About me

In the late ‘90s, I became a member of a very select club of people deluded enough to launch an internet magazine (or, more accurately, I launched it on behalf of the company I work for).

It was called the net, and lasted roughly two years, eventually falling victim to the dotcom bust. One morning, a member of the ad team mentioned that the advertisers had ‘gone’. ‘Advertisers don’t just vanish overnight,’ I insisted. ‘Oh yes they do,’ he rightly replied. The magazine and website were closed within eight weeks.

Today, I’m the digital editorial director at Haymarket Consumer Media. We’re a specialist media company with UK market leaders in sport, technology, music, motoring and more besides.

I spend my working days trying to help a bunch of very bright people bring the abstract concepts to life. Many of those journalists began their careers in print, and are now creating websites.

If you want to see some of our handiwork, pay a visit to What Car?, Stuff, Autocar, Autosport, or maybe Gramophone. Our latest launch (as of July 2008) is What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision.

I try to put a flimsy professional veneer on my fascination with the web; fact is, it’s a form of OCD. It has everything you need from a good soap; larger-than-life characters, sudden plot twists and some fairly breathtaking endings. Only in this case, the script is being written as the actors speak their lines. And if anyone tells you they’ve seen the ending, they’re a liar.

Now for the formalities: the views in this blog are not those of my company, but are certainly my own. I try not to offend, but if I do, go read something else. It’s still a free society. Just.

And if you’re a bright, creative web creative, you may want to get in touch: Haymarket is growing fast, and we’re constantly on the hunt for people who want to make the most of their talents. And what better place to work than by a in a building where they filmed The Office?