
Monday
A busy social weekend followed by a 6am alarm call is a shock to the system. I'm careful not to wake my wife Suzanne, who's also our marketing director, and is still peacefully asleep. Oh to be in Marketing.
I grab a coffee, catch the BBC news headlines and then head for the train. I use the 45-minute commute to review emails, figures and tasks for the week and call home to let them know that I've fed the dog and rabbits.
The kids are on school holidays now so my morning routine is much more peaceful than usual.
Monday always kicks off with a sales team meeting to discuss the previous weeks performance, areas of focus and new initiatives. OOH revenue is looking good for 2015 and Outdoor Plus has already had three new site launches in H1 with more to come this year.
Our managing director, Jon Lewis, and I head off to meet Yvonne Scullion, managing partner at Talon, for lunch at Spring in Somerset House. A lovely lunch in a beautiful venue.
I'm back to the office for 3pm as we have Jennie Sallows, Kinetic's head of insight, coming in to present the role of Behavioural Economics in OOH to the team.
I felt it was important for the whole team to see the deck Jennie & Ogilvy Change presented at AWE & Media 360. OOH is very good at "herding" and "social proofing", reiterating its strengths as the awareness and behavioural change medium.
To round off the day Richard E Grant pops in unannounced at 5pm. He's just been to a Selfridges merchandising meeting about his latest fragrance launch, and wanted to drop off a bottle of his new Jack Covent Garden for me to try. He’s such a nice guy. I’m slightly star struck.
I get home for 7.15pm, bowled over by our three noisy boys and an excitable cocker spaniel. It's a sunny evening, so we head to the park for a run around in the hope they may all tire and go to bed before 9pm.
Suzanne and I then settle down to catch-up on the final episode of The Affair on Sky Atlantic.
Tuesday
Up early for a breakfast meeting with the Cabinet Office media team at No 10 Downing Street. They are really interested in the dynamic capabilities of DOOH, and want to follow up on the success of the General Election tactical activity they ran with us.
They've also noticed our latest initiative, #message2london, and give us some great feedback.
Next I head to Posterscope for a catch up with Rob Rosenthal & Andy Matthews, before getting back to the office for a management meeting with Jon Lewis and the heads of departments.
These meetings are crucial to the continued success of the business and are always lively and productive sessions. One item on the agenda is a run through of our exciting development plans for the rest of the year - more news on that in the coming months.
Now that Outdoor Plus is a full council member of the OMC, Jon takes the opportunity to update us on their latest positive developments.
No time for lunch today.
I call Gill Reid at MediaCom to discuss a new EFD film release. We've planned & executed the activity within 24 hours. A great example of how DOOH can & should be used.
That afternoon I have a meeting with the team at Rapport to discuss their strategy for H2, target clients and ideas for how we can grow the business. I report back to the team on my return and brief the marketing team.
Suzanne uses this opportunity to provide an update on #message2london and the initial feedback from the research we've run. Haymarket has also reported that the ±±¾©Èü³µpk10 hub has generated over 8,000 unique users, which makes it one of their most successful partnerships for the year to date.
I meet Phil Dack, head of investment at Talon for a beer, some banter and to follow up on yesterday's lunch with Yvonne and the strategy plan for the second half of 2015.
While at the pub I bump into Guy Wieynk, CEO of Publicis. We're mates so head home for a bit of a social catch-up on the "gin express" back to Sussex.
I'm back home by 8pm. With the boys on school holidays, I join them to build a camp at the back of the garden. Suzanne finds some marshmallows so we head out to light the fire-pit and open a bottle of Miraval Rosé.
Wednesday
Up at 6.45am this morning and while on the train I catch up with my Twitter feed, Sky & BBC news and sport, Wired, and various industry news feeds.
Once in London I get a Boris Bike into work, which is my preferred way to get around London for meetings. I catch up with the individual Specialist teams and we review progress for the week; afterwards I meet up with Chris Earnshaw and his recently formed Agency team, as they have a number of new briefs in.
At the end of the day, I head over to Lord’s cricket ground for a dinner hosted by Miroma. I still feel very lucky and privileged to work in the media industry, and never take any of these events for granted. That said, I’m sure my absence will be felt at Dad's footy tonight.
Thursday
Bed late & early to wake, I take the mutt around the block so that he stops giving me sad eyes, and take my leave.
I get into work for 8.30am, grabbing a strong coffee before a catch up with Jon. I then head out for various meetings, including one with Kinetic’s Nick Bell.
We discuss ideas for pitching iconic digital to some of his retail clients. A productive morning out of the office – I fire off e-mails in between to ensure actions are covered off.
It's 2pm, and I join Chris Earnshaw and the agency team for a "creative corner" session. Definitely some ideas better than others.
Chris travels home with me as we’re heading off early in the morning to the MediaCom Shooting Day. Dinner with Suzanne, where we put the world to rights, and as she heads up to bed at 11pm. Chris and my eight year old are still in the garden playing frisbee.
Friday
Today is the annual MediaCom clay pigeon shoot and overnight stay in the Cotswolds, hosted by Karen Blackett. Outdoor Plus are co-sponsors with Google & Quantcast, so Chris and I spend the day with the great and good of MediaCom and their fabulous clients including DFS, Universal Music, NBC Universal & Visit England.
It is a wonderful day for building relationships and having some fun. Small detail, but I beat Chris by one clay.
The lowdown
Age: 41
Favourite media: Excluding OOH, it's currently Sky Atlantic (Game of Thrones, True Detective, House of Lies), Discovery Channel (Goldrush) & Netflix.
My biggest inspiration: I'd have to say my wife. I don't know how she does it all.
Dream Job: James Bond, Mi6.
Not a lot of people know this about me... I'm a fully qualified lifeguard.