Meet the Team: Anthony Leyton, Editor

As Zetteler’s editor, Anthony is the mastermind behind “anything that comes out of Zetteler with words on it.” For those not fluent in Anthony speak, this translates to press releases, printed materials, a heap of web content and pretty much anything else that ends with a full stop.

Anthony first met Sabine at Mr & Mrs Smith where they worked alongside each other for five years. Sabine leaped into the freelance world in 2012 and, missing the presence of somebody with a knack for making good coffee, and knowing a good thing when she reads it, the minute Anthony decided to go freelance, Sabine snapped him up. He has been crafting words for Zetteler ever since.

Seeing as Anthony likes words so much, we thought we’d treat him to writing some more. Below he imagines a parallel life living in an underground bunker and explains why being skeptical about PR makes him a good fit for Zetteler.

Hello Anthony, what do you do at Zetteler?

Hello anonymous blog interrogator. I’m the Zetteler editor, which makes me the one largely responsible for our written voice. I string all the sentences together for our releases, site content, printed materials, emails – anything that comes out of Zetteler with words on it, I’ve probably fiddled about with in some way. Including these questions, which is making this whole experience uncomfortably meta.

How did you end up here?

I worked with Sabine for around five years at Mr & Mrs Smith, where I was managing editor. When she left to set up her business, I helped out a fair bit with her written material (she has so many talents; it’s such a tragedy that she never learned to read) and a year later, when I too left Smith and set up on my own, I helped out even more.   Essentially I’ve spent the last four years trying to prevent Sabine from ever finding out that there are other writers out there, and thus far, I’m succeeding.

What skills/interests/bits of your personality make you suited to this sort of work?

Apart from being anal about words and commas and stuff? Probably the fact that I approach PR and marketing from a very skeptical standpoint and I have (like Sabine) a very low tolerance for bullshit. That makes me quite good at writing things that other editors will actually want to read.  

I love working with the team here mainly because they’re sociable, high-energy, organised and charismatic people – which is pretty much the exact opposite of my personality. If I didn’t have the Zetteler team to play with, I’d probably be living in an underground bunker in the Highlands, refusing all human contact and eating spam from a tin.

I also like the fact that what I do can really help Zetteler’s clients – all of whom are exciting and brilliantly creative people who are making positive changes either to their industry or the world as a whole. Or who are just really, really nice. It’s hugely satisfying to help someone succeed who deserves to.

Why did you choose to make a career in the design industry?

I didn’t. I know nothing about design. I’m totally winging it.

My entire career has been largely accidental. I could spin it as ‘proactively seizing new learning opportunities’, but really I’ve just gone with whatever came along. I generally tell people I specialise in travel, design and food but that’s only because they’re what people generally ask me to work on. There’s no master plan here. The good thing is that it means I work on a very diverse array of different projects, and I’m constantly exposed to new topics, people and ideas, learning a little about a lot. It’s why I’m good at pub quizzes.

However, my work with Zetteler (and the countless other opportunities that have sprung from it) has meant that I’m now pretty comfortable in the design world – or at least, the bits of it that are doing genuinely amazing work around forms and materials, or trying to make things better by making better things. But if they’ve just made a slightly different-looking chair? Jog on.

What do you think differentiates Zetteler from the ever-growing number of PR agencies popping up out there (if anything)?

The honesty and warmth behind it. Zetteler could probably be a super-slick money-making machine if it set out to, but it won’t, because everyone’s too nice. Many PR companies don’t care that much about who they represent, or put too much effort into representing them creatively, or actively try to understand what motivates them to do what they do. Zetteler isn’t like that. Everyone gives their all to everything, constantly goes above and beyond, and never resorts to working by numbers. And everyone is clever and funny. And we have a unicorn.

Plus, I’ve never met anyone who cares about things as much as Sabine. She makes me feel entirely inadequate as a human. Which is always nice.

What’s the best bit of your day?

Don’t tell my wife, but I quite enjoy the school run.

Is there anything in particular you’re looking forward to working on in the coming months? 

I have no idea what I’m doing next week, let alone months from now, but considering i started answering this question over a month ago, I’ll say ‘writing this’.

What excites you about the design scene today?

There is a definite shift in focus from ‘making stuff’ to ‘making better’. New materials created from waste; new concepts for products that have remained unchanged because everyone took them for granted; marriages between design and technology that enhance neglected communities and save lives. Designers have actually made sustainability exciting.

Do you have a favourite designer/studio/brand/general creative force?  

I have a massive crush on Special Projects. (I always wanted to be a magician.) I also find the way Katie Treggiden has forged her career very inspiring. And I have been passionately devoted to David Shrigley since I was 13.

What do you do in your life outside Zetteler?

I have three boys under eight. I have no life outside Zetteler.

I do go running a couple of times a week, though. I like the scenery and the solitude – I can listen to Shakira without anyone knowing.

If you have one, what’s your current pet hate?

It’s a three-way tie between PRs opening emails with ‘I hope you’re well?’; brands who insist on referring to themselves in all-caps; and the fact that we’re clearly in the End Times of human civilisation and everyone (including me) is too angry, confused or just plain frightened to do anything about it.

Best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

‘This too shall pass.’ Only decent thing in the Bible (apart from the batshit stuff at the end about the whores and fire and whatnot – that’s ace).

Most inspiring thing you’ve ever seen?

There’s a beach in the north of New Zealand’s South Island, somewhere near Nelson, which is split into two halves by an outcrop of rock with a sort of cave running through it. Not sure why, but the half hour I spent there 18 years ago has really stuck with me. I saw a really good puddle a few years back, too. The way it reflected the rain through the streetlights looked amazing, like a bad lightspeed sequence in a 1970s sci-fi film. I took a video of it on my phone and I look at it every now and then while I’m waiting for someone to like my Facebook status. I also really love Die Hard. Inspiration is everywhere, innit.

Specialist subject on Mastermind? 

Toss up between non-Euclidean geometry and post-structuralism. Let’s split the difference and go with Die Hard.

Favourite place to go in London?

I spent 11 years living in London Fields until I was ejected from the neighbourhood for not being millennial enough. I love going back and complaining about how it’s changed. Regent’s Canal is also fantastic.

First thing you do in the morning?

I get up at 5.30am and take the dog for a drag. Neither of us enjoy it much, so the day can only get better from there.