Today is a hard day for some people.
I can’t take any of that pain away, but for what it’s worth, I am sending you hugs.
Especially you Dave. Especially you.
To everyone else, I say you need to watch this.
I’ve either just given you the best weekend send off or the worst.
Though if you’re the creatives – or client – behind this madness, I’d be hiding in the cupboard until eternity if I were you.
Today I head off to Singapore to go to the Spikes awards.
I’ll be walking around halls filled with clever people, clever work and, sadly, a bunch of scam.
As I have written numerous times before, I hate scam. I hate how the industry continues to turn a blind eye to so much of it. And I hate that the people behind it are often rewarded with awards, bonuses and new jobs.
I appreciate some clients are very closed minded.
I appreciate some creatives want an outlet to demonstrate what they can do.
But why the award shows don’t create a ‘concept’ category where creatives can show what they could do, is anyones guess.
Of course I know the real reason why, because apart from the fact we would see 95% of all future award entries going into this category – which means agencies wouldn’t want to fund it nearly so much – it doesn’t do our industry much good if the only creativity we can show is when we don’t have a client to answer to.
That said, I do think award shows are important. Not just to get the industry together and discuss major issues. Not just because it allows us to showcase the work that actually deserve to be showcased. But because – and the Spikes is especially good at this – it offers access, exposure and training to the people who are new to the industry so that [hopefully] they will want to progress based on substance rather than the superficial.
Which gets back to the importance of killing scam because if we want to win back our credibility with the CEO’s and CMO’s worth their salt, we’re going to have to accept giving awards to a single print ad that ran in a free Singaporean local ‘newspaper’ for a local BBQ supplies shop is not going to cut it. Quite the opposite in fact.
This industry – with our clients – has, does and can-do amazing things … but it’s hardly surprising business questions us when our strategy to demonstrate our value appears to be bestowing an obscene amount of awards on the fictitious or the spurious and then shouting about it like we’ve just won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Today is going to be an interesting day.
Thank god I have my blood pressure pills with me.
I am very fortunate to have travelled a lot in my life.
For work. For pleasure. For family.
And in those travels, I’ve often experienced amazing people, places and cultures.
Of course there’s been the odd horror-show, but that’s more because of an individual dickhead spoiling things than the country/city being fundamental bad. Though I won’t be going back to the Falkland Islands in a hurry … it made Luton look like Monte Carlo.
Anyway, maybe it’s because of my love of travelling, but I have always found ‘tourism’ campaigns fascinating.
Sadly, I mean fascinating in the ‘car crash’ sense of the word.
As I wrote here, most tourism campaigns are utterly, utterly horrible … shoving as many images of ‘things to do’ as they can cram into a 30 second ad as they try desperately to show they have something for everyone without actually realising all they’re really doing is saying, ‘we’re exactly the same as everyone else’.
That’s why I’ve always held the NZ ‘Pure’ campaign and – to a lesser extent – the Philippines ‘more fun’ campaigns in high regard.
Instead of trying to claim they offer everything, they’ve focused on one core, inherent cultural value and built everything off that.
Let’s be honest, it’s hardly groundbreaking strategy … but the fact so few nations and cities have adopted this approach means NZ and the Philippines have disproportionally benefited from simply doing their branding right.
The reason I say this is because I recently came across this:
Putting aside the fact LOWE were somehow involved in this and should know better – especially as they were behind some of my favourite brand building ideas of all time – the fact is it’s just a lot of shit isn’t it.
I’ve been to Poland. I liked it. But if someone asked me to describe it, the image I would convey would not – in any way – reflect the image that is being shown in that ad.
And even if it was true … how is it any different from countless other scenes shown in the tourism ads of Rome, Paris, Lisbon and Madrid.
To name but a few.
But there’s something more than that.
You see Poland gets a bad wrap in England.
When I was there, I heard way too many people be disparaging about the people of that nation – mainly because they associated them with “taking British jobs”, which is not only utter shit, but massively disrespectful. Especially when the people claiming to be wronged come from a nation that took people’s entire countries.
But my point is this.
Whether people have a bad – or wrong – impression of a nation, expecting them to cough-up their hard earned cash so they can ‘find out why it’s worth visiting’ is a pretty flawed strategy, ESPECIALLY when [1] you don’t give them any clue to what they can/should expect and [2] you don’t represent a value or belief that is unique to your culture.
As much as people may like to say they love ‘the unknown’, the reality is – especially when it involves spending money – we tend to prefer ‘the unexpected’ because it tells us we will have some sort of frame-of-reference for what will go on, which in terms of making a choice, gives us the confidence to take that step because we feel we’re not going to end up being put in a position where will will look – or do something – totally stupid.
Like going to Poland in the hope of seeing a couple having over-extravagant high-tea on a table covered in flowers that is located in the middle of the street.
Like most countries, China has a bunch of talent shows.
One, is basically their version of ‘Britain’s Got Talent’.
Now while these programs attract all manner of ‘acts’, it’s kind-of reassuring to know that China’s version has ‘performers’ that take things to a whole different level.
Ladies and gentlemen. Boys and girls. Cop a load of this:
I honestly don’t know what I like most.
The little girl who is making the animals sleep.
The judges endless stream of exaggerated faces.
Or the elegant models who are just there to lift a lid.
It’s madness. Sheer, brilliant madness.
It’s basically a perfect metaphor for this country.
Crazy. Elegant. Charming. Confused. Cute. Filial. Weird. Replication of anothers success.
Mind you, if anyone knows that little girls number, I wouldn’t mind seeing if see can make her trick work on Otis.
Filed under: Comment
… imagine how it will be when you realise there are people out there that ‘urgently’ need to buy a 2.15 million euro car and tell the World via a Linkedin status update.
But it gets worse.
Because the person in desperate need of those uber-expensive wheels is a supercar dealer which means there’s someone out there who is willing to pay him even more than the 2.15 million euros he’s offering to buy the car.
And I thought I’d been impetuous and gratuitous buying a 15RMB croissant this morning.
BUT DON’T GET TOO DOWN
Yes, I know I’ve pushed you to the edge of despair.
Yes, I know you’re questioning what you’re doing with your life.
Yes, I know you’re close to giving it all up and waiting to die.
But I have salvation.
Because there will be no more blog posts till Thursday.
And if you think that’s good news, wait till I tell you why.
Because I’m going to a NIKE conference and I will have to join in the activities.
In other words, I will have to play sport.
Move my body in ways that don’t just involve stretching for a coffee.
And wear shoes, not Birkenstocks.
See, your Monday isn’t so bad after all.
Bastards.