Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Brand, Confidence, Craft, Creativity, Culture, Distinction, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Music, Perspective, Positioning, Purpose, Relevance, Resonance, Standards, Status
I recently saw the above photo and immediately fell in love with it.
Not because it’s slightly bonkers – but it helps – but because I love the commitment of them.
Now I have no idea if they were booked to appear with that look.
I have no idea if they’re a real band, though I know ‘rock bands that play kids parties’ exist because the wonderful show Z Rock was based on one. [In fact the actors in the show, were the actual band]
And I don’t know if the music they play reflects how they look.
But I love it.
I love every bit of it.
Because rather than pander, they’ve committed.
Committed to who they are.
Committed to what they believe.
Committed to what they want to do.
There’s not enough of that. Oh we hear so many brands – and bands – talk about their ‘purpose’, but that’s just a PR headline because their actions often demonstrate the only thing they are committed to is whatever is needed to make money.
There is more authenticity in this trio of rock crazies than 99% of the companies who profess to be driven by their purpose.
But here’s the thing, commitment is about inconvenience.
Doing – or not doing – the things that reflect your belief.
Of course there are implications to that …
But while others may be more successful or richer, there is one thing you’ll have they won’t …
The ability to sleep at night.
And given we are also seeing more and more people choosing those who are committed to their belief, regardless of inconvenience, there’s a chance you could be more successful and richer too.
You can’t fake commitment.
You can’t be temporarily interested in it.
You can’t use it as a marketing platform.
Because commitment shows up in what you say, what you do and how you do it ALL THE TIME IN EVERY WAY.
Commitment achieves things interested can’t.
Commitment gives you standards, interested can’t even see.
Commitment pushes possibilities, interested will never understand.
Commitment wants you to succeed in ways interested will never get close to.
That’s the difference between the imposter purpose pedlars and the real deal.
It’s not something different every 12 months.
It’s not simply expressed through their marketing.
It’s not only doing things if you can make money from it.
It’s not changing direction when things don’t go exactly as planned.
Of course, that doesn’t mean people will only choose the committed. The fact is humans are all hypocritical beasts who like their moments of easy and cheap. However, in this superficial, short-cut, high-cost, hype world … commitment has a way of standing out in ways they will never even understand.
Which is why I love the people in this photo more than I do other kids entertainers.
Not because those other entertainers don’t have talent or a right to make a living … but because this trio of rock band musicians know who they are rather than are selling themselves as whoever others want them to be.
In a world where you don’t know who you can rely on, I say choose those who are committed, not interested.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Apathy, Attitude & Aptitude, Content, Context, Culture, Dad, Daddyhood, Emotion, Family, Fatherhood, Home, Jill, Love, Mum, Mum & Dad, My Fatherhood, Otis, Rosie
I had a blessed childhood.
I had unconditional love … continuous support and a caring, family home.
But I never got Electronic Battleships.
Hell, I didn’t even get to play shitty paper battleships.
And frankly, I didn’t care except for the fact when I was a kid, the idea of an ‘electronic’ version of anything was cool so I wanted it.
Then there were the sounds it made.
Or at least the sounds it made on the TV ad.
Holy mother of god. This was 25th century technology.
Kinda.
But did I get it?
Did I hell.
Oh don’t get me wrong, I was spoilt over the years with a lot of electronic stuff …
Blip. Demon Driver. Astro Wars. Philips G7000. Game and Watch. Merlin. Tin Can Alley … which was the most rubbish thing ever made.
But no Electronic Battleship.
And the only reason I was able to deal with it is because I never really liked board games and my Dad hated them even more … so even if that wasn’t the case, only my Mum would be available to be an opponent and war was not something she rightfully wanted to encourage.
For 52 years I lived perfectly well without having Battleships in my life until one day I came home and found Otis had got a set and wanted to play.
Not Electronic Battleships [still being denied all these years later] but battleships all the same.
So we sat down at the table … facing each other and prepared to unleash naval hell on one another.
I should point out Otis had never played Battleships before.
I should also point out he’s 7 years old.
So you’ll understand why my view of Battleship has evolved from indifference to hate because 37 minutes after commencing our game, my son had blasted all of my stupid, crappy, cowardly ships out the water.
