On My Radar: Paul Sumpter

What is the most creative advertising idea you’ve seen recently?

I really enjoyed the new Heirlooms campaign by Will Castle, addressing suicide rates in the UK. Wonderfully put together, genuinely moving and a beautiful twist at the end.

What website(s) do you use most regularly?

Aside from work tools like Google Calendar, Gmail, Slack, Monday etc, and discounting YouTube, I enjoy Boomkat. It’s an independent music specialist that collates the world’s weirdest, most niche and under-appreciated music, so there's always something new to discover.

What’s the most recent piece of tech that you’ve bought?

I recently bought an old-school filter bank and cross-feedback unit. Basically, it’s a box that you can push sound through and mangle it to within an inch of its life. So, very much my kind of box.

What product could you not live without?

My pedalboards. I love effects pedals and bits of gear that allow me to take a sound and turn it into something wildly different. Anything goes - high-end stuff, charity shop bargains, circuit-bent kids toys. I love those little boxes. I have a pedal problem.

What’s the best film you’ve seen over the last year?

I’ve got three young children, so the chances of going to the cinema to see anything other than Moana 2 is pretty much non-existent. But from the streamers, I thought Leave the World Behind was decent.

What film do you think everyone should have seen?

Everything Everywhere All at Once. It’s unlike anything else made before or since - you have literally no idea where it’s going next, and that appeals to me in a big way.

What’s your preferred social media platform?

Honestly, I’m not a massive fan of social media. It’s not something I enjoy - I think it does more harm than good. Most social media is contrived humble bragging.

What’s your favourite TV show?

Match of the Day. Come on you Irons!

What’s your favourite podcast?

I like Mark Manson’s Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, and Simon Sinek’s A Bit of Optimism. Music-wise Jamie Lidell’s Hanging Out With Audiophiles, Why We Bleep and Broken Record, with Rick Rubin are decent. Then obviously the Iron Cast West Ham podcast - goes without saying.

What show/exhibition has most inspired you recently?

Recently, I saw this stunning digital artwork called DigiScape - Synchronic Tides, created by KeJyunWu x @damonxart, that allows visitors to use simple hand gestures to control the wind. It’s reminiscent of interactive technology used by the likes of Imogen Heap, except it draws the visitor in so people genuinely interact with the artwork and become co-creator, not just look or listen to the artist use it. People can transform the space limited only by their imagination.

If you could only listen to one music artist from now on, who would it be?

I’ve asked myself this before and it’s a difficult question as my taste is wildly eclectic (I think it has to be to achieve any semblance of longevity in this game). That being said,. I think it would be either The Beatles or James Brown. There’s rarely a time where putting either of those artists on is a bad move.

If there was one thing you could change about the advertising industry, what would it be?

Briefing is broken. Unknowingly, most music and sound briefs cause creative ceilings, cost unnecessary budget, and actively hinder teams getting their best work out into the world. Over 20+ years (and some 2,500 briefs), I've seen first-hand the challenges filmmakers, creatives and brand teams have to endure just to get something vaguely resembling the soundtrack they want. 

For some reason, there’s this strange, normalised tolerance that to get a bespoke soundtrack that sounds really amazing and really aligns with your creative vision, it’ll probably be a slog. It’s why a lot of agencies just reach straight for a sync track, and throw money at the problem to avoid the process. And no one was doing anything about it. 

I’ve been on a mission to help clients get the soundtrack they really deserve, more easily and more creatively than ever. I’ve designed a completely new briefing methodology, complete with a custom-built app, called SONAL to make the process effortless, eye-opening and effective. It helps uncover the most unignorable way to tell our client’s story, in less time for less budget and – importantly – without the usual round the houses, delivering unexpected audio that always feels like a meaningful extension of the people we’re collaborating with. 

Since we’ve been using SONAL, 78% of work we’ve presented has been approved at version one or two, project lead time has been reduced on average by 19 days, and repeat business is up 38%, suggesting clients are enjoying collaborating in this way.