Others About Me
Over the years I've been fortunate enough to work with incredibly talented people. People on every side of the business, from creative to strategy, from client services to clients. People also, from different cultural backgrounds, from English to Lebanese, from South African to Indian. They've given me the opportunity to develop as a professional and a human being and create work together that made a difference. Here's what some of them have to say about our collaboration.
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You can also find these stories on LinkedIn.
Axel Chaldecott
Global Creative Director
J. Walter Thompson
"I have had the pleasure of working with Richard over a three and a half year period on the global HSBC advertising account. Richard is insightful, structured and rigorous with his thinking. He's great with creative teams and great with clients. And above all an excellent creator and creative director. He's also a very good strategic thinker. The best creatives generally are.
Though this makes him seem like a 'one man band', he's very collaborative. He has been a core part of an HSBC team spread across 5 continents that has worked together on projects, getting together for strategic and creative workshops and helping to execute each other's work on film & photographic shoots. On all these occasions Richard has rolled his sleeves up and got stuck in.
In a world where we create most of our work virtually over email or conference calls, Richard has never let me down by claiming he's too busy (which he has been), his local clients are too demanding of his time (which they have been) or that he has to concentrate on a local pitch (of which he has helped to win many)."
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Hiba Farhat
Design Director/Brand Consultant
"Ingenious mind. Contagious energy. Astute sense of humor. Richard is just beyond what you think a creative director should be. He’s brilliantly creative, yet deeply grounded and down to earth. He’s piercingly smart, yet unpretentious. He has an exceptional ability to bring the best out of his team, and intuitively connect with them on a human level. A true gravitational force."
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Aarti Kulkarni
Board Account Director
J. Walter Thompson
"It's not often you get to work with someone who has the right balance of creativity and a keen business sense. Richard has the ability to inspire his teams and bring out work that's not only great creative output, but also always on brief and on brand.
He's always had a great rapport with clients and is truly collaborative in everything he does. Not one to hog the limelight, Richard always gave his team the credit they deserved. He always created an environment that fostered progressive solutions to sometimes unglamorous client briefs and was always one to jump right in and get the job done, many times at ungodly hours and in one particular instance at 4pm on New Year's Eve.
He sits down, gets his 'let's get this done' hat on and there hasn't been a situation where we haven't come out winning."
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Jeroen Rook
Senior Brand Manager
Unilever
"Rarely have I seen a creative adding massive value in both output as in building and integrating the agency's work into the brand's strategy."
Rob Kops
Managing Director
Grey Healthcare Benelux
“When my mission was to get Grey Healthcare back on the map in the Netherlands, Richard supported me with all he got. We developed our own style in healthcare advertising and came successfully back on track. Is Richard a strategic creative or a creative strategist? Well, he’s creative all right and labels are not really important for him. The same goes for origin; art or copy? He controls both but has a precise and touching pen if needed. Richard is intelligent and charming and knows how to use these capabilities in client presentations and new business opportunities. Clients recognize his expertise and experience his enthusiasm, involvement and commitment.”
Seyoan Vela
Executive Creative Director
J. Walther Thompson
“Richard is an exceptional modern creative. By that I mean he not only values bold ideas but understands how to adapt those ideas across media. He values the importance of execution and freshness. He has a deep regard for strategy and working closely with clients at tackling their business issues. Richard has been adept at handling complex businesses and difficult issues ranging from pharmaceutical and banking to foster care and child abuse. Yet at the same time he's always kept a calm, relaxed, rational and professional approach to work, peppered with big doses of good humor.”
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Celia Jaber
Design Director
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“Richard is considerate, grounded and compassionate. The first person to notice when I'm feeling a little sick. For an Executive Creative Director, having his level of empathy towards his people, his work and his clients makes for a creative as well as a happy place to work.”
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Lucie Rust
Senior Strategist
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“Richard is a rare breed of a creative director. He’s really smart, creative and business-solutions oriented. Couple that with traits such as cooperative, caring, helpful, friendly and a great team player, and you're looking at a creative director that’s almost impossible to find. It's always been a pleasure to work with Richard on anything. He will make you push harder for the best solution there is and make you feel like the winner in the process as well.”
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