THE POWER OF NO
OR WHY ‘YES’ IS THE MOST EXPENSIVE WORD IN YOUR BUDGET
Most agencies say yes to inflate the brief. I've spent 20 years learning when to say no — so we can find the one simple idea that actually works.
Whether it's a behaviour change campaign that saves lives, a fundraising push that exceeds targets, an AI agent that does one thing particularly well, or a small business that needs a website, socials or an SEO audit, I work through the complexity until only the essential remains.
One of the creatives behind Ghost Chips. Gold at Cannes. D&AD Yellow Pencil. Work in NZ On Screen and Te Ara Encyclopedia of NZ. Over 100 international awards and 20+ years of senior strategic and creative expertise — applied directly to your problem, without the agency layer in between.
Or as Steve Jobs so eloquently put it, "Innovation is saying no to a thousand things."
Featured Work
#FFS CHOOSE: SAYING NO TO THE ESTABLISHED
A government ministry needed young Māori to vote. The temptation is always to go educational. Serious. Worthy. We said no to all of that and built a campaign around what actually motivates young people — authenticity, cultural pride, and Stan Walker.
SAYING NO TO THE EXPECTED. A CAMPAIGN THAT SAVED LIVES AND BECOME CULTURAL CURRENCY
The brief was a 50 page government strategy. The answer was a bunch of mates at a party. Simple idea. 90% prompted awareness. 50% drop in teen drink-driving. You can still buy the merch a decade later.
LATEST RESULTS SPOTLIGHT:
“You did it! Thanks to you and the rest of our amazing community who came together this tax time, we have well exceeded our goal to raise $479,000 for critical heart research, raising an outstanding $542,090! We cannot thank you enough for your generosity."
VICTOR CHANG FOUNDATION (with Change & Co & Tone)
Target: $479,000 | Actual: $542,090 | Result: 113% of goal achieved
Proud to be working alongside leading Australian fundraising agencies Change & Co and Tone, who know that purpose-driven work demands results-driven creative. I worked on the digital component of this campaign, a growing area in Fundraising.
I helped build Google Bard. Now I build AI tools THAT SOLVE SPECIFIC PROBLEMS.
As AI Quality Lead at Google, I shaped how one of the world's most complex AI systems communicates with people. I understand what these tools can and can't do, and more importantly, when they're the right answer.
That experience now goes directly to clients.
I identify the problem, design the solution, and build it with specialist partners.
You get a working AI product without hiring a dev team or briefing an agency that doesn't understand your business.
Same process I've always used. Different deliverable.
