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

I wish it was, but it isn’t and – sadly – I doubt it ever will be.

Some issues are more obvious than others and some are more serious than others – however one that bugs the crap out of me is education for profit.

Basically I’m vehemently opposed to it.

VEHEMENTLY.

I appreciate running schools and universities is expensive … I certainly believe teachers should be getting paid a great salary … but that doesn’t excuse the outrageous costs that some schools and universities charge for the privilege of their education.

I recently read a report on acquisitions made by schools and universities in Australia, America and the UK and it was frightening reading.

We’re not talking school books and computers … oh no … we’re talking land and property that was in the tens of millions.

TENS OF MILLIONS.

What the fuck?!

Where the hell does a school or university get money like that?

To me, that is outrageous, whether you’re Harvard or, even more shockingly – a school from the northern suburbs of Sydney.

A few years ago, Harvard come out and said, ‘They didn’t want to be a production line for the next generation of super-rich bankers’.

Because I was doing some work with them via Google, I immediately wrote to someone very senior at the organisation to say how positive that was to hear.

I also added that if they really wanted to ensure they achieved their goal, one way they could do it was to double their schooling costs because, let’s face it, people would still pay and for everyone who did, they could allow someone who had no intention to go into the traditional Harvard employment channels, in for free.

I got an email back that simply said, “You’ve got us”.

Of course my plan was inherently flawed – I know that – but making public statements about wanting to ‘do good for society’ or giving out a few scholarships doesn’t fool anyone because as everyone knows, talk is cheap and if they really wanted to make a difference, they would not be acquiring bank balances that make the Greek and Spanish Governments jealous.

Education is a basic human right …

Everyone should have it …

Everyone should benefit from it …

… but all this high-priced education is doing is creating a class system, not of the ‘educated’ versus ‘everyone else’ but of those ‘who have a lifetime of debt’ and those ‘who won’t’ which is even worse in a lot of respects.

What’s worse is that because schools, universities and governments have lowered the overall ‘pass criteria’ to ensure they achieve high pass rates and the illusion of ‘accessibility’ … it’s created a mass of people that [1] think they can go to university[2] think they need to go to university and [3] have a degree but still can’t get a job because there’s so many out there in the same position.

No wonder – as Sir Ken Robinson said – that we are in the grip of educational inflation, where having a degree isn’t enough, it has to be an MBA and soon, an MBA won’t mean as much so it will have to be a PHD etc etc.

We need educated people.

We need smart, clever folk who can help make things better for them and the World.

But apart from the fact not everyone has to go to university to achieve that, we seem to creating a society that is inheriting debt rather than having the skills and opportunities to create more opportunity and profit for everyone.

Don’t get me wrong, I think they’re some amazing schools, universities and teachers out there … I think education is vitally important and inherently beautiful thing … but I worry the people who are benefiting the most from the current system are the ones running it rather than the ones experiencing it and that’s bad news for everyone, especially the future generations.

In my experience, they tend to fall into 2 distinct areas:

1. Jump right in with ideas.
2. Think [& discuss] the brief … then get on with coming up with ideas.

The basic problem with both of these approaches is that you assume the brief is correct.

I’m not suggesting someone has given you wrong information on purpose, however I have seem way too many briefs that talk about executional wants rather than commercial needs.

One is like going to the DR, telling him what is wrong with you and then ordering him what to prescribe whereas the other is like going to a specialist, explaining your situation and then having them diagnose your problem and offer advice on how to make you well.

There’s a whole bunch of reasons for these 2 possible outcomes, however one that is entirely our fault is our reluctance to investigate the brief.

I don’t mean asking a few questions about the audience or highlighting a few issues about timing or budget … I mean genuinely understanding what the brand/product/business actually needs to achieve and then evaluating that with what has been given to you.

Now I appreciate that sometimes, clients don’t know.

Some seem to have the attitude their only objective is getting marketing collateral into the hands of their sales teams within a set time period, whereas others have this belief ‘advertising’ is totally separate to ‘marketing’.

Of course not everyone is like this – and for those who are, some have the attitude that they’re not worth dealing with – however I don’t really share that point of view, at least not initially, because I believe there is a way to help everyone see the light and that is asking questions.

But here’s the thing, it’s not about asking any question, it’s asking the right question.

So how do you do that?

Well for me, it’s about understanding that there is rarely an all encompassing ‘magic bullet’ question – that one bit of curiosity that suddenly makes everything clear – it’s about asking questions that allow you to prod and poke, explore and cross reference until you slowly identify and close in on the real issue that needs to be addressed, not the superficial or the generic.

Ultimately, it’s being a Rodi – knowing your clients business intimately rather than just relying on what the brief says.

And of course, when I say ‘knowing their business, I don’t mean in terms of advertising, I mean in terms of their actual business.

Distribution. Development times. Competitive environment. Sales information. Internal issues and opportunities.

KNOWING. THEIR. BUSINESS.

Too many planners seem to think their job is purely about the advertising.

Sure, they might ‘talk’ about the business issues of their client, but they simplify it to either:

1. It’s a communication problem.
2. It’s a differentiation problem.
3. It’s a relevance problem.

That’s it, according to them, all the issues of commerce fall into 3 simple areas.

Bollocks.

And even if it was true, it doesn’t explain why they believe all of them can be solved with another piece of advertising.

Or an app.

Or a powerpoint document full of meaningless or un-executable ideas.

[If you want to know what I think it the way to approach things, you should watch this from 8″ 9 secs to 8″ 25 secs. The rest of it is utter fucking waffle as usual]

Paul Simons – a legend of advertising and planning – has written a great post on the state of planning these days.

This isn’t – like some would like to claim – some ‘out-of-date’ man trying desperately to remain relevant in an ever-changing World, it’s a highly successful and experienced planner wondering where the fuck the rigor has gone from our industry.

At a time where so many planners swan about the place thinking they’re ‘Rockstars‘, the reality is many of them have confused cool with clever.

Anyone can say they are focused on the business – or quote something from PSFK – but that’s very different to being able to prove you’ve done something.

And I’m not talking about having won some EFFIE awards.

Sure that’s good, but sadly, that has become as much about your submission writing skills as it has to do with creating effective work.

I should point out that this has nothing to do with age, but attitude and application.

Forget the hair-gel and fancy loafers and focus on the approach and the rigor.

I’ve said many times why I think Northern is so good but put simply – like other people I look up to, like Paul Simons and Mark Sareff to name a few – he understands that a problem is simply something that hasn’t had the right questions asked of it yet and before any jumping to solutions can happen, he has to find out what the hell he is really being asked to solve.