Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Culture, Daddyhood, Fatherhood, My Fatherhood, Parents
Being a parent is – for me at least – one of the most wonderful and rewarding experiences I’ve had in my life.
That said, it comes with pressure.
Not just in terms of ensuring your kid has a happy and healthy environment to grow up in, but that you balance your parenting time with also being an active and engaged employee in whatever job you do.
We are incredibly fortunate that Jill chose – and was able – to stay at home throughout Otis’ infancy and only now – as he has started school – is she contemplating going back to work. I am absolutely in no doubt this has enabled me to manage my Dad and work commitments in a way that – hopefully – has not let anyone down.
But as I said, we are lucky because frankly, I don’t know how single parents do it.
In a World where employers expect more and more from their employees – the ability to perform at a any level and still be a functioning, loving, caring parent is amazing.
I have nothing but utter admiration for single parents and the children – who adapt to the situation in ways that are remarkable – because I am unsure whether I would ever be able to achieve the same thing.
The reason I am writing this post is that I recently read the lyrics to the song ‘Cats In The Cradle’.
It’s an old song, resurrected in popularity by Ugly Kid Joe in the 90’s, but it could easily pass as a story about parenting … a horror story about parenting.
I don’t mean this because it features death or ghosts or the afterlife, but because it warns you about what can happen if you let your priorities get screwed up.
Have a read [but if you start, you have to read it all] … because while it was written in 1974, if you’re a working parent, it’s as relevant today as it ever was.
You have been warned.
My child arrived just the other day;
Came to the world in the usually way
But there were planes to catch and bills to pay.
He learned to walk while I was away.
He was talkin’ ‘fore I knew it.
And as he grew he said,
“I’m gonna be like you, Dad.
You know I’m gonna be like you.”
And the cat’s in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy blue and the man on the moon.
“When you comin’ home ?”
“Son, I don’t know when.
We’ll get together then.
You know we’ll have a good time then.”
Well, my son turned ten just the other day.
He said , “Thanks for the ball, Dad. Come on, let’s play.
Could you teach me to throw ?” I said, “Not today.
I got a lot to do.” He said, “That’s okay.”
And he walked away and he smiled and he said,
“You know, I’m gonna be like him, yeah.
You know I’m gonna be like him.”
And the cat’s in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy blue and the man on the moon.
“When you comin’ home ?”
“Son, I don’t know when.
We’ll get together then.
You know we’ll have a good time then.”
Well, he came from college just the other day,
So much like a man I just had to say,
“I’m proud of you. Could you sit for a while ?”
He shook his head and he said with a smile,
“What I’d really like, Dad, is to borrow the car keys.
See you later. Can I have them please ?”
And the cat’s in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy blue and the man on the moon.
“When you comin’ home ?”
“Son, I don’t know when.
We’ll get together then.
You know we’ll have a good time then.”
I’ve long since retired, my son’s moved away.
I called him up just the other day.
“I’d like to see you, if you don’t mind.”
He said, “I’d love to, Dad, if I could find the time.
You see my new job’s a hassle and the kids have the flu,
But it’s sure nice talkin’ to you, Dad.
It’s been sure nice talkin’ to you.”
And as I hung up the phone it occurred to me,
He’d grown up just like me.
My boy was just like me.
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.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Brand Suicide, Communication Strategy, Crap Campaigns In History, Creativity, Culture, Marketing, Marketing Fail
Yes I’m back.
Sorry, but I am.
I know you had got used to peace and quiet but bad luck.
Not only am I back, but I’m pissed off.
So recently I came across this company …
Enjoy unsold food …
Eat at a time that is inconvenient for you.
Pay for something that could have been sitting there all bloody day.
Seriously, what the hell?
OK, I can just about accept that there is an audience who might find this idea appealing, even though I would still prefer it if the food went to the homeless rather than the cheap … but to claim ‘they’re ending food wastage’?
Come on …
I get purpose is a big thing for brands these days.
I get there is an audience who want to deal with brands that give a shit.
But just like the umbrella company I wrote about a few weeks ago with their bullshit purpose mission statement, it tends to only work if the companies purpose means they sacrifice something for the greater good rather than simply to use it as a way to earn profit.
But I’m still flabbergasted at this idea.
Imagine if a dating app used the same premise.
Lonely?
Fed up of being single?
Join ‘Too Good To Waste’, a dating app that connects you to people left on the shelf.
That’s right, through our app, you can spend your time with someone no one else wanted.
Together we can end loneliness forever.
Thank you for everything. Every single thing.
All that happened in your 4 walls will always be remembered and treasured.
May everyone feel the love you let me feel.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Comment, Context, Creativity, Culture, Devious Strategy, Emotion, Empathy, England, Experience, Imagination, Innocence, Perspective, Prejudice, Relationships, Relevance, Research, Resonance
I went to Brighton recently and I have to say, I quite liked it in a try-hard-to-be-cool kind of way.
And while there was a bunch of things to see and explore, one thing stood out from all of them.
This …
I have to be honest, while I am all for sorting out your rubbish, a public bin just for BBQ food is pretty spectacular.
Especially as I didn’t spot a single place selling BBQ food anywhere near it.
But as I wrote about the bins in LAX airport, by not labeling it simply as ‘rubbish’, it did stop me in my tracks.
Made me look more closely.
Made me think.
Which begs the question, for all the logic we are approaching the challenges of the environment – maybe the best way to get people to actually think and reconsider is not to bathe them in facts about our self-created, impending apocalypse, but to use language and imagery that cracks the firewalls we have put up around ourselves to manage this sort of information on our own terms.
It might be counter-intuitive, but as the Ice Bucket Challenge and the Doncaster County Council grit machine campaign showed, sometimes the most sensible thing we can do to create change is to embark on utter madness.
Just like my Boaty McBoatface argument that I am absolutely not bitter about in any way, even thought they completely ignored it and dismissed it out of hand.
Oh no.
When will authorities appreciate that humans are hypocritical.
That common sense is often in the eye of the beholder rather than their being some uniform fire of how everything should be.
This is why we have rubbish ads, rubbish politicians and rubbish products … because while I appreciate we need certain benchmarks to move forward, so many of the things we rely on are as fake as the Emperors New Clothes.
Designed to hide our truth rather than to reveal it.
That doesn’t mean you should stop talking to people, far from it, it actually means you need to spend even more time with them so you can get even closer to them. Understand their realities, their contexts, their truths and dramas and all the nuances and personal rabbit holes they go down to manage what they think and decide to do.
People are fascinating, but it needs more than a fucking focus group or poll to discover it.
As I’ve said before, if you want them to respect your clients brand, start respecting them~.