As part of the ‘obsessed with advertising’ campaign I also conceived this award-winning trade press advertisement to encourage people to visit Publicis Life Brand's new website.

This was the first ‘Dairylea Cows’ ad. Voice over courtesy of Alexei Sayle.

This was a fun account to work on!

Yes, trying to get people to cook with Dairylea was an actual brief.

And here’s the brainy bit those planners work out.

The cows made it to the cover of Marketing.

BLACK originally ran in the online comic ACES WEEKLY. This publication is created and edited by David Lloyd, the co-creator of V for Vendetta.

www.acesweekly.co.uk

BLACK - The Graphic Novel was published by Soaring Penguin Press. www.soaringpenguinpress.com

We created a series of products to be sold alongside the graphic novel.

Our first exhibition at the Cartoon Museum in Central London in 2021.

We made a film for the Cartoon Museum exhibition.

As part of the exhibition at the Cartoon Museum, an online panel discussion was arranged.

We received coverage in the Metro newspaper.

As well as coverage online.

The exhibition at the John Hansard Gallery was curated by Don John, the founder and director of Black History Month South. Working with the author Tobias we selected original art from the graphic novel and gathered objects that could be displayed alongside the images to provoke a sense of nostalgia.

We created a layout for the gallery space.

Actual exhibition itself.

I created a social media campaign for the exhibition.

I provided the artwork for a poster campaign which was created to promote the exhibition at the John Hansard Gallery.

Photography by Nosa Malcolm

We had a very successful launch at the John Hansard gallery.

The Art Fund is the national fundraising charity for art. They exist to help protect and enrich the UK’s museum and gallery collections and to ensure as many people as possible can access and enjoy them. They put BLACK: THE GRAPHIC NOVEL exhibition in their 'unmissable exhibitions to see' recommendations for October, 2022.

We involved the students at Solent University who came up with ambient ideas to promote the graphic novel.

Ambient promotion for the exhibition.

Finally, we managed to get the graphic novel into the ‘Treasures of the British Library’ exhibition. It was in the same pace as the Magna Carta no less!

The TV spot that launched the ‘not for girls’ campaign.

The Yorkie campaign generated a huge amount of publicity.

And 20 years later the campaign still pops up in the news!

https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/9292099/sexist-adverts-banned-from-today/

Recently on Good Morning Britain… ‘It’s was a great ad’, said Piers Morgan.

This is still my best review ever…

And it was quite nice to see this in Private View considering I was on placement!

And a bit more recognition… which was nice :)

Contact Lens.

Our first campaign for the US market used the ‘Got a bad poker face’ theme.

Changing Room.

Not on my plane.

Blind Beggar

UFO Spotter

Typist

Ms Stern.

As well as being widely shown in the US, this commercial also ran in UK cinemas.

The ad predominately ran amongst the commercials before Sin City, so we created an online campaign featuring ‘Ms Stern’ to compliment the feature.

The cinema ad ‘Miss Stern’ also featured prominently in a report on the flotation of PartyGaming on Channel 4 News.

Our very first campaign targeted commuters, who we thought could use a little cheering up.

I created playing cards with the ‘bad poker face’ theme to be distributed at events and poker tournaments.

Cab drivers were also encouraged to give these cards away free to their customers.

And on the fold up seats of the cabs we placed some 'tips'.

This feels like a very long time ago now! In order to capitalise on the general election in the UK I helped Party Poker create a campaign to find the ‘winning party’.

This was a specific execution for poker magazines announcing the fact PartyPoker was now compatible with Mac computers.

The bad poker face concept also went down well with the PartyGaming employees who all contributed a photo the in-house magazine.

Meteor.

Our second TV campaign for the US market used the ‘good at bluffing’ theme in a series of commercials.

Meet the Parents

Rock Star

Are you a woman?

Santa

Doll

Out third TV campaign for the US Market used the ‘no-one to play with?’ theme in a series of commercials.

Dead Man’s Hand

Brokeback

We took the ‘no-one to pay with’ theme and made another series of commercial for the European market.

Circus

Jail

Asylum

Arrows

My final project for PartyGaming:

PartyPoker launched the wold’s largest online poker tournament.

