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

They didn’t say anything, but I knew they thought I’d gone mad.

Apart from the fact I was moving away from them [which was one of the main attractions to be honest], they were of the belief that Asia was the place where people who had failed in the West went to hide.

They even had a nickname for them, FILTH.

F ailed
I n
L ondon
T ry
H ong Kong

To be fair to them, they were not alone.

Even now, there are people sat in agencies all across Europe, Australia and the US that think if you work in Asia, you must be [1] shit [2] full of scam.

OK, so there was some truth to those opinions at one time – back in the 80’s and 90’s – however what these people have conveniently failed to acknowledge is there’s people full of shit and scam all over the place and proportionately, there’s possibly more in the West than Asia.

Fortunately, as the World becomes more open and Asia starts proving it’s talent and power, these prejudiced views are starting to change, however some of it is for not entirely positive reasons.

As you know, I’ve been in this region for quite a long time.

From a professional stand point, it has literally been one of the most frustratingly wonderful times of my life … however for all the struggles you have to endure to get something interesting ‘through the door’ – driven as much by cultural issues as it is the normal day-to-day nightmares of getting things approved – the opportunities I have been given to get involved with go well beyond anything I experienced in the UK or US.

I choose to be here.

I love the madness, the energy, the confusion and the change.

I know I’ll never truly understand the place but I want to feel I am doing something for it so I embrace the weird [from a Western perspective] rather than shun it.

The reason I say this is that since the economy has gone down the toilet, I have started getting more and more enquiries from people about working in Asia.

My response is always the same.

1/ Why are you interested in coming here?
2/ What do you know about working here?
3/ What do you know about the culture here?

While I don’t expect – and to be honest, wouldn’t believe – anyone who claims they know everything about the culture and industry, I also get very annoyed when I hear people respond with bland or blank answers.

In all seriousness, I’d prefer it if they said “I need a job, there aren’t any in the US/UK/Australia and so I’m considering Asia”.

I probably wouldn’t want to hire someone like that, but I’d at least respect their honesty.

If someone can’t be arsed doing a little bit of research before they look at coming here, then they don’t deserve to be here.

This is an amazing place.

It’s not an ‘also ran’, it’s the second bloody coming.

But potential counts for nothing so it needs people who want to be here.

People who want to learn and teach.

People who are prepared to let go of what they know and embrace what they find.

People who don’t always compare or make things ‘like home’, but want to take the good bits and make them bigger, better, bolder and stronger.

People who want to stay for more than their 2 year contract period – and not because they like the idea of lower tax or ex-pat wanker communities – but because they want to have a real adventure where they literally have to learn again.

People who are ready for frustration, annoyance, confusion and mindlessness and want to come out the other side.

It’s not without it’s issues and frustrations, but all in all, it’s fucking awesome.

You know it. I know it. We all know it. In fact the only thing we don’t know is how the hell I got to be here.

Anyway, it’s little surprise that so many people want to work here – and that’s a wonderful thing – however I am getting a bit sick of receiving emails that say:

“… and that’s why Wieden+Kennedy would be the place where I feel I would be best suited to work”.

Seriously, it’s quite amazing just how many people have come to exactly the same conclusion.

Out of all the places they could work, they have carefully deduced that the one that would suit them best is the one that is one of the most celebrated and acknowledged companies in the World.

Astounding.

The thing is, it might be best if instead of you talking about what you think we can bring to you, you start talking about what you could bring to us.

I don’t mean this in terms of an exercise in ego amplification, I mean it in terms of your views, thoughts, ideas, actions.

How it could relate to the agency, the clients we have, the work we do or want to do.

It would also help – if you’re a seniorish person – if you demonstrate the interesting things you’ve actually done rather than either [1] say you work at a conservative agency with conservative clients so have never actually got any of your “truly awesome ideas” through [2] talk about how awesome your strategy was even though the end result looks exactly the same as every other brand in the category or [3] quote planner blog theory.

Their reasoning was that when you adopt this approach, client’s basically get a great idea and don’t pay for it.

He also said that when you take into account the time it takes to develop these ideas, the overall cost is huge.

What a fool.

