Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Culture, Experience
I always thought England was obsessed with politeness.
Apologizing for things they didn’t do.
Expressing gratitude for things that don’t matter.
Saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ for every human interaction.
Maybe I thought this because I’ve been away for so long.
Maybe it’s because of Brexit.
But while I am loving being home, I am also aware some people can be utter pricks.
Case in point … Starbucks customers.
Specifically the Starbucks customer in the photo at the top of this post.
A few weeks ago, I was quietly eating my breakfast on a small table by myself.
Suddenly this guy comes and sits on the other side of the table … literally next to me.
And why did he do this?
Was it because I invited him?
No.
Was it because he was being friendly?
No.
It was because his takeaway coffee was being made and he thought he would take the weight off his feet by sitting at someone else’s table and waiting till he was called to pick up his coffee.
What the fuck?
When did that behaviour become ‘a thing’?
You wouldn’t join a family at their table if you were waiting to pick up a takeaway so why is this OK?
What got me even more pissed off is that he sat there, not facing me and yet completely invading my personal space.
Eventually he looked at me and when he saw me staring at him, he asked ‘what my problem was’.
To which I replied …
“I’ve not had someone this close to me since I had my proctology exam, though to be fair, the doctor asked if he could be there”.
The great irony is he called ME rude.
On the bright side, it got rid of him and left a nasty taste in his mouth – though given he was drinking a Starbucks, he should have been used to that by now. Boom Tish.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Communication Strategy, Creativity, Culture, Empathy, Relevance, Resonance
One of the things I hate is when I hear someone say ‘normal’ in relation to people.
What are they going on about?
There is no such thing as normal.
There may be habits or tastes or behaviours that are common, but that doesn’t make the people undertaking them, normal.
Ordinary perhaps … but not normal.
Our industry is obsessed with trying to sell mass.
I get it – clients want to reach as many people as possible – but while it sounds more efficient for a clients marketing investment if you talk about people in terms of ‘normal’, it doesn’t mean it is more effective.
If anything, quite the opposite.
As I have said countless times, we need to stop thinking relevance is the win and start aiming for resonance.
Of course to do that, you have to be comfortable with uncomfortable – and that’s why I think we’ll be seeing terms like ‘normal’ and ‘relevance’ for decades to come.
Until most of us don’t exist anymore.
I’m back.
I appreciate this news will fill you with dread so to make you feel a bit better, I’ll give you some ammo to take the piss out of me. Yes I know you don’t normally need any of that, so consider it an act of errrrrm, love.
As I have said many times, I am rubbish at maths.
I once got 2% in Mrs Kirk’s maths class.
But I did think I had got better over the years until something happened a couple of weeks ago that showed me I was kidding myself.
This:
Yep, what you see is a rather excessive electricity bill because someone – errrrrm, me – got the numbers he submitted, wrong.
Better yet, my first thought was it was the fault of the air conditioning unit we had just bought.
Then when I came to my senses and realized even that couldn’t contribute that much of an increase to the electricity usage, the electricity company didn’t automatically realise it was an innocent mistake by a stupid customer, and said they would need to launch an investigation.
AN INVESTIGATION.
Suddenly your week feels a lot better now doesn’t it.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Authenticity, Comment, Context, Creativity, Culture, Relevance, Resonance
There are 2 reasons for the title of this post.
The main one is that I’m ending the week on a nice story.
And when I say ‘nice’, I mean it … it’s not me ranting about some revenge I’ve finally unleashed on someone after 30 years.
I know … who the hell am I?!
The other reason is that I’m having a little break so you get a ‘long weekend’ of blog post freedom as I’m not back till Tuesday.
Enjoy it, it might not happen again for a long time.
But back to the main reason for this being nice …
England has a terrible history in terms of inclusion.
Hell, it has a terrible history in a lot of things.
And while the World is a massive, massive shit-show right now, there are moments where faith is restored.
Case in point is what the Bank of England have done with the design of the new £50 note …
For those of you who don’t know who Turing was, read this.
Put simply, he not only was a brilliantly clever man, he played a huge role in the Allies victory in World War 2.
And yet despite all this, he was treated despicably simply for being gay.
And while you could argue this gesture of acknowledgement is too little, too late – and it is – the way they did it is the perfect tribute to the man.
An act that shows how he did things, not just what he did.
A gesture of beautiful nerd resonance.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Brand Suicide, Communication Strategy, Content, Marketing, Marketing Fail
So a few weeks ago, I received this email …
As soon as I read that first line, I just switched off.
Not because I’m not interested in new business, but because it’s so obvious anyone in business is.
I also don’t like the tone …
As if they just care about my best interests.
Everything about this email pissed me off which – as introductory emails go – is the opposite effect they should have.
I get it’s hard to cold call someone.
I get it’s difficult to grab their attention.
But maybe someone should tell them the secret to making anyone care is getting them to buy rather than just trying to sell.
Or said another way, finding out what your audience need rather than selling them what you want them to want.