I created these executions which appeared on posters, in press and as illuminated web banners.

The green lights flickered on these.

This laptop was also used at events as an ambient promotion.

Volkswagen Group installed “defeat devices” in thousands of its cars to cheat emissions tests, the UK's High Court ruled.

A study shows 39 grams of sugar in a 12 oz Coca-Cola can.

An estimated 240 Pot Noodles are eaten every minute in Britain.

EDF warns several of its nuclear reactors may have problems with weldings and other components.

When I got this logo published in Private Eye I adapted it into an ad for my local post office. it then went back in Private Eye via a reader. That's pretty good delivery.

London’s Tube lines are running at overcapacity during morning rush hour, new figures reveal.

“All you need to do is apply a firm tap where the bottle narrows, and the ketchup will come out easier” claimed a Heinz spokesperson.

A new report shows childhood obesity rates have risen 10-fold since the 70s.

Hallmark’s expands its portfolio of businesses.

RBS reports losses of £58bn since the 2008 bailout.

One 13g bowl of Frosties contains more than half the daily sugar recommendation for children aged between seven and ten.

Cambridge Analytica improperly obtains data from up to 87 million Facebook profiles.

a report finds the UK has one of the world's highest levels of alcohol consumption per capita.

Donald Trump loses the US election.

Playboy’s continues to be purchased for its great journalism.

Record NHS waiting lists drive a surge in patients going private.

A man in Stoke On Trent who stole Viagra from Lloyds Pharmacy is not a 'hardened criminal' says his lawyer.

The UK Supreme Court has ruled that oil-polluted Nigerian communities can sue Shell in English courts.

Figures compiled by outreach workers say London has 8,108 rough sleepers. Of these, 44% have an alcohol problem.

The right-wing friendly social media network is forced offline following the attack on the U.S. Capital.

In the wake of Russia’s invasion into Ukraine, the EU applies sanctions to satellite companies preventing RT from broadcasting in Europe.

Fox News continues it’s impartial coverage.

South Lakes Safari Zoo loses its licence after almost 500 animal deaths.

The police plan to set up an exclusion zone around ATMs in Newport, Gwent.

A YouGov poll revealed over-65s were more than twice as likely as under-25s to have voted to have supported Brexit.

Subway scores 0 out of 5 for hygiene at two of its UK branches.

B&Q continues to serve DIY enthusiasts.

The G7 reach a deal to make multinational companies pay more tax.

Amazon agree to do a ‘much better job’ for its workers.

Dominic Cummins makes a 30-mile journey to check his eyesight.

A study shows that 90% of people that get lung cancer are smokers.

Carillion collapses with debts of £900m.

The US, UK and EU ban TikTok from being installed on government phones, the main concern being the security risk it represents.

Positive tests for banned substances mar the Beijing Winter Olympics.

The Government department comes under criticism for its confused response to Covid.

Just Eat removes all restaurants with a hygiene rating of zero from their platform.

Chaos reigns as the British parliament is suspended.

Almost 8,000 homes were left in the dark after power cuts in Teeside.

The Sun’s sales fall sharply.

British Gas owner Centrica posts record £3bn annual profit.

Ministers propose privatisation of Channel 4.

It comes to light that Boris Johnson had a birthday party during lockdown.

A 2.9 magnitude tremor hits a Cuadrilla fracking site near Blackpool.

Mike Ashley acknowledges ‘unacceptable’ and ‘unreasonable’ employment practices to MPs in a committee session.

Further allegations about Qatar’s successful World Cup bid emerge.

Russia’s gas giant is sanctioned after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

The UK government launches a new campaign.

The water utility company are fined a record £90 million for illegally dumping sewage into the Solent and other locations in the South.

The NHS faces another winter crisis.

The vacuum cleaner manufacturer tells many of its employees to continue working in the office despite rising cases of Covid in the UK.

A scathing UK parliament report deems the £120m post-Brexit culture festival an 'irresponsible use of public money'.

A probe into the Prince’s Foundation comes following reports offers of financial help were made in order to secure honors for Saudi nationals.

As talks break down the RMT plans a series of strikes.

Legal pressures increase for Trump.

