Filed under: 2026, A Bit Of Inspiration, AI, Attitude & Aptitude, Confidence, Conformity, Craft, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Independence, Individuality, Planners, Planning, Point Of View, Strategy
One of the many things I love about China, are their proverbs.
Whatever the subject, there will be an expression that captures the issue in a brilliant, wonderful way.
And there’s so bloody many of them … and each one not only makes you nod your head in agreement, but also makes you think and then look at things differently afterwards.
Anyway, I heard one recently that I love.
In fact, I love it so much I’m going to use it as the ‘final lesson’ in a presentation I’m writing for a talk in Berlin – more of that in tomorrow’s post.
The quote is this:
I love it.
I love it for a load of reasons.
One of them being that China tends to encourage conformity rather than individuality – so this is beautiful for simply challenging that convention.
But the other reason is that it sums up the heart of the presentation I’m writing.
Especially in a world where so many people are – rightfully – worrying about the impact AI will have on their job, career, livelihood.
Because to take that quote one step further …
If you spend years doing all you can to become a perfect, straight tree …
A tree who stands perfectly with all those other perfect straight trees …
Not only could you find yourself being chopped down and turned into boards, you may discover that’s all you were ever going to be allowed to be.
Or said another way:
When you blindly follow someone else’s definition of ‘best practice’, the result isn’t just that you get turned into boards … it’s that your career is spent being walked on and walked over by people who never cared what you could become, only what they could become.
Which is why if you want to increase the odds of living a bigger life, be the wild tree.
Because while others may mock your shapes, bends and scars … you’ll know they’re signs of a life well lived, not a life walked upon.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Business, Clients, Communication Strategy, Complicity, Confidence, Conformity, Consultants, Craft, Creative Brief, Creative Development, Creativity, Experience, Fulfillment, Management, Marketing, Marketing Fail
I’ve been around.
I’ve been doing this strategy thing for longer than many who read this blog have been alive.
And of all the things I’ve learned, one of the most valuable has been to never doubt the importance of having a good client.
To be clear, a ‘good client’ doesn’t mean they never challenge you. Or place high expectations on you. Or resist the urge to add pressure to what needs to be done and by when.
The reality is good clients do all those things. The difference is how they do it and why.
Because a good client acts as a proper partner.
They take responsibility for what they need to make happen.
They calm and control the internal noise, voices and opinions.
They share your ambition for the work, not just for the desired impact of the work.
They welcome, encourage and invite truth and transparency.
They remove the barriers and fears that stand in the way of making something great.
The don’t blame, shame or complain – they stay the course and know when to get involved and, just as importantly, stay out the way.
They never dictate … because they’re always clear with what needs to be done and why.
And if things change, they tell you early and transparently.
Plus you know they will have done what they can before that situation occurred.
They always listen at least as much as they talk.
They brief with an actual document not just a casual conversation.
They give feedback that is objective rather than just subjective
They don’t let internal processes stand in the way of opportunities that come their way.
They trust you and your expertise and look for the best rather than seek out the worst.
And they never, never treat you like you’re a servant, commodity or low-level employee.
They do all those things.
All of them. All the time.
Which is why you can have all the processes in the world …
You can have all the systems, data, structures and efficiency tools …
But not one of those comes close to what a great client can deliver and do.
For the work.
For the business.
For the customers and employees.
And for making sure you do everything you can to given them the work of their lives.
We don’t talk about this enough.
And we certainly don’t teach it or train it.
Instead, we keep hearing how we must adhere to a singular process or format, regardless of category or context, even though it has often been created by people who have never made anything of note and if they have, in one area and one area only.
You can tell who they are because they love to sound like they are business liberators when – as I’ve said many times – they’re far more like insurance salesmen.
And that’s find if you want that sort of thing – but often that is never how it is sold. Now of course I understand there’s huge costs and risks associated with creativity and marketing … but there’s a major difference between playing to win and playing not to lose … which is why there’s a huge difference between a client who uses process and deliverables as a stick and those who operate via transparency, taste and trust.
And for those of you who don’t think one person can negatively – or positively – influence the output of a corporation, even if they have built an approach and format that has been tested over years, I refer you to the quote by the Dalai Lama.
“If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito”
We need more training from the people who have made great things happen and over again …
Actual things, not just theories, self promotion or
Filed under: 2024, A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Clients, Collaboration, Comment, Complicity, Conformity, Consultants, Culture, Marketing, Marketing Fail, New Zealand, Outdoor, Planes, Professionalism, Research, Strategy
So yesterday I wrote a post about Air New Zealand’s frequent flyer ‘air points’ promotion.
I pointed out how I don’t think they understand the real needs, wants and motivations of their top tier passengers and that it doesn’t matter how much data you have, if you don’t understand what it’s really saying, it’s useless.
Worse … it’s commercially dangerous.
Especially if you choose to ignore 2 consistent ‘hidden’ traits of humans:
1. All of us have areas of hypocrisy.
2. Most people tell you what they think will help protect their beliefs rather than reveal them.
I ended the post asking how the hell could they get so many key elements wrong for such an important relaunch … suggesting the research company they used looks like they spent too much time with the data and not enough – if any – with actual customers.
So imagine my surprise – and delight – when last night, I received this:
Not sure this is the best ‘ad’ for Kantor.
Or the research industry, to be honest.
And just before I get any hate, I have a lot of time and respect for the research industry – when it’s does properly and well. But frankly, we’re witnessing far too many focusing their efforts on how to ‘optimise’ their efficiency [read: using AI and bots] and redefine their position [read: being consultants rather than informants] the the work coming out ends up – ironically – making us ask more questions than have greater understanding.
