I leapt into advertising after a Science degree majoring in Zoology and an interesting period as a high school science teacher. This curious leap was made possible by a secret career at the time as a comedy writer for Triple M on Sydney’s highest rating breakfast radio show.
Kazoo, the small, recently established agency that I joined, rapidly grew over the next few years. Over that time, I was responsible for many of their successful and award winning campaigns for clients such as Audi, Singapore Airlines, Kimberly Clark, SBS, and ABC television.
I was made Creative Director of what had become Batey Kazoo in 1998. Around the same time, I decided to have a go at stand-up comedy – this proved alarmingly successful, and I went on to perform at most of the major comedy venues in Sydney and Melbourne over the next few years. Back in my day job, I was working with clients including Singapore Tourism, InStyle magazine, Kelloggs, and Federal Government departments promoting Apprenticeships and combating Youth Alcohol and Illicit Drugs. Oh, and on Friday nights, I’d occasionally do an hour on 702 ABC Radio with James O’Loughlin.
Following the 2005 Batey/Palace merger, I became a Creative Director at the Campaign Palace, responsible for a number of Federal government accounts, together with brands such as Selleys, Singapore Airlines and Pfizer (Codral, Benadryl, Sudafed, Mylanta, and Zyrtec).
Around the same time, I helped develop a TV comedy series, Chandon Pictures, which the Foxtel channel Movie Extra decided was worth investing in. The success of series 1 led to a second series, with both series then sold to the ABC and countries around the world. Here in Australia, it was nominated for Best television Comedy at the AFI awards, received an AWGIE (Australian Writers Guild) for best television comedy script, and was nominated for a Logie.
Meanwhile, I left the Palace, spent a week freelancing at the Monkeys which turned into almost a year, and then became a creative director in 2010 at Ogilvy Sydney. Over the last 8 years at Ogilvy, I’ve creatively led accounts including Telstra, Kimberly Clark, Vodafone, Nestle, and a whole range of government business including NSW Drink Driving, Drug Driving and the Federal Government’s “My Health Record” launch.
And now I’m available as a freelance, either in-house or remote.
TV ads, TV series, radio, videos, digital, brochures, fact sheets, direct marketing, eDM’s, social and content – I love doing it all.
You can find me at russellsmyth5@gmail.com