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


Weird Isn’t Always Wonderful, But It’s Always Memorable …
November 30, 2018, 6:15 am
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Crap Products In History, Empathy

A few weeks ago – the day after halloween to be precise – I woke up to seeing I was tagged on an instagram photo.

When I clicked on the link, I saw this …

Yes … that’s me.

As a pumpkin.

For Halloween.

And you want to know what’s even scarier? Yes, even scarier than me as a pumpkin.

It was done by someone I’ve not met.

WHAT. THE. FUCK?!

On the bright side, while it is hideously ugly – or said another way, a perfect representation of me – it’s not a voodoo doll and in a weird way, it’s like a compliment. Sure, a twisted, back-handed compliment, but when you’re my age, beggars can’t be choosers.

So to the wonderfully, stark-raving-bonkers Jess Politi … thank you for [finally] making me good enough to eat, even though I suspect I was much better used as something you could slowly burn and then smash repeatedly in the face with a hammer, thus fulfilling the aspirations of hundreds of past and present colleagues of mine.



Is This The Best Brand Video Of All Time?

Brands have been making ‘consumer films’ for decades.

You know the ones, where supposedly random people wax lyrically about how – or why – [insert brand here] is soooooo good.

Well recently I saw the best one ever made.

EVER. MADE.

Even better than those ‘insane button’ clips for Tesla from years ago.

It’s for Krispy Kreme Ireland – and frankly, they are better than most movies I’ve seen recently, let alone ads.

Apart from the fact the people appearing in it appear to be genuine ‘randoms’, this recent brilliant article in The Guardian highlights just how much of an impact the Doughnut Kings/Queens have had on the Emerald Isle.

Though I think the comment, “It’s like my first lesbian kiss, I’m confused but I love it” … is literally the pinacle of all possible compliments.

So sit back, grab a box of Krispy and enjoy …



If You Need To Make Your Monday More Depressing …
November 26, 2018, 12:15 pm
Filed under: Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Creativity, Innovation

If you thought bottled water was expensive, try bottled water with an over engineered ring pull.

Look, I get they’re doing their bit for the environment.

And I do appreciate that having a ring pull that reseals means you might keep your drink for longer rather than throwing it away because the bubbles have gone flat.

Seriously, it’s all so over-the-top though I must admit to enjoying watching people trying to work out how to open it when they first get one because – like I did – they want to act all nonchalant but inside, they’re conscious that if they don’t find a way to take a sip soon, they’ve just been publicly humiliated by a can.

Which is even more refreshing than the water.

But I tell you what is even more refreshing than that …

As you read this, I’m in NYC so there’s no more blog posts till Thursday.

THURSDAY!!!

Consider this my Christmas gift from me to you … something I know you will like and not take back to the shop to ask for a refund. Which is a good thing, because the value of this blog is – as you well know – £0.01.

Enjoy the peace, see you Thursday.



Identity Is Defined By Us Or Defined By Others …

So finally we have the feedback on the latest APSOTW assignment.

First of all I owe everyone an apology.

This has taken way longer than it was supposed to.

I’d like to blame the time it took to get the judges feedback, but I can’t … because it was all down to me.

Of course I can point you to moving to a new country, finding a new house and starting a new job, but that’s still pretty pathetic even though it’s true.

So this submission got the most that I think we have ever had.

This is brilliant and I’m so glad so many people decided to have a go.

Of course, part of that is because it seemed relatively simple, but as you’ll read from the feedback below – you’ll soon learn it wasn’t.

But that aside, the fact you had a go is something to be celebrated.

It means you wanted to get better … put yourself out there … try something that makes you vulnerable and for that I say a huge congratulations.

I meet too many people who think that because they have a job, they have ‘graduated’.

The thing is, this job is one that is always developing because people are changing … so actively wanting to improve is something that should be celebrated and for that I – and all the judges – applaud you.

So as we had so, so many entries, we are going to find it almost impossible to write a review on every one. If you want specific feedback on your submission, drop me an email [on the same address as the assignment submission] and I’ll get back to you.

[Promise it will be quicker than this feedback has taken]

As I mentioned earlier, I think a lot of people thought this was an easy task … the reality is it wasn’t.

In fact, in some regards, I would say this was one of the toughest assignments we had set over the 10+ years APSOTW has been going.

