Campaign: Ben's bucket and spade list

What's on creatives' bucket and spade lists this summer?

Ainsley Harriott on the playlist? Check. EU band on your wrist? Check. Dog pram in the boot? Check. Then you're ready for take-off.

Dave Bedwood, creative partner, The & Partnership London 

HOLIDAY LOCATION

My favourite holiday locations have come via Instagram – looking at photos from friends who are clearly having the time of their life. I then book the exact same holiday but upgrade everything – better flights, better restaurants, better hotel. I then hire a photographer to take better Instagram photos. 

ICE-CREAM

It has to be the Mr Whippy 99. The nostalgic pull of those childhood memories competes with my adult tendency to focus on the state of the ice-cream man’s mitts as he fondles my Flake into the creamy crimp-off. An emotional roller coaster that no other ice-cream can, or will ever, compete with. 

COCKTAIL

A dry vodka martini is a bold summer statement. It’s essentially just ice-cold vodka – so it must be drunk quickly. If it gets anywhere near room temperature, then basically it’s the same as wandering the streets sipping from a bottle of Smirnoff out of a brown paper bag. 

BOOK

While my wife swims lengths for hours with all three children, I like nothing better than ignoring the cacophony with a good book. I tend to oscillate between Jackie Collins and Andy McNab. The moments between high arousal and murderous rage find my mind in the perfect state to then absorb The New Yorker. 

MUSIC

To a child, Billie Holiday sounds like the perfect singer to call upon for a holiday "banger". But when I explained in detail Billie’s horrific slide into drink and drugs hell, my seven-year-old burst into tears and screamed for A Million Dreams from The Greatest Showmansoundtrack. Since then, that song has become our holiday "jam".  

MUST-PACK ITEM

If we’re going to Europe, then I make sure I pack a blue EU wristband for each member of the family. It’s exactly like that yellow band everyone wore before that cyclist turned out to be a cheating, scumbag drugs mule. The "euroband" is different because it sends a signal to anyone in Europe – waiters, hotel staff, taxi drivers, cooks, maids, new lovers – that you voted remain. It gives the wearer peace of mind, no bodily fluids in food and good friendly service.

Rob Doubal, co-president and chief creative officer, McCann UK

HOLIDAY LOCATION

My favourite holiday location would have to be somewhere I haven’t been before. But if I had to go back – Namibia. 

ICE-CREAM

I can’t look beyond vanilla ice-cream. It’s the measuring stick to judge all the others by.  

COCKTAIL

White Russian.   

BOOK

I enjoy Graham Greene’s well-structured explorations of the human soul.  

MUSIC

Anything sung by Andreas Scholl.  

MUST-PACK ITEM

A Canon AE-1. With slide film. To be enjoyed 10 years later on a projector.  

Vicki Maguire, chief creative officer, Grey London 

HOLIDAY LOCATION

Broadstairs. Out of season. When our dog Arthur turned eight, our vet said he hadn’t got long to live. We vowed then to take him with us wherever we went. Including holidays. That little fucker is 14 now. So for the past six years it’s been Broadstairs. Where the hats don’t read "Kiss me quick", more "Do not resuscitate".

ICE-CREAM

A doggy gelato. It’s the fat from ice-cream without the sugar and flavourings… that dog is spoilt. 

COCKTAIL

I’m not a big drinker, so when I do, I like to go all out. Anything with sparklers. And fruit. And sprinkles.

BOOK

I don’t take books on holiday, I head to the local charity shop. Seriously, if you like books, then check them out. Thanks to Marie Kondo, your local Age Concern is better stocked than Waterstones, so I’m reading Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris.

MUSIC

They love a bit of live music in Broadstairs. There’s usually a man in his eighties singing Sam Cooke’s Only 16. To drown the creepiness out, it’s Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys. 

MUST-PACK ITEM 

Dog cooling coat. Dog pram. Dog sunscreen (it’s a thing). 

Ben Middleton, chief creative officer, Creature

HOLIDAY LOCATION

The past couple of years we’ve managed to really make Mallorca work. The kids get a plane ride that’s short enough that we’re not all praying for a cabin decompression by the time we land, and once we’re there, we’ve found enough decent spots that the Trunki-laden hell of the journey was worth it in the first place.

ICE-CREAM

I’m ashamed to admit I had my first Twister only a year ago and I’ve been a pretty single-minded frozen-dairy consumer ever since. I’m still making my peace with its somewhat phallic reveal.

COCKTAIL

The most ostentatious thing they sell. If I’m going to cocktail, I’m having one served in a vase complete with fireworks, flashing ice cubes and acrobatically trained clown fish.

BOOK

If I have to engage with one of those things, I swing wildly between wanting to learn and wanting to escape, so tend to take a mix of biographies and fantasy fiction. This year I’m taking The KLF: Chaos, Magic and the Band that Burned a Million Quid, and Kraken by China Miéville. I’d put my chances of reading any of either of them at slim to none.

MUSIC

A DJ mix by A-Skillz called Live at Breakspoll. Turned up to 11. In the hire car. Windows down. The kids fucking having it in the back. Tears of joy streaming down my hot, sweaty face.

MUST-PACK ITEM

Professional uncontactability.

Nicky Bullard, chairwoman and chief creative officer, MRM McCann

HOLIDAY LOCATION

Hmm. Antigua is pretty nice. But I have to say sitting in a taverna in Corfu slap-bang on the beach, with waves as a soundtrack, drinking chilled local wine delivered in a jug was pretty special last year.

ICE-CREAM

OK. This doesn’t exist. But it should do. A Viennetta choc ice. (Iceland released a version called Vienna. Should have been called Oh Vienna.)

COCKTAIL

There’s only one. Piña colada. It’s my swim-up bar go-to. And I drink it in about two minutes.

BOOK

Anything with a murder in it.

MUSIC

I heard this Ainsley Harriott cracker the other day called Kitchen Calypso. 

MUST-PACK ITEM

Paracetamol (can’t get them in the jungle – you know that joke, right?).