85: Amy Ferguson

This week, armed with duty-free’s finest Yo Ho Ho’s and a bottle of rum, we’re in the Big Apple to rub shoulders with the pirates at TBWA\Chiat\Day New York and catch their Chief Creative Officer, Amy Ferguson, for a chinwag.


Amy describes herself as a chronic exaggerator. Yet, her reputation as a creative renegade and rule rewriter needs none of that. She’s got the pencils, Lions, Clios and pieces of eight to prove it.


So, listen up landlubbers as Amy chats to us on a treasure trove of topics including her favourite pirate, melting things, leaning into humour in recent Mountain Dew ads with Charlie Day, the trick to get punters to forgive the giant logo at the end of your ad, cracking TikTok, hacking the Super Bowl, why pitches are bananas, why agencies should hire more mums, and more. 


Follow Amy on Instagram 
Here’s an old blog we wrote on Allstate’s Mayhem ads   
This is the second Call to Action episode dedicated to Captain Rob Schwartz, George Tannenbaum got there first here in a cracking 2-parter (Part 1 and Part 2)  


Ads to watch: 
MTN DEW - A Really Short Ad   
MTN DEW - Blatant Product Placement (NBA Execution)  
MTN DEW - Major Millions (Super Bowl 2021)  
Nissan - Thrill Driver (Super Bowl 2022)  
MTN DEW – The Shining (Super Bowl 2020)  


Timestamps

(01:55) - Quickfire questions 

(03:14) - First-ever job 

(07:45) - Young Bloods experience

(14:42) - Mountain Dew campaign with Charlie Day

(26:36) - What goes into making a great Super Bowl ad? 

(33:59) - Her “do good work, have fun, go home” philosophy

(38:54) - Being a working mum of 3 

(41:47) - Favourite classic TBWA ads

(44:00) - How she makes sure work at TBWA\Chiat\Day stays true to the creative standard they’ve set  

(46:07) - 4 pertinent posers


Amy’s book recommendations are:

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead  

Hey Whipple, Squeeze This by Luke Sullivan   

Advertising Today by Warren Berger