Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, America, Attitude & Aptitude, Brand Suicide, Comment, Communication Strategy, Confidence, Corporate Evil, Cunning, Daily Fail, Experience, Fake Attitude, Innovation, Management, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Premium, Standards, Technology
So did you get over your first day back at work?
What was worse … that, or this blog restarting.
Yeah … thought so.
Well I have some good news, because as you read this, I’m on my way to Shanghai.
And there’s better news … this means there won’t be any posts till Friday.
How good is that, 2 days into 2020 blogging and already you’re having a break.
But don’t get too happy, remember I said I would be back on Friday.
So back to those unicorns.
And more specifically, why Wall Street investors like to label certain dot.com companies with that moniker.
Well the answer is easy, because they don’t exist … at least not in the way they claim.
Especially when held under a microscope.
Think about it …
Evernote.
Theranos.
And then WeWork.
Mind you, given how much one of the founders walked away with – despite highly questionable practices, including copyrighting then selling to the company the word ‘we’ – there is definitely a reason why some people are called white collar criminals.
And they say crime doesn’t pay …
See you Friday.
Enjoy the early days of peace.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Brand, Brand Suicide, China, Comment, Communication Strategy, Content, Context, Creativity, Culture, Management, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Relevance, Resonance
Welcome back.
How was it?
Full of festive cheer or headaches and disappointment.
Bet you’d swap it all again for today wouldn’t you.
Even when you like your job, coming back to work after the holidays is hard.
Getting up early.
Transport hell.
Going through the same conversations with everyone at work.
Thinking about what you were doing at that time just a few days before.
Why do we do it to ourselves? Oh I know … to pay the bills.
Well fortunately not only did I have a lovely time in Australia, I ended 2019 winning the inaugural R/GA London Planner Pie-Off competition with my [surprisingly] delicious Great British Bake Off Fry-Up Pie, so you’ll understand why I have high hopes for this year – with one of the biggest hopes being we might actually move into our new home after 6+ months of legal nightmares. We shall see.
But as we are back at work and no one wants to be here, I thought I’d start by writing a post that captures a sense of optimism for the new year.
It’s 2020.
TWENTY TWENTY!!!
That means we are post Blade Runner times … which has to be cool, doesn’t it?
No.
Don’t blame you … just typing that is enough to give me heart palpitations and it’s only Monday. So to calm us down and to get back to an issue I’m passionate about – especially in these client optimization obsessed times – here is why brand building is not a luxury, but a critical investment in building a sustainable future, especially in these highly competitive, increasingly turbulent times.
Or to quote a Chinese proverb, “a successful farmer plants their seeds and nurtures them in the knowledge that when it comes time to harvest, their crop is bigger and healthier. It takes time, but it is always worth it.”
Said another way … if you’re always trying to harvest, there won’t be anything left to grow.
Given the amount of brands who are openly admitting their focus on short-term sales has hurt their long term business, there may be hope for us all to get back to making work that builds rather than just takes.
See, 2020 isn’t so bad so far after all …
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Audio Visual, Authenticity, Chaos, Comment, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Emotion, Empathy, Innovation
Well I’m back.
The good news is it’s already the last day of the first full week back at work.
How good is that?
Well it’s probably too good, so let’s end it on a low.
I mean high.
I mean … oh who cares …
One of the things I’ve loved about British comedy is their ability to be utterly poignant.
I’ve written about this before but recently I was reminded of a scene in the last season of Blackadder that really got to me.
It’s from Blackadder Goes Forth … the series about WW1 … and it’s the final scene of the final show, as they are about to climb over the safety of their bunker to face certain death.
It’s not exactly the sort of scene you would expect in a comedy, and it’s not played for laughs, instead it captures the honor and bravery of the men and women who gave their lives for others wellbeing.
But as the scene ends, it crossfades to something else … something that both captures the tragedy of war, the futility of war and the sadness of war. It’s quite an amazing scene – especially given it’s quiet simplicity – and yet it works, which is even more remarkable given it was never in the script.
Originally the final scene was going to show the cast being gunned down and end – as previous seasons had – with their deaths, but a combination of factors meant the footage they took was so bad that it was almost unusable.
Without much time before the show had to be aired, they came up with an idea that didn’t require a rewrite or even new footage and yet it became one of the most famous and powerful conclusions to any show in British history.
As I have said before, sometimes the most powerful moments of creativity are born from adversity but when you know what you want to communicate, the reward can be something quite magical. Different … but maybe even more magical.