The Work That Made Me: Steve Howell

With 15+ years experience in the industry Steve Howell has not only established himself as a talented multi-discipline  creative and leader but latterly an sports advertising specialist. 2021 saw him creating some of the biggest campaigns in sport, including: TikTok Euros, Just Eat Takeaway Euros, Shelter #NoHomeKit and the Wrexham sign for Vanarama. His 3+ years at Dark Horses has seen Steve create truly iconic campaigns such as Chels Chat and creating the FA’s Heads Up work that inspired the biggest ever conversation about mental wellbeing in football fans. He has won more than 20 Cannes Lions and back-to-back British Arrow Grand Prix amongst many others, he was also the creative on the launch of Dark Horses very own sports nutrition bar Home Run.

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

The work that really sticks with me is the fun stuff that made the adverts better than the TV shows they surrounded, work like Tango Blackcurrant’s ‘St. George’, Nike’s ‘Billboard’ and ‘Airport’ football commercials, and weirdly, the Dettol commercial where the Mum poured gravy onto the table. Guess a hardcore product demo with a bit of wit sometimes really does do the trick.

I also remember my parents had a VCR camcorder that I would use to film my mates recreating adverts like the Pepsi Max extreme sports-themed ‘whooah’ commercials and the ‘Dancing Man’ for Guinness. So while those ads might not have the same creative merit, they must have stood out to me at the time.

The ad/music video/game/web platform that made me want to get into the industry…

I never explicitly wanted to get into the industry, but managed to take every right step to fall effortlessly into it without any conscious intent. When I was at art college I remember the John West Salmon ‘Bear’ commercial came out and it was probably the moment that started my subconscious journey towards adland. I laughed hysterically the first time I saw it and it still raises a smile to this day. And I still can’t name another salmon brand. 

The creative work (film/album/game/ad/album/book/poem etc) that I keep revisiting…

I’ve got a Spotify playlist that’s my go-to for writing anything remotely creative. It started when I wrote a script whilst playing ‘Varúð’ by Sigur Rós on repeat for however long it took me to get the idea down. The music quickly became background noise that helped to set the tone of what I was trying to write. 

That Sigur Rós track was the start of the playlist that I’ve built up over the years, using it as background noise whenever I need it. Although now it’s less about setting a tone of voice and more about just shutting my mind off to outside distractions and getting energised to type. There’s some bangers on there, with a lot of instrumentals, heavily featuring Bicep, Moderat and a bit of Max Richter amongst other random tracks I’ve added in over the years.

My first professional project…

The first work I ever got out was when I was on placement at BBH. They had the ITV account and every month they’d be a brief to create some print and radio ads for their upcoming shows. I got some work out for a James Nesbitt show and got to record a radio ad with the man himself in the hallway of the Covent Garden Hotel in the middle of a press event. It was the most glamorous thing I’d ever experienced, although looking back, it really wasn’t.

The piece of work (ad/music video/ platform…) that made me so angry that I vowed to never make anything like *that*…

When I see a bad piece of work I usually just feel sympathy for the team behind it, as no one enters a project wishing to create something terrible. Shit happens sometimes though. Like a client thinking their JFDI piece of feedback would make things better, or an ambitious idea spiralled beyond the budget constraints. There’s a lot that can go wrong, so don’t get too angry if you see something that aggravates as I’m pretty sure there will be a creative wallowing somewhere, trying to get their name off the credits.

The piece of work (ad/music video/ platform…) that still makes me jealous…

There’s loads… Nothing beats a Londoner, Gorilla, Sony Balls, Write the Future, The Guardian Three Little Pigs, all the John Smith’s Peter Kay spots, Tango Blackcurrant St George, Dumb Ways to Die, Puma Social After Hours Athlete, Ragu’s Long Day of Childhood, Under Armour Micheal Phelps, I could go on and on…

The creative project that changed my career…

When Paul Silburn joined Saatchi & Saatchi as joint-ECD, his first brief to the whole creative department was to create a poster for The Creative Circle Awards. Mark Denton had just taken over as the awards Chairman and had set the brilliant idea of turning adland into a Beano-themed world. 

As the project manager walked the floor going from team to team collecting their scamps, I quickly drew up a few last minute ideas and slung them into the pile. One of which became the poster.  I’d go on to make some of the best work of my career under Silburn (as so many people did), and I think of that poster as being the catalyst for everything that became. 

The work that I’m proudest of…

The only award I’ve got on display in my study at home is the D&AD Student Award that I won while at university.  It was for the (then) new Peugeot 205. The whole premise was apologising to the public for creating a speedy French car you couldn’t fully enjoy in a Britain full of roundabouts, speed bumps and traffic jams. It was dead simple and beautifully art directed (by Kat Hahn, CD at Meta). It was so good that another team in our university class tried to copy it. Which says everything, really. 

So even though I’m really proud of some of the work I made at Droga5 London and a lot of the things we’ve made at Dark Horses over the years, I think that student work might be my proudest as it was the first bit of work that really made me think I could actually have a career in advertising, so it sort of symbolises the start of the journey for me. 

I was involved in this and it makes me cringe…

The only bit of work I’m embarrassed about making was an advert for Weight Watchers while at Saatchi & Saatchi. For those that have never tried it, Weight Watchers gives a number to everything you could possibly consume, then you add up what you eat and drink each day to keep below a certain number.

The initial idea was to create a method for people to remember all the different numbers attributed to different foods. We wanted to create a catchy song that people could recite when they’re browsing in the supermarket or looking down a restaurant menu. It would have made life so much easier for everyone on Weight Watchers whenever they wanted to eat something.

Through the production process though, the idea was changed by someone above my pay grade to create a happy-clappy sing-song about feeling great as a woman on Weight Watchers. It was naff, cringy and not the simple thought initially ideated. I remember watching the first edit and feeling heartbroken.

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

Last summer we began a legacy project for Just Eat Takeaway that is something I’m still getting excited about. 

At the time, it had been 101 years since women were banned from playing football in England and with the Women’s Euros fastly approaching, we knew there'd be a huge rise in women wanting to join a football team, but also knew there was an even bigger lack of clubs available for any wannabe-players to sign up to.

So we created 101 grassroots clubs, providing kit, balls, equipment and access to official FA coaching. Within a few days of launching we’d had over 500 nascent teams applying to be established. Today, there’s over 2000 women and girls playing football when last year they couldn’t.

And now with the World Cup coming up, it’s something we’re looking to repeat and expand beyond these shores as more and more women around the world are getting inspired to play the game.