Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Birthday, Daddyhood, Jill, Otis, Rosie, Sky
On Monday, I posted about why I’m a birthday bastard because I give my colleagues prick pressies in the form of customised cakes.
Well as you know, just over a month ago it was my birthday and my son, aged 8, did the same to me. Except his is less prick but definitely owning me.
You see Otis has a budgie called Sky.
To be honest, I’m quite shocked at how much I like Sky.
It has bags of personality, chirps happily every day and apart from tapping its beak on the iPad when let out its cage, is pretty perfect and beautiful.
Hell, even Rosie – my beloved moggy – likes her.
OK, maybe that’s too much of a promise, but she definitely puts up with her.
Anyway, the guys at Colenso think that because I never really talk about Sky, I hate her.
True, I don’t love her as much as Rosie, but I definitely don’t hate her.
Well one day I told Otis what my colleagues thought and last month – on my birthday – he presented me with matching t-shirts, for him and me.
And it says this …
How genius is that!
He designed it with his Mum and I loved it so much that I wore it while giving my talk with Martin and Paula at Cannes.
I had had another t-shirt made for the occasion, but this won.
Which means he’s a much better – and thoughtful – present manipulator and it’s another reason I love him from the top of his head to the tip of his toe.
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Tomorrow we have the day off to celebrate Matariki.
It’s an important day in New Zealand and if you want to know why, click here.
See you Monday.
Filed under: Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Childhood, Context, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Marketing, Prejudice, Resonance, Respect
Recently I watched a fascinating documentary on the Pez community.
For those who don’t know what Pez is … it’s a confectionary that came with a dispenser that had a ‘flipping head’ to access them.
This ‘flipping head’ came in all manner of shapes and sizes, which is what made them collectable, despite them being cheap … cheerful … and absolutely everywhere.
Not only did the documentary, The Pez Outlaw – on Netflix, reveal there was a community of collectors … not only did it show how obsessive and passionate they were … but it highlighted how we, as humans, have an inherent need to feel ‘we matter’ while companies long to feel constantly in control.
I know that sounds like a massive overstatement for a documentary on Pez sweets, but I assure you it’s not and here’s the trailer to whet your appetite.
But that’s not actually why I’ve written this post.
It’s because I saw something in the doco that stood out for incredible reasons.
Not for the price it’s being offered at – which, I admit, is a lot – but for what it represents.
It’s this.
Yep, a Black Santa.
That may not seem much to write about, but remember it’s only in the last few years we’ve seen the first magazine dedicated to little boys and girls who are Black, Fenty launched a foundation that catered for African American skin [rather than expecting people to work with foundation that was designed for white skin] and a medical journal showed a Black fetus.
In other words, a sweet company was more progressive about diversity and inclusion than the vast majority of organisations. In fact, they probably still are.
Or should I say, the international division of Pez was because it appears the US subsidiary – who don’t come out of the documentary well at all – vetoed the variant.
It blows my mind we’re still at this stage of societal acceptance.
It blows my mind that some people still don’t want it to go further.
And while many would like to suggest this is just an American problem, they’re wrong.
It’s not that long ago that I heard families in Fulham complain that the Santa the school had brought in, was Black. I remember listening to them and not being able to compute what they were saying – especially as the school had a high proportion of Kids of Colour attending there.
Eventually I lost my shit and asked why they were being delusionally protective about a mythical figure … a mythical figure who supposedly wants all kids to feel happy and seen and yet, until the school did this, there was a high chance any kid who wasn’t white had felt Santa was never really for them and so they were always experiencing it from the outskirts rather than the middle.
Of course People of Colour know this because they face this bullshit every single day … which is why, for all the twists and turns of Pez, they knew how to make every one of their customers feel they were for them, not just about them.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Content, Context, Corporate Evil, Corporate Gaslighting, Culture, Individuality, Management, Succession, Television
For all the claims TV is dead, we’ve been living through a golden age of it.
Nothing sums that up more than Succession.
What a total masterpiece.
Writing.
Casting.
Acting.
Craft.
All absolutely stellar.
I am genuinely sad it is all done.
I am also convinced Jesse Armstrong is a genuine storytelling genius.
Obviously lots of praise has been rightfully heaped on the show, but I think Peter Friedman – who played Frank in the show – sums it up best …
“There’s been a degree of excellence that one should be wistful about, because I don’t know how soon each of us will find it again.”
Now I’ve had time to relax from the intensity of the final ever episode … I’ve realised there are certain characteristics that connect Succession to the few shows of it’s stature – for example, something like The Wire.
