Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Confidence, Context, Creativity, Culture, Innovation, Insight, Management, Marketing
As I’ve written many times, my parents drilled into me that a life of fulfillment is much more valuable than a life of contentment.
As I’ve also written many times, I didn’t realise what this really meant until I hit my late 30’s.
And yet, despite that, I seemed to have embraced their philosophy in how I was living my life, including who I hired.
Put simply, I gave always valued someone who lived an interesting life more than someone who lived an interesting advertising life.
You’d think the two are connected, but that’s not always the case.
And that’s why I liked – and still like – people who have tried stuff.
It almost doesn’t matter if it worked out or not, the key is they’ve tried things and can recognise why it all turned out as it did.
Even if that’s about acknowledging the importance of luck.
So people who have travelled, worked in different industries, toured in a band, studied contemporary art, been arrested, written a fanzine, graffiti’d the hell out of things, created stuff – even if that’s kids beds – will always be initially more attractive to me than someone who studied advertising, worked in advertising and made advertising.
That doesn’t mean people who live an ‘ad-life’ aren’t good or valuable – of course they are – but I genuinely believe the more experiences you have, the more you will contribute to ideas that don’t just differentiate themselves from the usual ad noise, but offer a point of view that is undeniably infectious creatively and culturally.
Because as Peter Ustinov, the great actor, once said …
“People who reach the top of the tree are those who haven’t got the qualifications to detain them at the bottom”.
But here’s the thing …
While I am celebrating ‘generalists’, this is more than just someone who flitters from one thing to another.
I’m talking about those who commit to something. Throw themselves into what they do. Are seriously wounded when it goes wrong but have it open doors to something new they may never have considered without.
And while outsiders may see all this as random acts of experimentation, is actually a continuous stream of fulfillment because the people who do this stuff know the more they live, the more they have to offer.
Or to paraphrase Mr Ustinov, the more you explore, the more see what’s possible.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Creativity, Culture, Emotion, Empathy, Resonance
I recently read an article about companies that really made an impact on me.
It wasn’t exposing any new theory or methodology.
It wasn’t connected to any particular campaign or individual.
It wasn’t even something I didn’t know, to be honest.
But it just hit the point of what makes good work culture and good work really clearly.
Fun.
I’m not talking about foosball tables or free food.
It’s not artificial or contrived, it’s embedded in how you work and what you make.
It’s the thing that makes coming into work each day exciting and enjoyable.
Where taking a chance is celebrated.
Where individuality is held in the highest esteem.
Where creating anything is filled with electricity and laughter.
Where being serious about what you do and why you’re doing it doesn’t mean having to be serious about how you do it.
It’s the best thing I’ve read about agency culture in a long, long time, made better by the fact it was written by Mark Wnek – a creative director who, by his own admission, was known for being able to start a fight in an empty house.
Every single person should read it. Especially if you’re a CEO.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Brilliant Marketing Ideas In History, Comment, Creativity, Culture, Marketing, Perspective, Planning
I work in an industry that loves to make big deals out of everything.
Literally everything.
And yet, how many of those things were still being talked about a month later?
Or maybe a week?
Or even the next day?
The reality is that for all the work that claims to be revolutionary in its thinking/execution, the reality is few seem to be.
And the same is with agencies.
While it is difficult, the reality is any agency can hit the ad jackpot at least once in their life.
Maybe it’s a Super Bowl spot … or a Cannes award … or just something utterly, utterly brilliant/fun/funny/emotional … but for me, the true test of greatness is not about having done it once, but having done it on a consistent basis.
I don’t mean in terms of getting a headline in the industry press – however nice that is – I’m talking about capturing the mood and imagination of a nation.
Years ago I met someone who kept telling me about the time they ‘achieved something big’ in their career.
What they were talking about was admirable and certainly worthy of feeling proud about, however this thing was 15 years in the past.
Fifteen.
Don’t get me wrong, the person in question should absolutely feel they achieved something few do because they did … but if you are living 15 years in the past, you’ll never be able to move on into the future.
And that’s why one of the best bits of advice I ever got was to always be known for something in every job you have.
It doesn’t matter if you did something amazing over a decade ago, be known for having done something good things in the present.
Whether I have done that is questionable, but that advice has meant I have always gone into new adventures with the desire to make a difference. That should sound obvious, but you’d be amazed how many people try and live off their past.
