Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Brand Suicide, Corporate Evil, Hello America, Hong Kong, HSBC, Marketing Fail
So I feel this week is where I start walking across the bridge from where my life has been to where my life will be.
In the next 3 weeks, my life is going to change quite a bit.
On Wednesday, I stop working at a place I have loved.
Less than a week later, I stop living in a home, in a city, in a country that I have loved.
A place where my son was born and where – in many ways – my life changed forever.
Then thanks to timezone madness, later that same day, my entire family – wife, son, cat – arrive in Los Angeles.
A place that feels a trillion miles away from where we have been.
A place that we will be calling home.
While I don’t start work for another 2 weeks, there will be so much to sort out.
Bank accounts … phones … cars … a home … while ensuring we create the time to explore and discover our new surroundings as a family.
And then, just 3 weeks later, I officially start my totally new and exciting adventure.
Wow, that’s a lot of change in a very short time … but apart from the fact we’ve done this sort of move countless times before [albeit without a child in tow] it feels exciting.
OK, so there’s also a bunch of headaches we have to contend with … and the reality is we won’t be able to truly feel ‘settled’ until we have a home, with all our furniture inside and a basic understanding of how everything operates in LA … but as I mentioned before, to have this opportunity at my age is one I feel truly fortunate to have, so as long as we’re together and happy, we can deal with most things.
But I’ll tell you something that didn’t make me happy.
HSBC.
Yes … I know I’ve written about them many, many times before and if I was sane, I would have stopped working with all their offices rather than just the ones in China and Australia … but I didn’t, so I accept some blame for what I am about to whine about.
So when you move to the US, one of the biggest obstacles to settling there is that you need a good credit rating.
Everything – and I mean everything – is dependent on you being seen as ‘financially credible’.
Without a good credit rating, you will find it hard to get a place to live, a car, a credit card … you name it, you’re screwed.
This issue is only magnified if you are new to the country because not only do you start with zero, it takes a hell of a long time to earn it.
But then I got told HSBC – the World’s local bank – could set you up with a US bank account and the credit history you had earned in one country, could be transposed to America.
Result.
So I call up HSBC in Hong Kong and ask them if they can do it.
“Of course we can sir, it only takes about 10 days”.
I was so thrilled that I didn’t quite hear what they said next.
“… you just have to come into the branch to discuss it”.
I quickly woke up and enquired if they meant ‘any HSBC branch’.
“Oh no sir, you have to come to the branch you opened the account”.
I told them that might be difficult as I lived in Shanghai so was there any alternative – like going to a Shanghai branch instead.
“No”.
That was their response. No.
I asked if they could check and call me back and they said they would.
They didn’t call back.
I went through the whole thing again.
Same answer.
Could you check and call me back?
They said they would. They didn’t.
In the end, I had to fly to HK to get them to do it.
Yep, I had to buy a ticket so I could get on a plane and fly 2 hours just so I could go to the brand and hear them me “Why do you want to open an account in the US?”
How I restrained myself from saying “Because I want to launder all my ill-gotten gains and apparently you’re good at that“, I do not know …
OK, so it wasn’t as bad as the time ANZ Bank in Australia made me fly from Singapore to Sydney so I could given them a cheque to buy a bloody house, but it’s up there.
Was it worth it?
Who the hell knows … I guess we’ll find out in a week, but for a bank that has continually acted illegally, I find it laughable they’re such sticklers for protocol on relatively small matters, but not nearly as laughable as their claims that they’re the ‘World’s Local Bank’.
Look at that, I haven’t even moved to the US yet and I’m bitching.
There’s hope for this blog yet …
Filed under: Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, China, Goodbye China, The Kennedys Shanghai, Wieden+Kennedy
So this is my last Friday at Wieden Towers.
That’s it in the photo. With the storm clouds circling overhead.
While I’m super excited about my next chapter, the fact is I’m a sentimental sod, so I’ve been spending the last few weeks trying to take in everything around me so I’ll remember it when I’ve gone.
Part of this is because I spent 7 years here … so the ties are very strong, however the other part is because I know I will never live here again.
I know you should never say never … but I’ve gone back to live in a country that I’ve previously resided in, though I must admit, China is the one where that realisation has hit me the hardest.
That said, I will come back for visits.
Not just because I am fascinated to see the incredible changes that I know will occur, but because I want to show Otis where he was born and where he spent his first few years of life.
Now as you all know, I started and ran The Kennedys Shanghai this year.
It was a great honour for me. Not just because it is something this office has talked about for 12 years, but because I am a planner and being entrusted to develop Wieden’s creative talent incubator was a great honour.
As I’ve written before, I gave them all manner of shit in their quest to find their creative voice … and while they took it all with [relatively] good grace, they recently presented me with a video they’d made that was designed to get to my very core.
