DIARY: Cross-dressing and gerbil shagging for unbridled creativity

Who says, for example, that men can't moonlight as women - especially when it's for clients?

If 'cross-dressing for clients' sounds like a dodgy phone booth ad, look no further than Murphy himself, who donned platinum tresses and kitted himself out in smudged red lipstick and spike heels for client Yahoo.

Failing to achieve the kudos of Lily Savage, he'd creatively worked a penchant for wearing women's togs into a campaign inciting Singaporeans to send in mad party pictures for a Yahoo promotion. Smart.

And it doesn't end there.

For his latest brainwave, stoking the shock factor comes as standard.

Again for Yahoo (does Southeast Asia head of marketing Miguel Bernas equal visionary dream client with tiny budget?) Murphy pulled this gem out of the hat: "Rob Martin Murphy shags small farm animals - Old Macdonald" (sample the ad for youself in Media, November 28, 2003).

Lest there be any confusion here, this statement (scrawled on a note taped onto someone's back - guess who's) was created for Yahoo's adthread service.

So we're dying to know. What makes Rob Martin Murphy tick? Is it fun and frolics with hamsters, or is a Dame Edna fetish driving this rampant exhibitionism (don't stop for us Rob).

Rather than asking the man himself (speculation is the divine prerequisite of Diary, after all) we thought we'd watch how this one plays out in the new year. For purely professional reasons, of course.