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

Around me were 3 of my planning colleagues, an account director and an account manager.

Having finally put it to bed – which is where we should all have been given it was 1:30am – we were going through it in its entirety.

Maybe it was because it was late …

Maybe it was because I/we had been too close to it for the past few weeks …

Maybe it was because I am a bit of a bastard …

… but I read it and pronounced,

“It bores me”.

Tom – one of my colleagues – asked me to repeat what I said.

“It bores me”, I replied … before adding, “I should be feeling excited – what we want to do is exciting – but I’m bored”.

There was obvious deflation in the room – mainly because of the time – but one by one, everyone acknowledged what we had written hadn’t captured either the heart of what we wanted to say, or the level of provocation we needed to convey.

I should point out this was not their fault – it was all mine.

I’d planned the deck.

I’d written the deck.

I’d reviewed the deck.

But here’s the thing, knowing when to call yourself out is important.

Sure, the deck had all the information in it we wanted to convey … sure, it clearly explained our point of view and the idea we were recommending … sure, it would still [probably] be better than a lot of other agencies proposals … sure, the client would probably love it … but that’s not the point, because it wasn’t good enough.

For us.

W+K.

Me.

Please don’t think I am trying to big myself/ourselves up – far from it – however if you’re not excited by what you’ve put together, why the hell do you think a client will be?

Sure, that isn’t always the case – but if you can look in the mirror and think you did a good job, that’s a damn sight better than having that nagging feeling you didn’t present [or won’t present] your case as well as you could have, even if you end up being successful.

I should point out that what happened next made me feel very, very humble indeed.

Within a few minutes, we had pinpointed the issue and I said to the guys that we could finish it the next morning – but they said no.

They felt we had to nail it while it was still in our head … while our disappointment was still in the air … so we sat down and rewrote the thing.

The whole thing.

And you know what, it flowed.

It flowed but with bite.

Where they all think the same.

Where they all look the same.

Where they all want the same.

Frankly I don’t know whether this is because of laziness or convenience, but it’s wrong on almost every level.

Are there commonalities of opinion and needs across generations and geographies?

Sure.

That’s the case anywhere – however just like Mum’s love their kids all over the World, how they express that and what they respond to can differ dramatically thanks to cultural, economic and societal conditioning.

However one thing that really bugs me is how people tend to judge Chinese society in relation to the West.

It seems to be either “… they’re strongly influenced by Western culture” or “… they don’t like Western culture”.

They treat is as if it’s that cut and dry and that utterly, utterly wrong.

Sure, there are things that influence culture.

Sure some of those have come from the West … as have some things that have been influenced by China, both old and new.

However in both cases, the initial influence is – contrary to popular belief, especially contrary to popular media belief – rarely executed literally, it is nurtured, mangled, evolved, shoved, shifted, pushed in a whole myriad of ways so that what comes out the other side, might be born from one place, but developed in another.

It’s not a clash of culture … it’s the birth of culture.

A new culture.

Being able to look beyond the surface is the key and yet I am amazed how many agencies fail to do this, preferring instead to say that it’s all about duplication or interpretation rather than appreciating the unique elements that are being created and executed … unique elements that can give great insight into what really is going on in people’s hearts and minds if only they are prepared to look for it.

A perfect example is this:

Sure, you could make some hypothesis based on what he’s saying and how he is saying it – but the really interesting stuff is when you take into account where he comes from – which is a Tier 3 city – a place that many people regard as nothing more than poor, isolated and lacking any sophistication.

Obviously this guy has money behind him – that video is something professionally and expensively pulled together – but even looking past the fact he is a ‘signed’ recording artist [albeit, an underground artist] … if you look at his background, his upbringing, his environment and then his current behaviour [admittedly via a video designed to ‘entertain’], you can start seeing that a lot of what is currently being presented by adland is one dimensional, bland and lacking any understanding of how external factors [ie: China’s unprecedented period of growth] are fundamentally changing what people feel is possible.

Whether that’s a good feeling or – as our BoomTown Stories experiment showed – a stressful feeling, is not the key issue, it’s the fact it’s influencing changes of behaviour, attitude and ambition and there is no standard, one-size-fits all response.

Good research.

Research that helps you understand people’s feelings, choices and decisions … research that helps explains ‘why’, not just ‘what’ … research that liberates opportunities rather than keeping things firmly where they’ve always been or – alternatively – stopping brands from embarking on an ego trip and keeping things real for their audience.

Now obviously there are a bunch of good researchers and companies out there, but in my opinion, we’re seeing the credibility of the whole research industry being undermined by people who either talk complete bollocks or state the fucking obvious.

What is even scarier is that the very people who should be putting a stop to this – the clients and the research industry – are seemingly going along with it all because they either [1] like their ego being pampered or [2] don’t want to draw any unwanted attention to themselves.

Of course, the real reason for this is that the industry – like too much of adland – has become focused on the money rather than doing stuff that earns money as a byproduct of its value, meaning and effectiveness.

The reason for this rant is because when I was in Singapore last week, I came across this …

I don’t know Gerard Tan.

I don’t know if he’s been misquoted or it’s been taken out of context … but saying iTunes would probably be welcomed by the people of Singapore is one of the most bland, state-the-fucking obvious things I think I’ve ever read.

What next?

People would probably like to win millions of dollars on the lottery?

Men would probably like to be very attractive to the opposite sex?

Families would probably like to never be ill?

No. Fucking. Shit.

I even hate how he has said “probably”, even though that is exactly what should be said because owners of music and dvd stores will definitely not be happy about iTunes coming to Singapore.

As I said, I don’t know this guy, I don’t know if he’s been misquoted or taken out of context … but anyone who thinks this is some massive insight needs to be sent back to school or taken out and shot and that includes the paper [Straits Times] who saw this newsworthy enough to print.

The right research in the right hands is a powerful weapon.

The wrong research in the wrong hands is a dangerous weapon.

In both cases, it tends to all come from the same source, hence the ‘enemy within’.

A while back, some people wrongly claimed Google was making us all stupid.

What with the recent Queen’s jubilee, European championships and – of course – the Olympics, patriotism is going to reach highs that haven’t been seen for years.

A few weeks ago, when I was in the UK, I took my Mum to North Yorkshire to introduce her to Gonk – an owl I’d sponsored for her.

As the falconry was located in a gorgeous little town, we decided to stay in a lovely B&B – which delighted my history loving wife as it had once played host to King Charles I.

Anyway, the next morning we found out that the Olympic Flame was, by chance, passing through the town so we decided to stay and watch.

Even though we ended up waiting an hour for basically 3 seconds of flame held by some random person, it felt quite special.

Maybe it was because I was with the 2 women in my life.

Maybe it was because the weather was – finally – bloody awesome.

Maybe it was because the whole town was out in the streets, cheering and waving flags.

Maybe it was because I heard a women tell her son “this happens only once in a lifetime”.

Maybe it was because the Police were joining in the festivities by singing and generally fooling around.

[See it all in its shaky camera glory here]

Whatever the reason, I can honestly say it left a genuine impression on me and for the first time, I really sensed how much the Olympics meant to the people of Britain.

Of course, the fact I only just realised this is because I live in China, however I was living in Australia when the Olympics was on there and while I know the people were very excited about their games, I can’t help but feel their reasons were different to the sense of hope, pride and positivity that I saw in that small town in the North of Yorkshire.

Which is why I was kind-of gutted when I passed a shop window within seconds of the Olympic Flame runner passing by and saw this …

… not even a minute had passed and they were discounting the value of the flag.