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

So I’m buggering off to Portland and while it’ll be nice to visit the Mecca of W+K, the reason I’m the most excited is that I get to meet Paul Colman.

I know … I know … of all the people who are there, the person I’m most looking forward to be meeting is a Brit who resides in London – but I am and I’ll tell you why.

I’ve known Paul – or known of Paul – for quite a few years through the usual blog bollocks interaction.

Whilst we’ve had the odd disagreement over things – mainly Marcus and his paintings, ha – I’ve always enjoyed reading/following his thoughts because he has an ability to convey stuff – silly, interesting or brilliant stuff – in such a humouress and relevant way that it’s impossible not to like him.

Seriously, I wish I had that talent and yet he seems to be able to do it in his sleep.

Bastard.

Saying that, judging by what he’s writing about these days – not to mention how he’s writing it – it would appear he is entering a place that is making him truly happy.

I should point out I’m not saying he was unhappy previously – as I said, I’ve never met him so this is pure conjecture on my part – however it just feels he is happier in his life at the moment and that’s lovely to see … though I should point out if being happy results in renovating a kitchen [as he is currently doing], then I think I’d rather stick with being a cynical and miserable old bastard – though I wouldn’t say no if it meant getting something like his bloody lovely pooch.

Anyway, this is all theory, we’ll see if I’m right when I finally meet him on Wednesday, ha.

But to the point of this post …

You see, while Paul is relatively well known, I don’t think he gets the credit he deserves.

I might be wrong, but while I hear certain planners names being banded about like they’re fucking Jesus, I rarely hear Paul mentioned in those terms and that pisses me off a bit.

I’m not saying the Jesus-planners aren’t deserving of their praise [though I don’t think all of them are] however Paul has – and continues to do – a shitload of stuff that really makes a difference to clients [& W+K] and yet he tends to get overlooked in favour of certain guys who play the publicity game, rather than do the work that makes the difference.

To be honest, there’s a lot of people like this at W+K [I, obviously, am not one of them] but I do find it interesting that in Heather’s planning survey, the agency that people thought did some of the best work is W+K and yet the people who played a significant part in making that work happen often don’t tend to get as much credit/praise as they deserve.

To be fair, they are probably quite happy about this – especially now I’ve undermined their [and their agencies] cred by becoming one of their colleagues – however I wish more planners looked to the guys who did the work they like, rather than just follow those who give the soundbites that get the coverage.