Introducing The Oldham Goddard Experience - designer and copywriter team up to help clients 're-discover the value' of great creative work
Designer Craig Oldham and copywriter John Goddard have joined forces to launch a new venture, eponymously titled The Oldham Goddard Experience.
Having previously collaborated on projects together, the pair began working together last year on D&AD’s New Blood 2014 campaign and since then have picked up briefs from the Royal Mail, Cheltenham Design Festival, Manchester Camerata, the BPI and the forthcoming Asia Triennial.
“We’ve always enjoyed working together and share a similar outlook in terms of the way we operate and what we want to achieve,” said Oldham. “So it was only a matter of time before we established something more formal and now feels like an exciting time to do it…we’ve never believed in doing work for work’s sake. It has to mean something. Part of what we do ius help clients to try new things and re-discover the value that great creative work, married with great content, adds to their business.”
Goddard commented that the pair’s mix of disciplines will enable them to offer clients something different from ‘traditional ad agencies’. “As agencies tend not to be very good at design, while design agencies tend to lack the strategic clout of an ad agency. By bringing those two things together you get work that’s not just incredibly well made, but also goes above and beyond the brief, is different and really makes an impact.”
He added: “Brands might have more channels than ever to communicate. But that doesn’t mean they have any more right to enter people’s lives. So creating work that’s compelling and intelligent is more important than ever. Consumers aren’t going to invite your company in off the street anymore. While that inevitably means making more of an effort, the prospect of meeting or spending time with your audience should be exciting, we want to create a place where clients can learn to enjoy that process as much as we do.”
In addition to working with regular clients The Oldham Goddard Experience will encourage creative to pursue their own interests and experiments with various side projects in the pipeline, working with people as diverse as Shepard Fairey and Hollywood film director John Carpenter. One such project featuring collaborations with Turner Prize winner Jeremy Deller and acclaimed director Ken Loach is due for release in September.