Dream Teams: From Covid Sex Puns to Luxury F1 Pit Stops with Freck

Beck Dunn and Freddie Mickshik (AKA Freck) met at the School of Communication Arts 2.0 in Brixton. Freddie’s initial assessment of his future partner: “Good creative, dodgy hair. Nothing’s changed.” They realised they’d both gone to Leeds University, both been “abysmal” (according to Freddie) account execs, and both had silly senses of humour. “So, we were friends first, like many great relationships, then decided to try it out a few months after. We’ve never looked back.” Years later, they’re working as a creative team together at TBWA\London.

Beck’s first thoughts on Freddie were the things they had in common, notably a shared sense of humour and same interests. “The only difference was how many more wrinkles he had on his face. Nothing has changed,” he says.

As students, Freck made some spec ads for LoveHoney based on what Freddie admits were “dubious covid sex puns,” such as ‘Increasing the Aaaaaaaah rate’ and ‘Because tied up beats locked down’.  The brand saw the jokes on Twitter and sent the fledgling creative team male sex toys to say thanks, before, Freddie says, they “ran almost identical ads a few months later. Still among my proudest achievements.”

Beck isn’t mad either. “Maybe that’s why we still love doing proactive ideas?”

They have since created campaigns that they’ve been paid for in wages, not just self-love products. Having worked on a placement at Gravity Road, Freck found a permanent gig at Dentsu Creative in London. Highlights of working for around two years there include AI cracker ‘Artificial Intell-a-Joke’, for the agency Christmas Card in 2022. “It came from noticing a moment in culture and putting a satirical spin on it, and we took the execution as far as we could,” says Freddie. “We learned loads about craft while making it, and I was proud of the end product. It’s something I wanted to show mates outside advertising, and that they enjoyed.”

The ‘Hilton Hos-PIT-ality CREW’ the pair worked on for the Silverstone Grand Prix is another highlight. “The campaign took a lot of hard work and a great team to pull off in a month,” says Beck. It involved creating an F1 Pit Crew that delivered Hilton hospitality to fans at the campsite, a Hilton pit lane event space and then a rapid-fire shoot with Lando Norris who the agency team had 10 minutes with. Good grounding for any future projects with sports stars.

Freck have already received some recognition in their career, early as they may be on their creative trajectory. In 2023, they were named as finalists for the Creative Circle’s Most Promising Creative Team category. They even got their first LBB interview out of that achievement.

Lunchtime walks are a staple of the pair’s friendship. They get the odd pint after work together, “even though you’d think 40 hours a week is enough time to spend together already,” says Freddie. “But I think it’s important to hang out and talk about stuff other than ads. We do a Freck Christmas party every year, which I can’t recommend enough. Just the two of us, a few cocktails and some office gossip.”

Both are highly competitive shuffleboard and pool players. Beck won’t show any false humility here. “I’m very much in the lead on both,” he says. 

To be fair, Freddie agrees. “Yeah, Beck beats me at pool all the time and he’s a terrible winner. Gloaty. We disagree loads, like an old married couple, but it’s never a big deal. Just couple’s tiffs.”

In fact, emotional connection to the work is one of the keys to their success as creatives. “It means you give a shit,” says Freddie. 

“I think emotion is intrinsically linked to having ideas,” agrees Beck, “because you care about them and see something in them, at the same time you have to be prepared to let go of them and watch them change so they can grow into something better, a mindset we have when we work together.

“Yes, we bicker on ideas a lot. ‘Is that actually a truth?’ ‘Would anyone do that?’ In the moment you’re thinking ‘How could you not get what I’m seeing in this?’ I think twice we’ve given each other the silent treatment… which then cracks and we laugh about it, starting again from the beginning, explaining it more clearly the next time. It’s one of things we look back on and laugh about.”

Freddie having studied English and Beck having studied art as their undergraduate degrees, the duo has a clear copy-art divide. “A bit old school,” admits Freddie, “but we’re each trying to learn the other’s discipline more. I think Beck pushes me to work harder, care more and get really stuck into creativity. I think I probably help Beck stay a bit calmer. And I’ve definitely made him funnier.”

The pair’s go-to inspiration sources reflect the disciplines they started out specialising in too. Freddie draws on the writing in classic British sitcoms and the ideas in oddball mockumentary ‘Nathan For You’. Funny ads from the noughties stroke his engine, as well as the boldness American ads can sometimes do so well. He also loves “clever people’s silly inventions,” and “actual observations of real people that can be cynically manipulated into ideas.”

Beck’s inspiration often comes from art exhibitions. “The 180 studio exhibitions are my favourite,” he says. “The artists there blend technology with human experience, their work makes me jealous as an artist and a creative. I try to absorb as much as I can for ideas in the future.”

Freddie is paying attention to his partner’s interests: “Beck’s learned how to use chopsticks from me. I’ve learned the names of four new painters from him.”

Beck loves Freddie’s passion for the job. “When I feel extra amped up to crack a brief or feel like we could be working harder, he gets it and is always up for it. It’s great to have a partner that feels the same way you do about work and then matches your energy to go for it.”

Both are happily partnered up as a creative team. It’s actually quite sweet to hear. “Having a work other-half is great,” says Freddie. “Someone’s always got your back. There’s a constant sense-check of whether your ideas are total bollocks or worth pushing. We’re really competitive, even… (especially) with each other, so I think we spur each other to work harder, do better. And it means you never have to eat lunch alone!”