Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Awards, Content, Contribution, Creativity, Culture, Effectiveness, Emotion, Empathy, Experience, Happiness, Leadership, Legend, Loyalty, Management, Reputation, Respect
A few weeks ago, I received a bouquet of flowers.
That’s unusual enough, but it’s who sent them to me and why that’s the interesting part.
Let me take this opportunity to say that I will not be telling you who it was or the specific reasons why … but there is a point to me telling you this story.
You see, the bouquet was sent by someone pretty famous.
As in, globally pretty famous.
And they did it because they wanted to say ‘thank you’ for some work I did for them a while ago.
Now, I am under no illusion that [1] they will have done the same thing for a bunch of people and [2] it was no doubt organised by someone in their management team … but the fact they did it is amazing.
Let’s be honest, most wouldn’t.
Let’s be even more honest, even the one’s who should, still don’t.
Now I appreciate I have somehow ended up being the exception to the rule with things like Green M&M’s … a Wayne Rooney Man Utd shirt … a custom built cigar box guitar … a signed Rick Rubin and Beastie Boys photograph … a years supply of Coke Zero … the Metallica x Rimowa suitcase, as seen above … but while they are all amazing [and there’s others, including the best reference I’ve ever received], this is different.
You see with all those other things, they came from people/organisations I had long-standing relationships with.
Measured in years.
But this wasn’t.
This came from a couple of weeks work I did for them over maybe a period of a month.
Now I appreciate I wasn’t paid for it [I was asked to help them by someone else I work with, who paid my fee instead] but it was a joyful experience and I was glad they were glad with what I helped do.
Which leads to the second reason why these flowers are amazing.
Because while they were in relation to the work I did – which was pretty small and well over a year ago – it was kind-of giving me some credit for them winning a major award … which, frankly, is utterly preposterous.
I’m not humble bragging.
OK, I am, but I don’t mean to be.
Not am I trying to act all coy.
My involvement was only related to distributing their work, not creating it.
It’s like Spielberg giving me a gift because I told some friends ET was a good movie and they went to see it.
OK, maybe that is a bit too humble [haha] but the reality is their award was about their talent, hard work and quality of work, so for them to even consider others at this time, is testimony to how brilliant a human they really are.
And they are.
Proper brilliant.
Even more so given the first time we spoke, they asked why I didn’t like them, because the people who’d got me involved had told them that, ‘for a laugh’.
Pricks.
Which gets to the point of this post.
I know my role in their work was important, but – in the big scheme of things – insignificant.
But they don’t want me to think that way.
More than that, they won’t let me think that way.
They want me to know they see what I did. That they acknowledge and value it … and that’s amazing.
They have so many people in their life, but they looked out for someone they met a few times.
Talk about making me want to do more for them.
Talk about making me want to do all I can for them.
Talk about making me feel ten feet fucking tall because of them.
I get this may have come from their management more than them, but even then that’s amazing. Plus they signed the card so it’s not like this happened without their awareness … even if they have a million cards with their signature on it available to be used
Now I am not walking around expecting them to dump a pile of cash in my bank account.
I’m not even expecting to do any more work for them.
But I am thinking I want them to win.
Win in life. Win in their career. Win in everything.
They have a cheer leader for them, in me, for life.
Now you could say they’re pandering for popularity … that this is all some sort of ego trip.
And I get why you’d say that. But you’d be wrong.
Because they were tough and demanding.
Not just on people like me, but also on themselves.
Because this work was more than just ‘putting something out’, it was putting themselves out.
There’s a lot of backstory I could talk about to explain this, but that’s not my place … but what I will say is that there’s a lot of talk about leadership, but this may be one of the best examples I’ve ever seen or experienced in my life.
I’m glad they won that award.
They deserved it.
For their work. For their talent. For their vision. For their character.
And when was the last time you could say that about someone in a corporation?
So thank you to this person. You didn’t just restore my faith in humanity, you surprised it … putting aside that when I told Andy, he said if I got a ‘particpation award’, what did the people who actually played a real role in their success and achievement get.
Which is why if there’s an award for asshole, he would win every time.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Apathy, Attitude & Aptitude, Complicity, Corporate Evil, Corporate Gaslighting, Diversity, Inclusion, Management, Politics
I’m old. So I’ve heard companies talk about their ‘culture’ a billion times.
And in all but 3 cases, what they actually meant was company complicity.
Where the expectation was never to challenge or question.
That doing that – even with the best of intentions – would result in you being labelled ‘a bad fit’ where you would then be sidelined or undermined. Destroying people’s potential and confidence while spouting contrived statements such as “our people are our greatest asset”.
What’s worse is that this behaviour often makes victim – and they are a victim – feel compelled to stay in a bid to prove they are worthy.