So for me, it’s always about trying to find something I can improve, impact or instill … something that will last longer than my time there.
Now I appreciate you can easily fall into some post-rationalisation of achievement, because – let’s face it – when you’re judging yourself you’re rarely hard on yourself, but most people accept nothing worth doing comes easy so if they see you as having consistently done positive things wherever you have worked, it not only separates you from the lucky ‘one-off’s’, it lets you look at your career in terms of what it can still be, not just what it was.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Communication Strategy, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Insight, Marketing, Martin Weigel, Planners, Planning, Point Of View
Martin Weigel.
The professor.
The planners planner.
The miserable bastard that never returns your emails.
Well he might be all of those things, but to me, he’s my mate.
What’s more, I think I’m his mate too – which means he’s not nearly as clever as everyone thinks he is.
But the reality is, he has his place as one of the best because he is. That simple.
Not just because he’s as smart as shit … but underpinning his intellectual ramblings are very simple, but powerful, beliefs that benefit everyone he is interacting with.
I say this because I recently heard his answer to the question, ‘What should a planner do and care about?’ to which he responded with this …
That’s it.
4 lines.
But those 4 lines cover so much.
Vision. Creativity [Not advertising]. Innovation. Cultural Resonance. Ambition. Action. Focus.
In other words, strategy that is designed to liberate rather than play nicely with others.
It’s what makes him so good and the work he does so great.
I should hate him, but I can’t …
And it’s not just because I bloody love his bloody lovely other half.
The reason I say this is that one of the things I’ve been shocked about in America is the standard of planning.
There … I’ve said it.
No, it’s not because I’m a snobby Brit.
No, it’s not because I don’t understand the cultural differences.
It’s because a lot of it is bad.
I’ve spent a lot of time exploring what is out there and in many cases it’s either strategy that the individual has used for pretty much every client they’ve worked on regardless of the situation, or at worst, it’s a snappy worded version of the client brief.
Or just bad taglines that say nothing and mean nothing.
In other words, packaging rather than planning.
Now of course there are some epic planners here – I am fortunate to have a bunch who work with me and there’s a bunch who I wish would work with me – but there has been a bunch who I’ve met/spoken to who have just underwhelmed.
I recently met one who said their main approach to strategy was ‘owning the social platform’.
I had to ask 3 times if I had heard right, and I had.
And when I said they weren’t the sort of planner I wanted in my team, he said I didn’t know what I was doing.
OK, there’s probably more than an element of truth in that, but even my worst planner skills is better than that.
And yet this individual was a senior planner in a good agency.
In other words, he was responsible for helping brands decide the direction they were going to invest millions of dollars in.
MILLIONS!
The World has gone mad.
There is a craft to planning.
You can’t outsource it all to data and media.
Of course those people have a place – and an important one at that – but the hard work is still done by those who realize it’s not about the ad, but the direction, tension and opportunity for the brand and culture.
The one’s who can think of ideas that aren’t really just an executional idea.
Which is why we need more Weigel’s than Gary V’s.
Because flash means nothing if it doesn’t address what I now call, Weigel’s ‘Four Principals Of Worthiness’.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Creativity, Culture
Banter.
That thing that shows how much you like someone by how much you take the piss out of them.
Of course the key is what you’re taking the piss out of them for.
It has to be personal but it can’t be malicious.
A moment of stupidity is fine.
A physical quirk is more than acceptable.
An unfortunate result is OK … but only if it didn’t result in long-lasting pain or discomfort.
These are the signs of friendship – at least in the UK – and that’s why I am so happy a colleague took the piss out of me.
I work with a creative called Zaid.
He’s a Brit creative who – like me – also worked at Wieden.
This is what he looks like …
So last week I received an email from an industry site showing the judges for some upcoming award show.
One of the judges was Zaid – however rather than showing him in his full beardy-wonder as you see above – they showed him like this …
Spot the difference?
So being a dick, I sent an all agency email suggesting that the Zaid in our office may not be the person he claims to be as he looks nothing like the handsome, young man in the industry press release photograph.
Moments later, I received this in response.
For me, that’s not just a great comeback, it’s more proof why I think the World of Zaid.
Which – when I come to think of it – highlights that the British are really rather strange.