Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Christmas, Colenso, Creativity, Culture, Management
I’m back.
Actually I didn’t go away, as the meeting was postponed at the last moment.
I know … I know … that means I could have written posts through all of last week, but the plans changed so last minute that – to be honest – I just couldn’t be arsed and I knew anyone who does still come visit here, wouldn’t be exactly complaining, haha.
In some ways not going was a good thing because it was going to be in Shanghai and I am still filled to the brim on the energy and dumplings from my last visit there a few weeks ago.
Despite having not lived there for 10 years and it still evolving at a speed ‘brand transformation consultancies’ could only wish for, it still feels like home … still feels where I am at peace … still feels where I belong … even if in its continual evolution, it has arguably become too slick and too easy so some of the magic that makes the country so unique, has gone.
But I’ll take it as I continue to be transfixed by it.
And seeing so many friends and eating so much Din Tai Fung didn’t hurt either, haha.
It was strange seeing so many people I knew as I walked around. A decade away and yet I still bumped into more people in those few days than I have ever in NZ.
Or anywhere else for that matter.
I think part of it is the time I lived in China was a pretty unique, magical and mad time … and so I shared experiences that you would never have anywhere else. It’s the sort of thing that creates deep bonds with the people you’re doing it with … something probably similar to soldiers or police officers, albeit without the same dangers, obviously. Whatever, it was both personally and emotionally wonderful for me … especially when you compare it to the photo below – hahaha.
Let me start by saying I love my partners.
Angela Watson and Simon Vicars are two of the very best.
Not just as creative partners, but as humans.
Great people who happen to be very talented – which means our context is life rather than simply ads.
It makes a huge difference.
Not just to the work we make, but the conversations we have.
We have a genuinely good relationship – based on shared values, ambition and trust – which is handy, given we share a desk and nothing would reveal any cracks between us than that, especially the way Ange and Si ‘spread’ far beyond their space – hahaha.
But what I value most is our ability to have the hard conversations … safe in the knowledge it’s always coming from a place of wanting the best for Colenso … so if we ever hold each other to task about standards and expectations, we don’t see it as a sign of a toxic relationship, but a healthy one.
Which is handy, given this photo clearly shows Ange and Si’s inability to hide their feelings towards me … hahaha.
Good News:No blog post today as there’s a national holiday for Anzac Day.
Bad News: Things return to ‘normal’, tomorrow.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Emotion, Empathy, Family, Fatherhood, Love, Loyalty, Parents, Respect
This story is both beautiful and tragic.
It may also be made up as certain details – like the age/events/timeline – don’t quite add up.
But it still is powerful, so powerful that when I posted it on insta, I got almost 25,000 likes.
TWENTY FIVE THOUSAND.
A reminder that in these times where the world is seemingly on the brink of destruction thanks to the whims, ego and lies of rich, old, white men … there’s a real desire to feel connected to the good in others rather than see all our energy be taken up trying to hold everything together while everything seems to be falling apart.
That said, when I posted that story, I also had a bunch of colleagues – people who I have known/worked with for years – tell me they didn’t know this about me even though they absolutely know I only have one child and his name is Otis. So while it’s very nice to think they believe I am capable of such a decent act, it’s also quite sad that despite knowing me for a long time, they have paid absolutely no interest in my reality beyond the superficial ‘headlines’ whatsoever, hahaha.
But that aside, the power of that post is that it serves as a valuable reminder loyalty is earned through consistency of actions and behaviours rather than because you hand someone a pay cheque every month or you are in their proximity 24/7.
At the end of the day, when you respect others, the majority will respect you.
Not hard is it. And yet for some, it seems to be the most difficult thing in the world – especially when there’s an extra dollar on the table they don’t need, but just want to take.
So true or not, here’s to Leo and his Dad. Through behavior, not blood.
This weekend, tell and show someone you love them. It matters.
I’m away again next week so enjoy the peace and look after yourself and the people who matter most.
See you when I’m back.
Filed under: 2026, A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Brand Suicide, Business, Corporate Evil, Dad, Egovertising, Fake Attitude, Grifting
This is old … published when Trump was trying to win the Presidency for the 2nd time.
And while I am willing to accept he maybe meant it when it was posted, his recent behaviours has pretty much destroyed it.
But the lesson here, isn’t that changing circumstances can change your promises …
It’s that in the world of politics and business, convenience trumps all.
Especially when there’s money to be made.
Or from winning political favor.
Or boosting profits.
It’s why FIFA can give Trump their ‘peace prize’ all while they watch him attack countries and people without justifiable reason.
Funny how it’s only a few years ago we were supposedly living in a ‘brand purpose’ era …
A time where – supposedly – everything a company did, was in service of a higher purpose.
Hahahahahahahahahahaha!
Mind you, I suppose that could be true if the brand purpose is ‘do whatever you need to do to get whatever you can want’.
It’s why strategy is becoming increasingly difficult to do well.
Because at its heart, to do it well requires truth and clarity to make things happen … but right now, too many organisations act in opaque ways. Behaving like a chameleon who can – and will – shape-shift to whatever suits their purposes at any given moment.
And I am OK with that if we were honest about that, but too often, we see too brands approach their positioning in the same way Trump approaches his promises … the result of which is short-term gain, long term pain and mistrust.
But hey … who cares when the people driving those choices can get out with a bunch of cash before society catches up – or catches on – with the rug that’s just been pulled on them.
It’s why my Dad’s words ring especially true to me right now:
“Pay attention, because someone out there is banking on you not”.
Filed under: 2026, A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Brand, Colenso, Comment, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Effectiveness, Efficiency
That’s right … creativity helps business make money.
I know there’s a bunch of people who like to claim otherwise, but they’re wrong.
More than that, creativity can help business make money in ways traditional approaches can’t.
Be it distribution, market share, heritage, price-point, tradition, routine, apathy, complexity and god knows what else … creativity always finds a way because – as Martin Weigel and I explained at Cannes back in 2023 – creativity can do what logic can’t.
This blog has literally thousands of examples of it.
From making me, a teetotaler, buy alcohol to making a print ad, produce sound waves to making pasta look even more beautiful than it tastes to making drinking beer from a bottle, an act of love … to helping shelter dogs become adoptable dogs, creativity is a beautiful and powerful thing.
But here’s the thing …
Creativity may always start with the mind, but it needs to be turned into something for it to change something.
I’m fed up of hearing people talking about creativity rather than doing something with it.
Or about it.
Sure, you can argue talking can also bring change … but to me, that’s a cop out.
Creativity needs to be allowed to make an impact.
It needs to be allowed to grow into something powerful and interesting.
Because if you inhibit that, you’re not ‘being safe’, you’re taking the biggest gamble of your life.
History is littered with examples of success that could never of happened or imagined without the influence of creativity.
Creativity helped make hundreds of millions want to become an athlete.
Creativity helped make Americans try sushi.
Creativity helped make the best selling calculator of all time.
For all the consultants out there, flogging their self serving, one-size-fits-all systems, frameworks and models … the inconvenient truth is this.
Business needs creativity more than creativity needs business.