Paul Sparks

13/03/2026

The logo of The North Face is actually inspired by Half Dome, the iconic granite formation in Yosemite National Park. The curved lines in the logo represent the mountain’s distinctive shape, specifically the steep north face that climbers love to challenge 🧗‍♂️

So every time you see that logo, you’re looking at a stylized tribute to one of the most famous rock faces in the world 🤘⚡️

13/01/2026

We recently rebranded BISON Content to build a brand for a new-generation video podcasting platform. Designed to elevate conversations, ideas and expertise into powerful, shareable content.

At its core, BISON exists to:
Transform conversations, ideas & expertise into content that travels further and resonates deeper. Built for founders and industry leaders, BISON is a platform where insight and expertise becomes content.

✦ The Idea
BISON is a stage for modern thought leadership, a place where meaningful conversations are captured, refined and amplified.

The brand needed to feel:
• Authoritative
• Sharp
• Distinctive
• Timeless
• Powerful

✦ The Identity
In a space dominated by modernist sans-serif branding, we intentionally took a different route.

• A bespoke serif wordmark that brings weight, credibility and character
• A custom 'S' letterform subtly echoes the curve and strength of a Bison horn
• Sharp, sculpted letterforms reflect clarity and focus
• The result is a distinctive mark that feels confident, premium and unmistakably BISON

The existing brand yellow was retained and amplified, becoming a confident signature within a largely typographic, structured and editorial visual system.

✦ The Language
To reinforce BISON’s positioning as a thought-leadership platform, we developed a suite of brand lines that blend expert insight with the power of a Bison:

'Ground-breaking thoughts in motion'
'Powerful insights shared'
'Sharp insights captured'
'Timeless stories amplified'

Each line connects momentum, meaning and authority.

✦ The Place
Based in the heart of Hackney, E2, BISON is rooted in one of London’s most entrepreneurial and creative communities, surrounded by founders, start-ups and independent brands shaping what’s next in culture and industry.

✦ Website
https://bisoncontent.com/

⚡🦬

12/01/2026

We’re kicking off the new year in style. I recently caught up with Tiffany Willis a strength coach who proves that it’s never too late to pivot, rebuild and follow your passion.

Tiff didn’t grow up athletic. She ‘Hated all things PE!’...and didn’t touch a barbell until her 30s.

Fast-forward to now: Tiff is now a strength and conditioning coach helping women of all stages of life build confidence, lift heavy and have fun in the process.

After building a successful career in the branding/creative world as an Account Director (DEEP, Together and Ragged Edge) the turning point came after having her son. The 9-5 grind no longer felt aligned. COVID hit. The penny dropped and she made the bold decision to switch up the game completely.

At 42, she left her role as an Account Director.
At 43, she started Olympic lifting.
At 44, she hired her own coach.

Despite a slow start in the first few months, Tiff found the rhythm – now with a full client roster, a clear niche and authentic positioning: Lift heavy. Move well. Have fun.

Some standout insights from the episode:

💬 On starting fitness later in life:
“You’re never too old to start something new. Growth doesn’t have an age limit.”

💬 On the mental side of strength training:
“Some days the bar feels weightless, other days it’s glued to the floor. The real work is showing up anyway.”

💬 On women lifting heavy:
“Every woman should lift. It builds confidence, resilience and long-term health - not bulkiness.”

💬 On coaching:
“Having someone who sees what you can’t is priceless, even coaches need coaches”

Tiff’s story is the perfect mix of courage, reinvention and bold decision making.

It’s a reminder: you don’t need to have it all figured out from the start. If you follow your passion, you’ll be on the right track.

Massive thanks to Tiffany Willis for joining and sharing her journey and for absolutely smashing the shuttle session 🔥

If you're curious about branding world pivots, strength training, women’s fitness or just want a hit of inspiration - this is one worth watching!

We’re kicking off the new year in style. I recently caught up with Tiffany Willis a strength coach who proves that it’s never too late to pivot, rebuild and ...

10/11/2025

What happens when your creative passion turns into burnout and you have to reset and rebuild

In this episode, French designer and art director Cécile Dumetier opens up about her journey from burnout to breakthrough, rediscovering purpose, balance and joy in design through clay, community and creative independence.

We crack into:

🔥 The unspoken pressures behind burnout in the design industry
🫶🏻 Reclaiming identity and joy through ceramics and community
💬 Honest conversations on gender imbalance and creative leadership
🥚 Founding Studio Omelette— a space ‘Specifically Not Specialised’
🍷 The Reclaimed: Silo Collection — Where sustainability meets innovation

Cécile’s story is a powerful reminder that creativity isn’t about endless output. It’s about connection, community and craving out your own creative lane.

🎧 Watch / Listen: Reclaiming Creativity After Burnout (feat) Cécile Dumetier. Studio Omelette

What happens when your creative passion turns into burnout and you have to reset and rebuild?In this episode, French designer and art director Cécile Dumetie...

10/10/2025

https://youtu.be/6mgzgzi5j1c?si=zF4bFXMUwUwaoYZI

In this episode of SPARKStv, branding consultant Turlough Fortune breaks down the power of Category Design, inspired by the bold ideas in Category Pirates: T...

22/09/2025

https://youtu.be/pAcsA7RjJbQ?si=qQ1My3M9N1M0VYpM

From punk gigs in squats to first job at Pentagram… to shaping the UK’s biggest telecom brand — today’s guest is none other than the 'Wizard of Wicklow' hims...

