Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, America, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Confidence, Context, Cunning, Empathy, Health, Insight, Otis
When I was a kid, a visit to the dentist was a thing to be scared of.
To be honest, it shouldn’t have because I had great teeth … but there was always that chance something might happen and that scared the hell out of me.
If further evidence of my dental naivety/good teeth was needed, when I finally did have to have some treatment – a wisdom tooth removal, when I was 14 – I was in utter shock that they were literally pulling the tooth out of my gob as I assumed they’d give my gums an injection and it would fall out.
The weirdest bit of all is that when you left the dentist, they gave you a sweet.
A SWEET!
Though now I think of it, it probably was their way of guaranteeing further business from you down the line.
And given how bad my teeth are these days, it seems that was a brilliant strategy.
Evil. Geniuses.
Now I appreciate when I was a kid, the World was a very different – and younger – place, but having just taken Otis to the dentist, I’m jealous how ace his experience is.
For a start the interior has been decked out in different animal themes.
From Giraffe’s to Panda’s … each room has a different theme to help kids feel they’re somewhere special and different.
Then there’s the video games for them to play in reception or – if they’re too young – a huge aquarium for them to look at.
But it’s when they are having treatment the real difference happens.
Not because there’s a video screen showing cartoons.
Or wireless headphones so you can hear the movie not the drill.
Or even the sunglasses so you don’t let the brightness of the dentist light affect you.
Or even the balloon [not sweets] they give you as you leave the building.
It’s the way they make sure they spend time explaining what each instrument is and what it does. Letting the kid hold it, hear it … get an understanding of what it does so it stops being a fearsome object of pain and simply a instrument of health.
Whatever stress they have is reduced.
They feel they’re in a safe environment.
A special environment.
With people who you won’t fuck you over but actually want you to have an exciting experience with a great result.
It turns a visit to the dentist from a scary experience to a positive one.
Even an awaited one.
All because they give the time and space for patients emotions and fears to be calmed, which gives them – and their parents – the confidence to let the dentist do their thing. That doesn’t just result in more efficient treatment but makes the parent feel OK about being charged an arm and a leg because their precious child had an experience that is the absolute opposite of what they feared they’d have.
Now I know creativity needs a place where chaos and curiosity is allowed to explore and wander – something we don’t get enough of at the best of times – but in terms of getting clients into the right frame of mind to allow agencies to do their thing without skeptical, questioning and damning eyes, adland could learn a lot from American Dentists.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Confidence, Creativity, Culture, Education, Honesty, Insight, Management
One of the things I find amazing about adland is their inability to review what they just did … whether that was a pitch, a big meeting or just a campaign.
Basically, it things have gone well, they act like they are invincible.
And if things have gone less well, they either ignore it or blame it all on the client.
Look, I get that we have too many meetings.
I get no one wants to be the person who brings the energy of positivity down or make a bad situation worse, but reviews are super useful.
Not just for what you did wrong, but what you did right.
And yet so few agencies seem to do it …
Maybe part of it is that it can quickly turn into a blame game.
Maybe part of it is because people feel they can’t be honest, either for fear or reprisal or fear of hurting egos.
Or maybe it’s just because ‘reviews’ are so closely associated the ‘annual review’, people feel they can’t do it without masses of paperwork and 360 degree feedback.
But in my experience, an honest, objective review can make a huge difference – not just in personal performance but in terms of giving confidence to the team moving forward.
For me, there are a few key rules to do it well.
1. It can not be more than 30 minutes in length.
2. It has to happen within 48 hours of the event that justifies the review.
3. It has to involve all the people involved, not just the key players.
4. No comment can be personal, you win as a team and you fail as a team.
5. Everyone gets to say 1 thing they liked [about the process/pitch/work] 1 thing they’d change [about their approach to the process/pitch/work] and 1 thing they’ve learned [about how to improve the process/pitch/work]
That’s it.
Now I am not denying that a key element to it’s success is the tone of the meeting.
Too serious and it makes people nervous to say anything valuable.
Too light and no one takes it seriously.
But if you ensure there is an air of inclusion, positivity and the sense it’s being done to help everyone become even better, I find it is 30 minutes that people find genuinely valuable.
Of course it’s not just something for show.
All comments must be noted, distributed and then reviewed prior to the next situation where a post-review is likely … but once you get in the habit of it, those 30 minutes can have a lifetime of positive effect.
I wish more people did it … if not for the agencies benefit, but their own.
I promise I won’t write any more serious posts like this in the future. Sorry.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Confidence, Family, Paul
As many of you know, my oldest and dearest friend is Paul.
We were born 4 days apart and have spent all our lives together.
Through school.
Through our teenage years.
Through the best of times and the worst.
Through moments of stupidity where we should have immediately denied knowing each other.
