Alex Molyneux
Q What do you do?
“I’m a brand and advertising creative pedaling some of the best damn copy you’ll read without crossing state lines.”
Brand creative' means defining and developing the story of who your business is, what it does, who for, and why. This should be your internal North Star, helping to keep everything your business does and says on the right path. It can encompass a host of practical, useful brand tools like creative principles, visual identity, brand values and tone of voice. And it should be the playbook for the way you talk about yourself to others - from the 'about' page on your website to your bio line on Instagram and your Just Do It/Power of Dreams/Finger Lickin' Good sign-off.
'Advertising creative' is where we develop that high-level positioning into the consumer-facing communications that help you become rich, famous, or whatever else your heart desires/business strategy dictates.
Q What steps did you take to get to where you are now?
Quite a few! I've had a meandering career path so far that's taken in laboring on building sites, driving taxis and getting a law degree–amongst other things–and I'm grateful every day for the real world experience it's given me.
But it was while I was working as a commercial manager in civil engineering that I finally conceded that budget spreadsheets weren't going to be my thing. Inspired by warm and fuzzy memories of the 30-second TV spots for Heineken and Hamlet cigars that lit up my childhood–I scraped onto a D&AD course for people wanting to break into the UK advertising industry. I was the only non-ad/design grad on the course and had less than no clue what I was doing, but it gave me my first taste of creative work and the exhilaration of cracking a brief.
From there it was portfolio building, the legendary Watford ad school, and a shot with a newborn startup agency in London called Sunshine. They were one of the first to start colonizing the space between advertising and entertainment, and a two-week placement turned into a seven-year run where I got to work directly into some of the best ECDs, strategists and creative founders in the business, mainlining decades of experience on a daily basis from people who had come up in agencies like Mother and W+K.
Since I spread my wings around three years ago, I have been helping clients define, build and launch new brands out into the world with concept development, creative consultancy, and plenty of good ol' hands-on, fingers in the dirt, honest to goodness copywriting.
I also work with some great agencies on a repeat basis and recently completed a 20-month run with Facebook/Meta's retail creative team.
Q How do you stand out in your field?
The amount of life I lived before my current incarnation as a marketing professional gives me a deep well of experience to draw on and a genuine appreciation for the realities of a lot of different audiences. I think my clients find that refreshing against a creative class which, for all its good intentions, often struggles to relate to worldviews beyond its own, fairly narrow preoccupations.
Q What are you working on right now?
It's January right now, so aside from DIY I'm available/enjoying refilling my creative reservoirs/working on becoming a better human/kickboxer.
*Makes note to update in Feb.
Q What’s your style?
It sounds deathly dull for a creative profile, but I'm very thorough. It's a habit of mine to nerd out on stuff that interests me, but I'm increasingly convinced that the answers to most creative challenges are buried in the raw material and you just have to dig until you find them.
Case in point - a brand founder I worked with recently was pretty adamant that their personal story wasn't the story of the brand. But as we dug deeper into how they got started and what motivated them, it revealed a common theme that ran through everything. By recognizing that and extrapolating it into a brand narrative, we gave them a tool that immediately started making brand and business decisions clearer.
It's not always that much of a therapist's couch approach of course… but sometimes it is!
Q Out of all your slashies, which one do you wish you could do more often?
I love comedy writing. It's underrepresented in my work and, if I was to pursue creativity outside the creative industries, it would be that. So I'm selfishly happy that funny (and more specifically, weird funny) seems to be making a comeback.
Q What is frustrating you right now?
I'm putting off wall-mounting a TV because the instruction book for the bracket is already gently chiding me like an annoying parent who's discovered millennial-speak. Overstepping TOV documents should be given a fair trial, shot and have their heads put on spikes as a warning to the rest.
Q If you could hire someone for $20/hour, what would you have them do to make your day easier?
Slap me with a paddle every time I look on LinkedIn. It might not make my day easier but it'd improve my mood a thousandfold.
Q What do you wish you could have told yourself, when, and why?
If Now Me went back and told Young Adult Me that things are turning out OK, I think he'd spend less time worrying. Which is actually a really useful thing for Now Me to hear. Thanks, Young Adult Me. Thanks, question.
Q If you could talk to an expert to gain more insight on something, what would it be about?
I'd love to know what mathematicians like Roger Penrose, who theorize on the weirdness of subatomic physics, envision when they're building their mental models. Mainly because I find it a wildly interesting subject, but also because that process of taking a given, new truth and reinterpreting everything around it seems like a supercharged version of what we do when we build a brand world.
Q What kind of opportunities/projects are you looking for?
I'm opening up my client roster at the moment so would love to hear from brands and creative agencies who are interested in building ongoing relationships.
I don't really have a favored industry - a lot of my experience is in the luxury and fashion spaces, and it can be really powerful to apply that kind of thinking to other sectors.
In my mind, luxury isn't really about high-end - it's anything that drives desire beyond utility. That really gets to the crux of what branding itself is about, so whatever industry you're in and whoever your audience is, you can build value by treating your brand as a luxury commodity.
Q Describe your ideal job/client/collaboration.
I love the engagement of working directly with brand founders. It's a different level of honesty with no punches pulled and all ego removed. Great brand managers are the same, and I've worked with many of them - they treat the business like it's their own. And of course, recognition of a job well done from someone whose business is their life is a great buzz.
Q What is your rate?
My quoted rate is $1,200/day, but (pro tip) you don't have to hire me on a day rate. If you're interested in working together, let's talk about your project and your budget and we'll find a way to make them match while bringing maximum value to your business.
Q How should someone approach you about working together?
Email to alex@molyneux.work. A short summary of your problem/project is great, but don't worry about anything you don't know - getting to the bottom of all that is part of the process.
Q Who is a creative you admire?
Eeeek, I hate answering 'who's your best mate?' questions. I do know a lot of amazing creatives with all kinds of skill sets in all kinds of time zones though. Hmu and I'll send you a tailored shortlist (bad cop-out, I know)
Q Oh! and… how do you stay creative?
Fresh air and exercise is good.
This member profile was originally published in February 2023