His soon-to-be art director partner Neil Dawson was similarly employed. Feeling unmotivated by his fine art and graphics degree, he trailed around London with his portfolio for 18 months by day, while canning Coca-Cola by night. He entered a copywriting competition organised by Leo Burnett, where Pickering was already ensconced. The prize was a job at the agency and Dawson came second, but out of the kindness of Leo's heart the agency paired him up with the winner.

Dawson and Pickering began working together and left both the agency and London in 1994 to work in South Africa. Pickering explains: "We didn't have a great portfolio at the time and so couldn't get another job with a good agency in London, so we decided to do something drastic to get us into a better agency."

The Whitehouse (now DDB) in Johannesburg was their first stop. Here they produced a campaign for the United Nations. Then it was on to Hunt Lascaris/TBWA in Cape Town where they produced a cinema and poster campaign for Two Oceans Aquarium featuring a farting fish.

Explains Pickering: "We got a portfolio together as it was a great opportunity and time to do good ads. Due to the fact that we were with small agencies, there were fewer layers to go through and legally ads were less restricted then they are here. And possibly out of naivety, the clients were more open to innovation."

By 1997, the duo decided to return home. After spending five months freelancing, they joined BMP DDB under the auspices of creative director Tony Cox. "We were a bit of an oddball team who didn't really have a heavy book or a reel and we felt that we were still learning," says Dawson.

Now a senior team with the agency, Dawson and Pickering have produced both award-winning print and TV spots. Their portfolio comprises press and poster ads for VW "Surprisingly Ordinary Prices," including the acclaimed VW "Wedding" ad showing a blurry image of a bride and groom taken while the photographer was focussing on the VW advertising message on the side of a bus. When it comes to film, recent credits include "Seats" for American Airlines, which won a bronze at Cannes this year, campaigns for Marmite and On Digital, as well as wackier spots for burymeright and She Umera lipstick, which also gained a bronze at Cannes.

At Cannes this year, Dawson was on the film jury, an experience that he found to be "fair," but "amazing to see how formulaic ads are, especially car commercials."

"When BMP's VW "Cry" came up it was so refreshing," Dawson continues. "The ad reveals a truly lateral way of looking at car advertising and you could see that the script was probably only a couple of lines long, which allowed the director to make a really good and unusual piece of film. I think awards are hugely important. It's a way of judging how well you are progressing and technically leads to a pay rise," he adds laughing.

Despite seven happy years with BMP, the pair joins Bartle Bogle Hegarty as creative directors this August. "We've had pretty much a free reign at BMP and a lot of our colleagues think we're mad to leave," admits Dawson. "But the time has come for us to take on more responsibility."

Pickering continues: "We will be in charge of a couple of accounts that will allow us to manage and still do the work.

"BBH and BMP are quite similar as they share the energy of a small agency even though they aren't," he continues. "At BMP all the wackiness was focussed on the work and no one tried to jazz up reception with an installation or a trendy receptionist. The idea being that if you spent that time thinking about the ads, you would get results. We're not in this position because we look good."