Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Colenso, Comment, Cunning, EvilGenius, Planning, Point Of View, Presenting, Resonance, Respect
Some people say planners are a waste of space.
That they don’t know what they’re doing.
That they have egos is writing cheques, their talent can’t cash.
To be fair, there’s a lot of truth in all of that.
But recently I came across a bit of planner genius that deserves applause.
Have a look at this …
The handsome bastard in the photo is Henry.
Henry is one of the brilliant planners in my gang.
And while his brain can take you to places normal minds can’t see, let alone reach, I can’t help but think that as subliminal cues go … showing a client your thinking while standing under a light bulb – to reinforce “this is a brilliant idea, you must approve it immediately” – is next level impressive.
Well done Henry, you have single handedly make planners ask their agencies for lightbulbs to be hung down in meeting rooms all over the world.
Filed under: Business, Chaos, Colenso, Comment, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Emotion, Empathy, Imagination, Innovation, Insight, Loyalty, Marketing, Mischief, Point Of View, Relationships, Relevance, Resonance, Wieden+Kennedy
So recently a friend of mine sent me this video of Prince performing at the Brit awards in 2006.
I don’t just love it because I miss his talent.
Nor do I just love it because it reminds me of what a phenomenal musician he was – with his guitar playing in particular being of Rock God standard.
And I don’t just love it for the beautiful moment he and Darling Nisi sing the chorus of Purple Rain – even though her smile shows how joyful she feels at the moment.
No, the main reason I love it is because of his stage presence. The sheer commitment to performance. The spectacle that is impossible to ignore.
This is more than just being a famous musician performing in front of others – I’ve seen many do that and bore everyone to tears – no, this is about his magnetism.
All eyes are on him. Despite a stage of dazzling talent and dance, you never move your gaze off him. You end up feeling all your emotions have been given a thorough workout despite him being on stage just 12 minutes. I haven’t seen anything like that since Queen’s iconic performance at Live Aid … where in just 20 minutes, they secured their place as music icons.
There are actually less people who have this talent than you think, but one who had it in ‘the real world’ for me was a guy called Chris Jaques.
Years ago I wrote how I had to hold my hands together under the table at our first pitch presentation together because he was so amazing, I just wanted to clap.
I also wrote how anyone who ever worked with Chris who saw the carousel scene in the TV show, Mad Men, thought it could have been him.
He was that good.
But it wasn’t just because he was exceptionally smart.
Nor because he was also exceptionally talented.
But because he had an energy around him that you could not ignore.
He had the incredible ability to make you think he was only talking to you, even in a crowded room. He was clear, open and pragmatic with his opinions. He would go out of his way to ensure everyone felt included and involved. But there was never any doubt he was the leader. You wanted to work for him. Be better for him. When he walked in a room you felt his presence before he said a word. Not because of his power or wealth or standing … but because you felt it was going to be a valuable moment.
But what was even more special about Chris is that he never let this adulation go to his head. OK, not much anyway … certainly less than the people who think they have this impact … which meant he was always approachable but always valuable.
While there are some amazing people out in adland, there’s less Chris’ these days. Whether that’s because they have chosen different industries or this industry hounds people like Chris out is up for debate … but I do feel it’s a great loss.
Many like to refer to them as dinosaurs … people of another time who are no longer relevant. But people who say that have never worked with people like that. They probably wouldn’t want to as they would be challenged and questioned.
But what they don’t understand is their comments wouldn’t be about them.
They would just be talking about the work.
Wanting to help them be better by pushing their own boundaries.
And that’s why everyone should listen to this interview by the irrepressible Tony Davidson of Wieden London.
Tony – along with Kim – basically made that office and his interview is special.
He reminds me a lot of Chris.
Sure, their methods and approaches were very different, but the impact he had on me was very similar.
But after 20 years, Tony is leaving Wieden. While I am in no doubt that he will go on to do other amazing things, the reality is another person who made this industry interesting is going.
And while there are still some out there – Nils Leonard at Uncommon, Angela Watson at Colenso, Jorge Calleja at CPB, Ellie Norman at F1, Susan Hoffman at Wieden and Ryan Fisher at Wieden London to name a few – the industry still seemingly likes to give more face-time to the faceless and beige than the people who make things wonderful and weird.
