Filed under: 2026, Advertising, Cannes, Colenso, Colleagues, Communication Strategy, Creativity, Culture, Cunning, EvilGenius, London, Mischief, New Zealand, Si Vicars
The CCO of Colenso is Si Vicars.
I’ve waxed lyrical about him over the years.
His talent.
His overfamiliarity.
His evil genius bastardness.
His Chicken Parmesan abilities.
But one thing I’ve not talked about is his physique.
There’s many reasons for this.
It’s objectifying.
It’s an HR violation.
It’s not much to write home about.
Put simply, for all the talent that bursts out his body like an overload of steroids, his actual body resembles a twig.
I say this, despite the fact he’s some sort of martial artist master … even though he’s such a nice human, he’s more likely to drink tea with you than to karate chop the shit-out-of-you.
But maybe it’s the fact his hands are a dangerous weapon – and I don’t mean in terms of writing some Cannes Grand Prix idea – that on a recent trip to London, his hosts were confused with the person standing in-front of them. To the point one of them said TO HIS FACE:
“You don’t look like I thought you did. I thought you were ripped”.
To which another person in the room apparently looked up and said, “So did I”
And despite their rudeness legitimately allowing Si to snap their neck he, of course, did nothing and instead casually mentioned it to me on his return to NZ … while wondering out loud, where this rumour has come from.
Hmmmmmn, I wonder …
Happy Monday.
Filed under: 2026, A Bit Of Inspiration, Audiences, Comment, Creativity, Design, Environment, Retail
There’s a cafe near where I live that has that giant teddy bear outside its store.
Come rain, wind or shine it’s there … a fluff-filled giant fur monster sitting on the seats outside.
Given its size, it’s always lounging – taking up chairs – and yet, every time I pass it, I find myself saying hello to it.
Like a lunatic.
And yet I’ve never gone in …
Part of this is because it’s at the midway point of my start/finish walking points, the other is that as ‘friendly’ as the bear is, it doesn’t really convey ‘come inside’ vibes. At least to me.
Some of that is because its exposure to the elements means it all feels – and looks – a bit unhygienic. And the other is – as a 56 year old male – the very last person a giant kids cuddly toy should attract, is me.
Which serves as a good reminder that while doing – or having something – that helps you stand out from the crowd has great commercial benefits, if all you’re doing it for is to get noticed rather than entice … then it’s not just a waste of energy, creativity and time, it’s a symbol you may not know who you are – and even more scarily – who you’re for.
A few months ago, I wrote about how we discovered Otis had been causing mayhem with our Amazon Alexa.
Well recently I found out he was up to his old tricks.
To be fair, I don’t actually know when he did this because I found it by mistake, but one morning, I pressed a button on our fridge and saw this:
The cheeky, little fucker.
But putting aside the fact the shelf-life of a ‘eated’ banana and poo is bordering on ridiculous …
And turning a blind eye to the fact this means that we have an internet fridge …
[Which has a backstory to it, but I know you won’t believe it so I’m choosing to ignore you ]
I can honestly say, I am even very. very proud of him.
Not simply because he did it … but because he did it in the knowledge it could be years before someone discovers it and anyone who can play that level of ‘long game’ is not just much better at this ‘mischief shit’ than me, but is a person to be respected and feared in equal measure.
God I love my kid, though I do have slight reservations about what the future holds.
Not for him, but maybe for the rest of society, hahaha.
Filed under: 2026, A Bit Of Inspiration, Agency Culture, AI, Attitude & Aptitude, Brands, Business, Conformity, Consultants, Context, Corporate Evil, Corporate Gaslighting, Crap Marketing Ideas From History!, Crap Products In History, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Empathy, Technology
I appreciate the commercial benefits of being associated with technology – especially technology that’s at the forefront of change – but I’m getting fed up of companies shoving the letters A and I ahead of everything they do in a desperate attempt to look cutting edge.
Do they realise they’re not fooling anyone – except, maybe themselves?
Have they forgotten what happened to WeWork when they persisted in their claims to be a tech company when even Stevie Wonder could see they were nothing more than an office space rental firm.
But it’s happening everywhere with everyone claiming everything they do is now ‘AI shaped/influenced/enabled.
AI project management systems
AI consultancy services.
AI home theatre systems.
AI photocopiers.
AI toilets.
AI. Ai. AI.
And even if I accept all these things now have some element of AI in their process and product, how come so much of them operate exactly as they did before?
All that advanced tech and everything still operates the same way as it always has.
That can’t be very good can it?
Surely that means the people behind it are either idiots, attempting to gaslight their customers or they have used AI to remove employees roles so they can squeeze out the last remnants of profit before they scraper and enjoy sitting on their millions.
While I’m at it …
Why is it the worst offenders of this sort of behavior tend to be the most conservative and traditional companies and industries?
[You can tell who they are as they tend to use images like the one at the top of this post because they think that proves they’re all about the ‘future’, haha]
On one hand I appreciate their desire to modernize, but the problem is – if the only thing that changes is the speed they can do things or the price they can do them for … then arguably, they’re proving they haven’t got the faintest idea what AI could do for them if they’re limiting its use to efficiency and productivity.
So to all brands jumping on the AI bandwagon …
Using Claude to speed up your manufacturing process doesn’t mean you’re an AI company.
Using ChatGPT to write articles about your products does not mean you make AI tech.
And positioning any form of automation as AI does not mean you’re a cutting-edge tech company.
Am I exaggerating?
Yes. But not nearly as much as you may imagine …
Every day I see ads and articles from companies claiming AI is at the centre of all they do.
Products.
Service.
Systems.
Manufacturing.
Marketing.
You name it, someone is saying it … which is why the best way to tell ‘who is trying’ versus ‘who is claiming’ is to embrace the same evaluation criteria as used to judge strategy, which is:
Can customers, employees and competitors notice a fundamental difference between how things were and how things now operate and behave?
If they can’t, it’s hype or self-serving commerciality. You’re welcome.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Brand, Brand Suicide, Cars, Context, Creativity, Culture, Design, Experience, Fashion, Ferrari, Italy, Luxury
I saw this billboard for Ferrari’s clothing and apparel lines … known as Ferrari Style.
And while the design of the billboard isn’t great …
[which is a bit weird for a company that has built part of its distinctiveness through design]
And while it’s a bit strange they are only showing their F1 cars …
[when their luxury status has been informed more by their day-to-day supercars]
At least it’s better than the Micro SD cards they produced years ago, which they sold under the guise of ‘really fast data transfer’.
Or the electric Luce they launched months ago.
And – to be fair – with their heritage, lifestyle and status, they do have a legitimate right to play in this area, but my question is who is going to buy it?
Will it be people who want EVERYONE to know they own a Ferrari?
Will it be people who want everyone to THINK they own a Ferrari?
Will it be people who simply want to LOOK part of the Ferrari lifestyle?
Full disclosure, I own one of their items … but while I really do like the design and the quality is superb, I was given it as a gift because there wouldn’t be a cat-in-hells-chance I’d own it if I had had to pay my own money for it.
I digress …
The point is, given Italy isn’t exactly short of highly respected, highly regarded, highly aspirational luxury fashion brands … who do you think is actually going to buy their products and, even more interestingly, why are they???
Now if only I had a comment section people could write their answers on?!