Crap game anyway.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Brand, Brand Suicide, Cannes, China, Colenso, Comment, Confidence, Consultants, Content, Context, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Devious Strategy, Differentiation, Distinction, ECommerce, Effectiveness, Honesty, Innovation, Insight, Loyalty, Management, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Metallica, New Zealand, Perspective, Planners, Relationships, Relevance, Research, Resonance, Strategy, Wieden+Kennedy
There’s so many agencies, consultancies and self-appointed guru’s out there who talk about how to be successful at business.
They all have their models, eco-systems, philosophies and proof points.
And yet so few have ever done it for themselves.
They’ve chosen to ‘succeed’ under the safety-net of anothers money, reputation or effort.
That doesn’t mean what they do or think doesn’t have value – of course it does – but it also doesn’t mean their viewpoint is the only one worth counting.
And yet, every single bloody day, that’s how it is presented.
Recently someone wrote a piece on how they had used their proprietary research methodology on a Cannes winning TV ad and declared it would not deliver sustainable growth for the brand in question.
Putting aside the fact they were judging work that had won a creativity award rather than an effectiveness one … the thing I found funny was their confidence in proclaiming their view was the ultimate view.
I am not doubting their smarts.
I am not doubting their data.
But I am doubting their breadth of business appreciation.
And yet somehow, the voices of a few have positioned themselves as the be-all and end-all of effectiveness.
Don’t follow us and you fail.
Don’t follow us and your brand will lose.
Don’t follow us and you will be labeled foolish.
Now I am not denying these people do have a lot of experience and lessons we can learn from, but they’re not infallible.
But that’s how the industry approaches them.
Lording them like they are Yoda’s of the future.
But they’re not.
Don’t get me wrong, they are very good at evaluating effectiveness from a particular perspective and set of behaviours. Offering advice that can be hugely important in the decision making process.
But there’s a whole host of brands and business that have adopted totally different models and achieved ‘effectiveness and success’ that leaves others far behind.
Incredible sustainable success.
From Liquid Death to SKP-S to Gentle Monster to Vollebak to Metallica to name but a few.
Oh I know what some will say …
“They’re niche” … “they’re young” … “they’re not that successful”.
And to those people I would say maybe you don’t know what you’re talking about … because in just that list, it includes the biggest selling brand on Amazon, the fastest selling brand in their category on earth and the second most successful American band in history.
But there were two things that really brought the issue of mindset narrowcasting to me …
The first was the launch of a book that was basically about creating future customer desire for your brand/business.
Now there’s nothing wrong with that … but no shit Sherlock.
Has the market got so short-sighted and insular that the idea of doing things that also drive your future value and desirability become a revelation?
It’s literally the most basic entrepreneur mindset, and yet it was presented like it was Newton discovering the laws of gravity.
This person is super smart.
They’ve done a lot of good stuff.
But it just feels the actions of some in the industry are driven by the fetishisation of icon status … even though, ironically, what it does is highlight their experience may be narrower than they realise.
But at least the book had good stuff in there.
Stuff that could help people with some of the basics.
A desire to look forward rather than get lost in the optimisation circle-jerk.
This next one was a whole lot worse.
Recently an ex-employer of mine went to see a current client of mine.
Specifically the founder and CEO.
Apparently they went in to tell him he was missing out on a whole host of business and they could help him get more.
They then proceeded to present a massive document on how they would do it.
He looked at them and told them it was very interesting but they were wrong.
He told them their premise was based on a business approach he doesn’t follow or believe in.
A business approach that didn’t reflect the industry he was in, only the industry they were in.
He then informed them he had the most profitable store on the planet and so while he appreciated their time, he had faith in his approach and it was serving him well.
But it gets better.
As they were leaving – and I’ve been told this is true by someone who was apparently there – the person showing them out informed them their boss had a personal net worth of US$36 billion and based on their companies current share price, that meant he was more valuable than their entire group.
Was it an asshole thing to do?
Yep.
Do I absolutely love it?
Oh yeah.
Will I get in trouble for telling this?
Errrrrm, probably.
My point is the industry has decided ‘effectiveness’ can only be achieved and measured in one way and any deviation from that is immediately discounted or considered ‘flawed’.
Often by people who have never actually built a world leading business themselves.
Again, I am not dismissing the importance of what is being said, it’s HUGELY important – which is why I’m proud we won the Cannes/Warc effectiveness Grand Prix – but, and it’s a huge one, if we think that’s the only model and only use that one ‘model’, then we are literally adopting a single approach to solve every one of our clients every problems.
