The Musings Of An Opinionated Sod [Help Me Grow!]

And nothing sums it up more than this …

That shop you are looking at is in Nottingham.

A few weeks ago, I was there and had some time to just walk around the streets.

It’s weird being in a place you identify so strongly with, but feel such a stranger.

Given how many countries I’ve lived in, there’s a bunch of places around the World that ignites this feeling in me, but Nottingham takes it to another level.

This is where I was born. Where I was raised. Where so much of my identity was forged.

So where many people may walk past that bubble tea shop and not give it a second thought, I remember it as the jewelers where my parents bought me my first ‘good’ watch.

A watch that cost over 100 pounds … which was beyond anything I could ever imagine, both in terms of how much a watch could cost or that my parents would – or could – spend that much on me.

I remember it very clearly.

I was about to turn 18 and – after the watch I wanted turned out to be ‘shite’ – my parents decided that as this was going to be their present to me, we should go to a place where the people knew what they were doing and could ensure I got what I wanted.

So we went there …

And while I can’t remember the name of the shop, I remember the experience of being in it.

They were so helpful and kind. But more than that, they were excited for me.

They were seeing a boy with his Mum and Dad getting a watch for what was a very significant moment in his life

Significant because it meant I was officially an ‘adult’.
Significant because this was my first ‘proper’ watch.
Significant because my parents were acknowledging their only son enter the next stage of life.
Significant because this shop was the one we chose to help be a part of all of this.

It’s why – despite the fact he subjected me to one of the weirdest, wildest and most amazing professional experiences of my life – I have a deep respect for Clotaire Rapaille … the French [if you hadn’t worked it out already by his name, haha] consultant.

Part of his approach is to identify the first memory or exposure people have towards a brand or product – believing it plays such a pivotal role in how they will see that for the rest of their life – it provides the most powerful and meaningful foundation for how to engage them.

For example …

He was the guy who got Jeep to make their headlights round, reflecting horses eyes.

He was also the guy who helped Nestle turn Japan – a traditional tea drinking nation – into one of the biggest coffee drinking places on the planet, by getting them to spend 20+ years introducing ‘coffee flavours’ into all manner of their food products.

He was also the guy who – having been paid an OUTRAGEOUS amount of money – presented me, on behalf of the client we were both working for at the time, a single piece of A4 with half a page of writing on it.

To this day, I’m still not sure if it was the work of a genius or the greatest rug pull ever … but we adopted a lot of his viewpoint and, I have to admit it worked. In fact, it had such a profound effect on me, I adopted his approach as part of mine from there on in … and still do it to this day.

Which may all help explain why people in Nottingham might walk past that shop and see a place selling Bubble Tea – and may think it has only ever sold Bubble Tea – I, on the other hand, see a place that represents coming of age.