A publication of Brunico Communications Ltd.

Archive: Aug 1, 2001


Word
Hollywood Models
Board Flow
Board Flow
Director's Chair
Spotopsy
A/V Club
Special Feature: Cannes Wrap
Regional Focus: Texas + Mexico
Special Report: Advertisers
Special Report: European Creatives
Career Profile: Peter Friedman
Bulletin Board
Leith & Mudge Set Up ...
Campbell Passes the Testa
Crouching Tarsem, Hidden ...
BFCS Closes Shop
Final Cut Opens New York ...
AMV.BBDO and Peluca Shoot ...
Shooting Gallery Silenced
Chiat/Day Breaks Global ...
Dissidents Partner with ...
@radical.media X 400
Backyard Signs Burrows
W+K and Budgen: Nike ...
Wild Brain Opens European ...
The Inventory
A look at who's making ...
The Learning Curve

Advertising
Special Report: European Creatives
Steve Hudson & Victoria Fallon
Art director Steve Hudson and copywriting partner Victoria Fallon, Founders of Treatment, have been quite an unassuming pair on London's advertising scene over the last decade. But while they might be personally retiring, their ads have consistently screamed creative integrity.
by: Aug 1, 2001 Print

While at BMP DDB in the early 90s, the duo produced VW "Just Divorced," which showed a fresh divorcee triumphantly driving away from a bitter courtroom battle in her VW. A Gold winner at Cannes was "Evening In" for Power Breaker, which was directed by their former creative group head Frank Budgen.

In 1994, Fallon and Hudson moved to Bartle Bogle Hegarty where they produced their favourite ad "Yuppie" for Audi along with "Mermaids" for Levi-Strauss, Electrolux "Dustmites" and the original "One2One" campaign. Three years later they were senior creatives and on the board at Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO devising campaigns for RSPCA, Anti-Smoking and BT.

Creatively, the pair admits that they don't have a style. "Which is a good thing for advertising," explains Hudson. "We aim to do whatever is appropriate for the job and come up with ideas through discussion, argument and trying to make a connection with the market. We believe that if we like it and feel it, then everyone else will get it."

"We would never see a feature film and think that we have to get in one of our ads as a reference as our ideas always come from thought. That's why we really like "Yuppie" and the Wallis print campaign, because they were both so simple and most people got it," adds Fallon.

Now, unlike many star creatives in their early 30s, Fallon and Hudson are firmly against the next logical move of becoming creative directors. "It was quite a dilemma for us," explains Fallon. "AMV was a great place to work. It allowed us to take control of our own work, as there were a lot of senior creatives working there. But we did want to get out of the agency machine, the politics, the management and meetings with clients. We're just interested in the work. Multitudes of meetings are not our thing."

Consequently, on the first of April this year, the duo founded agency Treatment with Gary Martin, Roger Beckett and Andy Smart, three ex-colleagues from BBH. Desley Gregory, the managing director of Joy Films, is now the managing director of the shop. "It's good to be working with a bunch of like-minded creatives," says Hudson. "But we needed a business head, someone who would make things happen and that's were Desley comes in. We like the idea of having an experienced and motivated producer running the company and she is a no-bullshit person."

Continues Fallon: "Our aim is creative freedom and direct access to clients, which cuts out all the aspects of agency life which we didn't like. There are so many ways that an idea can be ruined or misrepresented. A lot of good ideas die in agencies because of the system. We also aim to work across media: books, directing, film (Martin has just sold a screenplay to Universal Studios), radio, viral marketing, mobile phone messages and ambient. All the things that aren't part of a senior creatives' remit in a traditional agency."

"We launched Treatment because we are still eager to learn and progress," concludes Hudson.


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