Given most agencies can’t make money on the work they’ve actually been briefed to do – and most of them lose up to 20-30% of their annual income through natural movement and change – the reality is to survive in adland, let alone thrive, means you have to continually find ways to create additional income and one of those ways is creating opportunities rather than sitting back and waiting for the bi–annual brief to come through.

A good place to start is with your existing clients.

Too many people think that because the business is already with the agency, they have all the budget the client has – however apart from the fact that is hardly ever the case, especially as most company departments have significant budgets of their own that you should/could be leveraging – letting clients see how hungry, enthusiastic and focused you are about their business – both in terms of their short and long term issues – helps create stronger relationships, trust and, most importantly, creative opportunities.

I’m not suggesting you go off and spend ridiculous amounts of cash developing ideas – even though in pitches, most agencies are happy to do that despite probably having much worse odds of success than a bit of proactive work – I’m simply saying spending some time on a regular basis pulling together some thoughts and ideas … thoughts and ideas based on issues you know they have or that you’ve found that they have – is not commercial stupidity, it’s commercial sense.

I recently re-read something John Dodds wrote about me on his blog and the last comment I made about ‘keeping existing clients coming back’ is still what I believe is the lifeblood of opportunity and creativity.

You Aussie based WPP boys and girls are very, very lucky … so let him do what he can do and you’ll be entering the times of your careers in no time.

It was a very nice email from a very nice client and I was genuinely pleased to hear from them.

I was just about to click ‘delete’ when I noticed their email footer … more specifically, the positioning that was emblazoned within their email footer.

It was new.

It was different.

It was bloody crap.

Now normally I’d not notice things like this, but the positioning they’d been using previously was something I’d come up with.

I don’t mean I was part of the team that helped develop it, I literally came up with the words and given I always get way too emotionally involved in any campaign I’ve had something to do with, I’m sure you can imagine how over-the-top my enthusiasm for this work was.

OK, so it was just a positioning line and it only came about because the creative team decided the use the idea I’d written on the brief verbatim [probably because they were feeling lazy / generous / drunk] but I still felt pretty chuffed with myself for unintentionally coming up with something that the brand had stuck with it for years and become synonymous with them and what they stood for.

AND NOW THEY’VE CHANGED IT!

OK, to be fair, it was probably about time.

When it was originally created it was based around a whole different set of circumstances and objectives … but the fact they’ve changed it to something bland, corporate and meaningless has completely and utterly depressed me.

Of course bland, corporate and meaningless is in the eye of the beholder … but I don’t care, it’s shit and for some reason, I feel like I’ve been dumped except instead of being replaced by a younger, hotter model, it’s a beige skirt dressing, twin-set wearing, dumpy bird with crap hair, horrible shoes and a complexion that looks older than she really is.

On one level this should make me feel good – or at least less bitter – except it don’t, I feel like I was dumped by someone I never really knew, even though we spent years together in what I thought was a wonderful relationship.

God I sound pathetic don’t I.

The only reason I’m not mentioning the client is that I still love them and don’t want to publically humiliate them – though I did ring them up and ask what the hell they were thinking – but even though it’s only advertising, I feel quite glad that I got so upset about this sort of thing, because it shows – at least to me – that even at this point in my life and career, I still care.

While it’s important to not fall into the trap of thinking adland is the saviour of the universe, its also important to not be so flippant about what it is and what it can do.

Advertising has the potential to make a massive difference to more than just brands, but to society as a whole.

I know some may snort in derision over that comment, but I believe it and have seen it – and while it is happening less and less as more and more companies – and agencies – seem to be going for bland awareness rather than pragmatic and meaningful, I still have an inherent need to go with the direction that will increase the odds of countless debate, frustration and disappointment because more often than not, they’re the directions the masses feel more drawn to because they’re actually saying something and committing the brand to doing something which ultimately leads to preference and profit.

In all honesty, this approach doesn’t always work.

In all probability, it has resulted in more failures than successes.

The sad fact is too many brands look at their agencies as a place that does work they don’t really want to get their hands dirty doing … but when you do get that win, even if they change it years later to some of the blandest bollocks you’ve ever read, you feel fantastic, especially when they see their faith in you was justified.

This is not about ego – well, not purely – it’s about doing what you think is genuinely going to make the biggest difference to their audience, the wider community and their business as a whole, which is why at the junction of easy and bland or tough but rewarding, I choose the path of sleepless nights and arguments.