Maybe that’s the industries insecurity showing [again] but as much as we are talking about mental health and work/life balance in a bid to lure people back to us [which is important and well over due]… maybe another way would be putting the weird, interesting and intriguing in the spotlight again.
Because you don’t attract the creative with even more logic, you attract them with people who have made ridiculous powerful and effective.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Colenso, Comment, Craft, Creativity, Culture, Marketing, Point Of View
Craft.
I’ve written a bunch about it over the years.
Like here.
Or this.
And in all cases, I’ve talked about the power.
The value.
The devaluation of its importance by clients and agencies.
I swear to god, the loss of craft coincided with the moment agencies decided they didn’t want to be art schools and wanted to be an MBA class instead.
Idiots.
However every now and then you see a piece of work that reminds you how great and valuable craft can be. Work where you know the details were sweated because they cared. And the fact it comes from Colenso just makes it better.
Craft is a competitive advantage.
For clients. For agencies. For individuals.
Filed under: Colenso, Comment, Confidence, Creative Brief, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture
The picture above is in our office.
I bloody love it.
I love it because this industry is seemingly falling into 2 group.
Those who live to make work and those who live to talk around making work.
You can tell who is who.
The ones who want to make work just can’t help themselves.
They’re constantly looking for opportunities – or creating opportunities – where they can use creativity to do something exciting or interesting or weird or thought-provoking.
Then there’s the others.
The ones who hide behind decks.
Who always explain why something can’t be done. Who talk about problems rather than possibilities. Who respond literally to every brief. Who talk about what others have done rather than what they could do. Who show work that was done years earlier, not months.
And even though the industry is full of truly talented people, there’s sadly far too agencies of the former and far too many of the latter.
Which highlights how much the industry is its own worst enemy right now and how happy I am being at a place that can’t help itself to make and create.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Colenso, Comment, Creativity, Culture, Equality, Jill, Paula, Planning, Point Of View, Shanghai, Wieden+Kennedy
Once upon a time I worked with a male creative who was one of the most sexist pricks I’ve ever met. He was condescending, patronising and – even worse – did all they could to stand in the way of female talent.
There was one situation where he actively tried to stop me from hiring one of the best planners in the World simply because she was a woman … knew more about sport than him and was much better at it as well.
He tried so hard to find fault with her, when all the time he was revealing his fragile ego.
And while I dealt with him – resulting in us hiring this brilliant planner who has gone on to have the sort of career most people could only ever dream of having – the fact is, her career could have been severely undermined if he had got his way.
What makes it worse is he is a loving father of daughters.
If anyone should be treating female talent with respect and encouragement – surely it should be someone with 2 daughters of their own. But then I remembered watching the ex-Prime Minister of Iceland – Vigdís Finnbogadottir – in Michael Moore’s documentary, ‘Where To Invade Next’ who explained things perfectly.
“While men would never want another man standing in the way of their daughters career potential, that attitude only extends to their daughter … not women in general”.
Of course she’s right.
That’s what’s so fucked up. Especially about men.
As is the vernacular they use to describe female colleagues.
Calling them emotional.
Fragile.
Weak.
And while I would rather work with an emotional, sensitive and compassionate person any day of the weak, the fact is women are way stronger than the vast majority of men I know.
Fuck, my wife has shown more courage than I could ever hope to muster.
From saying yes to moving countries with a man she had only known for 6 weeks to carrying our kid for 9 months and then PUSHING HIM OUT to just embracing every challenge that has been put in her way … everything about her is stronger than Superman and more inspiring than any Nike spot. [Sorry Swoosh, you know I still love you]
Then there’s the fact the vast majority of female leaders [of which there’s still too few] actively bring their whole team along with them versus a lot of men, who just want to take themselves forward.
And yet, despite all this, women continually face gender devaluation by many men – specifically white men – which is why I bloody love the poster at the top of this post designed by the brilliant Kat at Colenso designed from this amazing quote by Rahul Singh Rathour.
Which is why I hope women embrace being fragile like a bomb … because it means those around them will fear them rather than them having to fear those around them.