One.
That’s insane.
Not just because it’s stupid but because if everyone adopts the same approach, then impact will be influenced far more by spend and distribution that strategy.
Please note I am absolutely not saying we should burn the models or philosophies or systems that have proven their value to drive business. No. Absolutely not. I’m just saying we shouldn’t be praying at the feet of them … especially when many are simply focused on creating steady impact rather than spectacular.
Yes, I know ‘spectacular’ has a lifespan – which is why innovation is so important – but so many brands out there either aim for the middle … reinforced by processes, protocols and rules defined as ‘best practice’ by people in a particular industry … or they bake-in ‘limitation’ into their potential because they’ve blindly adopted rules they never challenge or explore from other industries or entrepreneurs.
At the end of the day, if a brand like Liquid Death can become the biggest selling water brand on Amazon because they found a way to make men actually want to drink water through a model and approach that is not only radically different to what so many of the industry experts say is ‘the only way’ … but is the opposite of it … then your brand may be inhibiting itself by following a model designed to make you fit in with it, rather than redefine how it fits in with you.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Comedians, Context, Culture, Emotion, Racism
When you have written a blog as long as I have, people often think they know me. And they do – to a degree. But as much as I have talked about things that really open up my emotions – from death to birth to suicide to errrrm, the size of my best friends appendage – who I am on this blog is only a part of who I am.
Whether that is a good part is open to discussion, but what I’m trying to say it’s different to what old friends and colleagues have experienced with me.
Not massively different, but different all the same.
More nuance. More history. More context. More highs and lows.
I say this because I recently read a brilliant article that reminded me of this fact.
In some ways, I feel I’ve known Sanjeev Bhaskar forever.
He has seemingly been on my television screen since the dawn of time.
Except it’s not true.
He appeared on BBC 2 in 1998 with the show, Goodness Gracious Me.
Oh what a show that was …
Brilliant for both its comedy and its gentle destruction of the prejudice Asian families have had to – and continue to – endure in the UK with white people.
And yet I wonder if everyone actually realises that?
Since then, Sanjeev has been on our screens forever. Both because of his talent as a comedian, director, writer and actor and also because British television has found it hard to give Asian talent a platform to showcase their talent so he became one of the ‘go to’s’ for British Television when an Asian presence was required on a show.
In other words, his success is down to talent and racism.
That must be a hell of an issue to deal with.
Oh people may say, “what’s it matter … he’s famous and rich” … but putting aside the fact no one knows how wealthy he is, money doesn’t mean you are immune from feelings.
And yet despite that burden, he comes across as such a kind, compassionate man.
To be honest, I kind of thought he was before I read the article … but it is in understanding where he has come from, what he has dealt with, what he believes that I realise that I knew such a sliver of how wonderful a human he really is.
And I appreciate this revelation still comes from reading an article rather than meeting the person … but if he comes across as open, generous and grounded as he does in an article, the real person cam only be even better.
The interview covers a huge amount of subjects …
His grandfather in India.
The bullying he went through at school.
That BBC executives only saw him because they tossed a coin whether to see his show or go to the pub.
His parents immense pride that their son has met the Queen and likes his show.
The utter stupidity of racism.
His belief in the younger generation to make everything better.
Love.
It’s truly a joy to read, but there’s one quote I really connected to.
Maybe because in some small way – despite our vastly different reasons and circumstances – I felt it and feel it too.
“If 14-year-old me could see where I am now, he’d tell me to piss off. [As in it was unbelievable rather than undesirable] But I want to tell him that we will make it out of that launderette and even become friends with some of those people on our bedroom wall. For all the shit we went through, with luck and without, it leads us here.”
It’s so well worth a read.
It also has made me hope I get to meet Sanjeev one day.
So I can learn more about the real person.
Who I have now started to see as a quiet revolutionary of hope and love rather than just a talented writer, comedian, director and actor.
Thank you Sanjeev.
Filed under: Comment, Queen
It’s 42 years today, since I first saw you play live.
You’ve given me nights of entertainment I’ll always remember and treasure.
Moments that literally will remain with me till the day I die.
While I didn’t like the movie, I did love seeing you in June.
Or a version of you.
But that shouldn’t take away the fact you were amazing. Like, proper good.
But please … no more.
Not because I don’t love you.
But because I do.
With all I’ve got.
[Though musically, only up until 1984, ha]