Pfizer made nearly £27bn in sales from its Covid-19 vaccine IN 2021.

Elon Musk strikes a deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion.

OnlyFans is criticised for not doing enough to combat pornography on its content subscription service.

The number of people killed with a knife in England and Wales in 2021/22 was the highest on record for 76 years.

It’s announced that BP’s profits more than doubled to £23bn in 2022.

Kinder Surprise eggs recalled in UK over salmonella link.

The New Year Honors list is published and include Boris Johnson’s own father.

Boris goes on maneuvers to scupper Sunak’s Windsor Framework.

I’ve also contributed numerous cartoons to Private Eye over the years.

This press campaign was created to convey a sense of claustrophobia followed by the line: or rafcareers.com

This press campaign ran in various publications including fashion magazines where the line ‘for a selection of over 70 careers’ worked particularly well.

I also created several press ads targeted at specific career paths. For example catering and the RAF band.

I also created these additional concepts, but sadly they didn’t make the journey into print.

I created the ‘Creative Dictator’ character for the recruitment agency, Cream+.

The main viral film was housed on their website where it could be shared by visitors to the site.

Surprisingly the Yellow Pages was still going right up until 2017. Cheap to advertising in, this was a very affordably way to reach a certain demographic.

Online banners were created with animated eyes.

An option with moving eyes was created for the Big Bus Challenge competition. (And managed to arrive in second place.)

I also created a range of traditional Boris greetings cards for Funky Pigeon which could be personalised and posted.

We shot the Boris puppet against a blue screen in various outfits.

Model courtesy of Roger Todd. Photography by Mark Chapman

Below is a range of cards I wrote and art directed. Customers were able to personalise the text on the cards before having them sent to friends and loved ones via the Funky Pigeon website.

Once Boris designs and gags were approved, they were uploaded on the Funky Pigeon website where customers could personalise and send them.

We also tried a Nigel puppet!

This is how the finished cards looked when then arrived in the post.

We also shot this ‘Boris in bed’ viral. Director: Mark Chapman

Our model maker, Roger Todd, operated Boris and welcomed guests to a live event at the Cartoon Museum.

Following on from Boris we worked on a series of e-cards with a quirky, retro feel.

Directing/editing by Anthony Blanco at www.ablancofilm.com. Scripts/art direction and VO by Anthony Smith.

I wrote and co-directed this viral film to promote learn to speak cat’s debut in the Metro newspaper.

The cartoon appeared daily for several years. At the time, Metro had a circulation of 3.3 million readers.

Examples of the cartoon.

Over this period I wrote and drew over 700 cartoons.

A Facebook page was created to promote books and merchandise, with some posts reaching half a million people.

An instagram page was to follow.

LEARN TO SPEAK CAT in now syndicated on a daily basis here... www.gocomics.com/learn-to-speak-cat

GoComics is the largest syndication company in the world and is home to many classic cartoon features.

Books were published by Summersdale, Souvenir Press and Soaring Penguin Press.

Greetings cards were created for Moonpig which could be personalised before being sent.

I participated in several trade shows, including the Spring Fair at the NEC in Birmingham and Top Drawer in London.

Learn to Speak was licensed to appear on a variety of products.

I then worked with an animator and developer to create an e-card website…

www.funecards.co.uk

The angle I took with ‘fun-e-cards’ was to point out how much more environmentally friendly e-cards are in comparison to traditional greetings cards. Customers were able to personalise the e-cards on the site and email them directly to a friend or loved one.

Many of the e-cards were also animated.

I helped put together this campaign for Cats Protection which was used on promotional stands at various events.

And I helped with the Cat’s Protection ‘Celebrity Paw’ auction. My cartoon came second only to Dame Judi Dench’s illustration, which was rather nice!

I also contributed to the ‘Lolcat: The Exhibishun’ in central London and received this very good review: "Cartoons by Anthony Smith succeed where all the unknown billions of actual lolcats fail, in that they are genuinely funny." - Tom Peck, The Independent.

I wrote and directed this viral for Langland which was emailed out to clients announcing their move to their swanky new offices in Windsor.

This press campaign was developed by me at Langland for the US research company Kendle.