Not because its mean, but because it’s bloody lovely.
Those cunning, beautiful, evil bastards.
Given they waited till the very end to give this to me, it appears they subscribe to the belief ‘revenge is a dish best served cold’.
I’ve obviously taught them well.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Comedians, Comment, Creativity, Culture, Entertainment, Insight
Growing older is a pain-in-the ass.
Even if your mind is still young and active, your body is losing its energy and gaining a bunch of aches and pains.
Is it any wonder so many people spend so much money trying to pointlessly fight it?
But there are some advantages to age.
One of them is not giving a fuck anymore.
I don’t mean that in the sense of not caring about people or progress or learning. I mean it in the sense of realising how little of the stuff we passionately believe are important are actually important.
And to me, this is enlightening and liberating all at the same time.
It enables you to see what can actually change stuff.
What can actually make a difference.
Of course, being old doesn’t automatically mean you have this ability – just like being young doesn’t automatically disqualify you from having this ability – but without doubt, experience gives you an ability to see through the clutter and bullshit and that is most definitely a gift.
Over the years I’ve written this blog, one person I’ve constantly referenced is Sir Ken Robinson … more specifically, his incredible TedTalk about creativity.
One of the reasons I love it so much is that he helps us see all the layers of bullshit we have added to the education system.
Layers that ironically undermine kids ability to learn rather than enhance it.
Well recently I saw another speech that asks us to question stuff.
Stuff we think is important but could be more of a hinderance.
However instead of coming from a very funny academic, it comes from a very funny comedian.
John Cleese.
Now of course this shouldn’t come as a surprise because as I wrote a long time ago, comedians have incredible insight, however what Cleese offers is more than that … he challenges us to consider how much we undermine our potential by allowing things we think are important to interfere with the things that really are.
And while this brilliant stream of consciousness explains the importance of clarity and creativity, he gives us something more than that.
He reminds us that getting old might not be as bad as we may often think.
As long as we live a life of experiences rather than comfort.
Which is another lesson worth remembering.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Brand Suicide, Comment, Crap Marketing Ideas From History!, Crap Products In History, Creative Brief, Creativity, Culture, Marketing Fail
A week today is my last day at Wieden, so what I’m about to write shouldn’t matter. But it does.
You see, last week I received an email from a rather well known publisher.
A publisher of books.
They wanted to ‘have a chat’.
So obviously I was kind of intrigued so I called them and do you know what they said …
THEY WOULD LIKE TO MAKE A BOOK OF MY BLOG POSTS!
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah!
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
Despite the utter stupidity of that suggestion, I am not going to deny my ego was well and truly stroked … which is why they brought me down to earth when they added “We don’t want all your posts, just the ones where you have something others will find valuable to read”.
Putting aside that with that filter, it’s going to be more pamphlet than book, I still find it rather exciting and can only assume their business model is built on the belief that people will pay a couple of quid to get to the few posts that are worth reading rather than spend hours traipsing through shite looking for them.
Hmmmmmn, not the best investment argument I’ve ever heard.
But here is where you come in.
You see I’ve been asked to choose the 100 posts that I think are valuable.
I know, 100. Talk about being optimistic.
Anyway, if this goes ahead, they want to pitch it as a business book [I swear I’m not making this up] … which I assume means less posts about my best friends penis size and more about businessy-stuff. I’m pretty sure that down the line, I’ve written a few of them – whether it was on strategy, creative briefs or recruitment – however in the unlikely event there’s a post on here that you remember as having some value, could you let me know because I sure-as-hell don’t want to spend months going through 10+ years of rubbish only to realise there’s nothing on here that I actually like anymore.
Ta.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Agency Culture, China, Chinese Culture, Comment, Communication Strategy, Wieden+Kennedy
As I have 2 days left of working at Wieden, I thought I’d put up some of the films [some are case studies because I can’t find the actual spot online] that I’ve either had something to do with or happened on my watch while at W+K Shanghai.
To be honest, there’s loads more – including 3 campaigns that haven’t come out yet, of which one is particularly exciting – but I appreciate how indulgent this post is already.
So with that – and in no particular order – here we go …
Converse Lyrics
NIKE Mr Sun
Fiat 500 La Vita E Bella – with thanks to my Mum
NIKE Temple Of Deadly Quickness
P&G Best Job
NIKE Find Your Greatness
Jeep Built Free
Jordan Winning Moment
Heineken Curiosity Pays
NIKE Epic Step
Spotify Japan Music Changes Us
As I said, there’s a bunch more stuff I could put up, but when I look back at this – especially in relation to where China/Asia advertising traditionally sits – I nod and, to paraphrase Phil Knight from the W+K global credentials film, say “It’s not bad”.