In essence, taking endless amounts of abuse to try and win over the very people trying to destroy them.
And what makes it even worse is that if they succeed, they’ve ultimately lost because they’ve had to deny who they are to be who they aren’t.
There’s loads of stories about this on Corporate Gaslighting … with many talking about how they felt paralysed to leave their toxic job because on top of everything else, they feared if they made a sideways move, they’d look like they’d failed to others in their community and profession. [Which is why I loved the picture at the top of this post]
That’s how messed up a lot of ‘company culture’ really is.
Which is why the older I get, the more some words my Dad once told me ring true.
“A company with a positive culture is one where their beliefs are expressed by their people in a million different ways. It’s never rules where everyone expresses them in exactly the same way”.
You may be asking how a Human Rights lawyer would have such insight about company culture. Well it was simple, a lot of his success came from working with the people who were once labelled the ‘bad fit’.
Culture is a salad never a smoothie – as someone I can’t remember once told me.
Filed under: Comment
We live in a place called Birkenhead in Auckland, NZ … not to mistaken for place in Liverpool with the same name.
We had no idea what it was like when we bought our house on an online auction one Sunday morning in December 2020.
At 2am.
In England.
Hell, we didn’t really have an idea what the house was like beyond some photos and a video from the real estate agent.
No mortgage organised.
No building check done.
No nothing of nothing.
But we absolutely loved how it looked and that was enough for us to take the plunge.
And while that might sound stupid – and probably was – it was peak-COVID, so getting anyone to see anything was almost impossible and we had moved countries enough times to know we could deal with pretty much any situation. Plus we’d done a similar thing before in Australia – which had turned out well – and acknowledged that given we were in the very privileged position of being able to buy rather than rent, if it fucked up, it would all be on us.
Which also sounds stupid and probably was.
But, as we hoped, it all worked out and we love our house more than any other place we’ve lived – and that’s saying something as we’ve been privileged and fortunate enough to live in a lot of lovely places we could call home.
Anyway, Birkenhead is on the North Shore of Auckland and when we told people in NZ where we’d bought, we were met with some shocked faces.
And a few judgemental comments.
Not in a nasty way, more a confused way …
Part of this is because the general attitude among some Aucklanders is if you live in the North Shore [which means going over a bridge] you’re basically living in another country. Hell, even Jill’s sat nav in the car announces we’re ‘approaching the border’ when we go over the bridge.
The other part is they thought we would want to live in a ‘posh area’ … which says more about their judgement and prejudice, than us.
Oh we heard it all …
“But the traffic is terrible”
“What will you do when the bridge closes in high winds?”
“You’ll regret it when you see how hard the bridge is to get onto at peak times”
And while some of those things are true, there’s 3 key points to note.
1. We’d already bought the house so what the fuck could we do about it.
2. The bridge has only closed 3 times since moving here. Mostly late at night.
3. The traffic is bad all over Auckland. [And so are the drivers, ha]
What was interesting – as has been wherever we’ve lived – is how many people focus on what they perceive as the inconvenience rather than the joyful bits. It’s similar to those people who try to talk others out of moving overseas by reiterating what they’ll miss, rather than what they’ll gain. Made even more ridiculous when they’ve never even lived overseas. They’re the same folks who get upset when someone not from there, questions some of the things being done. Not to be rude. Not to try and make their new place like their old place. Just because they see something that could make a big difference to others. And rather than listen to the perspective of someone with fresh eyes, they choose to attack … sensitive and fragile to a situation they know they are complicit in, but also don’t want to give up as it’s personally profitable.
I swear half of the planets problems is it’s full of big talking, small minded individuals. Daily Mail readers basically … though in my experience, it tends to be greater in people who have wealth/influence in their field and live in a nation that was either once powerful/influential and has lost their power/reputation or are located far from centres of political/financial/culture influence and are desperate for acceptance.
I generalise of course – but for someone who has lived in a lot of countries, they are the nations where I’ve experienced it most [hence NZ is not immune from these pricks, despite being a very special place] which is why I am reminded of something a friend of mine – who works for the UN – once said, which was ‘watch out for countries who always refer to the great things they’ve done, rarely the things they’re doing now’.
But I digress …
Within weeks of moving into Birkenhead, we found a place with a real community.
By that, I mean a place where everyone looks out for everyone.
The young.
The local shop owners.
The overall wellbeing of the people and the environment within it.
We’ve experienced this before – most notably Manhattan Beach in LA – but that felt more about exclusivity rather the inclusivity of Birkenhead.
Reinforced by the fact Manhattan Beach is very ‘rich white’ whereas Birkenhead is far more diverse in almost every way.
Anyway, recently I spotted something that – for me – reinforces the sense of togetherness Birkenhead has.
