Introducing... Nina & Tom

Continuing our spotlight on up-and-coming talent, meet fledgling creative team Nina Beyers and Tom Espezel, otherwise known as Nina & Tom. Recent graduates from the London School of Communication Arts, their portfolio is already chock-full of brilliant, frequently irreverent ideas.

Take their project for pet food brand Whiskas, which recognises cats' mini-dictator status via pun-tastic propaganda posters (Fidel Catsro, Chairman Meow... you get the idea), fanfare-playing cat-flaps and litter trays printed with owners' faces. Or their 'Nice to arseholes' Twitter plug-in, conceived for loo roll brand Cushelle, that changes insulting tweets into messages of love and affection. And they've made some straight-up useful stuff too, such as Guitar Tabs, a Chrome extension that uses YouTube to find the song you want and open it in a new tab.   

That's just the day job. When most of us are slumping on the sofa with a vindaloo and boxset, the pair are burning the midnight oil developing Willy Wonka-esque chocolate birthday candles, personalised Post-It Notes and a range of boobalicious T-shirts named Nina's Nips. Most recently, they launched a limited-edition craft beer, Always Time For One More, to coincide with the start of the 24-hour London tube.

Currently based at 4Creative, the duo tell shots about their typical working day and the merits of having fingers in multiple pies.    

Tell us a bit about what you do…

We are an advertising creative team currently freelancing at Channel 4. Amazingly our job is just to come up with cool ideas! At the moment we're working on Season Two of Humans, it involves brainstorming with Pixar writers, chatting with AI super fans and dealing with explosions on photo shoots! 

How did you get to where you are now?

Like most advertising students we were on placement at a number of different agencies. These gave us much needed experience and time to improve.  We then started a three-month contract at 4Creative (Channel 4’s in-house advertising agency). Luckily, we managed to get our fingers in so many pies that it was easier to just keep us around or else the pies would need to be introduced to someone else’s fingers. And nobody wants to eat an overly fingered pie.  All pastry related metaphors aside it was a combination of hard work, awesome people at Channel 4 and a healthy dollop of luck.

What’s your favourite thing about your job?

That we can say something like ‘how about if you got the llama to dress up like Phil Mitchell?' and nobody bats an eyelid.

What’s a typical working day like for you?

No two days are the same which is one of the things we love about the job. Usually it will involve a blend of brainstorming, script writing, random doodles, biscuit Jenga, photoshopping, art directing, presenting and then doubting the idea before starting the process all over again!

What made you get into this industry?

Our brains aren’t really suited to spreadsheets and financial forecasts. I think we would end up being a nuisance in any other industry.

Tell us something about your job that few people know.

On the first day of every month we meet up with the BBC in what can only be described as an Anchorman news crew-style standoff, complete with nunchucks and matching waistcoats.

How is your approach unique?

Every creative team has a different approach. We usually digest the brief separately, Nina likes to unleash her inner grandma and listen to the Archers whilst Tom prefers to eat Malteasers and sit in silence. . Then we come together and brainstorm random ideas. If we get really stuck we'll throw a plastic brain at each other until ideas appear.

What’s the one thing that you strive to do in your career?

We want to change the way advertising is viewed by people. At the moment it's often seen as an intrusive nuisance, preventing you from watching your favourite show. Wouldn't it be amazing if advertising was entertaining, surprising or moving? It's been done before with things like the Cadbury's Gorilla and more recently with the Yes I Can Paralympics ad. Our goal is to make work that people don’t think of as advertising.

If there was one item that you wish you could’ve invented, what would it be?

For a while now we’ve been trying to create a garden gnome that gives inspirational speeches to your plants. Apparently plants grow way better when they are subjected to sound so we thought this would be a great way to gives your foliage friends the care and motivation they deserve. Think Mr T meets Alan Titchmarsh.