5 Minutes with… Graham Sweet
Graham Sweet's career spans from London to Lagos - but it’s Sydney where The Hallway’s head of strategy finds himself today. Over the course of a career which has afforded Graham a wealth of knowledge and experience, Graham has developed a knack for working with brands that have big ambitions.
Graham has worked for the likes of Saatchi & Saatchi, DDB, We are Social, Bohemia Group, Clemenger BBDO and The Royals. Throughout his career, he has collaborated with brands such as Volkswagen, Streets Ice-Cream, Lipton Ice Tea, Samsung, Netflix, and XXXX Summer Bright Lager.
Believing that we are currently living in the fourth industrial revolution. With all our access to technologies that are constantly evolving, he is striving to see positive change in the world around him. He believes that if we combine creativity, innovation, and technology together, positive change can occur.
To learn more about his career, LBB’s Casey Martin sat down with Graham to talk about all things creative…
LBB> What were you like growing up? Have you always been the one with the strategy?
Graham> When I was about seven years old, I wanted to be a ninja. I expressed this to my teacher at the time and she shot me down for being too noisy. I was always into drawing and art but never great at fine arts or realism, which didn’t bode well with my classically trained high school art teacher.
In terms of ‘having a strategy’ I learnt pretty quickly the skill of hustling and outsourcing. If there was a school project, I knew it wasn't in my wheelhouse. I would hustle to bring in the help of a friend or family member.
LBB> What has been the most exciting and challenging project you’ve worked on?
Graham> The Volkswagen Polo Unfail campaign is the one that stands out and probably fits the bill of exciting and challenging. We’d been chipping away at making something outside of traditional film for a while, but never expected for this campaign to do as well as it did. Especially when you’re proposing to launch with an unbranded piece of film and asking the clients to trust that all the pieces will fall into place. Hats off to them for saying yes. I remember sitting with the CDs at the time - Jade and Vince - working on another brief and someone kept popping in to update us on the numbers. Every couple of minutes the views would increase by the 1000’s, multiplying quicker than a wet Mogwai.
LBB> What does the fourth industrial revolution mean to you and how do you find balance and ways to adapt with the ever-changing industry and technologies?
Graham> There’s no doubt that things are changing and changing fast. My approach is that you have to give it a crack. So many people love to throw out a well-articulated opinion on something and the impact that it will have on society, advertising etc. but without ever logging in and testing the limits of it. AI is the perfect example of this. Everything has its limits, but you can’t really know what the limits are unless you get stuck in.
LBB> You have been all over the world with your career. What differences have you seen in the industry, and how has this changed/affected your point of view?
Graham> No matter the geography, the consistent narrative from suits to planners to creatives is that everyone wants to make great work. Thank goodness for that. While the differences might be found in technical limitations or cultural nuances, most people just want to get on with it and make something awesome.
LBB> Who/what has been your biggest inspiration?
Graham> One of my biggest inspirations is the smallest person in my life. My 9-year-old son. He’s always thinking, creating and keen to learn about new things. Together we’ve built his own small business, released a couple of songs on Spotify, dabbled in NFTs and most recently started co-creating using Midjourney. Apart from his super eagerness, I love the ‘nothing is impossible’ attitude that he approaches everything with, the child-like faith that it can be done.
LBB> What is the biggest lesson you have learnt over your career?
Graham> Strategists shouldn’t strive to be the smartest people in the room, but rather the most useful. No one cares about how smart you sound or are, but rather the role you play in helping make the work and making the work better.
LBB> What are you most excited about exploring at The Hallway? How do you see their future developing?
Graham> Everyday there is a new indie agency popping up, which is great for the industry as a whole. But with anything new comes a period of ‘paying school fees’, working through all the teething issues that come with starting something. We’ve paid our school fees and now we’re hitting our stride. I’m excited about the people and the momentum we have going on at The Hallway. There’s a definite hustle mentality in place, one that’s very much aligned to my South African roots of just making stuff happen. We’ve seen great growth in 2023 and I’m excited for the work that we have coming out over the next couple of months.
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