These posters formed part of a campaign to recruit patients into a large US medical trial. As well as coming up with the concept I also illustrated these.

We also made an informative booklet and branded literature was sent to patients using this concept.

This was a recruitment campaign I wrote for PLBR.

Press ad for PLBR Resolute.

I came up with this concept for Publicis Life Brands. The posters were created for pharmacy stores in the UK to coincide with the warm summer months.

This spin-off execution was the runner-up in the 'Big Bus Challenge'.

This poster was sent out to healthcare professionals to raise awareness about the different options available to stop blood clots.

These Optive post-it notes left with healthcare professionals as a reminder of the brand.

I conceived this award-winning trade press advertisement to encourage people to visit Publicis Life Brand's new website.

Press ads to announce Resflor's improved formula.

I created this press ad for one of Langland’s American clients.

This was an ambient idea I did for Publicis Life Brands to promote the work that the Passage homeless charity carries out.

A press advertisement I created to announce a satellite symposium. Agency: Langland

From one little squirt … to one happy baby

This was a quirky campaign I art directed at Langland.

This was some work I did whilst at Langland for a small charity that helped seriously ill children have the time of their lives.

This was a nice, simple execution to recruit patients onto a clinical trial for a new treatment to prevent dental implants failing.

Kendle wanted to do a targeted recruitment campaign. This was a poster I devised which appeared at Boston Airport in the USA near where several Pharma companies are located.

PR stunt to accompany poster campaign.

I did this work pro bono with an American designer who had a long standing relationship with the charity.

A little seasonal in-house job.

I helped create this campaign for Publicis Life Brands. We used a supporting character from my ‘Learn to Speak Cat’ cartoon in the Metro newspaper.

These were some A5 flyers created to promote a competition.

The cartoon theme was carried across booths at trade shows.

This book helped encourage children to self-infuse. The book and related materials won a Global Award for Best Integrated Campaign for Langland. I created all the illustrations.

I also helped create this book to help adults see-infuse. Again, I did all the illustrations for this.

I illustrated a series of comics which were given away to children suffering from Duchenne Syndrome.

These materials won a Gold Award at the PMs in the Patient Support category.

I also illustrated different versions of the characters to appeal to a younger age group.

I created this campaign to highlight the fact we were the only healthcare ad agency to use healthcare professionals in its creative process.

This was a short animation film designed to encourage clients to research carefully before launching a product or service.

Animation by Bill Greenhead

Over the years I have also produced illustrations for numerous healthcare agencies in a variety of other styles.

I created these retro style illustrations for Langland.

I produced this artwork for a ‘patient’s journey’ pull down banner and pop up stand.

This was a neat little book I illustrated to help children adhere to a ketogenic diet. Agency: Life Healthcare Solutions

I worked with the Arts Council, The John Hansard Gallery and Black History Month to produce and promote an exhibition of the graphic novel I had illustrated which told the true story of the author Tobias Taitt. Tobias spent his early life in a series of children’s homes and his first hand account of his early life was something we wanted to share with the wider world.

The graphic novel itself had taken me over two years to draw. This was done in collaboration with the writer Tobias Taitt who offered valuable input on the accuracy of the artwork throughout. It was very well received by industry figures and Pat Mills, the former editor of 2000ad and co-creator of Judge Dredd wrote an intro for the book and gave us the following review…

"Very absorbing. Incredibly and painfully honest. No holds barred, no subject or person off limits, yet appropriately drawn with suitable artistic restraint. Great visual storytelling. It’s a valuable record of life in the 70s. A text social history of the era couldn’t bring it alive like this. I especially liked the satirical graphics - the use of adverts from the era. The comedy matches the dry humour in the words. As far as I know, no one in the UK has lifted the lid on teenage life in the 70s by portraying it like this in comics. I’d thought about doing something similar set in the 1960s from time to time, but figured that it would be impossible to find an artist who would want to draw social realism with such enthusiasm and insight. And most UK artists prefer to draw fantasy, which is far enough. The fact that Tobias and Anthony teamed up so successfully is impressive. I know from first hand just how demanding that must have been and how many artists would have had problems with the visuals. Anthony’s dedication to bringing the story alive is the equivalent of a film director like Ken Loach dramatising the lives of ordinary people and making them into the everyday heroes that so many are. Tobias is one of them."

