Over the course of 22 years, Paul Stroud has risen from an entry level role to Head of Creative. For the latest in our Meet the Thinkers series, we spoke with him to find out how the marketing industry – and The Think Tank – has changed in his time here.
Tell us about your journey before arriving at TTT.
Before joining The Think Tank, I was always fascinated by digital art. I went for a BSc at Plymouth called Medialab Arts, which at the time was this very progressive course that no other university was offering. It involved developing and programming as well as digital arts, and it didn’t take long to figure out I was more talented at the art side of things than the programming.
In my third year I did a placement with British Airways designing intranet sites, which was great practice for what was to come. Once I graduated, I got a foot in the door with The Think Tank’s founders, Liam and Shaun, and that’s where it all began. This is the one and only job I’ve had since university; I’ve never looked back.
How has your role evolved since you started here?
At first, I was designing animated banners for CD ROMs – yeah, that’s how long I’ve been around!
This was the early 2000s, so we were mostly working with traditional media, like print. But as the internet took off, we started getting more website projects, which I would design and build in HTML and then later in Flash.
Nowadays, I spend my time coming up with concepts for integrated campaigns and collaborating with clients. Of course, becoming Head of Creative has meant I’ve had to adapt. A huge part of my job is now about supporting our team to do great work for our clients. I’ve gone from someone who produces physical things, to thinking more about how campaigns should work and how we can make a difference through creativity.
What do you think are the key skills required to be a creative in 2024? How do you apply them at TTT?
Be brave! I think in kind of the world that we’re in now, where everyone’s exposed to so much information and content, you have to be brave to be disruptive.
Another skill I think is important is being able to look at advertising examples and see what’s wrong with them, what could be done better. The ideas I come up with often stem from thinking about examples I’ve seen that didn’t work and flipping it to craft something new.
What else do you do to fuel creativity? Where do you go looking for inspiration?
I try to be a sponge, whether it’s watching TV, going to the theatre, heading out for a walk and looking at posters… You can get ideas anywhere, from the most innocuous little graphical detail to a beautifully rendered 3D billboard.
There’s that famous quote which goes something like: copy from one, it’s plagiarism; copy from many it’s research. Everything’s kind of post-modern and regurgitated, but it’s about how you apply all those different influences into your ideas.
Do you have any campaigns you’ve worked on at TTT that you’re particularly proud of? What made them special?
Seeing our work for Lords out in the real world felt really good.
So much of B2B is digital now, so it was refreshing to create a campaign for out of home and working on billboards and bus sides. I actually came up with most of the headlines too, so I guess I stole our copywriters’ thunder a bit on that one!
The Avery Embelex launch was also great fun to be a part of. We had some beautiful fashion labels to work with, plus cool apparel, great photography and nice branding too, so we were able to come up with something bold. With our PR and Digital teams working their magic, we generated a lot of excitement.
How is AI impacting the way you and the team work?
It’s a game changer, especially with getting ideas quickly from that concept stage to something that can be seen and discussed.
We’re working on a campaign right now where we’ve been able to visualise some quite out-there creative ideas in a way that we just couldn’t have managed two or three years ago – it would just have taken too long to bring them to life.
Using AI for brainstorming can feel a bit like cheating sometimes, but, actually, it’s a completely legitimate way of brainstorming. It’s just another tool in your arsenal. Who cares how you get the result? If it works, it works.
What do you think sets TTT apart from other B2B marketing and PR agencies?
I think it’s got to be the people and the culture that we’ve created. We’re very careful about recruiting the right mix of expertise, personalities, experience and talent, which is why we’re able to come up with these sophisticated integrated campaigns.
Having trust in each other across departments makes it so easy to collaborate and produce great work. It allows us to come up with brave, disruptive ideas and have full confidence that we can execute them in a way that will get results.
And lastly, to finish on a light note: Who’s your dream dinner party guest?
Well, as an Aston Villa fan I’d have to invite our manager Unai Emery, just so I can ask him “how the hell did you get us into the Champions League?” And I guess from an artsy point of view, it’d be good to have Banksy round, just so I can find out who he is!
