Filed under: 2026, A Bit Of Inspiration, Career, Children, Comment, Daddyhood, Emotion, Empathy, Experience, Love, Loyalty, Mental Health, Mum & Dad, My Fatherhood, R/GA
This is my last post for a week because I’m away for the next 10 days.
I know. Again.
And as ridiculous as my travel itinerary has been this year, this trip is the most ridiculous of them all.
Not for where I’m going, but why.
And with whom I’ll be rubbing shoulders with.
But that’s for another day – especially as this post is earnest-as-fuck and my trip is arguably superficial-as-hell [even though it’s not] – so I’ll see you a week on Tuesday and until then, remember that sometimes the best way to show you care about someone is to not do anything special for them.
Read on, it will hopefully explain all …
So as toxic as social media is, there are still moments where good things shine through – and I saw one of them this week.
It’s this:
Now whether this is a real message or not – I’m not sure. But what I do know is it not only reflects the sort of situation many people are experiencing right now, but it’s how I hope I’d respond if Otis ever found himself in a similar situation.
Too often – especially with parents, or more specifically male parents – we try to ‘fix’ problems that our loved ones face. And while it no doubt comes from a good place, sometimes all we need to provide is reassurance that we love them, we’re proud of them and we empathise with the situation they face but don’t judge them for it.
No pressure.
Not expectations.
No forcing yourself into their situation.
Just love, empathy and – I can’t stress this enough – normality.
If you’ve done a good job with your kids, they will hopefully work it out for themselves or ask for some help if they can’t. And while being interested in what they’re interested in is important – that doesn’t extend to making demands of them or adding additional pressure to them.
This is even more important when a child is in a situation they didn’t ask for or hope for … of which losing a job is one of those situations.
Too often redundancy suggests the individual failed, rather than the company.
This is not by accident.
Companies love to suggest this narrative as it means the focus of attention is on the individual rather than the organization and the shame attached to redundancy keeps the person quiet so the company can act in public like all is well.
I talked about this in The Observer Newspaper back in 2020 when when I found myself being made redundant by R/GA … and while my ex-employer generally treated me OK, I still heard comments from people that seemed to suggest I should feel embarrassed I lost my job and was being professionally irresponsible speaking so openly about it.
Look, no one wants to lose their job, but it happens – and it’s going to happen a fuckload more as corporates increasingly value short-term profits over long-term trust and responsibility – which is why my attitude at the time was the more people knew I was on the market, the more likely I would find someone who wanted to take me off it.
And I was lucky because that is exactly what happened.
But a lot has changed in the past 4+ years in terms of how companies operate … and given I have a young son who will one day need to find his own career path, I guess that’s why that Twitter/X message made such an impression on me.
But the real lesson in it is that it doesn’t matter how old you are … everyone needs to feel there is someone out there who sees – and values them – for who they are, not what job they have or what things they own.
That doesn’t mean you provide blind faith.
Nor does it mean you offer false promises or hope.
It simply means you know when the best thing you can do to show how much you care, is to do absolutely nothing special for them.
Because at a time where there is so much ‘performative’ compassion, sometimes, the greatest gift you can give someone is ‘mundane normality’.
Something I now realise my parents were also brilliant at doing.
See you on Tuesday the 27th.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Colleagues, Corporate Evil, Corporate Gaslighting, Work
Back in Jan 2021, I wrote a post about the ridiculousness of ‘unlimited leave’ policies.
By that, I mean companies pretending they mean it when we all know that they would lose their shit if someone said they wanted 4 weeks off, let alone 4 months!
Which is why I found this post I saw on Twitter/X recently, so funny.
Because while it’s taking the piss, it’s also never been so serious in its life:
Filed under: 2026, A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Communication Strategy, Creativity, Culture, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Nike, Sport
Look I get our job is to help companies be successful.
I get that tends to mean encouraging people to choose spending their money with one brand over another.
I also appreciate a lot of people have given up trying to be financially responsible, because not only do they not have much hope for what their future holds, but they believe that if they try to save up for the things they want, by the time they have got the money – everything will be even more expensive than it is today.
