The Work That Made Me: Jake O'Driscoll

Jake O'Driscoll is a creative director at Boys+Girls, Ireland's leading independent creative advertising agency. Jake somehow turned a failed law degree, a middling music career during the peak of indie sleaze and a fantastic ability to recite Fast & the Furious trivia into a career as a creative across Australasia and Europe. He resides in Dublin Ireland with his partner Ashley and their beautiful dog (son) Guinness and is a proud advocate for the Irish creative advertising industry.

LBB> The ad/music video from my childhood that stays with me…

Jake> Ad: Toyota Hilux - 'Bugger': It was 1999, the actors were (kind of) swearing on TV, there was a talking dog, and an unfortunate cow. I can close my eyes to this day and go scene for scene in my head.

Music Video: Scribe - 'Stand Up': For anyone that knows the reference they'll appreciate that being from the heart of South Auckland and not choosing the 'Not Many' (Remix) had me conflicted. But, this video, the way it set up the next single, this album and the work of director Chris Graham in general was such a refreshing reflection of my lived-experience of NZ that wasn't always brought to the mainstream.

This video in particular was the genesis of such a rich episode in New Zealand music history. Plus the roll-call of the who's-who of the scene being a part of the crowd and interacting with the camera was (and still is) such a cool celebration of an underground community conquering the mainstream.

LBB> The ad that made me want to get into the industry…

Jake> Trumpet - 'Togs or Undies': This is still my favourite ad of all time. And when I first started looking into what the magical job was out there that let you sell ice-cream by talking about togs and undies all while Rob Brydon narrated. From the first flip of the camera taking you from the beach to the streets, to the fantastic speeding truck at the end - I still laugh every time I watch this.

Just one of the many iconic ads to come out of New Zealand at the time, and Colenso especially, that helped me realise I was privileged enough to be right in the middle of something pretty special in Auckland.

LBB> The creative work that I keep revisiting…

Jake> Any work connected to Nigel Godrich. Whether it's Radiohead albums or the From The Basement performance, to Scott Pilgrim v.s. The World or IDLES, his work is often the soundtrack to my working days, ideation sessions or turn on the agency speakers.

But, if we're really peeking behind the curtain here, it's the 'Fast & The Furious' and 'Oceans 11' franchises. Both are given a full rewatch every six months and are the height of the written word and cinema as far as I'm concerned. 'King Lear', Hamlet, 'Romeo and Juliet', Dominic Toretto, Brian O'Connor, Danny and Rusty. Everyone has their place.

LBB> My first professional project…

Jake> As a full-time creative it would have been print ads for the TV Guide that only ran in the deepest darkest internal pages of the TV Guide itself (a contradiction I still don't understand). But there was also hundreds of gig posters and thousands of bookings for musicians and DJs for club nights around New Zealand - a practice that I look back on now, as filled with so many vital lessons and sharpening of skills I use every day as a creative director.

LBB> The piece of work that made me so angry that I vowed to never make anything like *that*…

Jake> Political ads in general. Our work, our clients and our companies are beholden to advertising standards, internal KPIs, results and so many other things, that it seems crazy that political ads get to avoid these. So, I find the usual bluster of election cycles maddening - the poorly designed posters and bad headlines. There are missed opportunities everywhere; give us more Obama x OBEY posters folks.

LBB> The piece of work that still makes me jealous…

Jake> The same year our team at Boys+Girls won our first Gold Lion, Droga5 Dublin entered 'Saylists' which did really well at Cannes. It's a great idea, a great execution and so well crafted it made both the creative and musician in me pretty jealous - but in a good way that just made us get right back to work and graft even harder. Although I might have been a touch jealous, the overwhelming feeling was more that it was great to see Ireland get its flowers on the global stage.

LBB> The creative project that changed my career…

Jake> Three - 'The Island'. Which was the idea we won our gold for. I was only involved in the smallest parts of the end of the project but it was so fulfilling to see world-class work pouring out of creative departments around the country and see the genesis and production of this campaign within our own walls.

Our working relationship with our brilliant clients at Three has always been the gold standard for us. A brave agency and a brave client pushing each other for world-class business results off the back of world-class creative. It set a marker for us all of where the line was and what we can achieve when given the trust to go for it.

LBB> The work that I’m proudest of…

Jake> It's all the opportunities where we get to reinforce my beliefs. I'm proud to work in Ireland, I'm so impressed by the talent we have here, and so any project that helps shine a light on that fills me with the 'warm & fuzzies'. As 'Brand Ireland' seems to have so much cultural cache in popular culture, it feels like advertising is lagging behind. Far too many of Ireland's biggest organisations seem happier to buy good work from agencies in London than they are to buy work from Irish agencies capable of greatness.

I look at other campaigns like Heineken's Pub Museums work from Publicis Dublin and Le Pub, or any of the other Cannes winners from Irish agencies and you can see that this industry is more than capable of producing work that's of the highest global standard. It's great work for here, that's also from here. The positive effect that keeping work local has among agencies, production companies and post-houses is enormous. Great work can always be a point of pride even if it doesn't come from our agency.

LBB> I was involved in this, and it makes me cringe…

Jake> Life's too short, mate. The opposite ends of a circle are still next to each other, right? So, advertising is both the most important thing in my life and also the least important thing at the same time. I cringe at haircuts I used to have, the skinny jeans I used to wear and not using the comebacks I just came up with today in arguments I had decades ago.

LBB> The recent project I was involved in that excited me the most…

Jake> I’m excited by the work that our agency is doing with two Irish brands enjoyed the world over.

Bulmer’s Irish Cider (also known as Magners to some). The iconic gold foil, the beauty of a pint bottle over ice and A-plus clients who match the energy of the brand itself - it's been super exciting to chart the course for a new direction for a brand I'm such a fan of.

And Leinster Rugby: Getting to work with (arguably) the most successful club team in the world has been a real buzz as an avid rugby fan. We've seen the power of brand for football teams that are famous all over the globe. So, with world rugby at a bit of a crossroads itself, it's been a breath of fresh air to work with a rugby club that has the drive and ambition to transform themselves into a global brand too.