'Breakthrough' with Tim Irwin - Pioneer. Lead. Succeed.

In this new series, we ask our people to define what 'Breakthrough' means to them, both from a career standpoint and a personal note.

Our next issue features Tim Irwin , CEO, EssenceMediacom EMEA.

What does ‘breakthrough’ mean to you?

Creating marketing or comms solutions for our clients that demonstrably and positively impact their business.

What’s been the most inspiring personal breakthrough in your life?

Riding a bike, aged 4. Removing the stabilisers and just going for it is a good metaphor for life.

What was the breakthrough moment in your career?

Buying my first online ad, circa 1998. It was a banner from memory and seemed terribly exciting and certainly drove my love of all things digital.

Tell us about a piece of work you were involved with that you would define as a breakthrough.

The creation of Beauty Tech Labs for L'Oreal in 2019 helped define our role and gain the clients admiration. This concept legitimised our ability to deliver groundbreaking, technology driven work for one of the markets most ambitious clients. It wasn't my idea, but I guess I was involved.

What breakthrough in this industry - achieved by someone else - do you really admire? What do you admire about it?

So much of the work we are doing at EssenceMediacom across the EMEA region is really inspiring and is certainly living up to the true definition of a Breakthrough. Outside of our work at EssenceMediacom, I was a big fan of the Orange football spot in France that used VFX and deepfake AI technology (whatever that is) to make a strong societal point and generate positive reappraisal of Orange.