- Pat Mills Writer, editor, creator of 2000AD/Judge Dredd

I created a campaign look and feel using a large logo and placing an image from the graphic novel within. This worked well as it mean’t we could easily refresh the campaign with multiple executions.

We created a layout for the gallery space.

The final exhibition space was completed for the exhibition which began on September 26th until November 5th, 2022.

The author, Tobias Taitt and myself worked with a young directing team to produce this film for the exhibition.

Once the exhibition was launched we received TV coverage on both the BBC and Merdian.

It was great to see posters going up to promote the exhibition.

We involved local universities to help with ambient concepts and one that was used was this ‘point of sale’ concept for book stores.

We also created merchandise for the exhibition.

Finally, we managed to get the graphic novel into the ‘Treasures of the British Library’. Alongside the Magna Carta, no less! https://www.bl.uk/events/treasures-of-the-british-library

I created a range of ‘Boris’ greetings cards for Funky Pigeon which could be personalised on their website and posted. I engaged the services of the former Spitting Image model maker Roger Todd and the photographer Mark Chapman. We shot the Boris puppet against a blue screen in various outfits and I then created the final card designs.

I wrote and art directed a wide range of cards to cover all occasions.

Once Boris designs and gags were approved, they were uploaded on the Funky Pigeon website where customers could personalise and send them.

Our model maker, Roger Todd, operated Boris and welcomed guests to a live promotional event at the Cartoon Museum.

I also entered the world of NFTs with Boris. I created a range on Opensea and quite a few actually sold!

https://opensea.io/collection/boris-the-menace

I created this ambient execution for a healthcare advertising agency to highlight the plight of homeless people for the Passage charity.

I illustrated a book for the well known YouTuber Michael Lambert featuring the major players in the Brexit saga.

The book was initially promoted through his channel.

We also promoted the book at Rejoin EU events in the UK, getting prominent figures in the rejoin movement to endorse the book.

This was a very economical way to promote Olli cat food I conceived and executed for a small independent ad agency.

I came up with this concept for a healthcare advertising agency. The posters were created for pharmacy stores.

We used one of the executions with moving eyes for the ‘Big Bus Challenge’.

This was another job from a healthcare ad agency. These posters were mainly targeted at a teenage audience and were fly-posted on council approved sites to raise awareness of Chlamydia.

The Metro newspaper were looking for a feature to brighten their letters page and my LEARN TO SPEAK CAT concept was selected to appear as a daily cartoon.

Over a 3 year period I wrote and drew over 700 cartoons, reaching a daily audience of 3.6 million readers.

I made this little viral film to promote the cartoon in the Metro newspaper. It appeared on their website to coincide with the launch.

Several books were published and I made my own merchandise.

I marketed this merchandise, as well as greeting cards, at various trade shows, including the NEC Spring Fair in Birmingham and Top Drawer in London.

I made appearances at several Cats Protection fun-raising events. (I’m the one signing, not the one in the cat suit!)

I also helped put together this campaign for Cats Protection which was used on promotional stands at various events.

And I helped with the Cat’s Protection ‘Celebrity Paw’ auction. My cartoon came second only to Dame Judi Dench’s illustration, which was rather nice!

I also contributed to the ‘Lolcat: The Exhibishun’ in central London and received this very good review:

"Cartoons by Anthony Smith succeed where all the unknown billions of actual lolcats fail, in that they are genuinely funny." - Tom Peck, The Independent.

I devised and illustrated this press and poster campaign for PartyGaming.

We then made ‘bad poker face’ playing cards to promote the PartyPoker brand. They proved very popular at events and were also handed out at train stations in Central London.

Cab drivers with the PartyPoker branding were also given packs of the playing cards and encouraged to hand them over or leave these on their back seats for customers.

This feels like a very long time ago now! In order to capitalise on the general election I helped PartyPoker create a campaign to find the ‘winning party’ by writing and art-directing a series of topical executions.

Finally the ‘winning party’ was announced.

