sussex TN31 6TD

e: mike@mikeharris-ad.com m: 0798 538 9925 t: 01797 230 350

Self promotion.

Recommendat ion f romChris O’Shea.

Mike Harris e: mike@mikeharris-ad.com t: 01797 230350 m: 0798 538 9925 folio: www.mikeharris-ad.com