‘An Inconvenient Truth’, ‘WALL-E’ and Ben & Jerry’s: The Work That Made Tom Tapper

Tom Tapper is the CEO and co-founder of Nice and Serious, a B Corp-certified creative agency committed to only making work the world needs.

Since 2008, he's worked with hundreds of international brands and charities - including Tony’s Chocolonely, Vodafone, WWF, innocent, Ben & Jerry's, Greenpeace and IKEA - to creatively communicate the positive impact they're having on the world.

Tom sat down with LBB to reflect on his earliest memories of classic advertising, his unique path to agency life through environmental science, and his early work for Global Action Plan.

LBB> The ad/music video from my childhood that stays with me…

Tom> For some reason the first ad that came to mind was Kellogg's Frosties with Tony the Tiger and the guy who catches the frisbee under his leg.

I tried – and painfully failed – to recreate it so many times. Perhaps I’m harking back to simpler times, when a mascot and a jingle were all you needed to sell some cereal.

LBB> The ad/music video/game/web platform that made me want to get into the industry…

Tom> My entry into the creative industry was a bit unusual. I started out studying environmental science, then science communication where I specialised in the cinematic communication of climate change.

My inspiration was the documentary film ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ which followed the story of Al Gore and his mission to get climate change into the public conversation. It wasn’t the best documentary ever, but it helped me to see a path for myself at the intersection of environmentalism and creativity.

LBB> The creative work that I keep revisiting…

Tom> I’m always drawn back to Pixar’s ‘WALL-E’. I don’t know another film that so beautifully captures how f*cked we’ll be if we don’t drastically change our way of life.

LBB> My first professional project…

Tom> My first professional project at Nice and Serious was to produce and direct a series of short films called ‘Professor Planet’ for Global Action Plan and Sky, back in 2008.

The films were all about translating sustainability for primary school children, and were sent out to every primary school in the country. It was still one of the most fun projects I’ve ever worked on.

LBB> The piece of work that made me so angry that I vowed to never make anything like *that*…

Tom> Any ad that I see from an oil company that makes it look like they care about the environment.

LBB> The piece of work that still makes me jealous…

Tom> I would have loved to be involved with Patagonia’s ‘Don't Buy This Jacket’ campaign – it’s still so subversive in a world obsessed with ‘more’.

More recently, I think the work NORD DDB did for Vattenfall and Samuel L. Jackson to promote wind energy and seaweed snacks was a brilliant piece of scripting and casting.

LBB> The creative project that changed my career…

Tom> There have been lots of inflection points over the years, and they’re often marked by an influential project or step into a new service or sector. But I think the one that stays with me is the ‘One Sweet World’ campaign we launched for Ben & Jerry’s in 2016.

It was during the Summer of discontent; the Croydon riots, Brexit etc. It was a campaign and a story about unity when everything seemed to be pulling apart; a story about a sour world, turned sweet. It launched on the day Trump was elected, and blew up. It marked our entry into the world of brand activism.

LBB> The work that I’m proudest of...

Tom> There have been some behind the scenes sustainability projects that I’ve worked on over the years that I believe have had a real impact on businesses and company policy.

But they’re a little geeky for an LBB article.

So to pick a favourite child … one that I’m super proud of is the ‘Aggro-rithm’ campaign we launched for Vodafone – it explored the impact of social media and the manosphere on the development of young teenage boys.

As a Dad of twin boys, it’s an issue I’m incredibly passionate about – so it gave me a real sense of agency to be able to put some work out into the world about it. And before you wonder, it launched a year before ‘Adolescence’!

LBB> I was involved in this and it makes me cringe…

Tom> Our first logo. Designed by me in my bedroom in 2008.

LBB> The recent project I was involved in that excited me the most…

Tom> I’m loving working with the Fairtrade Foundation at the moment. We’ve developed a multi-year brand platform ‘Do It Fair’, and it’s been brilliant seeing it come to life across all their channels, Glastonbury etc. I think it’s got so much potential.

For a specific project, we got to produce the film to launch Penguin’s 90th birthday campaign. Making the penguin move…what a privilege that was!