On a Friday afternoon whilst working in a marketing agency I suggested to a colleague that we create a site in a week to fly in the coat tails of the Guardian exposure of the MP expenses scandal.

This is why I love my industry. Making something happen can be quick and cheap if the idea is right. The thought at the time was to use it as a mechanism to promote our freelance work and use the public interest in the topic to drive traffic to freelance websites.

The website was a collection of totalizers demonstrating how much money each political party had falsely claimed in expenses. It also had a feed of social media comments on the topic. It was only a single page, however the imagery of the politicians was very satirical to poke fun and demonstrate the site was very tongue in cheek.

The site was surprisingly successful for something which had no marketing budget. A collection of celebrities including Russell Brand tweeted links. The site also received a wealth of traffic over only a few days. However the topic was short lived and the project was a side-line outside of our day job. But it was the first demonstration of being able to execute a creative idea quickly and using current events. It would have been very easy to go home that Friday and not bother. But we did. Great fun!