Thinkbox
Helen Rhodes is known for her culturally-resonant and beautifully crafted ideas. She oversees the studio’s 50-plus creative and design team, working alongside wider leadership to shape Grey London's strategy and direction.
She joined Grey from BBH London, where she served as executive creative director and was behind the iconic "Girl vs cancer" campaign, which broke taboos around sex and cancer.
Prior to BBH, Rhodes held roles at celebrated institutions like BBC Creative, where she led award-winning projects including the Dracula special-build and the BAFTA-winning Tokyo Olympics 2020 campaign, and launched BBCU to improve diversity and inclusion.
Her work has been recognised at every major international awards show, including Cannes Lions, D&AD and the Clio Awards.
Helen’s choices
Skittles “Touch” (2007)
This darkly humorous TBWA/Chiat/Day, New York ad, created by Eric Kallman and Craig Allen, was inspired by the myth of King Midas with a twist. Our main character has a unique ability where everything he touches instantly turned into Skittles.
He demonstrates the power by touching office objects like a stapler and phone, which then collapse into piles of colourful Skittles. However, this “gift” he has makes everyday life impossible, insinuating that he can’t dress himself or hold his newborn baby.
The ad makes us wonder if such talents are a blessing or curse.
- Agency: TBWA\Chiat\Day New York
- Creative team: Craig Allen, Eric Kallman
- Client: Skittles
- Production company: MJZ
- Director: Tom Kuntz
Burberry “Open spaces” (2021)
Inspired by a Thomas Burberry quote “Inherent in every Burberry garment is freedom”, this spot is layered with the soundtrack of Counting Atomic by Ryan Lott and moves Burberry from the streets of London to the countryside.
The ad interweaves fantasy and reality in a gravity-defying film as friends soar through forests and fields, coming together in the sky above a cliff edge.
- Agency: Riff Raff Films
- Creative team: Matthew Fone, Cathy Hood, Laura Duffy, Justin Brown
- Client: Burberry
- Production company: Riff Raff Films
- Director: Megaforce
KFC “All hail gravy” (2025)
The KFC TV ad is a surreal commercial in which a man is drawn into a strange woodland procession carrying a giant golden egg and led to a lake of gravy.
In a ritualistic ceremony, he is lowered into the gravy and emerges transformed into a piece of fried chicken.
The ad is a fun way to break away from category norms, celebrating KFC’s chicken and gravy, ending with the line “Believe in chicken.”
- Agency: Mother London
- Creative team: Felix Richter
- Client: KFC
- Production company: Business Club
- Director: Vedran Rupic