At the Effie Awards last week, I wore incredibly colourful shoes. They were hard to miss: Christian Louboutins in more colours than are strictly necessary for one pair of feet.

Statement shoes, I’ll own. Colour, not so much. My wardrobe usually sticks to a fairly disciplined palette.

These were for Tim.

Tim McAllister is Bennett Agency’s Creative Director. When I first met him, he was Creative Director at an agency in Melbourne, there on a skilled visa, and we worked on the Timber brand together.

We hit it off so well that when his visa was coming to an end, he wanted to come and work with me in Tasmania, a place that felt like home to a Northern Irish man. But before we could finalise the paperwork, he had to leave the country. He headed home to see family, and then COVID hit. No one could go anywhere for three years.

We worked together anyway. And it worked beautifully.

He has been on the Original Tasmanian Timber campaign for nine years, since day one, through every brief, every pivot and every 5am alarm to meet clients on Australian time. People are often surprised that our creative team is in Northern Ireland. They shouldn’t be. Tim is phenomenal.

Tim wears colour. All of it, always, and especially his socks. You can’t tell me you’ve had a bad meeting with a man in rainbow striped socks

He should have been in that room. He wanted to be there more than anyone. He didn’t come because he and his wife have a cat called Snowy, whom they love above all else, and they couldn’t find anyone they trusted to are for him for a month. Honestly, that tells you a lot about Tim: loyal, gentle, and completely clear on what matters.

So when Original Tasmanian Timber was recognised in the Long Term Effects category, I walked up in the loudest shoes I own, for the person who has been there for the long term.

Awards get presented to agencies and campaigns. But campaigns that take a product from obscurity to market leader aren’t built by logos. They’re built by people who keep turning up year after year, even from the other side of the world.

Tim, these were your socks. Give Snowy a scratch from all of us.

Claire Bennett, Founder, Bennett Agency