About me
Brilliant mentorship, keen business sense, and creative talent leveraged to deliver award-winning advertising.
John Aitchison is a creative professional who directs and coaches teams to produce revenue for national and international brands through integrated advertising campaigns. Proficient in coordinating creative teams to deliver on-time and on-budget projects while leveraging Design Thinking to produce solutions aligned with client needs. He is very comfortable in brand management across industries, spanning multiple disciplines.
Areas of Emphasis:
Digital Media - Content Marketing - Engagement Marketing - Direct Marketing - Briefing and Project Planning - User Needs Analysis - Process Improvement - Talent Development & Mentoring - Relationship Management - Client Presentation - Team Recruiting & Hiring - Media Management
Projects
- Ford MustangIntroducing the all-new, all-legend Ford Mustang. The seventh generation of an icon. Eagerly anticipated the world over. And possibly the swan song for Ford's most infamous vehicle. Fans everywhere were craving any bit of news. The smallest scrap of information. The sneakiest of sneaky-peeks. But we gave them a whole lot more. We created a series of seven compelling stories, complemented by stunning visuals on a single scroll, as part of an ongoing CRM programme. This is the first of those sto
- The Sun#TournamentalThe Sun went full-on Tournamental for The UEFA Euro 2016 Championship. For this brief we created a world-first by reacting to in-game action and producing content in real time to go live in pubs, train stations, airports, and roadside on more than 800 digital poster sites across the UK. This put The Sun at the forefront of fans minds and reinforced its position as every football fans No.1 choice for the tournament's best coverage. While England may have continued their trend for not picking
- Personal ProjectsEvery writer thinks they have a book in them. I think I have several. And several screenplays. Finding the time to work on them is the main issue. But, some very clever people out there in Technology Land have been hard at work to change that. Using MidJourney, an AI tool that creates images using written prompts, I've been able to light a rocket under the arse of my own projects. When I first heard about it, I assumed the industry had been overrun by affable northerners, 'ay-aye' *badoom-tish
- GuinnessThe 6 Nations and Guinness are synonymous with one another. Each year the tournament brings in the die-hard fans and casual ones alike. Full of passion and ready to celebrate (especially with the final day being St Patrick's Day), we made sure Guinness was the drink choice of choice for every celebration (or commiseration), both on and off-trade. Cheers.
- British GasOver the years British Gas have made some cracking ads that everyone can remember. We tackled the brief with this firmly in mind, with the added expectation that this would be the first ad in the new CGI look. Over 30 seconds we gave the Planet Home campaign a truly cinematic feel. With hidden touches it rewards repeat viewing, but more importantly secured more than 250k downloads of the app within two weeks.
- Chances for Children - Beds for Kids CampaignMore than 400,000 children across the UK don't have a bed to call their own. The Sun and Dreams Beds teamed together to help the charity Buttle UK provide several thousand beds to kids in need of one. Originally briefed to create a traditional advertising campaign partnership for both The Sun and Dreams, I realised there was an opportunity to create an additional revenue stream. Inspired by the birth of my son I created Sleepy Simon, the key character in my book That's No Place to Sleep. With
+ View all
Work history
Lead CopywriterOLIVER Agency
London, United KingdomFull Time
I was parachuted in at the last moment to join the new Ford team. The previous copywriter had been on the job for 28 years and didn't wish to continue the adventure will Oliver (lucky me!), so I had to hit the ground running. And that's exactly what I did.
I immediately got to grips with the TOV and the Style Guide (how things should and should not be said). While at the same time delivering Oliver's promise of '+5' - which is to make work 5% better on each project. Being a petrolhead (or as my wife prefers, 'a car bore'), I was all over it like Charles Leclerc's Ferrari was all over the back of Max Verstappen's Red Bull.
Using my extensive automotive knowledge and personable style of writing, I was able to quickly give the copy more joy. After all, driving is bloody good fun. Ford see themselves as much a technology company as they do an automotive one, and one of the risks in that is sounding too techy... So I had to make sure everything also passed the 'your mum' test. No, not as in the crude insult. As in, would my 70+ year old mum understand what was being communicated? If the answer was no, then the copy needed to be changed.
So far I've been fortunate enough to work on true some motoring icons, including the launch of the new E-Transit, the updated Ford Focus, the street-wise Ford Puma, and my personal favourite, the seventh generation Ford Mustang.
From evolving paper-based B2C brochures into all-singing, all-dancing digital experiences to, creating a new B2B TOV and visual style, to developing a new Ford Store design, I've been involved at every level of the creative process.
Additionally, and as always, I've gotten heavily involved with the social side too. Organising team social events and leading our monthly team awards 'The Mustangs'.
T
T
Creative DirectorTrue Advertising Agency
- London, United KingdomFreelance
Managed a team of six creative professionals to execute projects on behalf of Volvo Commercial Vehicles, ROCKWOOL, and ME Hotels brands. Developed B2B advertising campaigns using through-the-line (TTL) advertising and digital products.
+ Show more
Skills
- Creative Copywriting
- Creative Art Direction
- Editorial Campaigns
- 360 Campaigns
- Design Thinking
- Mentoring
- Advertising Planning
- Digital Content
- Illustration
- TTL Campaigns
Awards
Best Use of InnovationThe Drum
The Sun #Tournamental Campaign for Euro 2016Best Tradiotnal 48/96 SheetThe Drum
The Sun #Tournamental Campaign for Euro 2016+ Show more