Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Craft, Creativity, Culture, Design, Egovertising, Innovation, Insight, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Relevance, Resonance
I recently read an article on Linkedin about an agency launching a ‘world first’.
Was it something to save humanity?
Nope.
Was it something to help business?
Nope.
Was it something designed to get the agency some PR even though it had no intrinsic value to culture?
Absolutely.
All that aside, I do get the quest for ‘first’ from agencies perspective … they want to look like they’re relevant, creative, interesting and valuable … but the great irony is that all this stuff does the absolute opposite.
So to dear old adland, I ask you this …
Could you please start being as proud about craft as you are about doing something ‘first’.
Craft makes a huge amount of difference.
It turns potential into possible.
It changes how people look at you and what they can do with you.
It creates division between you and your competitors.
Craft might not always get the PR headlines, but it makes people care – and given the alternative is World Firsts like that fucking Peggy Peg from a few years ago – that is a much better position to be in for all of our futures.
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Companies only want world firsts if they’re easy. They’re too risky and expensive if they’re not.
Comment by Pete October 22, 2019 @ 6:28 amNot all, but many. It’s getting to the point that for many companies – “innovation” is a sign of laziness whereas craft is a sign of commitment. Mainly because what some companies class as innovation is not innovation at all, just reframed evolution (or “borrowing” a competitors idea) to cover the fact you have a lack of your own.
That doesn’t mean they are not effective. But it does mean they are rarely changing the nature of the business long term.
Comment by Rob October 22, 2019 @ 7:31 amThe title of this post is Craig Federighi at his best.
Comment by Bazza October 22, 2019 @ 6:38 amWell spotted.
Comment by Rob October 22, 2019 @ 7:31 amIt’s a company requirement we can spot Apple employee quotes.
Comment by Bazza October 22, 2019 @ 8:01 amyou fucking corporate toady twat.
Comment by andy@cynic October 22, 2019 @ 2:49 pmI find it funny ad agencies are obsessed with creating “a world first” but outside of award season, they prefer to keep repeating the same formula.
Comment by Bazza October 22, 2019 @ 6:41 amNot just ad agencies. Remember that Chicken Tonight brief we got about their biggest ever innovation? Big for them. Of no value whatsoever for everybody else. I still can see the look on their faces when Rob told them that.
Comment by Pete October 22, 2019 @ 6:47 amThe ‘you can now cook it in a pan’ innovation.
That was a memorable one.
Comment by Rob October 22, 2019 @ 7:32 amThey couldn’t work out why we weren’t shouting “eureka”.
Comment by Pete October 22, 2019 @ 8:35 amthats what happens when you force low level brand managers to eat fucking shitty chemicals and think its nouveau fucking cuisine.
Comment by andy@cynic October 22, 2019 @ 2:51 pmPeggy Peg. One of your milestone posts.
I agree with everything you are saying here Robert.
Too many “world first ideas”, especially in the advertising and consulting industries, are focused on self celebratory PR, not radically changing how a business, a category or an audience operates from that moment forwards.
Comment by George October 22, 2019 @ 7:02 amExactly. Most companies prefer to put the no into innovation, even if their PR says otherwise.
Comment by Rob October 22, 2019 @ 7:34 amHow long had you been saving that one up Rob?
Comment by DH October 22, 2019 @ 8:50 pmjust to be fucking clear, the hare and the tortoise is a fucking kids story. in real life the hare would fucking smoke shellboy.
Comment by andy@cynic October 22, 2019 @ 2:53 pmHappy today Andy?
Comment by DH October 22, 2019 @ 8:49 pmHe’s so happy he’s the Coke side of life in Disneyland.
Comment by Bazza October 22, 2019 @ 9:55 pmfuck you twatty.
Comment by andy@cynic October 22, 2019 @ 10:50 pm[…] This is kind of an addition to the post I wrote a week or so ago. […]
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