The Musings Of An Opinionated Sod [Help Me Grow!]

Anger vs Advertising!

Yes that really is a photo of the one and only, super-famous human-activist. And Sir Bob Geldof. Ha ha!

Now I’ve just had a very enjoyable [swear-filled] dinner with Sir Bob and Chris DeWolfe [the bloke who started MySpace.com] – and what great, great guys they are. 

For all their fame/riches, it’s great that they are still so down to earth and intouch with what’s going on around them.

We talked about all manner of things, from the Boomtown Rats, Live Aid, Rupert Murdoch, Famine, Changing Face Of Business, 80’s Music, George Bush, Youth Trends – but the 3 key things that really struck me were …

1. Geldof has made more impact on the World than probably all the ad people and brands put together. [Think about that next time you reckon you’ve done well!]

2. Whilst both have achieved incredible success … Chris did it by tapping into cultural trends whereas Geldof did it by shifting actual cultures.

3. Geldof is one of those people who truly deserves to be called a ‘legend’.

This led to us having a debate as to who would make the better ad agency … and we all agreed it would probably be Bob because whilst both would achieve their clients needs/wants – shifting cultures is always going to achieve more dramatic results than simply tapping into cultural trends.

What I loved was that Geldof said ‘anger’ made him more powerful.

In his mind, it not only ensured he maintained his motivation to achieve the goal, but it also kept him striding forward – barreling over the trillions of obstacles that tried desperately to stand in his way.

So there you go, the secret to marketing success … anger [that leads to vision, intelligence and resilience] … discovered by a man who has dramatically shifted cultures despite never making an ad or following traditional business or marketing ‘rules’.

An inspirational evening …

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