But … but … even that doesn’t excuse this shit, does it?
I believe in our industry.
I believe in the talent of our industry.
But this shit is the worst of everything we are and do.
I get some people will point to some evidence that states this is what people already do.
I get in these competitive times, you have to look for every advantage you can get.
But when do we hold ourselves responsible to standards and values?
Are we now at the point that anything goes?
If that’s the case, when will we start using data to blackmail people into buying?
Saying that if they don’t buy [insert product X] we will publish embarrassing data/photographs/information on people.
I get NIKE are so fucked right now they will do anything to get their numbers up. And I appreciate JD are all about trying to run at the speed of culture. But there’s a fine-line between representing that generation and exploiting them and right now, I feel this shit means we’re no longer representing society, we’re enemies of it.
And that’s shit, because we’re not just better than that, we’re smarter.
Or at least we used to be. Before everyone was run by people who only see the money, not the implications.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Apple, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Corporate Evil, Crap Campaigns In History, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Technology
Years ago – 2006 to be precise – Apple did an iconic set of ads about Mac vs PC.
Here’s some of them. Because they were so unbelievably good at what they were designed to do – that is make Microsoft look a well-intentioned, but ultimately out of touch, out of date, faceless corporate monolith – they made loads of them.
In many ways, these ads cemented Apple’s persona into societies mind, presenting technology as something we could use for life, not just work … which sounds mad to say now, but was a big deal back then.
Anyway, recently when I was in the US, I saw this …
Yep, that’s the Mac vs PC guys except they aren’t promoting Apple, they’re advertising – drumroll please – Ozempic!
FUCKING OZEMPIC!
And while I can imagine there is some research that states people who can remember the Mac vs PC ads are now at an age where they have the money to help with their weight control, the reality is this all just felt tragic as fuck.
Not just because it’s the most borrowed of borrowed equity.
Not just because it feels they think this makes them ‘just like Apple’.
Not just because they’re using characters from TWENTY FUCKING YEARS AGO.
But because when you look at the ads, you don’t just think of Apple more than Ozempic … but when your brain finally gets around to working out these people are being used to promote a weight control drug, all you think is ‘Ozempic may help you lose weight but it sure as fuck doesn’t stop you looking old or desperate for cash’.
Filed under: Comment
So, I’m back and – touch wood – that’s the last major trip of the year.
I know that’s unlikely and I appreciate this is a massive first world problem, but I’ve had enough of long haul for this year.
How bizarre that when we first moved to NZ, I thought that was going to be the end of my life on planes and yet it seems to have become even more extreme – albeit when you live on the other side of the world, everywhere is an inconvenience, ha.
Anyway, as it’s the first day back, I thought I’d ease you [and me] back into the stupidity of this blog and to do that I want to talk about Anthony Bourdain.
Just to be clear, I am not saying he was stupid.
And even if he was, he’d do it in such a magnificent and generous way, we’d all be thanking him for it.
But the reality is he did appreciate the importance of enjoying life. That as much as there are a lot of expectations and pressures placed upon us, doing all we can to find the space to taste a bit of everything is important – best exemplified by this piece of his writing.
Eat at a local restaurant tonight.
Get the cream sauce.
Have a cold pint at 4 o’clock in a mostly empty bar.
Go somewhere you’ve never been.
Listen to someone you think may have nothing in common with you.
Order the steak rare.
Eat an oyster.
Have a Negroni.
Have two.
Be open to a world where you may not understand or agree with the person next to you, but have a drink with them anyways.
Eat slowly.
Tip your server.
Check in on your friends.
Check in on yourself.
Enjoy the ride.
The thing that few talk about is how hard it was for him to learn this.
How long it took him to understand this.
Which is why – as brilliant and valuable as it is – making sure we teach this to kids is arguably even more important than waiting till everyone is an adult.
And that explains why I adored this piece of writing from American author, Kurt Vonnegut.
In a world of seriousness, trying stuff – for the sheer pleasure of trying stuff – may be the most sensible way to ensure you get to live a life rather than are worn down by it.