13/09/2025

From Porage to Westeros: Rory McCann and the Scots Porage Oats Ads🍲➡️⚔️🐺

Before he was The Hound in Game of Thrones, Rory McCann was climbing ropes and flexing muscles for Scots Porage Oats in the 1990s.

The ads are a fascinating snapshot of 90s UK advertising, funny, physical and rooted in national identity. McCann’s towering presence made him the perfect symbol of the brand: strong, resilient, proudly Scottish.

The Branding Play ♟️

Scots Porage Oats weren’t just selling breakfast. They were selling heritage. Instead of leaning on health stats, the campaigns built an emotional story: Porage as fuel for strength, endurance and authenticity.

Casting McCann was branding genius. He wasn’t a polished model — he was the oats. Rugged, real, and memorable. A product turned human.

Why “Porage” with an A?

The spelling wasn’t an accident. Back in 1914, Scott’s wanted to stand out from rivals, so they fused porridge with potage (a French word for thick soup) and never looked back.

They even leaned into it with a campaign:

“Spell it either way and it means a delicious hot breakfast, but there is a difference. There’s something special about Porage because Scott’s Porage is made from genuine Scottish oats, the real stuff.”

A small tweak that became a century-long branding asset.

Cultural stickiness 📺

Today, those 90s ads live on as nostalgic gems. They’re remembered not just because of their cheeky tone, but because McCann went on to embody a very different kind of strength on screen.

That accidental crossover, from Porage-fuelled strongman to one of television’s most iconic antiheroes gives the ads a second life as cultural curiosities.

Why It Matters? 🤔

Scots Porage Oats shows us how branding can:

• Anchor itself in cultural identity
• Personify its promise through casting
• Turn a spelling quirk into a brand story
• Outlast its moment by leaning into authenticity

A bowl of oats, a spelling quirk and a future TV legend, sometimes branding wins in ways no one could ever predict.

03/09/2025

A tribute to design hero Martin Lambie-Nairn, a true British design icon who shaped the look and feel of modern television and beyond.

This story that takes us from Sagmeister’s giant inflatable monkeys to working alongside one of Britain’s greatest design legends — Martin Lambie-Nairn.

This video takes you on a full-circle journey:
🦍 Sagmeister’s giant “angry monkeys” invading Scottish Cities in 2007
📖 How a talk I stumbled into at The Caird Hall as a student completely changed my perspective on design
📺 Martin Lambie-Nairn’s legendary work on Channel 4, BBC, and O2
➡️ And how, 10 years later, I had the surreal honour of working alongside him on The Beano rebrand
🎨 Behind-the-scenes memories (yes, including me spray-painting logos down an alleyway in Clerkenwell!)

This one’s packed with nostalgia, design history, and personal storytelling. Buckle up — it’s a journey from student days to full-circle career moments.

Today’s episode is not just a story — it’s a tribute to the late, great Martin Lambie-Nairn, a true British design icon who shaped the look and feel of moder...

27/08/2025

Nike Scorpion KO. The greatest football campaign ever made 🦂🔥

2002. This wasn’t football.
This was a street fight.

Nike dropped Scorpion KO — a 3v3 cage battle where the first goal won it all. Winner stays on. Loser’s dropped out.

At the center of it: a chrome ball, futuristic and alien. And above the chaos: Eric Cantona.
Stalking the top of the cage like a mob boss, running his underground fight club.

Inside the steel? Legends only.
R9. Ronaldinho. Henry. Figo. Vieira. Totti. Roberto Carlos. Davids
Superstars stripped of stadiums, forced into survival mode.

Moments became myth:
• Roberto Carlos pulling off a scorpion kick like it was nothing.
• Ronaldinho spinning defenders into the cage.
• Henry’s improvisation using Totti to propel himself through the air for a flying header.

The whole thing felt dangerous. Even the goal frame was marked out with black and yellow hazard tape.

Sweat, steel, shadows. The boots flashing under harsh floodlights.

It had a post-90s grunge aesthetic, straight out of Fight Club or Blade. Raw, chaotic, cinematic.

The soundtrack? Elvis Presley’s “A Little Less Conversation” (JXL remix) an instant adrenaline hit that turned a football ad into pure rock & roll.

The details went deeper.
The voice-over carried menace.
The print campaign hit streets worldwide — stencil, spray-paint style posters, like underground graffiti.
Not glossy. Not polished. Pure rebellion.

Behind it all was the creative machine of Wieden+Kennedy, directed by the legendary Terry Gilliam (yes, Monty Python’s own surrealist genius). That’s why it felt more like a movie than a commercial.

This wasn’t an ad to sell boots. It was myth-making. A reminder that football, at its core, belongs to the streets.

20+ years later, no campaign has come close. Nike Scorpion tournament didn’t just capture the game — it captured an era.

‘A little less fight and a little more spark’

Comment below your favourite football Ad.

26/08/2025

From quiet intern to partner of a loud new-age branding agency – Eddie Caldwell.
From early experiments to creative leader at FLUORO.London, Eddie’s journey is a lesson in boldness, energy and vision.

Catch the full conversation on YouTube SPARKStv Series 1, Episode 1.

🔗 in bio

18/08/2025

Has your brand or website lost its 'Spark'?

13/08/2025

Is there any restaurants or cafes in Dundee that you absolutely love but think they could do with a brand or website refresh? Comment below with suggestions