Getting ahead: Tom Thirwall
There I met a creative director (Mick Leighton) who was sporting a fresh-from-Cannes-Lions tan he gave me the wrong impression that it was going to be all sun and awards shows.
Name: Tom Thirwall
Company:MWORKS
Job title: Managing Director
What made you want to get into brands/advertising/media/marketing?
When I was 17 I was on work experience at a film production company. There I met a creative director (Mick Leighton) who was sporting a fresh-from-Cannes-Lions tan he gave me the wrong impression that it was going to be all sun and awards shows.
How did you get into the industry (including relevant qualifications and professional training)?
BA HONS Business Studies
What was good and bad about your first job.
GOOD:
The people and comaraderie of working in media.
Eating in the Ivy at 21.
BAD:
Mentally unhinged boss
Media owners eating me for breakfast
List your jobs to date
PRE-MEDIA DAYS
Parcel Force: Warehouse boy
Landscape gardener: Self employed
MEDIA
CIA Media-Edge
HCA
Fishtank
GHMC
ARC Worldwide
MWorks
What were the best and worst, and why
BEST
Current job. My team and working with them to do something we want and can shape
WORST
Selling advertising space in the “Lewisham Annual Disco Dancing Championship” program
Who has been your biggest inspiration?
Paul Nash: my uncle
Who in the industry do you most admire?
Levi Roots
I find it easier to admire people from outside the industry.
What is your biggest achievement to date?
Launching an agency at 23 and winning HP Bulmer and Disney within a month
On what do you base your success so far?
Treating people well and leading from the front
What are your ambitions?
Make a film that moves people or makes them laugh
Create a company that lasts longer than me
Finish reading one of the six books I’ve started this year
Change one thing about your job:
Getting to it every day: using modes of transport that I don’t fit into (the underground)
Change one thing about your industry:
Marketing speak: the wanky language that seeks to belittle those don’t speak it
Change one thing about the world:
Anyone who thinks that they are born better than anyone else
What is your favourite brand?
Tabasco
What is the next big brand in your view?
Botox
List your “media diet:
DAILY BREAKFAST:
XFM, Metro
…Or Radio 4 (if driving)
LUNCH:
igoogle delivering me: BBC Sport/Guardian Unlimited/Arsenal.COM/Technorati/Scamp
WEEKDAY DINNER:
Dave (The Sweeney, QI, Top Gear) BBC2 (Bruce Parry) Channel 5 (The Gadget Show) Channel 4 (Peep Show, F Word)
SATURDAY GRAZING:
Soccer AM/X-FACTOR/Strictly Come Dancing
Mark Kermode Film, Adam & Joe (6 Music), Russell Brand Podcasts
SUNDAY BRUNCH:
Observer and NOTW, T4
MIDNIGHT SNACKS:
Later With Jools Holland/Anything saved on Sky
RARE TREAT:
VIZ