Mark Perkins, Creative Director at W on the Creative Moment podcast

Welcome to the first ever Creative Moment podcast. Hope you enjoy it, if you do please do leave us a decent review and subscribe on iTunes.We’re going to be interviewing some of the UK's most successful Creative Directors over the next few months - so welcome to the show.This week I'm thrilled to be catching up with Mark Perkins, creative director of W Communications. If you look at the most famous consumer PR campaigns in the UK over the last 10 years or so, most of them (not all) have come from a very small number of PR creatives, (probably less than 10) and Mark is undoubtedly a member of this pretty unique club.Here is a summary of what Mark and I discuss:How Mark showed the power of creative persuasion at a young age by getting his parents to buy a dog!Why Mark learnt how to be shouted at when he worked at The Sun as Kelvin Mackenzie's runnerHow Mark turned away from a career in journalism to a career in public relationsMark tells us about his first PR job - in a windowless office, with a boss who was having a breakdown and smoked 80 a day!How he managed to get a job at The Red Consultancy despite a car crash interview by writing an assessment of his interview performance to the then ceoWhy Mark almost left public relations in search of greater creative freedomHow his time at Cow PR shaped the rest of his careerWhy Mark believes he sees things through a different lensHow his time at a startup has changed his approach to workWhy Mark left creative shop Cow to go to the more corporate MHPWhy Mark, while he was at MHP, wanted to “knock Mischief off their perch.”How the multiple award winning Christmas Tinners campaign almost didn't get included in the pitch for the Game accountMark talks us through the genesis of The NHS Missing Type campaignMark tells us why he believes the potential for creative public relations is so hugeWhat 2 questions all creatives need to ask when they come up with a campaignWhy speed and agility of the idea is now criticalMark asks whether the story has become more important than the art in creativityWhy clients now want more ideas for spendHow modern technology has made it easier to bring an idea to lifeWhere Mark gets his creative ideas fromWhat Mark believes is the role of a creative directorWhy brainstorms don’t normally result in high quality ideasWhy creatives must forget about the brand and think about the audienceWhy Mark links entrepreneurship and creativityHow to apply discipline and rigour to creativity, not jazz hands and wacky ideas!Mark identifies his top 2 favourite creative campaigns that he’s worked on - and the worst campaign he’s ever worked on