James Rouse –
James Rouse is most likely the finest commercial director ever to have studied Hotel Management at Middlesex University. This, no doubt, has contributed to the success of his notable comedy work, which includes campaigns for Harvey Nichols, Nike, Radio 2, Levis, The Guardian and the much-discussed AIDS-awareness ad “GI Jonny,” on which he collaborated with The Viral Factory.
James began his career in advertising as a copywriter at venerable London agencies like Euro RSCG and DDB. He went on to become Creative Director at an international branding agency, responsible for everything from pack design to brand film. James left advertising to open Soup Design, using the principles learnt in advertising to design and manufacture household objects. Despite the products being sold all over the world (and one of them ending up in New York’s Museum of Modern Art in New York), he folded the company and returned to advertising.
James made his directorial debut in 2003 with a viral campaign for Trojan Condoms, again on which he collaborated with The Viral Factory.
Counting Cannes Gold Lions, BTAA Golds, Creative Circle Golds, Andy Golds and many other Gold, Silver and Bronze Awards among his many honours, his other prestigious commercial work includes projects for Harvey Nichols, Terry’s, Oxfam, Remington, The Discovery Channel, VW, Sainsbury’s, McDonalds and Marmite.
2013/14 were exceptional years for James, with Campaign selecting him as their number one Director along with Marmite being awarded Best TV Commercial for the year. Following that Marmite was also awarded TV and Cinema Commercial of the Year at the 2014 British Arrows, alongside Harvey Nichols ‘Sorry, I Spent It On Myself,’ which collected a quiver full of Gold and silver arrows. Both campaigns went onto to win a Gold and a Grand Prix in Film respectively at the 2014 Cannes Lions Festival.
The Christmas advertising rush is always a busy time for James. 2015 saw him bring to life a mini movie for Sainsbury’s in collaboration with lauded children’s author Judith Kerr, which saw her famous feline character Mog brought to life in live action for the first time. It accumulated 37M views online in the first five weeks since airing making it the comfortable winner of the festive competition that year. In 2016, at the helm of a Christmas campaign for Currys PC World, James has once again been at the forefront of creating standout work in what is now a yearly battleground to be the best of advertising work.
James Rouse is represented worldwide by Outsider and in the US by The Corner Shop. He lives in West London with his wife and two children.