Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Communication Strategy, Creativity, Culture, Emotion, Empathy, Experience, Management, Resonance
So in a few weeks I’m doing a presentation on creative relationships.
I’m almost certain I’ve been asked so people can learn what not to do, but despite that, I asked an old client for a quote about what it was like working with me so I could include it in the presentation.
The picture at the top of this post is what he sent me.
I know it could be read as an insult, but either way, it makes me insanely happy … which may say more about me than it does about the quality of our old working relationship.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Creativity, Culture, Experience, Love, Management, Resonance
I’ve written a lot about getting older because – lets face it – I’m old.
OK, I’m not ancient, but by adland standards, I’m practically a dinosaur.
I’ve talked about how stupid the industry is to look at people like that – but when someone old is ranting, it sounds much more like someone trying to keep his career going than something more objective.
Anyway, I’m going off on a tangent because what this post is actually about is an elderly lady – a truly elderly lady of about 75-80 years old – who I saw walk into Starbuck’s a few weeks ago.
Now I appreciate this may not sound interesting, but as you can tell from the picture above, she was wearing a bright pink beanie with the words ‘thug life’ on it.
I don’t know about you, but when I saw that, I knew there was only one thing I could do which was tell her she looks amazing, pay for her breakfast and walk away with a new hero in my life.
Adland might think anyone over 40 is past it.
Thankfully humanity doesn’t think that way.
Here’s to those who are impervious to conformity.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, America, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Communication Strategy, Context, Creativity, Culture, Emotion, Empathy, Happiness, Management, Marketing, Social Divide
… not just because I’m with a couple of mates I love and respect.
Nor is it that the angle of the pic means my physical horribleness – especially compared to their disgusting beauty – is partially hidden.
It’s because they’re two super-senior leaders, who got to where they are because of their talent and authenticity.
They also happen to be black.
Karrelle Dixon is the Managing Director of Wieden+Kennedy Portland.
Jason White is the Global CMO of BEATS.
Of course the colour of their skin shouldn’t matter – just like it shouldn’t matter what gender you are or what sexual preference you choose – but tragically it still does.
Especially in America.
To get to the top is an amazing achievement for anyone.
To get to the top while remaining authentic to who you are is something truly special.
To do all that and be a person of colour … well, that’s the highest accolade of all.
Of course I hope for a time where this isn’t news – it is just normal – and while neither of them should have to have the additional burden of being a role model, they are and, if I’m being honest, they should be because if you want to model yourself on anyone – regardless of your heritage or background – it’s them.
Smart as shit.
Charismatic as Clooney.
Total natural born leaders.
Tireless in their passion.
Focused on making the best work of everyone’s lives.
A real and proven desire to help young talent come through.
[In both cases, they have personally helped me help people I thought were bursting with talent but were not getting the breaks I felt they had earned, let alone deserved]
In fact, if it wasn’t for the fact I can consistently beat them at table tennis, they’d be perfect.
But the fact is, Karrelle and Jason are still anomalies in this business – and while that should not underestimate the impact they will have on people of colour who previously had little or no role models for believing they could get to the top – it’s also why I’m a bit conflicted with Adcolor’s Future program.
Let me be clear, this is not about Adcolor specifically.
They are an amazing organisation who have done more to promote diversity in the industry than anyone else, not to mention for longer than everyone else.
Their mission has always been to create a community of diverse professionals who support and celebrate eachhother and they have an incredible track record of doing just that … giving people of colour a real chance in an industry loaded with hurdles.
For hurdles, read ‘senior white men’.
And this is why I’m conflicted.
You see recently a couple of my colleagues applied to get in their Future’s program. They are talented, smart, passionate colleagues… who happen to be people of color, but sadly they didn’t get in.
Let me be clear they were OK with the decision.
Disappointed, but OK.
And I can say the same too.
Despite their talent, maybe they didn’t show how good they are in the way they needed to.
But here’s the bit that bothers me.
You see instead of being told what/where they went wrong … how they could improve … they were just told ‘no’.
Now I’m sure there’s a bunch of reasons for the limited response – for example. maybe they’re inundated with requests – but for an organization committed to helping people of colour move forward, a simple ‘yes or no’ seems counter to that commitment.
It feels like they are judges instead of coaches.
Deciding someone’s fate instead of helping it rise.
Now I fully appreciate I am not aware of all the facts.
I also appreciate that Adcolor as an organization is very open and transparent.
But I would have loved it if the people behind their Future’s program had given my colleagues some advice about what they could have done better with their submission, because the fact they wanted to belong to a group who wants to improve the industry means they’re already showing traits adland badly needs to embrace.
But lets be honest, success for people of colour should not just be down to Adcolor.
Nor the inspirational achievements of Karrelle and Jason.
We all have a role to play.
And that goes beyond just talking about it, but doing things about it.
One of the things America has taught me is that if you don’t act, you’re complicit in keeping things the same.
I’d love to think I have always acted on this issue – not just because I’ve spent so much of my career living in nations where I was a member of the [privileged] minority – but that’s how I was brought up.
By that I don’t mean it in a we need to give everyone a chance sort-of way, but in a ‘everyone is equal even when we’re different’ sort-of way.
And while the only way we’ll find out if I’m full of shit is if we ask the people of colour I’ve worked with – both in America and around the World – if I’ve fought for them and shown my belief and faith in them, there’s one thing that is absolutely not open to interpretation …
Diversity makes everything better.
