Filed under: 2026, A Bit Of Inspiration, Aspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Customer Service, Food, Planes
This is going to be the most First World Problem post I’ve ever written – and I’ve written a lot!
So as many of you know, I fly a lot.
And – given the distances I travel – I get to fly a lot of that as business class.
I know … I know …
The reality is I don’t take advantage of any of the benefits because I tend to fall asleep as soon as the engines start [literally] and when I do eat on a plane – which isn’t very often – I tend to ask for an economy meal because my tastebuds are pure 1970’s Nottingham and I much prefer it.
However recently I was in the US, flying United, when I got served this …
How fucking beautiful does that look?
Appetizing.
Freshly made.
Relatively healthy.
It was such a shock I photographed it and sent it to my wife and she was as shocked as me.
Even more than that, it tasted bloody lovely and I don’t mind telling you, I was in shock. So in shock I’m writing this post about it.
And just to help put this in comparison – here’s the equivalent I once was served by British Airways business class.
I rest my case.
As many people have said, we eat with our eyes before we eat with our mouths … and I just don’t understand why so few airlines understand this.
Too many either cram the tray with every possible item to try and seduce you with abundance or surround you with fancy cutlery and glasses to distract you from the slop in front of you. But this is a perfect example of ‘less is more’ – acknowledging the ‘less’ is still done with obvious care and craft.
Which is a pretty good lesson for the industry at large because we seem to spend an inordinate amount of time and effort creating everything other than what is actually needed … either because certain clients think overloading their partners with expectations gives them control and power or certain agencies think giving their clients loads of stuff demonstrates they are good value.
Which reminds me of something a friend of mine recently told me:
“The easiest way to tell if someone knows what they’re doing is by what they’re requiring or producing. The more they want, the less they understand who their audience is, what their problem is and what they need to change their situation”.
Or said another way – and quoting the chef we interviewed for Tabasco, years ago:
“The more confident the chef, the less ingredients they use”.
The problem is right now – thanks to lack of clarity, lack of truth, lack of authority and abundance of procurement – we’re making soup with 10,000 ingredients and it doesn’t even taste good, let alone nourish people.
Filed under: 2026, A Bit Of Inspiration, Agency Culture, Aspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Content, Craft, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Innovation, Management
Early in my career – albeit I’d been doing it for quite a while by then – I was given the book Eating The Big Fish.
I cannot tell you how much is spoke to me. A mixture of feeling seen, taught and inspired.
Even now – 12,000 years later – it is still one of the only marketing books I rate as highly today as I did when I first read it. But then books from Adam Morgan – the author – tend to do that.
Adam is – to me – one of my professional hero’s. I do not say that lightly. Or often. But he has not only done it all, he’s also done it in a way that helps others learn how to do it without ego, self-interest or arrogance.
I mean … what sort of idiot does that? Hahaha.
While I’ve interacted with Adam over email over the years, I recently got to meet him – and Olivia, his equally brilliant colleague – in the US.
I got to hear him talk.
I got to be part of one of his workshops.
And I got to spend some time with him and Olivia just chatting and getting to know each other.
They say don’t meet your heroes but I did and they were everything I hoped for and more – even when their talk featured similar themes and a few specific examples that I had planned to use in mine.
[Fortunately I had the chance to change them as my talk was the day after Adam and Liv’s – though my motivation for changing them wasn’t duplication, but the knowledge I would have come across as a Temu Adam]
The point of this post is five-fold.
First …
Follow people who have made great things rather than just talk about it or – worse – just talk about what others have done.
Second …
Don’t get so lost in theory you forget it’s all meaningless unless you do something great with it.
Third …
Put effort into continually exposing yourself to the best in the world, not just what’s best – or easy – in your World.
Fourth …
Always judge the creativity, not the age or background of who is behind it.
Fifth …
Read everything from Adam and the Eat Big Fish crew. It will not just change your life, the lessons with help and last your whole career. Even if/when you change industry
Bloody hell, I may have written a useful post for once.
Or should I say, Adam and Liv have helped me write one.
Either way, have a great weekend – and if you read any of their stuff, I assure you it will be.
Filed under: 2026, A Bit Of Inspiration, Aspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Creativity, Culture, Emotion, Gaming, Luxury, Management, Marketing
I’ve written a lot about AI over the years.
I’ve questioned the rationale behind many companies adoption of it.
I’ve challenged the level of trust we should be placing in it.
I’ve criticized the people who are behind so much of it.
And I’ve enquired what the future of capitalism can be if they keep outsourcing jobs to it.
But even then, I am not against AI.
I think it is incredible and powerful tool that can have a truly positive effect for society if used and legislated for, properly.
For example, its impact on medical research has already been huge … and we’re still in the early days of the technology.
But that doesn’t mean I think all companies and categories are using it well.
Or using it for any other reason that [often misplaced] financial benefit.