Not in a Pleasantville/Truman Show kind of fucked-up way, but terms of wanting to convey a spirit that is welcoming for all.
It was this …
Yep, painted electricity boxes.
I know … I know … it’s not a big thing, but for me, that’s the thing.
Someone chose to do this.
Someone decided to make them have a theme.
Someone wanted to do make something that enhanced the streets we live in.
I have no idea who is behind it.
I have no idea if more communities have this sort of thing.
The last place I saw anything like this was in Manhattan Beach where we saw things like this on the side of the kerb:
I don’t know who did that either … but I do know it was quite a revelation when I saw it.
And while communities are so much more than simply painting infrastructure, I do think it’s about having an attitude of welcoming things into the community rather than keeping them out. Or taking them for granted … whether that’s people, shops or electricity boxes.
It may be why we see more of a community spirit in areas that lack the luxury of the truly wealthy places.
Maybe that is a subjective view … but I know when I was a kid, collecting money for charity, it was always the more humble places that donated more than the rich.
A lot more.
Made even more noticeable by the fact you knew they could afford it the least.
So whether I am right in my thinking or going off on a tangent that even a protractor can’t measure, I just want to say thank you to the people of Birkenhead, especially the people who painted all those electricity boxes.
Because while we won’t be here – or NZ – forever, I’ll remember what this community has done for me and my family for a lifetime.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Colenso, Colleagues, Comment, Communication Strategy, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Cynic, Empathy, Honesty, Marketing, Media, Perspective, Planning, Point Of View, Provocative, Relevance, Resonance, Wieden+Kennedy
This blog has been going for a loooooooong time.
Which means, it’s had its fair share of April Fool posts.
Some have been very good [even though I say it myself] with different industry people picking it up and commenting on it thinking it’s real.
And some being utterly, utterly shite.
But this year I decided not to do one.
Not because I couldn’t be bothered.
Nor because I couldn’t think of what to do.
Not because it was an Easter holiday on April 1.
But because after a while, it just becomes a bit boring.
I say this because a lot of brands don’t seem to get that. Instead, they keep doing the same thing over and over again without realising the audience have moved on.
That might be because of ego. That might be because of a lack of self-awareness. That might be because they don’t even know who the fuck their audience is … but whatever the reason, they keep doing what they do regardless.
And one of those things they keep repeating is ‘hijacking culture’.
By that I mean either during or after a topical event … they hire a van, slap a billboard on the back, put some headline on it that refers to whatever event they are ‘leveraging’ and then drive back and forth so a photographer can snap it in situ and then send it to the press or put it on the socials.
Hey, sometimes it’s really good.
But often, it just feels pretty sad.
Especially when lots of companies are all trying to do exactly the same thing for the same event at the same time.
Look I get it … it’s a way to get boost attention.
It’s also a way to show your client – or their bosses – you’re ‘on the ball’.
Can’t criticise that … except in many cases, it also seems to have a subliminal admission that they need to borrow from others to make people care about them.
Which is less good.
Yes, I know I’m being a bit of a pedantic asshole here, but here’s the thing … when people expect brands to do this stuff, then you have to accept that you’re no longer ‘hijacking’ anything, you’re simply conforming.
Of course there are ways to do it well.
Wieden were the masters and – arguably – the originators of it.
Which was basically to do stuff that ‘added to the cultural conversation, not just stole from it.
They did it with NIKE for literally decades.
Olympics.
Superbowls.
World Cups.
Winning.
Failing.
Achievements.
Retirements.
Fines.
Spectaculars.
But achieving it wasn’t simply down to great talent, great clients or being quick at doing stuff like this, it was down to 3 things.
Creatives co-run/run the account, not simply make the ads.
They understand the culture around the category, not just the category.
They think in terms of owning the brand voice, not just launching campaigns.
What the combination means is everyone feels there role and purpose is more than just making advertising, but finding how … where … when and who the brand can/should a voice and point of view. It’s more than just being pro-active, it’s a confidence in your preparation.
You know what the brand will say.
You know how the brand will say it.
You know what the culture of the audience want and need.
You’re moving things forward because you’re always moving things forward. Seeing your role as far more than simply fulfilling ‘campaign requirements’ and ‘unexpected opportunities’ but directly and continually driving, shaping and influencing the behaviour and energy of the vision and role of the brand in culture.
Many people will say they do that, few do.
Instead they just churn out stunts or puns that often end up being more for the ego of the people involved than the benefit of the audience it is supposedly for.
Which is the heart of what, in my opinion, separates brands/agencies who get it and those who pretend they do.
Because the wannabes and imposters talk about how they will make the masses love their brand, whereas the real deal know it’s about the brand showing and expressing who they love and who they are for.