In truth, post-rationalising is always a very difficult – if not impossible – task.

We tend to focus on the obvious elements when in truth, so much of the work we make is shaped by smaller little tweaks.

Not only that, but narrowing an issue as complex as this into a single sentence is always going to be super hard … so hard, that some of you went over the limit.

But the really interesting about this assignment is how many people basically wrote a headline for the campaign rather than an insight that could allow other work to be developed from it.

For example there were a lot of submissions that talked about ‘mirrors’.

Now I get why – because the execution focuses on that – but this wasn’t about mirrors or reflections, it was about identity and how you define yourself or let others define you.

In essence, you let the execution get in the way of your point of view.

Overall, the submissions tended to fall into one of four different groups:

1 A headline that summed up the execution. Not the idea behind the execution. The execution.

2 A fortune cookie/pseudo Confucius-style statement about being a man. Any man. Or skin.

3 A smart – but generalist – insight how men define themselves in the World today.

4 An overly complex description of how culture is formed which just felt like an attempt to show how smart you were.

Now don’t get despondent with that list of crimes, I see highly paid planners do it all the time.

The irony is our job is to make the complex simple, not make things even more difficult and yet time and time again the discipline tends to forget this.

If you want proof, just read 90% of effectiveness award submissions where the ‘insight’ is about half a page long.

ARGH.

But back to this …

When looking through the submissions, the judges agreed that to catch our eye, an entry had to have 3 things.

+ Recognition of the cultural tension underpinning the campaign. [This is about black culture, a lot of the statements could have been about anyone coming of age, so to speak]

+ A clear and concise point of view that makes us look at the potential of the idea in a bigger – or different – way.

+ The ability to provoke a reaction … whether that would be with creatives, clients or culture as a whole.

Sadly, we didn’t find that many that did, however there were some that caught our eye.

Divyanshu Bhadoria:
“More than a grooming regimen, shaving is a ritual to preserve the story of our identity”.

Wayne Green: :
“Don’t let a beard hide your pride of who you are and where you are from”.

Andy Wilson:
“Shaving reveals the dignity that is embedded in your skin”.

If truth be told, they could all probably be sharper … but not only did they all capture the tension between identity and conformity and the role shaving has in it, they were favoured by the creative judges as points of view that made them excited about looking at a category in a new way, but a true way.

And that was the point of the task … to take something and capture it’s essence in a way that would provoke a tighter – yet bigger – idea to come to the fore.

It’s tough … it’s very fucking tough … and as I said in the assignment, it’s all pretty subjective, but the judges were weirdly pretty much all in alignment from the beginning, which is why we got to our decision.

So a huge thank you to everyone for taking part.

I hope, after reading the feedback, if you look back at your entry you will see where you could have improved it.

As I said, if you want specific feedback on your entry, send me a mail and if Wayne, Andy and Divyanshu could send me their addresses, I’ll be sending a small prize to you as acknowledgement of your work.

Hopefully this has been a fun and useful exercise. Whatever the feedback, the fact you did it is important … to you, to us and to the industry at large … so I hope you will continue when the next APSOTW assignment comes out early in the new year.

A special thanks to the wonderful Maya Thompson who brought this assignment to me and changed the way I will look at the world forever [in collaboration with her collective of Chelsea and Bree] and a big happy holidays/new year etc etc to all of you who took part. [God, that feels weird to write in only November]

Till next time …



The Art Of Listening …
November 22, 2018, 6:15 am
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Relationships, Standards

I’ve written about this subject a lot, but I am still amazed how few people know how to listen.

The amount of times I’ve witnessed a conversation where the flow branches off over and over again … not because that’s where the topic is heading, but because people are moving it in different directions to satisfy their ego rather than to contribute to the conversation in a meaningful way.

The great irony is the closer you listen, the more it gives you.

Not just in terms of what you learn, but on being able to see where real opportunity is presenting itself.

The more you listen the more you gain, but it does require you really focus.

Listening is not hearing, it’s paying attention, being present even if you’re staying quiet.

I admit I wasn’t always the best at it, but the difference it made to me personally and professionally when this was pointed out to me was very strong … which is why one of the best bits of advice is don’t listen to reply, listen to understand.