PETER HIBBERD
I was creatively lead from the very beginning.
I would watch a TV show in the ‘90s called 'World's Greatest Commercials'. It was effectively the Cannes Film reel spread out over 10 episodes hosted by a comedian. One episode showed an Australian winning a Gold Lion for Yellow Pages. At 15 I realised the ad game was what I wanted to do. Little did I know 10 years later I’d be working for that same guy on TV on the very same Yellow Pages account. But I think we are jumping ahead a little.
First I had to finish high school, do a two year stint getting an Advanced Diploma in Graphic Design and 3 weeks after graduating landed my first real job at De Pasquale Advertising in Brisbane, Australia. A small 20 person hotshop on the rise. As a Junior Mac Operator, I advanced over three years and in that time De Pasquale experienced growth and went from 20 to 70 people. I finally left as an Art Director and decided to go see Europe with my wife for 6 months.
Travel bug sedated, we moved to Melbourne. A bigger ad industry and better opportunities. While freelancing, I entered the Australian Cannes Young Creatives Competition. I needed a partner and didn't have a writer at the time so I paired up with the best creative I knew, my wife. We won, and on somebody else's dime, we went back to Europe to compete on the big stage.
Another 24 hour flight back to Melbourne and I landed a job at Y&R Melbourne. Remember that Yellow Pages creative guy, (Tong Greenwood and Sarah Barclay) he hired me and I teamed up with Julian Schreiber as my writer.
3 years there, a merger with George Patterson and over the next 4 years at GPY&R Melbourne we won a slew of awards locally and internationally.
Became Interactive Creative Director.
Brother died.
Resigned.
Travelled again for a year working via laptop in a caravan.
Freelanced all over Asia for 5 years.
Ran a design company.
After freelancing all over Asia, I took a Regional Creative Directors Role at McCann Singapore overseeing the Mastercard and Microsoft businesses across 8 markets over 5 years. From there it was a short move to Indonesia where I teamed up with Adrian Miller at Ogilvy to run the creative department and revitalise a floundering office. It’s been three years of instilling growth and maturity into the team even during the Covid crisis beginning in 2020. Adrian and I successfully transitioned the team to WFH in a matter of days and realising WFH also meant WFA (work from anywhere) I moved to Bali Indonesia and have been overseeing the agency from one of the best locations in the world.
My creative approach—no matter the medium—is to find points of tension behind the idea I’ve been assigned or am interested in. I do several iterations on each point and usually end up refining the one I find most controversial.
For me, controversy isn’t about instigation, but rather, a way to arrest your audience. It’s a way to plant a little bit of desire in their hearts; a yearning to turn the page and learn more about your idea. Ultimately, it’s about creating memorable images.