Filed under: Anniversary, Birthday, Bonnie, Childhood, Dad, Daddyhood, Family, Fatherhood, Jill, Love, Mum, Mum & Dad, My Childhood, Otis, Relationships, Respect, Rosie, Sky, Travel
Today is a complicated day for me.
Because on the positive it would be my brilliant Dad’s 87th birthday … but on the negative, it reminds me that he has been gone 27 years.
Or said another way … almost half my life.
HALF!
That seems both impossible and insane.
Of course, because I think about him so much, he has never truly ‘left me’, but I also begrudge the fact I’ve not been able to share so many of the experiences I’ve had in the intervening 27 years that I’d have loved to have shared with him to see, hear and learn his response and reaction to.
I never got to introduce him to my wife, my son, my cat, my dog and Otis’ bird – Sky.
I never got to talk to him about Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Japan, America, New Zealand.
I never got to seek his advice on dealing with challenges, loss, possibilities and tough choices.
I never got to watch his face as I told him about my career, clients, colleagues and work.
I never got to hear his laugh as I helped him enjoy the experiences, he always wanted to try but never had the chance to do.
But most of all, I never got to keep telling him how grateful I am for the person he is and the person he helped me become.
The irony – as I’ve written before – is that so many of those things I’ve not been able to share with him happened because I am driven by a desire to make him and Mum proud. To repay the love and faith they always showed towards me … whether that was when I was failing exams or when they told me I should still travel despite the fact Dad had experienced a terrible stroke.
So to my wonderful Dad ….
You may not be here but know you’re with me every day … which I know you’d be very happy about, even if I also know you’d also be telling me ‘that I have to get on with my life rather than be held back by yours’, hahaha.
So, with that let me end this post by reassuring you that you – and Mum – never held me back. In fact, you’re two of the biggest reasons why I’ve been able to – and want to – keep moving forward, because in many ways, it’s not just how I repay my gratitude for all you did [and continue to do] for me, it’s how I can say – and show – how much I love you.
And I do. A shit-ton.
So happy birthday Dad.
I send you – and Mum – a big kiss and hug.
I hope you’re holding hands and smiling at the life your son is living more than frowning,
On the bright side, while I still seem very capable of causing all manner of trouble, at least the stuff I get up to these days has a lot less ‘police involvement’ than my earlier years, which has to be a positive doesn’t it? Haha.
Miss you.
Rx
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Anniversary, Attitude & Aptitude, Birthday, Comment, Communication Strategy, Creativity, Culture
Bloody hell, it’s the 1st September. Already.
This year has gone so quickly, which takes me back to this post I wrote about ‘the speed our kids grow up‘ and I am close to begrudging September before it’s even begun.
But hey, it’s Monday and no one needs more shit to deal with than that, so instead I’m going to swiftly move on before we all reach for the kitchen drawer and look for the sharpest knife.
Or maybe that’s just me.
So this post is about birthday cards.
No … it’s not April Fools, it really is.
I swear there have only been 2 sorts of birthday cards ever created: The sincere ones and the ‘sarcastic’ ones.
The former is an expression of how much someone means to you and the best wishes you have for their special day. The latter basically takes the piss about how fucking old you are.
That’s it.
A tried and tested formula through the ages.
Which is why I was pretty surprised when I saw this:
Sure, it’s funny.
Sure, it’s original.
But it’s also something else …
Validation.
Validation for the members of society who are saying the economy is bad while too many politicians try to claim it isn’t.
It may seem a small thing, but it’s also big … because the only reason the card industry would step away from their tried and tested birthday formula is when they see a big enough commercial reason to do it.
And it appears that the harshness of the economy is – apparently – a big enough reason.
So while I wouldn’t base all my argument on this fact, sometimes its the circumstantial evidence that is the most damning.
__________________________________________________________________________________
One last thing:
Today is my 18th wedding anniversary and I GUARANTEE my wife has – consciously or subconsciously – forgotten about it.
So … as she never reads this blog, I will show her this post to prove I remembered and she didn’t, allowing me to ‘lord it’ over her in a rare moment of triumph and glee.
Oh who am I kidding, but it’s worth a try … it can’t be any more stupid than when we decided to have a ‘Diet Coke’ fountain at our wedding that turned into one giant, bubble of stupidity – as captured in the photo below, with my wonderful Mum peering over, ready to capture the idiocy with her camera.
Happy anniversary Jill. At least its important enough for one of us to remember ; )
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Awards, Birthday, Bonnie, Cannes, Cliches, Comment, Creativity, Culture, Jill, Otis, Paul, Paula, WARC
So, I’m back.
And I survived.