I came up with this PartyGammon concept for a press ad but we also made it into a model and displayed it at promotional events.

Kendle, the US Pharma company, wanted to do a targeted recruitment campaign. This was a poster I devised for a healthcare advertising agency which appeared at Boston Airport in the USA near where several big Pharma companies are located.

We also did a PR stunt to accompany the poster campaign.

Yet more cats! I created a series of animated istickers to accompany text messages. These were made available on at the App Store and once purchased, could be attached to messages sent from any mobile device.

This concept formed part of a pitch to Waterstone’s where books would go directly up against movies. They didn’t go with this idea, but I’ve included in here anyway as I personally still really like the concept! I wrote and art-directed the short film above for the pitch and I produced mock-ups of fliers which were intended for distribution at outdoor events.

With traditional greetings cards being increasingly viewed as environmentally unfriendly, I worked alongside an animator to create an e-card website with an eco-friendly theme. Visitors to the website can personalise cards and simply email their chosen card to a friend or loved one on any occasion. There are many free e-cards available, should you wish to go browsing! https://www.funecards.co.uk

Some examples of my illustration/graphic work.

The ‘half house on fire’ illustration was also used on the cover of an Earl Brutus CD.

This illustration I did above was a departure from my usual graphic style.

From time to time in advertising I’ve been in the position where I’ve been able to draw my own concepts for the finals ads. That was the case with these Smarties press executions.

That was also the case with this Kleenex press work.

ACES WEEKLY is a comics art magazine of serials and short stories ‘beamed directly to readers through cyberspace’. It is founded and edited by David Lloyd, the co-creator of V for Vendetta. Above is an ad I created for the brand.

Subscribers receive a weekly comic in the form of a link.

I’ve written and illustrated numerous stories for Aces Weekly. Most of these have been done in a retro/early Marvel Comics style. For some of the stories I deliberately aged the pages to give even more of a retro feel.

This is one of the many spots I did whilst working in-house at PartyGaming. I’m still surprised we got this one past the client! It ran in the USA but also made appearances in UK cinemas. (Directed by Jeff Stark.)

Another TV spot I did whilst at PartyGaming with the ‘got a bad poker face’ theme.

Another favourite TV spot of mine from my time at PartyGaming.

The first TV campaign I worked on. I wrote and art-directed this in my first year at JW. Directed by Chris Palmer

We also shots a series of 10 second commercials to support the 30/40 second spots.

I created the ‘Dairlylea Cows’ whilst at JWT and went on to write and art-direct the first seven TV spots in the campaign.

More cow action from Dairylea!

Working on a very limited budget I directed this for the healthcare agency Langland.

I wrote this viral campaign for NABS.

Another execution in the viral campaign.

For the European market I came up with the ‘no one to play with’ theme for PartyPoker and worked on a series of ads.

This TV spot launched the Andrex puppy in the USA. I wrote and art-directed this whilst at JWT.

This was a campaign I devised for Dairlea Dunkers which went down well on saturday morning TV!

A promo I did for Funky Pigeon. The budget was tight so I also did the voice over!

A viral I wrote and co-directed for a recruitment agency.

A very simple but effective campaign I wrote and art directed for Harpic Power Jet.

This concept formed part of a pitch to Waterstone’s where books would go directly up against movies. They didn’t go with this idea. I wrote and art-directed the short film above for the pitch and I also produced mock-ups of fliers which were intended for distribution at outdoor events.

Why didn't they go for this? Words fail me.

Super cheap to make, but sadly this concept didn’t cut the mustard either.

I wrote these viral ads with NABS in mind. (For those not familiar with advertising, that’s the National Advertising Benevolent Society.)

A young directing team shot them for us. However the tone/messaging wasn’t quite right for them. (Probably understandably!) Years later, I did manage to repurpose them for a healthcare agency using a different end line, so all was not lost.

This poster sort of ran in that I got a student D&AD Pencil for it. That was back in the day when the student’s work ran in the back of the annuals. Anyone remember books?

I mocked these up whilst at Burkitt DDB. Sadly the client didn’t see things our way.

I didn’t get a result with this one either.

Yes, these died too. Whatever.