Creativity 50 2014: Dougal Wilson

Want an emotionally compelling seasonal ad that will make middle-class parents cry? Dougal Wilson is your man. The British director, represented through Blink, has been responsible for some of the U.K.'s most talked-about ads for retailer John Lewis through Adam & Eve/DDB London. His latest, Monty the Penguin, typifies his trademark style: a winning formula of cute child, charming story, great VFX and perfectly-selected music track. It's steadily clocking up more YouTube views than even its predecessors "The Long Wait," and "The Journey." Mr. Wilson, who honed his skills as a music-video director for the likes of Coldplay and Goldfrapp, said "The [John Lewis] scripts always have strong central ideas, but give me a bit of room to add my own ideas and direct my usual downbeat British performances." Unusually for a creative, he's a physics graduate -- perhaps that's what helps him achieve those perfect formulations.

Creativity 50 2014: Dougal Wilson

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