Gerry Farrell

Gerry was sacked from his first proper job as a classified ad salesman with a reference from his boss that said: “Gerry is possibly the worst salesman we ever hired but may have some future as a copywriter.”

He wasn’t much interested in advertising until he spotted a poster for a felt warehouse in Glasgow. It said ‘Get Felt Here’. His first published ad was for Martin & Frost Furniture. It said “Forget the silk lingerie this Christmas. Buy her wooden drawers.”  Having left Grant Forrest to join Hall Advertising, Gerry jumped ship five years later to the Leith Agency. He became creative director, building the agency’s reputation with campaigns for Alcohol Moderation and Tennents Lager as well as healthy lifestyle campaigns plus ads for Irn-Bru. 

When Leith finally kicked him out in 2014, he promptly started his own creative agency, Gerry Farrell Ink, with his wife and creative partner Zsuzsa. Here are the stats so far: 100+ campaigns; 60+ clients; 57 films; 14 environmental campaigns; seven website designs; three new product launches; 11 creative awards; all this done by just two people. 

As well as doing creative work, Gerry coaches creative people all over the world for D&AD and NoTosh.

Gerry has spoken at various Marketing Society events and has been the winning captain at both a Badger Debate and Pioneering Spirit Awards Agency Team. He was also a previous winner of the Creative Star Award.