DIGBY ATKINSON
Hattie speaks to Digby Atkinson
Born in 1942, following art school, Digby began a career in advertising in 1964, working as an Art Director and Creative Director including 13yrs at Saatchi & Saatchi as well as at other leading advertising agencies including J Walter Thompson, Publicis and Grey. Digby later become a tutor at University College Falmouth. Today Digby is still working as a successful artist and printmaker.
What creative work are you most proud of?
I did a lot of press for British Airways. One of my favourites was when BA introduced more check in desks at Heathrow (in 1986). The creative problem was, how do you how do you visualise a queue which isn’t there? And I was really proud of this. One it was it was a picture of a guy standing at the check in here. And then just a long piece of carpet there. With all the Qs missing from the headline.
Tell us how you tackled the launch brief for The Independent?
The actual choice of the name ‘The Independent’ for the newspaper really determined the brief. And so, it was fairly straightforward. I mean, that was the brief: appeal to people who are independent minded. The client didn't have a huge budget, so we had a limited amount of television and a poster campaign (on which Digby was the Art Director).
(NB The founding editor of The Independent, Andreas Whittam Smith, once commented: “To say that somebody is independent-minded indicates no particular profile. It simply defines an attitude. You immediately recognise the independent-minded when you meet them.” You can be who you want to be, stand for whatever you want to stand for, do whatever you want to do, make up your own mind, and still feel The Independent is the title you want to read.”)
How have you seen advertising and the ad agency market changing over time?
The changes have been absolutely enormous over the last 15 years, at least. I think from a creative point of view, it's become more difficult because I think I think clients don't have the budgets for, for what I call advertising that works. There’s a lot of work which is as dull as ditch water. So, we see risk aversion, especially in a market where people are worried about jobs.
Do you have any tips for when someone might be creatively stuck on a brief?
Really interrogate the brief, because if it's a good brief there will be a way through. Go back to whatever source the information that you're working from is, and try and pare it down, because eventually you'll get to the core.
Can you share any advice for getting to the best creative work?
The best work was done when creative people were put in front of the client at briefing sessions. Because even if they were told to keep quiet, they can listen and their mind will be looking at the brief from a totally different perspective. And that sometimes can actually flush out the real purposes of a brief. Sometimes it isn't as obvious as the words on the paper.
How do you think emerging new technologies can help creative people?
If technology helps you to find a different way of doing something, then that, to me, would be the biggest benefit. Use it to find something original, not something just to make a copy of something.
And as somebody who's had such a long career in the creative industries what advice do you have for others to set out without fear?
Find a group of like-minded people and work with them. That's the most difficult thing to do. And I think it would be the best thing to do. Because if you're not all pushing in the same direction, it's uphill. For creative people, they need to be working within an environment that they can grow and actually develop a project without politics or anything else.
Finally, what's next for you creatively and what are you excited about?
I'm having a great clear up because I've got a huge toy collection. I'm trying to categorise that, including about 4000 lead soldiers and about 60 robots (below is some of Digby’s recent artwork, which includes paintings based on items in his toy collection):
Thank you!
Digby chatted with Hattie from Uncharted in summer 2025.
Uncharted is a creative studio built for the future. We guide brands into culture with confidence. As a brand agency founded by three award-winning advertising industry leaders and innovators, we’ve put AI at the heart of the agency, using the best technology (from data and insight, research, creative testing and iteration) to give our creative ideas real cultural power and to give our clients more certainty of highly effective advertising. As a female founded creative agency, we have gathered a diverse team of makers and thinkers because we believe that diverse talent delivers more creative and impactful work. Our aim is that this will make us one of the best ad agencies in London and an independent agency who is making a difference to our sector and the wider world.