Steve Girdlestone

Copywriting was not my first choice as a career. I had wanted to play for Newcastle Untied and then I had a brief flirtation with the idea of becoming an astronaut. By the time I was eight I wanted to draw comics and then race cars. My career choices swung backwards and forwards until I ended up moving to London after I finished my degree in economics. I was sharing a house with a bunch of Art Directors and I didn’t have the faintest idea what to do. "Can you draw?” they said, "Of Course,” I said with a flourish of a magic marker, quickly sketching an artful stickman. "Maybe you should become a writer." I did, although I continue to rattle out terrible drawings accompanied by despairing shakes of an Art Director’s head.

For many years I worked at agencies in London, big and small and then I was taken by wanderlust and traveled far and wide, working in several different countries either as a writer or Creative Director to help bring on teams and improve the creative output. My travels finally brought me to New Zealand, where my roaming life and ability to quickly adapt to different situations has helped immeasurably with the role of a freelance creative. I am now a bona fide kiwi with the papers to prove it.

Financial - branding, website copy, internal, letters
Automotive - print, posters, billboards, outdoor
Direct Mail - anything from Christmas cards to finance offers

Lyrical
Creative
Personal
Visual
Concise

GE Money - Dart Campaign

GE Money's brief was to run a winter promo to help spike sales in a usual tough trading period for personal loans.

Executives Ltd - Magnetism Campaign

In this ad for a dating agency, a magnet in the shape of a man was held in place on the first page by a magnet in the shape of a woman on the following page, with the line, “Magnetism is our business”.

Auckland Inc. - Water Safety Campaign

The brief was to make people aware how dangerous the water can be for their kids and encourage them to learn to swim.