The Essential List: Matt Collier
Matt Collier is a seasoned advertising professional with a career spanning over three decades. Since his early days of cleaning his bosses’ cars, times have changed as he now heads up the Ford business across a number of regions including Asia, the Middle East and South Africa. From leading BBDO Asia in the Ford global pitch two years ago through to ensuring the markets are delivering on the data driven precision marketing model BBDO employs for Ford every day today, Matt relishes his role in building the Ford brand and selling their vehicles versus washing them all those years ago.
Get to know him better below.
Lifestyle
o Place of birth: Sydney, Australia
o Hometown: Bangkok, Thailand for last two years
o Staycation: I like a road trip so anywhere within a three-hour drive from Bangkok. Preferably with water views.
o Vacation: Made a promise to myself a decade ago to go to at least one new country every year. So somewhere new each year and preferably with an adventure attached. I’m not a ‘sit on an island’ type of guy.
o Pet: Churro the Shihztu (cheaper than another kid)
o Place of work: BBDO Bangkok
o Place of workout: Lumphini Park between home and office. Every morning.
o Mode of transport: Car / motorcycle / ride on electric scooter. Depending on weather / mood.
o Bonus travel essential: Quality luggage. Makes all the difference.
Culture
o Musician: ‘80s rock / pop is my favourite genre but whatever is on my Spotify ‘Release Radar’ normally gets a good workout.
o Commercials / music video director: I don’t have a favourite, but I have a least favourite: Famous Indian director who went into feature films who walked off our project in the middle of post.
o Film director: Christopher Nolan
o Photographer: Annie Leibovitz. I had her Photographs book since I was a teenager and even cut out the pics, had them framed and used them as décor for my first apartment when I moved out of home.
o Film: Usual Suspects, To Catch a Thief
o Series: Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, Entourage
o Commercial: Old Spice, The Man Your Man Could Smell Like
o Music video: Duke Dumont - I Got You. Not only is it shot / produced here in Thailand, the guy is also living my dream.
o Book: Whatever is on my Kindle at the time. But I love political biographies.
o Podcast: The Daily (NYT)
o Newspaper (off or online): smh.com.au (Sydney Morning Herald to get my daily home fix)
o Magazine: Do they still print those?
Food and Drink
o Breakfast: MUST start with a cup of English breakfast tea and some fruit
o Restaurant: Oh my so many choices, but Gaggan in BKK (used to be the fourth best restaurant in the world) was my greatest dining experience.
o Cheap bite: Street food. Anywhere in the world.
o Working lunch: Sashimi at my desk.
o Favourite dish: Anything my mum cooks for me (bonus points for me if she reads this)
o Signature dish: I do a French braised chicken in white wine that goes down a treat.
o Snack: Mixed nuts (would prefer potato crisps)
o Guilty pleasure: Ice cream
o Bar: Home. I love making cocktails and having some music on and it beats traffic and smoke and random noise.
o Booze: Vodka. Dirty Martini in particular.
o Not booze: Water
o Bonus food: Avocado. If I could eat avo in every meal I would.
Kit
o Phone: Samsung S10+. Love Android and the quality of the camera/screen when this was released.
o Computer: MacBook Air
o TV: Samsung
o Headphones: Bose over ears for quality, but now rarely use anything but my Samsung Galaxy Buds +. Great on planes, exercising, for work and so compact.
o Camera: See phone.
o Soundsystem: Denon amp, B&W speakers. Love that sound…
o Pen / pencil: Pen
o Where you document an idea: Whiteboard behind my desk in my office or on scrap paper which I can then never find.
o Casual clothing: Living in Southeast Asia it’s mainly shorts
o Smart clothing: As I’ve gotten older, looking smart doesn’t mean as much as acting smart
o Footwear: adidas
o Watch: Several. My watch collection is one of my guilty indulgences.
o Collection: I collect motorbikes. I have six spread across three countries. It’s a problem.
o App: Google Podcasts. I’m a voracious listener of podcasts.
o Website: Flipboard
o Favourite social media feed: IG is my only social
o Work program: Outlook
o Digital work tool: WhatsApp
o Morning grooming / makeup essential: Not only do I not shave often, even a shower is optional these days of WFH
o Bonus kit essential: Hate thick wallets so my money clip keeps my cash organised.
