The Work That Made Me: Steven Hey

Steven> I remember the ‘Reassuringly Expensive’ campaign for Stella Artois having a massive effect on me as a kid.

A lot of beer ads in the '90s were on another level but this stood out. Completely changing the perception of a product with just two words was mind blowing to me. Jean De Florette instantly became one of my favourite movies.

Steven> I was barely aware of the industry until I moved to London without a plan and accidentally got a job as a suit. But the campaign that inspired me to give creativity a shot when I moved to Australia a few years later was Tourism Queensland’s ‘Best Job in the World’.

It was the first time I realised advertising wasn’t all ads. Later I got to work with the people that created that campaign, which was an awesome learning experience.

Steven> I re-read Cormac McCarthy books fairly regularly to remind myself about the efficiency of language. I’ve replayed the Red Dead Redemption games a few too many times for the immersion and just how expensive they are. I’ve been watching a lot of Cronenberg movies recently, and I love shows like Twin Peaks and Dark, and British comedies like Peep Show and Alan Partridge because, whatever the genre, I just love things that really commit and stick to that off-kilter, unique perspective.

Steven> Starting out in London I had no idea how lucky I was to work with Aardman Animations as one of my first clients. They had a partnership with the Intellectual Property Office, a floor of the Science Museum and a healthy budget for an exhibition. We built Wallace & Gromit’s house at human size, filling it with some of the world’s best ideas and ‘Wallace-designed’ inventions to illustrate the importance of protecting your IP.

It did well, then moved around the world, eventually arriving at the Powerhouse in Sydney.

Steven> I have a personal aversion to ads where people spontaneously burst into dance, so I try to avoid that kind of thing.

Steven> There’s a lot. It feels obvious to say Meet Graham, but that’s one of the first that comes to mind.

The Iceland ‘Let It Out’ campaign

Netflix’s ‘Narcos Censor’s Cut’

Pot Noodle ‘You can make it’

Basically anything where you wonder how they managed to get away with it. 

Steven> I worked on a brief to update ‘Have a Break, Have a KitKat’ back in 2017. The campaign ‘Snap Out Of It’ and the first film ‘Katapult’ went down well and had a big impact on my trajectory.

The first film ran around the world for the next few years so my mum and dad could watch it back in the UK during the Coronation Street ad break. We made two follow-up campaigns that also got adopted globally, which led to more exciting work.

Steven> All the stuff that hasn’t been made yet.

Steven> I can’t name and shame a particular job, but I have a regularly-updated list of work that ended up far away from my initial intentions. That’s usually due to things outside my control so I don’t cringe too much. I believe you can get something great out of any project, even if it’s just a lesson, and the misses can be as valuable as the hits. Those ones just don’t go in the book.

Steven> We’ll see if it goes live…