It allows different experiences, understanding and cultural references to open up possibilities and opportunities for everyone and everything. From creativity to culture. Commerce to the potential of creating real change.
But it does even more than that.
It can take our industry to places we might never see or experience without it.
Let’s be honest, our industry has been predominantly shaped by white males.
Hey, some of them have done a brilliant job. I’m not knocking them – or anyone who is white or male – I also happen to be one.
But imagine the possibilities if we let people who had different backgrounds, different experiences, different frames-of-reference to have a go.
Finally we might get to some genuine new thinking in the industry as opposed to the usual old ideas with a different name.
I know for a fact, all my years living in China/Asia made an astounding difference to how I think and who I am. Differences I still embrace and rely on to this day.
[Here’s a talk I gave in Australia on this: Part 1, 2 and 3 ]
And unlike many of us white guys, people of colour [not to mention members of the LGBT communities] have always been generous with their brilliance, talent and kindness, which given all the shit they have had to – and continue to have to – deal with, that makes them the sort of leader we’d all benefit from working with and for.
Put simply, every single person in adland should be pushing, embracing, celebrating and making room for diversity.
Not because it is ‘the right thing to do’ – even though it is – but it might be the only thing that can save adland and make it truly matter again.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Confidence, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Emotion, Empathy, Fulfillment, Innovation, Insight, Planners, Planning
Many years ago, I spoke at a conference in Australia called, Circus.
At the end of my presentation, I made a point that the things I’d talked about weren’t new and weren’t even from Wieden+Kennedy, but views I had held for many years.
I did this because when people from Wieden speak at conferences, audiences tend to think anything said is gold and I wanted to ensure they knew the presentation had come from my mind, not Dan and Dave’s.
I didn’t do this – as you may think – because I’m an egomaniac [OK, I am an egomaniac, but on this occasion, this wasn’t the motivation] but because my presentation had gone down a storm and I wanted to highlight that 7 years earlier, despite saying pretty much the exact same things that got me a job at Wieden – and had got a rousing applause – no agency in Australia would hire me.
Not one.
I was regarded as idealistic.
Or daft.
But whatever it was, no one was hiring me and in the end, I left Australia.
Now don’t get me wrong, I am not saying Australia is bad – far from it, there’s a whole host of amazingly talented people there – but at the time I was looking for a job, they seemed to only want people who followed their rules not someone who wanted to challenge them.
At the end of my speech, I said to the audience that if there was anyone out there who had thoughts/ideas that had been knocked or mocked, to either find someone who will listen to them or try it on their own.
Now I know not every idea is a good idea … but I get very frustrated when something that someone has obviously put a huge amount of objective thought into, is immediately met with distain, for no other reason than people don’t actually like new as much as they claim.
Especially in adland.
The reason I say this is that I recently came across a clip I wrote about years ago.
It’s about a scientist who – after 30 years – was finally proved right.
Of course science and advertising is about as different as Birkenstocks and fashion, but the point is he persisted because he believed. Not because he was a fool. Not because he was blind to the facts. But because he saw something others didn’t and just kept looking to find ways to prove his theory.
Fortunately, he was backed in his belief by an amazing University, but you can tell by the look on his wife’s face when she realises her husbands 30 years of work was not in vain, that proving this was more important than just having people support your theory.
Watch it and remember we’re all just winging it until we’re not.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Business, Comment, Communication Strategy, Confidence, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Experience, Innovation, Insight, Management, Marketing, Meetings, Perspective, Planners, Planning, Presenting, Relevance, Resonance
Yes I’m back.
If anything will help you be excited about the oncoming weekend, it will be that.
So the picture above is from a presentation I give to planners.
The reason for it is because I find it fascinating when ad folk try to be like their client.
Exactly like their client.
The way they speak. The way they dress. The way they think.
Of course, I understand the importance of knowing your client, their business and their challenges, but the problem with mirroring your client is that you end up looking at the World in the same way as them … and as much as some people may think that’s a good thing, it’s not.
You see when you focus on being like an insider, you ignore the benefits of thinking like an [informed] outsider. You know, the perspective the client actually hired you for in the first place.
As one of my old senior Nike clients once said to me …
“Senior management need and want to be challenged because that’s how we keep things moving forward. If you’re not doing that, then you’re not doing anything for us”.
Now I appreciate not every client thinks this way, but this shift to client mirroring is – in my opinion – another thing that has undermined our industry.
I swear the reason for it is an attempt to be taken seriously as a client partner when the easiest way to achieve that is to do work that shows we are a serious client partner.
Do the people who say, “we’ve lost our seat at the boardroom table” seriously think this approach will change that?
Maybe … but then they will be wrong because there’s only 3 things that will do that.
1. Talk about the things that are important to the client rather than important to us.
2. Know their audience/culture better than they know their audience/culture.
3. Solve their business challenges in creatively imaginative, distinctive, culturally resonant and sustainable ways.
Oh, and there’s a 4th point … prove it.
Not just in the short-term, but in the long … where client can see the economic value of investing in their brand voice. Not just through ‘brand campaigns’, but in how they approach everything they do.
Now I know some of you may think this whole post is my attempt to justify wearing shit t-shirts and birkenstocks to client meetings for the last 25+ years – and maybe it is – but if we are to get back to where we belong, I passionately believe it’s not going to happen by behaving more like clients, but by getting back to the things they need and no one else can do.