Odds are that everyone you know in the ad business has an opinion on Folgers' "Happy Mornings". Some are probably positive, praising Saatchi & Saatchi's bold move to take the brand into uncharted creative territory. And some are sure to be, well, the opposite. For director Steve Ayson, that polarity is a good thing. "It is a 'love or hate' thing," he says over the phone from the Amsterdam office of his European/US rep, Czar (he's repped by The Sweet Shop for the rest of the world and Blink Pictures in Canada). "And I quite enjoy that with spots - the middle ground [is] where people just don't care." Ayson, 37, has been trying to avoid "the middle ground" throughout his career in advertising. Armed with a diploma in graphic design, the New Zealand native worked in a variety of shops ("the main one anyone would know would be Bates," he says) as an art director. Over the decade he spent on the agency side, he morphed into a one-man creative team, writing and art directing spots, and then going solo as a freelance creative. His good relationships with clients enabled him to take the director's chair. His love of writing comedy made him a natural choice to helm comic spots, but it was a darker short film project, 2000's The French Doors, that brought early recognition, garnering him the Best Director in Australasia at the Locarno Film Festival. A stint at NZ/Australian prodco Curious Film followed in 2001, but it was 2003's move to the Sweet Shop and then Czar that propelled him internationally. With Marmite "Blob" steamrolling to a Bronze Lion in 2005 and "Lion" for Dutch insurance company Central Beheer nabbing a Silver Clio among other honors, Ayson's reputation as a comedy director was assured. He and his fiancée have their own film prodco, Lake Xavier, and Ayson has several projects on the go as a writer and director. And while he's keen to embrace new genres for spot work, he doesn't thumb his nose at the good fortune that came his way via Folgers. "I got calls from production studios and agencies in LA," he laughs. "It was great to have a commercial open those doors."