poppy what now?

For the full British blithering experience: read ALL the words.
For the straight-talking, sliiiightly nonsensical basics: read ONLY the bold words.
For my CV, click here :)

WHO THE F**K AM I?

A woman of MANY words who dresses like she lives in the swinging sixties and dances like she wasn’t nought in the nineties.

Proud owner of many nicknames and will respond to pretty much anything. Examples include, but are not limited to: Pop, Pops, Popso, Popsicle, Popstar, ‘a young Hans Christian Andersen’, Soppy Pain (cheers dad), Popcorn (please don’t use this one), Poo-poo-la-la (or this), Popperoo, Copy Poppy and thepoppywriter.

* ends excruciating 3rd person chat *

Some will say it’s a complete coincidence that my name rhymes with my job. Haters gon’ hate.

WHY THE F**K DID I GET INTO ADVERTISING?

Winning snazzy awards is all well and good, but I’ll feel like I’ve ‘made it’ when I hear someone down the pub quoting an ad I made. And I’ll cheers myself with an extra pint if the thing I made helped some people too (I’ve already used my ‘powers’ for good and got some people paid what they deserve, but there’s definitely more good to be done).

Long-term, serious-face plans are climbing up the creative ladder, running the show, and helping other creatives grow.

WHAT THE F**K HAVE I BEEN DOING?

Most recently words, ideas, making change (I’m on the agency’s shadow board and the DE&I team) and creating culture (I lead our social events team, called FunHouse) at House337 (which was Engine, which was WCRS):
May’22 to present

Before that, freelance, largely spent eating delicious little choccies wrapped in gold paper at Mr President:
May’22

Then words, ideas and a pitch win at Antidote, mentoring with Cult Futures and SCA, plus more talks at SCA and some freelance on the side:
May’21 to Apr’22

Fighting (read: writing) for every childhood at the NSPCC:
Sept’20 to May’21

Riding the ronacoaster. On board, I kept busy by writing a kid’s book, winning gold in the Jongehonden pitch competition (working with a partner that I e-met 12 days before), and giving my first talk (on telling self-doubt to DO ONE):
Apr’20 to Sept’20

On maternity cover at M&C Saatchi:
Mar’20 to Apr’20

Winning 6 pitches, creating 4 live (and some life-changing) projects and bottom drawering a gazillion ideas at Creature of London:
Nov’18 to Feb’19 - placement
Feb’19 to Feb’20 - full-time creative

Learning a lot on placement at Havas London:
Aug’18 to Nov’18

With a D&AD graphite pencil, Alex Taylor’s coveted tomato prize for Art Direction, and a TTB Cream win somewhere in between:
Summer’18

Learning how to make ads and make it out of a cult alive at SCA (the School of Communication Arts):
Sept’17 to Jul’18

Trying out being a suit and realising it doesn’t suit me (I’m sorry) at Team Red (WPP), KHWS and Guardian Labs:
Sept’14 to Aug’17

Getting a 2:1 in History and Philosophy and a 1st in watching daytime telly at the University of Leeds:
Sept’11 to Aug’14

WHAT THE F**K HAVE I WORKED ON?

In alphabetical and, at times, awkward order…

April, Ben Kinsella Trust, Brit Insurance, British Red Cross, Cazoo, Charlie Bighams, Checkatrade, City of London Corporation, Department for International Trade, Durex, Echo Falls, EdenMarsh (recruitment), Ella’s Kitchen, E.ON, FairFX, Finish, Fluttr dating, Frameless (immersive art), Gala Bingo, Gala Spins, Gamble Aware, Gaviscon, Good Energy, Greene King, Harrison Fund, Heathrow, Hungry Little Minds, London Medical Laboratory, Kenwood, Kumala (wine), Mazda, M&S (fashion), Noom, NOW TV, NSPCC, Numan, Omaze, On, Oodle, Paperchase, PETA, Piglet in Bed, Royal Horticultural Society, Royal Holloway, Royal Mail, Royal Navy, Santander, Senokot, Simply Be, Sky Mobile, Sky Guild, Sofa.com, Solita, Tilda, Turo, Vanish, Vinterior, Vote For Your Future, Wildlife Aid.

So nm really, hbu?

Bold = pitch wins

WHAT THE F**K ELSE?

When I’m not in Adland having the ideas and writing the words, I’m probably listening to music (house music all life long), in the pub, mentoring baby creatives, rooting and/or selling at bootsales, playing car tetris with toot, laying on my sofa contemplating the fragility of life or burning toast (I can cook, I swear).

I also have some special, potentially useless and/or annoying skills, such as:
talking for England, saying f**k a record-breaking number of times, impeccable colour co-ordination, referencing Friends and/or Harry Potter in absolutely any circumstance (nice one, millennial), perpetual hair twiddling, and endless dad jokes.

WHAT THE F**K DOES EVERYONE ELSE THINK?

I don’t always think I’m very great, or great at all. In fact, sometimes I think I’m a totally useless slug. But, fortunately, lots of other people have said some very nice things that make me feel less slug-like. Here are a few of them:

One of the best writers I’ve ever seen.
Tim Ashton, CCO, Antidote

A brilliant presenter.
Chris Ridd, Strategy Lead, Antidote

SO good at presenting 🔥, her sell-in rationales are 🤌 🤌 🤌 🤌.
Gemma Blake, Account Director, Antidote 

We were pretty blown away by Poppy’s application for the job – she’s full of creative ideas, and a lovely person too. So we’re very lucky to have her.
Sophie Gordon, Creative Director NSPCC

I’ve really enjoyed working with Poppy... she’s brought a lot of energy and great ideas to the job.
Emmanuel Olaleye, Designer NSPCC

Knows her mind, you could say that…
Michael Bailey, Lead Designer, KHWS

Curious… animated… She’s got this real spark. And you always count on her to be last woman standing.
Dominic Wells, Senior Creative Lead News UK (Ex-Commissioning Editor Guardian, Editor of Timeout in the 90s)

My favourite child.
Iain Cumming, Father of one.