Born in Ireland far too long ago, I’ve been working in the advertising industry since 1986. The first few years of my career were spent learning the basics of my craft in small companies in Dublin while being overworked and underpaid.

In 1989, I hopped on a plane to London and was soon busy being overworked but slightly better paid there. Three years later I moved back to Ireland to a position where I was fairly well paid and only slightly overworked.

After a couple of years back in Dublin, my wanderlust kicked in yet again. One day, while idly flicking through the recruitment section of Campaign (a weekly UK-based advertising publication), I came across an ad from a local Singapore agency looking for writers, art directors and even a creative director. I applied out of sheer curiosity and to my surprise they offered me the role of creative director. “They must be pretty desperate,” I thought to myself as I accepted the position. They were - and with good reason.

Within a week of my grand arrival in Singapore in mid-November 1993, I discovered that this particular agency had a really bad (and, to be honest, fairly well earned) reputation as an employer. I decided to bear with it for a while and see if things would improve. And indeed they did - just enough to entice me to stick around. In fact, I’ve managed to stick around ever since…

Over the last decade and a half I have worked for various local agencies (including one of my own) and I’m currently earning my crust as a creative group head at a large MNC. I can safely say that my work is far better known then I am – which is how it should be. 

I’ve worked on The National Courtesy Campaign, Crime Prevention (my slogan “Low Crime Doesn’t Mean No Crime” has entered Singapore’s local vernacular, National Clean & Green Week, Senior Citizens Week, National Smoking Prevention Campaign, the Singapore Army and the Defence Science & Technology Agency (DSTA) amongst many others.

On the private sector side, in 1997 I led the creative team that helped M1 gain a subscriber base of 100,000 within the first six months of the fledgling mobile phone operator’s launch. This was a world record at the time.

During this time I have led, guided, harangued, screamed and hurled blunt objects at and in general tried to inspire many younger colleagues who have since gone on to enjoy great success in Singapore, China, Malaysia and Taiwan. (Some of them are even still on speaking terms with me.)

Singapore has worked its way into my heart and, in many ways, become my ‘first home’. I don’t exactly live the exalted lifestyle that most (non – expats) seem to associate with expat living. Living in a HDB flat, eating at my neighborhood hawker centre and memorising useful Hokkien expletives have all helped me to appreciate the Singapore lifestyle.

If you would like to find out more about my thoughts on advertising and living in Singapore, just click on my “Musings” section or contact me.