Take Five with...
Eoghan Nolan, Creative Director, Brand Artillery
Tell us about your first ICAD bell.
My first award was a commendation and made more impression than the first bell. It was 1988 and it was for an Aer Lingus press ad; I can recall most of the words. My first actual bell may have been made of glass. Lucky to have got several since, in all the colours. Having featured in ICAD 2015 and 2016, the aim is to win a bell in 2018, 30 years on.
What is the most unusual project you’ve ever worked on?
I’ve worked on bananas, banks and beers, milk and paint, cars, charities and a city. Seems like they’re all unusual in some way.
Who is your creative hero?
So far, so many. Charles Lamb, Raymond Carver, Alice Munro, Elizabeth Magill. Poets various. Ad-wise, Bill Bernbach and Howard Gossage. I’ve a deep respect for anyone who masters the rules and then breaks them into something new. Still, the zeitgeist is fascinating and liquid and my biggest creative hero may only now be in his or her infancy. I’ll keep you posted.
What would you do with a spare €100?
Give €30 to each of my three sons and a tenner to that woman who busks with the concertina.
What piece of work do you wish you had created?
Well now, that changes. Sometimes I look at Dos Equis ‘The most interesting man in the world’ and feel a respect tinged with jealousy. Other times I think moving pictures are great but moving words are best. Generally I find good type soothing and exciting in equal measure. I believe it is very important to know what has happened, what is happening now and to be open to what will happen tomorrow.
Eoghan Nolan is a copywriter and creative director, founder of Brand Artillery and of Think & Son. He has been CD of McCann, Irish International and Leo Burnett and done time on the boards of ICAD and IAPI. He also lectures in Copywriting. He has won 98FM Ad of the Decade, Ireland’s first D&AD Pencil and Radio Ad of the Millennium at the Sharks. He believes kindness and encouragement are powerful forces always at our disposal. He tries to remember this every day.