Better yet, the family … pooch … and my colleagues seemed relatively happy to see me, which is a massive win.
Plus the people with the birthdays, had good ones. Albeit maybe because I didn’t get to share it with them.
Anyway, Cannes was interesting.
I have a very weird relationship with it because while I love hearing great people talk … looking at some incredible work and seeing old friends, I do hate a lot of ‘the scene’.
The indulgence.
The egotism.
The excess.
That said, so much of that is now coming from people and companies who work in consultancies, tech, research or big multinationals – rather than ad agencies or companies who practice creativity in the truest sense of the word. Part of that is because they’re the only ones who can afford it … but it also reveals a chink in their ‘armor of confidence’. Evidence that for all their smarts, they’re desperate to feel admired, liked, wanted … without ever realizing their American Psycho approach to life attracts derision more than attraction.
At least for me.
I often wonder if all industry conference get-togethers create this sort of energy.
Do dentists/analysts/publishers [delete as appropriate] start to convince themselves they’re the Masters-Of-The-Universe when all packed tightly into one room?
As I said, Cannes is brilliant for the talks, the creativity and the ability to reconnect with old friends.
It’s nice to see a celebration of what we do when so often it faces a barrage of abuse from people who wouldn’t know creativity if it smashed them in the face.
But the vulgar displays of excess are less attractive to me.
As are the giant ads from tech/consultancy companies which are trying to position themselves as creative but end up demonstrating they’re the total opposite.
At least that’s slightly amusing, especially because you know it took them 6 months of board approval/design to make it happen.
But I digress …
I’m back.
I had a good time.
I’m thankful to WARC and Paula for making it happen.
I’m very happy to have seen some old friends after years.
But – unfortunately for you – I’m ready to write more blog bollocks.
Filed under: Augustine, Bassot, Birthday, Bonnie, Cannes, Jill, Love, Nottingham, Paul, Paula, Relationships, Tattoo
So today is the last post for about 3 weeks.
No, it’s not because I am still upset about the loss of my ring – I am, but I’ve found a way to move past it which I’ll write about when I’m back – it’s because I’m about to go on a mass of travel, including talking at Cannes with Paula.
But in addition to all that, I feel I’ve reached a point where I have nothing to write about.
If I think about it, that’s stupid … because I NEVER run out of things and right now – with things like Dream Bigger – I’ve got more good things to write about than I have in years.
Which means I really need a bit of a break … and while the next 3 weeks will be the opposite of that, a change is as good as a rest so expect me to come back fizzing with stuff to shout about.
Of which 86.32% will be my usual pants.
The rest may be pretty good.
Talking of pretty good, I should highlight all that’s going to happen while I’m away.
First – of course – is my birthday. My 55th fucking birthday, which is nothing to celebrate whatsoever, hence it’s pretty convenient that’s the day I fly out of NZ.
Secondly, it’s Jill’s birthday on the 15th … which, yet again, I am missing. I could say that is my gift to her, but I’m gutted to be missing her special day. She is a truly special human … and the longer we are together, the more I appreciate all she is and all she does. She deserves so much more, but I hope she knows I love her with all my heart, even if I somehow seem to always be away on her most special of days. And then – as the final birthday fuck-up – I get to miss my mate Paul’s birthday.
What is even more ridiculous is I’ll be in Nottingham 2 days before his big day and yet – in another demonstration of my terrible planning skills – I’ve managed to make sure I’ll be gone just as he celebrates his double 5 day.
Bloody hell, I’m missing so many important dates, I just hope I make it in time to be on stage with Paula.
[Not just because we have a speech to do, but because I’ve not seen her in the flesh since we spoke at Cannes way back in 2023!]
Given the last few weeks have seen people leaving [Martin, Augustine and Lizzie]. lost wedding rings [me], broken toes [Otis], COVID [also Otis] … I’m quite nervous about getting on the plane, so to ensure you don’t miss me too much – you can listen to me blather-on the OnStrategy podcast when Fergus came to New Zealand.
At the very least, it will help you sleep … and maybe, just maybe, you’ll wake up in time to see a brand, spanking new, exciting blog post from me.
But I wouldn’t bet on it.
And if you don’t like that, you can marvel at the latest ridiculous tattoo I’ve had done.
I say ‘ridiculous’, but every one of them is personal to me.
This one is for Bonnie, our pooch.
You see, when I was growing up, my favourite biscuit in the whole-wide-world was the Bourbon biscuit.
It was nothing fancy. In fact, it was probably a bit pauper – I think you could get a pack from Asda or Glens for 10 pence, albeit that 10 pence back then was probably like 10 quid now or something. Anyway, the Bourbon was 2 chocolate rectangular biscuits sandwiching a chocolate creme filling.