Attention to detail.
The need for the viewer to pay close attention.
The ugly truth of everyday reality.
For all the ‘twists and turns’ the show took you on, nothing should really have been a surprise. It was all laid out in-front of you when you looked at the character of the characters.
The greed.
The arrogance.
The ambition.
The ego.
HBO went to great lengths to understand how this manifests in real life by working with people who are genuinely from these backgrounds.
For example, no one wears a coat because billionaires are always delivered right to the door of where they are going. And no one bends down when leaving a helicopter, because they have spent their life traveling in them that no one fears for their head being chopped off by the rotor blades.
Little things we may not notice but somehow conveys authenticity through actions and behaviours.
It’s why I found Roman’s breakdown towards the end of the series so powerful.
SPOILER ALERT FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT GOT TO THE END.
Watching him fall apart as he realises the person who enabled his arrogant … vulgar … depraved consequence free life is no longer there, was incredible. A car crash of character that you could not take your eyes off that somehow also ignited sympathy you never thought he deserved. And then the final moment … where you witness him recognising that he’s not just free from the bullshit that has fed his life and his vacuous meaning, but that he is finally a true equal with his siblings because of their shared ultimate failure.
It was inspiring.
The whole thing was depressingly inspiring.
And I’ll tell you why … because it was all based on an ugly reality we all know but choose to ignore, and that is the ‘needy crawlers’, win.
If a company has a choice between individuality and complicity, they will generally choose complicity.
Someone who will do their dealing.
Someone who will take the heat.
Someone who knows their place.
Someone who will be obedient.
Obedience is important …
It allows the abdication of guilt for all decisions.
It creates a layer between them and the anger of others.
It ensures they always have support for whatever they choose.
It removes the risk of being challenged, questioned or undermined by those close.
By choosing someone who has an insatiable need to be associated with power and influence, not only do you know they will sacrifice anything – and anyone – to be given access to it, but you can give them the highest of high-profile corporate positions, and be safe in the knowledge they’ll still be subservient to you.
It’s the ugliest of ugly truths.
The most vulgar of corporate realities.
And a perfect expression of what I saw when I lived in America.
People managing up, regardless of consequence or expectation.
People being paid vast amounts for their complicity rather than talent.
People creating fear to ensure they always stay in power and control.
Of course not everyone is like this.
And of course, this is not limited to just the US.
But what made Succession so powerful is that even though it was about billionaires, it reflected what most people have seen or experienced at some time. That regardless of wealth, standing, status or connections … there is always someone we answer to and those who are acquiescent to them will always be the ones they choose to progress.
Despite being a show filled with conniving, untrustworthy, unlikable, spoilt, greedy and entitled bastards … I’m going to miss Succession. Though what makes the loss more bearable is knowing that should I ever need another taste of it, all I have to do is turn to reality to witness the people and companies who trade values and morals for power and control.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Birthday, China, Colenso, Colleagues, Culture, New Zealand, Shanghai, Wieden+Kennedy
Ever since I became a head of department, I have bought cakes on birthdays.
While you may think this is a humble brag, it’s actually an admission of bastardness.
OK, hint of bastardises.
Because like the badges, pencils, stickers, packing tape and fake dog shit I’ve bought for people in the past, I see the act of giving a birthday cake as much about satisfying my evil as sharing my love.
In the past I did this by simply buying cakes from the same shop, every single time … knowing it wouldn’t take long before people got sick of the bloody thing.
And boy, did they let me know about it … especially my Wieden mob and their loathing of yet another Baker and Spice cake. Hahahaha.
However, since moving to NZ, I’ve found a shop that lets you customize the design, which helps explain why Briar – our sour cream and chive crisp chomping champion – got the cupcakes above.
Sure Otis is seeing his inheritance get whittled away by his dad’s colleagues birthday’s … but it makes me happy and don’t I deserve that on their special day?
Cue: Evil, manic laugh.
Filed under: Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Colenso, Comment, Communication Strategy, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture
So our office is being renovated which means for the last few months, we’ve been crammed into a couple of rooms while a building site envelops us.
It also means we’ve been severely impacted by space for meeting rooms which is why recently, when we had a pitch, we felt it was only appropriate to let the prospective client know that we knew that we’re in the most uncreative space on the planet.
Hence the sign above.
And you know what, we won.
OK, the work was bloody awesome … but at a time where so many clients seems to choose agencies for reasons beyond the actual work, it’s nice to know this client not only recognised the quality of the ideas put in front of them, but actually rewarded it, because there was no other bloody reason to choose us. Unless they were a building company.