Fraser Bradshaw, managing director of McCann Erickson Bristol answers a few questions as his day as online editor of The Drum gets underway.

When approaching a client for the first time - how do you tend to open the conversation?

We tend to really research our prospects before we meet to make sure we don’t arrive at crossed purposes; this may also involve a pre-meeting questionnaire if we haven’t had our new business team meet up for initial discussions or a chemistry session. So, the opener is normally a genuine “...delighted to meet you at last, Andy.” For a sanity check, I would often refer to the client-side blogspot by Dave Knockles whose site ‘I am the client’ has provided us with some great insight.

If you were to aspire to emulate anyone in your career who would it be and why?

I was particularly impressed by the leadership and style of Rupert Howell from his days at McCanns; he turned Howell Henry Chaldecott Lury (HHCL) into the Agency of the Decade in the 1990s, as it transformed the industry with campaigns such as Ronseal's "Does exactly what it says on the tin" and Tango's "Slap" ad. He had a great ‘can do, will do’ attitude about him whilst at McCann. Regionally, I have always respected Mike Bennett’s endeavours at E3 Media and as a founding director of Bristol Media; Mike is fairly unique in his ability to both conceive initiatives and deliver them, always to a high standard, whilst making proper money at the same time; a great starter and a great finisher. But ultimately, it would have to be my late Dad; trite as it may seem. Retailer and serial entrepreneur; he was honest, genuine, amiable and extremely commercial, in equal measures.

How do you ensure that creativity thrives within a business?

Creativity is a catch-all term. But it’s not just about the work we produce, it’s how we manage and develop our people, how we try to be the highlight of our clients’ week when we meet with them and how we try to problem solve. That multi-faceted approach breeds a creative outlook. We try to add value and stretch our clients by implementing monthly measures: we have ‘agency breakfast’ first Wednesday of every month to review client work and to review developments in certain sectors; this collaboration fosters a good creative output every time - and we host Fish & Chip Fridays on the last Friday of the month, where there has been a focus for those preceding four weeks on developing our output for a specific key account. (And no, the food theme is just co-incidental.)

Should you resign tomorrow, what advice would you give your successor?

Keep hiring bigger and better people.

What is your stance on agency's having pets and if McCann's Bristol was to have one - what would it be?

Let’s face it, the options are pretty limited: cat, dog, fish and maybe at a push a parrot. Everything else would be, well odd? I do like animals and keep chickens and dogs out in Somerset where I live. I have no problems with the notion of an agency pet and one of our PR account director’s regularly brings her dog in; so maybe that’s the answer, invest in a new agency companion for 2011 - a nice chunky British bulldog. It’ll help keep the cynics at bay.