It’s partly why I believe/hope we will see greater value and aspiration given to companies who invest in craft rather than self-serving convenience. It’s also why I am happy-as-hell the guys at Rockstar will make an absolute fortune from their latest masterpiece.
Not just because of what it is, but – as explained in the image at the top of this page – because of how they made it.
Though, I should admit, one of the other reasons I wish them so well is because I know one of R*’s founders and hope it means he’ll pay for our next dinner together rather than what happened last time when he ‘forgot his credit card’.
👋🏻 Sam.
Filed under: 2026, A Bit Of Inspiration, Aspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Audiences, Business, Childhood, Context, Culture, Food, Food For Thought, Happiness, Mum & Dad, My Childhood
Recently, I saw this article on Linkedin …
While I appreciate their point, it felt like another example of someone who only sees the world through their own perspective.
And while that’s common – which is why I normally ignore it – the slight diss towards strategists made me bite.
Hence I responded with this …
While I hope it didn’t come across too judgmental or condescending, I also hope my point is made …
Not just in terms of planners being the last people in marketing who are deliberately ignorant, but that one persons ‘reliably not shit’ is another persons ‘taste of the good life’.
As I said in the post, when I was growing up, we would only go out for dinner once – a max – twice a year.
Either to Trattoria Antonio – an Italian Restaurant on Trent Bridge.
Or the Berni Inn, which was called – for added attempt at sophistication – ‘The Chateau’.
Here’s a pic of the place that – sadly – is no longer there. Knocked down to be turned into another faceless shopping industrial estate.
In fact, it was The Chateau where I experienced a lot of my ‘firsts’ where certain foods are concerned …
Steak.
Broccoli.
Onion Rings.
Knickerbockerglory.
My god, I thought it was fancy-as-fuck and to a young kid from Nottingham, it was.
Hell, I still remember being confused by how they advertised their ‘2 courses for 5 quid’ promotion … because they made it sound like it was a bargain when for me/my folks, that was still pricey. Strangely though, I never associated it with lower quality food – such was my lack of exposure to what steak cost or was supposed to taste like, hahaha.
Maybe that’s why I still prefer eating the ‘cheaper-end’ of food rather than the fancy stuff I’ve since been exposed to and experienced … and why every marketer, planner, creative or suit needs to remember if you base audiences on who you want them to be or what your personal perspective and context is, then you may find you’re not just talking to yourself, but that might be the only person you’re talking to.
Filed under: 2026, A Bit Of Inspiration, Aspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Brand Suicide, Clients, Colenso, Collaboration, Colleagues, Comment, Communication Strategy, Corporate Evil, Creativity, Culture, Delusion, Emotion, Empathy, Equality, Harmony, Honesty, Hope, Inclusion, Management, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Relationships, Reputation, Resonance, Respect, Trust, Truth
Let’s be honest, when we want something we often show an ‘unnaturally good side’ of ourselves in an attempt to win someone over.
Doesn’t matter if it’s dating, business, or even getting someone to take out the bins … we are all capable of turning on our manipulation skills when it suits.
Nothing embodies this more than the agency pitch …
Where they bring out the most senior of senior leadership to the meetings …
Where they promise access to ‘the best of the best across the whole network’ …
Where they talk about developing specialised processes, systems and tools …
Where they discuss building a dedicated agency arm just for their service …
Where they say they’re open to new financial remuneration models and approaches …
And while I am in no way suggesting they’re lying about this, it rarely turns out like this.
There’s many reasons for that, of which one of them is prospective clients are also playing the same game …
Talking about the groundbreaking work they want …
Promising to provide good budgets, access and timelines …
Reinforcing how much they want a long-term partnership …
Championing the importance of debate and discussion …
Suggesting openness to new ways of working …
Again, not lying … but also not being entirely honest either.
If I’m being generous, a lot of this is because life and business is constantly changing and evolving so promised need to keep changing … however at the end of the day, the real problem isn’t that things change, it’s that we’re frightened of being transparent.
The irony of which is the greatest demonstration of respect – and arguably, the greatest way to build real trust – is being transparent.
By that I mean telling those around you, what is happening, when it’s happening.
Sure, I get there can be implications in doing that, but there’s far more if you delay speaking up …
It’s why I love Angela – Colenso’s CEO – attitude that ‘honesty trumps harmony’.
She’s right …
And while I appreciate it may not always be a comfortable conversation at the beginning … if you do it in a timely and transparent way, it always ends up being better than the alternative. That being people discovering the reality of the situation because of the disaster of the situation.
And yet so many still think that is a better way to deal with things … believing they can either overcome the situation or can hide the situation.
So why am I saying all this?
To be honest, I just wanted a way to justify posting these 2 photos because while the sum up the point of this post, the reality is they just made me piss myself laughing …
Because they’re true.
Oh so true.
The pitch …
The reality …
