Up close and personal with Simon Hilliard, Director

Simon’s been in tech and entertainment PR so long he remembers a time before smartphones and app, when ‘streaming TV meant waiting for the postman, The Independent newspaper 1. Existed and 2. Had a Cyberclinic column, Twitter was a text messaging service and missing an E, and he had a full head of hair.

I can tell a campaign is succeeding when…  you’re genuinely excited to share it with the team and client as it progresses. Doesn’t matter if it’s a huge one, like an experiential event or costly piece of social content, or one cool influencer post or product feature in a round-up, you know its good when someone says ‘fuck well done, send it to the client’.

I eat….when nobody is watching. I’m not ashamed of what I eat and drink, and you shouldn’t be either. I mean, I invented my own cocktail, A Scotchwork Orange. It’s two shots of cheap whiskey on ice, with a can of diet Fanta on the side. Only served in one place in the UK – 5@10 on Great Pulteney Street. Don’t let haters tread on your F&D dreams #blessed

The worst thing anyone has said to me is… “just…well…get a fucking haircut” in a performance review when I was an exec. It hurt then, now it really stings.

This time next year, I’ll be… most likely doing the same as now; working on a laptop, trying to keep up with email, reading all relevant news on and off social, thinking up creative, but not over-servicing, wondering if I’m doing enough, but also making sure I had a good work/life balance, I really should phone my parents its been a while, that client said they’re happy but are they REALLY happy, hope Piccadilly Circus isn’t busy today, wait when is that release going out…no its in the diary, fine.
Vomit-inducing as it is to write for you kiddies, the important thing is to love what you’re doing right now – today.

Espresso martini or beer? I had seven espresso martinis at the office Christmas party in the space of about three hours. I was shacking like a [Peter Kay expletive deleted – ed.] and if that didn’t put me off them nothing will.

Where do you see the future of comms? Only getting more and more devise, as the complete democratisation of information the internet has afforded us continues to change the way we live and communicate. 25-ish years ago the internet was just about getting into homes in a big way, less than 15 years ago we didn’t have smartphones and apps, then quickly came smart devices, streaming in all forms, and the proliferation of social media (ha – we used to call it social networking), then influencer / creator / ambassador marketing – whatever you want to call it. No idea where this train is taking us, just don’t think its stopping any time soon.