Diary of senior creatives James Beswick and Rowan Foxcroft going full freedom on Freedom Day, by going freelance

By James Beswick and Rowan Foxcroft, freelance senior creative team, currently at Special Group.

Happy Freedom Day, good people! Like everyone, we’re a little giddy about being let loose today. If lockdown has taught us one thing, it’s that we can all work anywhere. Our spare room, our bathroom, the Gladys shrine in our shed… Luckily, the pub is also anywhere, so it’d be weird not to WFP today.

9:00, Venue: Home office
Dah. Of course, the pub isn’t open yet. In the meantime, we hop on an all agency Zoom, reply to an email or four, and have a wee play with some headlines in Slides – whilst 7 anonymous quokkas watch on intently. Judging silently, but cutely.

Text from Bes: Shall we?
Reply from Rowan: 👍

10:10, Venue: The Dog, Randwick.
Masks, check. Vax passports, check. Vigorous check-in, check. Beers, check and check.
At long last, that long-lost scent seduces our nostalgic nostrils. Yes, stepping inside it smells like the ale-infused promised land. And fresh ideas. But mainly ale. A dark corner booth is where we’ll set up shop. Suits us a treat.

10:40. Venue: The Dark Corner Booth
Bit of work to do today, so we’re right in the thick of things. In the giddy excitement we’ve forgotten our notebooks, quills and inkwells. But, it’s all on the small devices these days, so guess we’ll be squinting and pinching screens for the rest of the day. Rowan goes on about how an Apple Pen/iPad combo is better than a Wacom anyway. Knee deep in headline city, Bes uh-huhs whilst not listening or caring.

11:13, Venue: A tall table nearby
We spot someone sitting alone who surely must be an ECD with their tell-tale rounded specs, all black get up and well-manicured facial hair. Seizing our chance, we buy him a drink and bowl over to his table, uninvited. Without missing a beat, we commence a shameless selling of ourselves: We mention our award haul. We name-drop some of our work like Pitvertising, Extra Reminder, Losing Lena, V Skills, Donate with a Mate. We talk of the pitches we’ve helped win, before embarking on a buzzword-laden cringe fest where we actually say the words ‘energy’, ‘passion’ and ‘synergy’ (twice), then announcing that we’ve just departed Clemenger and freelance now… Turns out he was waiting for a Hinge date and, for a while there, he thought Bes’ long locks looked a bit like Emma’s.

12:45, Venue: Queue for the bar
Mild lockdown-induced Agoraphobia kicks in, but if anything will cure it, it’s those damn tasty looking schnitties. 2 please, extra gravy.

12:52, Venue: The Dark Corner Booth
The buzz of the buzzer frightens the life out of our idea kernels, signalling the breaded, gravy-drowned goodness is ready for us. And by Zeus are we ready for it! Because, next to breakfast, pub lunch is the most important meal of the day. Upon first taste, eye contact is made. In perfect unison, a single tear rolls down each of our cheeks. A silent moment of recognition is shared. No words are needed. This just feels… right.

13:16, Venue: Microsoft Outlook
A note from a respectable person says Idea 3 from last week was approved. Sick. Onto the next one.

13:52, Venue: Outside
Bes gets a call from ‘Unknown’. Could be the doc with the results. Nope, an illegal package has been found in his name, and needs to immediately transfer $1,000 bitcoin straight away to sort it out. Nearly got him.

14:00, Venue: Zoom App, Rowan’s iPad.
Internal Review. Serious faces on, we talk through the ideas. Though at first it was tough to tell people’s reactions via video calls, we are now certified eyebrow-readers, so we’re now 357% sure everyone’s happy. The one with the QR-enabled Drone-powered A.I.-trained Deepfaked Tortoise named Garth who reads palms and subsequently cures you of the devastating affliction of being left-handed might need an extra nudge, though. We wave goodbye for 12 seconds, hang up, and get to nudging.

14:44, Venue: Preso_deck_finalFINAL_v38d
Making some tweaks that needed to be tweaked, we notice those 7 nameless, faceless, cute little quokka voyeurs haven’t moved all day. Are they still sizing up our TikTok hashtag options? Or are they also enjoying a pint of Freedom somewhere? Here’s hoping for the latter.

14:57, Venue: Microsoft Outlook
With more briefs to crack, we remember to send this and hope OldCDGuy doesn’t rip us a new one.

James Beswick and Rowan Foxcroft, formerly senior creatives at Clemenger BBDO Sydney, are now a freelance senior team, currently at Special Group. View the work they crashed a Hinge date to not so humbly brag about here: JamesAndRowan.cargo.site