Richard Hayter

I got into a mini cab one morning in Woking.

On the dashboard was a strange, intricate looking combination of liquid air freshener and compass, topped off with a Toyota logo (all the cabs in Woking seem to be Toyotas).

"Now that's a very special air-freshener-stroke-compass" I said to the driver.

"It's very good," he replied. "It makes my cab smell nice."

I agreed that it did.

"And sometimes when I'm working nights, men get in who are a little bit drunk." He waved his hand by his head to indicate intoxication.

"I tell them: 'There's a video camera in there. The taxi office can see everything you do.' They behave themselves then." he added with a smile.

I love that. Real creativity that changes behaviour and gets results. That's what I try to achieve every working day as a creative director, whether I’m working on a brief ‘hands on’ or helping to improve the output of another team.

In the 20-odd years I’ve been working as designer, art director and creative director I’ve worked on a huge range of B2B, above-the-line and integrated campaigns. From pan-European TV commercials to low-cost DM; from global branding projects to Facebook apps. And I’ve been fortunate enough to win awards – recognising both creatvity and campaign effectiveness – for quite a few of them.

I still enjoy being hands-on, from strategy to implementation. But where I’m at my best is at the head of a team, guiding art directors, copywriters, coders, retouchers… leading pitches and winning them.