And while we have physically lived far apart from each other for over 20+ years, that bond is still there and it’s one I treasure so much.
Now, if you ask my wife or Paul’s wife what we’re like when we’re together, they would probably say we become our 9 year old selves.
Cheeky. Mischievous. Daft.
There’s definitely a lot of laughing.
And while we have only really had a couple of genuinely serious conversations in our life – forced on us due to tragic circumstances that was going on in our lives – I’ve always taken our friendship, and him, very seriously.
Put simply, Paul is a bit of a hero to me.
There’s a bunch of reasons for it, reasons I choose not to share as they’re very private and personal, but his attitude to life is one we should all aspire to, exemplified by the fact that at 47, he’s decided he wants a career change.
Now wanting a career change isn’t that unusual, but actually doing it – without circumstances dictating you have to – is.
You see Paul, a printer and part-time bouncer, is starting his own business.
A coffee business.
A mobile coffee business.
A mobile coffee business called The Frothy Coffee Man.
He’s bought a van with all the machinery, he’s done his training, he’s got his council approval and he will soon be located around parks in Nottingham helping tired Mum’s get their desperate hit of caffeine as their kids run them ragged.
Are their risks?
Sure – he knows that – but there’s far greater risk if he doesn’t.
For the last 20+ years, he’s been doing the same job in the same company, and while he enjoys it, he doesn’t want to be someone who has fallen into ‘comfortable’. He wants to challenge himself. He wants to be more in-control of his destiny. He wants to feel alive.
I think it’s wonderful.
I also think he’ll do brilliantly.
He’s cheeky, charming, kind and – at 6 foot 5 – a walking billboard for his company, so on top of buying a coffee if you ever find yourself in Nottingham, raise a glass for my best mate Paul … who is doing something the majority of us only wish we were doing.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Confidence, Context, Creativity, Culture, Innovation, Insight, Management, Marketing
As I’ve written many times, my parents drilled into me that a life of fulfillment is much more valuable than a life of contentment.
As I’ve also written many times, I didn’t realise what this really meant until I hit my late 30’s.
And yet, despite that, I seemed to have embraced their philosophy in how I was living my life, including who I hired.
Put simply, I gave always valued someone who lived an interesting life more than someone who lived an interesting advertising life.
You’d think the two are connected, but that’s not always the case.
And that’s why I liked – and still like – people who have tried stuff.
It almost doesn’t matter if it worked out or not, the key is they’ve tried things and can recognise why it all turned out as it did.
Even if that’s about acknowledging the importance of luck.
So people who have travelled, worked in different industries, toured in a band, studied contemporary art, been arrested, written a fanzine, graffiti’d the hell out of things, created stuff – even if that’s kids beds – will always be initially more attractive to me than someone who studied advertising, worked in advertising and made advertising.
That doesn’t mean people who live an ‘ad-life’ aren’t good or valuable – of course they are – but I genuinely believe the more experiences you have, the more you will contribute to ideas that don’t just differentiate themselves from the usual ad noise, but offer a point of view that is undeniably infectious creatively and culturally.
Because as Peter Ustinov, the great actor, once said …
“People who reach the top of the tree are those who haven’t got the qualifications to detain them at the bottom”.
But here’s the thing …
While I am celebrating ‘generalists’, this is more than just someone who flitters from one thing to another.
I’m talking about those who commit to something. Throw themselves into what they do. Are seriously wounded when it goes wrong but have it open doors to something new they may never have considered without.
And while outsiders may see all this as random acts of experimentation, is actually a continuous stream of fulfillment because the people who do this stuff know the more they live, the more they have to offer.
Or to paraphrase Mr Ustinov, the more you explore, the more see what’s possible.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Comment, Confidence, Creativity
So Jill’s parents are visiting from Sydney and because of that, I’m having a long weekend starting from errrrrrm, now.
Just to clarify, I’m having a long weekend with them, not because of them.
As you may have guessed/hoped, this means this is the last post of the week … but wait, there’s more.
You see while I’m off to enjoy 4 days of family time, I thought I’d give you an additional gift on top of blog quietness.
Well, I say ‘I’, but it’s really Hiromi Uehara.
“And who is Hiromi Uehara?”, I hear you ask.
Well she is someone who – in 6 minutes – is going to inject you with a sense of pure joy.
Someone you’ll be in utter awe of for their talent, dexterity, showmanship and audacious, musical cheekiness.
Someone you’ll watch with liberal doses of wonder, amazement, fascination and smiles.
I know that sounds like overkill, but Hiromi Uehara pulls off some of the most amazing and emotional musicianship I’ve witnessed in my – and judging by the mile-wide-smiles of the musicians watching her – life.
It’s breathtaking.
Please watch it.
You won’t regret it.
In fact I’ll say it will make your weekend. Even if yours doesn’t start for 2 more days.