Don’t get me wrong, I know research is not perfect – what the hell is?
I also appreciate that any research is better than none.
However when companies act like they – and only they – have all the answers, then they better be OK with owning their mistakes … because if they don’t, they’re no longer valuable to business, they’re a danger to it.
I get we live in a time of corporate hutzpah – where no one must show any weakness or vulnerability – but what that also means is we’re living in a time of Emperor’s New Clothes and we all know how that turned out.
Filed under: 2026, A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Brand Suicide, Comment, Communication Strategy, Community, Complicity, Conformity, Consultants, Crap Campaigns In History, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Customer Service, Management, Marketing Fail, Planes, Planning, Reputation, Research, Resonance, Respect
Way back in 2006 I wrote a post about what exclusivity means.
Not the marketing version of it … but what the people who can afford to have it, really want and expect from it.
The reality is this group of people don’t care about showing – or sharing – their success with the masses. They don’t have any desire to be ‘aspirational’. In fact what they want couldn’t be more different – because all they really seek is to keep the masses as far away from them as is physically possible.
I entitled the post, FUCK YOU MONEY, but really it should have been called FUCK OFF MONEY … because that’s the spirit that defines exclusivity to them. The ability to live in a world where the only people around them are equal people.
Or said another way, they like to practice economic racism.
It’s part of the reason LVMH lost cache in China when they opened stores in lower-tier cities.
It’s part of the reason Bentley lost long-term customers when they became the car-of-choice for rappers.
And it’s part of the reason why Air New Zealand have scored a massive own goal with their most valuable customers with this billboard rolling out all across NZ.
For those who don’t know what Koru is … it’s Air New Zealand’s new Frequent Flyer Program and Koru Black is their highest tier.
To be fair to Air NZ, Koru is genuinely one of the best frequent flyer programs of any airline in the World … so with that in mind, I get why they think offering the public the opportunity to get more points to get closer to ‘black status’ is appealing.
However, it isn’t for the fuckers who already have achieved that status.
For them, they’ll not only see it as Air NZ allowing more people to be part of their club’, they’ll see it as Air NZ allowing ‘lesser people’ to be part of it given they ‘won’ their place via a promotion rather than ‘earned the right to be there’ as they will no doubt tell themselves they achieved
Is that bollocks?
Sure, but that doesn’t mean they don’t think it, which is why one of the best bits of airline research I’ve ever read was when the wonderful David Lin – who worked for me at Wieden, and is now Mr Important at Apple – told me that ‘business class was the politest way to say ‘fuck off’ to everyone who always wanted their time or attention.
But there’s more …
Because added to this is the fact many Koru Black members feel annoyed they already have to share ‘their’ airport lounge facilities with people from other airlines who happen to hold a business class ticket – which results in situations where there’s no seats available to rest in – and you start to think Air NZ may not understand their top customers as much as they may like to think they do.
What makes it worse is that it would have been so easy to discover …
The main one being just sit in the airport lounge and listen to the conversations when it’s full.
But it seems they didn’t. Or haven’t. Because what else would explain their disastrous decision to set all ‘black tier’ customers frequent flyer points to zero when they launched Koru.
Sure, they did a u-turn on when they discovered how angry it had made customers … but they still did it, which not only undermined their launch, but left customer with a horrible taste in their mouth they’ll remember for a long time.
I mean, you’d think it would be obvious to not do that, but apparently it wasn’t – which not only suggests Air NZ put their faith in the wrong research and creative partners – not to mention are incapable of evaluating standards with an objective, global perspective – it highlights how you can have all the data in the world, but if you don’t look for, or understand, the fucked-up, hypocritical truth of your customers, you’ve got nothing.
Also see every research company who announced with the upmost confidence that Trump wasn’t going to win the Presidency in his first term … either because they were arrogant, blinkered or simply failed to understand people rarely tell you what they think, instead they tell you what they think will protect them from revealing what they really believe.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Australia, Brand, Communication Strategy, Conformity, Creativity, Culture, Emotion
John Dodds sent me this a few weeks ago:
LLMs reward clarity and credibility. Your brand language should be concise, benefit-led, and evidence-backed. In a world of agentic commerce in which AI mediates consumer choice, trust shifts from being a feeling about a brand to an attribute of its data.
Why he sent it to me is unknown, but he has been doing that for decades and I always appreciate it.
However the key for me in what he sent is specifically this bit:
‘Trust shifts from being a feeling about a brand to an attribute of its data’.
There’s 2 reasons for that:
The first is people are more likely to connect to a brand based on the quality of their understanding on who they are interacting and/or engaging with [ie: the data they hold on the needs/wants/desires/loves of their audience].
Second is it’s pretty much always been the case.
It’s why there’s brands people know and there’s brands people go out of their way to have in their life.
It’s also why there’s arguably been a reduction in the amount of brands that people ‘love’ – probably because instead of focusing on who they are, who they’re for and what the culture around their category is doing or care about, they’ve fallen for the lowest common denominator, paint-by-numbers, repeat-for-every-category-and-audience, self-interest, outsourced-for-profit schtick of ‘guru’s’ who have never built, worked for or created communication for brands that people adore and care deeply about.
Or said another way …
Here’s another example of someone championing ‘new’, without realizing they’re just rehashing the old. Probably because they don’t know it, understand it or know what to do with it to make it magical rather than just even more functional.
The old adage I always return to is this:
If you want people to give a shit about you, maybe start by giving a shit about them.