And it was fucking yum.
Or so I thought …
You see I had one recently and I have to admit, it tasted more cardboard than chocolate.
But regardless, when we learned our dog was chocolate brown in colour, I rallied the family around the idea of choosing a name inspire by my fave Bourbon biccie … which is my long way of explaining this.
I know. I know.
So with that, I’m off to offend the stylish South of France residents with my speech and tattoo. So until I see you in a few weeks, have fun with the peace and quiet.
Filed under: 2026, A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Birthday, Bonnie, Comment
Hello 2026.
Sure, it’s been around for almost 2 weeks, but that’s the magic of NZ.
As I’ve written before, the whole country closes down over this period and the benefit of that is not just that you get a long break, it’s the knowledge ‘everyone’ is away so your entire body can chill, safe in the knowledge you’re not missing anything or being left behind by any shifts.
It may seem a small thing, but I can tell you – the reality of the experience is very big.
Because of my eye situation, we didn’t do much.
Trips overseas were not allowed.
Driving too far was not allowed.
Doing work was not possible.
The result being I actually feel refreshed and a bit excited for the year ahead – albeit that it took quite a long time before I started to to actually feel I was relaxing. And while we’re not even 2 weeks into the new year, I know there’s a bunch of good things that will be happening. I don’t mean that theoretically, but already booked-in … which feels almost unfair given last year was pretty good for me, admittedly with a couple of tough bumps in the road along the way.
Of course, how I’ll review 2026 will only become clear in December … and while no one wants the shitty bits, they do help you appreciate the good. What’s interesting is that as I’ve got older, what equates to ‘good’ has evolved.
Underpinning my evaluation is a much greater emphasis on fulfilment rather than achievement. That doesn’t mean I don’t want the things I am a part of to be successful …. it just means I place greater importance on what and how I do things rather than simply what they enable me to get out of them.
Or said another way, I play to be proud, not simply for the win.
Now, if truth be told, that’s a trait that was drilled into me by my parents who told me to live a life of fulfilment, not contentment. But as I’ve written many times in the past – I didn’t really work out what that meant until I was about 35, so there have definitely been times where I took a short cut here or was performative there.
I guess we all do to some point … but what I realized a while back, is success – at least for me – is not about titles or popularity, but the feeling you lived up to who you hope you are. Again and again and again.
But what I’ve also learned along the way is that it’s not just what you do, but what you stop doing … and that’s something I spent a bunch of time over the holidays thinking about, resulting in me letting go of some things that I realized I’d been doing more out of financial regularity rather than emotional reward.
Now I totally appreciate the privilege/stupidity of being able to do that – especially when you’re the main breadwinner and never want to put your family at risk – but as you get older, you value time far more than you ever did because you see it is something you need to get the most out of rather than something that just tells you how long you’ve been engaged in something … and it’s that shift that has led me to making some choices and decisions over the last few weeks that will set the direction of 2026 and beyond.
And while I still have a way to go to see how it all turns out, I feel I’m now at a new starting point for the future – rather than just something I hope I can get to – which is why I’m approaching 2026 with the goal to spend most of my time focused on the things that truly interest and intrigue me and if there’s anything life has told me, it’s when you’re open to everything, anything can happen.
Now I/we see if I’m full of shit …
Before I go, I can tell you one brilliant thing about 2026, it’s this.
Yep, it’s Bonnie’s first birthday.
I’ve written a bunch about her over the past 12 months.
How she helped us get over the loss of our dear Rosie.
The incredible impact she has had on Otis’ confidence.
The life she has brought into the house.
It may explain why I thought it would be cute to get a Lego version of her made, when I saw an ad on insta promoting this product.
All you had to do was send them a photo of your pet and a stupid amount of money and they would send you the finished article.
So I did it.
And waited.
And waited.
And waited.
And then, eventually I received a package containing some brown and white bricks WITH NO INSTRUCTIONS!!!
None. Nada. Zilch.
I then spent 4 fucking hours trying to recreate our dog – albeit, not remembering which photo I sent them to base it on – and created this.
I know, I know, it’s utterly shit … and that’s when I came to the conclusion the photo was immaterial because all the evil geniuses did was send me some fake Lego bricks that just correspond to the main color of whatever pic you send them.
I’m more angry at how brilliant their business model is, than my stupidity … but I do want to say sorry to our beloved Bonnie. It’s not representative of how much we love her, but it is representative of the standard of blog post you’re going to get. Not that you should be surprised, given this is the 20th year [TWENTIETH] of this shit, so at this point you’re going to have to accept you’re somewhat responsible for your pain too.
See you tomorrow. Hopefully.