Many years ago I worked with a Swedish planner called Fredrik Sarnblad.
I loved him.
I loved him for many reasons …
His brain.
His humour.
His creativity.
His friendship.
His unsatisfiable appetite.
We went through all manner of trials and tribulations together … from highs of convincing work to send us to Bali for a week so we could work on the SONY pitch strategy in peace [which, thank god, we won] to lows of being in Thailand with a client who spent all their time trying to undermine us in front of their colleagues. [which we, read: me, didn’t react to very well]
And while we’ve not worked together for over 11 years, Freddie was always more than an ex-colleague, but a real friend … exemplified by the fact that when we saw each other in Boston a few weeks ago – after almost 6 years apart – it was like nothing had changed.
My relationship with Freddie is different to that of many of my other friends.
The other is that I can have really personal and emotional conversations about life with him.
That’s not to say I can’t with my other mates, it’s just I rarely do … but with Freddie, we always did and do. Talking about subject many people find uncomfortable but are true for all of us.
The reason this can happen is that Freddie is both self aware and in touch with who he is.
He doesn’t shy away from the big conversations because he knows that’s where life resides … the real stuff, not the things we use to distract us from dealing with the real stuff.
One of the things we talked about recently was happiness.
Initially it was in the context of family but it quickly evolved to the job we are paid to do.
Creativity.
We talked about what makes us happy, what frustrates us and what we can do to make things better … more fun … more interesting and exciting. We even talked about how we can work together again.
Well that conversation must have had a real impact on Freddie because weeks later, he quit his job and started his own agency.
To be honest, I think that’s a bit extreme … all he had to do was say he didn’t want to work with me again … but I’m super happy and excited for him.
I’ve written many times why everyone should experience starting their own business, but in Freddie’s case it’s a little different.
Don’t get me wrong, it will be amazing for him – but the real value will come from the companies that use him because he’ll not only make them better, he’ll make them discover what they are capable of being.
So congratulations my dear Freddie, I look forward to one day being one of your shitkickers …
Knock them dead …
You can find out what he’s doing and how he’s doing it here.
But here’s the thing, if you strip it back, the strategy isn’t that unique.
I’m guessing it would be something like, ‘Road safety is ultimately defined by how you react to how the drivers around you. The progressive and adaptive safety features inside modern Audi’s are designed to help drivers react and respond to the unexpected actions of those around them’.
I bet that sort of thing has been written a bunch of times for a bunch of cars.
But if, as I imagine it, the brief was summed up with something like …
[Audi designs their safety features in the knowledge … ] ‘The roads are full of clowns’.
… then it’s pretty obvious to see how they ended up with work that elevates itself above the usual car safety feature ads.
Of course maybe it had nothing to do with the brief, maybe it was all down to a great creative team, but BBH have always been brilliant at finding great strategic ways to elevate work so I’m hopeful this is a sign that the BBH I have always loved is back to being the BBH that made them so fucking good.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, America, Attitude & Aptitude, BBH, Brilliant Marketing Ideas In History, Comment, Communication Strategy, Creative Brief, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Cynic, Din Tai Fung, Experience, Family, Food For Thought, Freddie, Honesty, Innovation, Insight, Management, Marketing, Perspective, Relevance, Research, Resonance, Standards
Many years ago I worked with a Swedish planner called Fredrik Sarnblad.
I loved him.
I loved him for many reasons …
His brain.
His humour.
His creativity.
His friendship.
His unsatisfiable appetite.
We went through all manner of trials and tribulations together … from highs of convincing work to send us to Bali for a week so we could work on the SONY pitch strategy in peace [which, thank god, we won] to lows of being in Thailand with a client who spent all their time trying to undermine us in front of their colleagues. [which we, read: me, didn’t react to very well]
And while we’ve not worked together for over 11 years, Freddie was always more than an ex-colleague, but a real friend … exemplified by the fact that when we saw each other in Boston a few weeks ago – after almost 6 years apart – it was like nothing had changed.
My relationship with Freddie is different to that of many of my other friends.
One of those reasons is I’ve never made a highly inappropriate blog about the way they dress.
The other is that I can have really personal and emotional conversations about life with him.
That’s not to say I can’t with my other mates, it’s just I rarely do … but with Freddie, we always did and do. Talking about subject many people find uncomfortable but are true for all of us.
The reason this can happen is that Freddie is both self aware and in touch with who he is.
He doesn’t shy away from the big conversations because he knows that’s where life resides … the real stuff, not the things we use to distract us from dealing with the real stuff.
One of the things we talked about recently was happiness.
Initially it was in the context of family but it quickly evolved to the job we are paid to do.
Creativity.
We talked about what makes us happy, what frustrates us and what we can do to make things better … more fun … more interesting and exciting. We even talked about how we can work together again.
Well that conversation must have had a real impact on Freddie because weeks later, he quit his job and started his own agency.
To be honest, I think that’s a bit extreme … all he had to do was say he didn’t want to work with me again … but I’m super happy and excited for him.
I’ve written many times why everyone should experience starting their own business, but in Freddie’s case it’s a little different.
Don’t get me wrong, it will be amazing for him – but the real value will come from the companies that use him because he’ll not only make them better, he’ll make them discover what they are capable of being.
So congratulations my dear Freddie, I look forward to one day being one of your shitkickers …
Knock them dead …
You can find out what he’s doing and how he’s doing it here.