Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Content, Context, London
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/68572229/7O0lgo2ukEMhMyYw9TFV1t1iftU.0.jpg?resize=420%2C280&ssl=1)
So a few weeks ago we were talking about the movie ‘Love Actually’ at work.
I absolutely detest this film.
Yes, the opening scene is sweet, but after that, we’re subjected to a movie of such schmaltz that it would make someone with a sweet-tooth feel sick.
Any movie that can make affairs, attempts at adultery, death, precocious kids, a Prime Minister that makes Boris Johnson look capable feel like a birthday party is seriously horrible.
And yet millions like it.
Not everyone.
But millions.
Including many at work.
Which is why I sent the below all staff email to my new colleagues …
… only to get so many responses saying they were fans, that I am not sure there is anyone left in NZ for me to talk to.
My pain, their gain.
Damnit.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Comment, Communication Strategy, Confidence, Consultants, Content, Context, Creativity, Culture, Insight, Resonance, Respect, Rick Rubin, RulesOfRubin
A while back, I wrote a post about Rick Rubin and his brilliance at making the complex, simple.
I talked about how this was in diametrically opposed to the way many agencies and consultancies operate.
But – to really ram home the difference – Rick isn’t simply a master of simplification, he uses it to unlock the creative potential and authenticity of the people he works with.
He has helped more artists attain a highly desirable, distinctive and definitive role in culture than probably all the agencies and consultancies put together.
That’s not to say agencies and consultancies can’t do that or haven’t done that, but the ones who have done it well … the ones who have ignited fandom rather than just participation … is very, very small.
Anyway, that post – and a subsequent project with the Chili’s – took me down a Rick Rubin rabbit hole and over the weeks, I’ve posted his quotes with what my interpretation of what it means for the ad industry.
The work.
The environment.
The clients.
The more I spend going down the Rick rabbit hole, the more it feels his viewpoint encapsulates all the different things I’ve learnt, seen or experienced from others. Where every single element is built around one, simple goal.
To make the best work you could imagine.
We all have a role to play in achieving this.
It’s more than just down to the talent who actually creates the final work. It’s the people, the environment and the paymasters who all play an integral role to achieving that goal.
So for the next couple of weeks, I’m just going to talk about some of the Rules Of Rick … because if you’re going to learn the rules of creativity from anyone, then the person who has helped the most diverse group of artists and musicians become culturally and commercially successful is probably the one you want to hear it from.
They start tomorrow.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Comment, Consultants, Content, Context, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Distinction, Emotion, Empathy, Experience, Friendship, Happiness, Insight, Linkedin, Loyalty, Marketing, Membership, Relevance, Resonance, Social Commentary, Social Divide, Social Media
Many years ago, Toby Young wrote a book by the name of this post.
It was a journey through his bad decisions, bad timing and bad acts.
And while there was a lot of genuinely funny moments in it, you couldn’t help think he was a bit of a twat – which was confirmed with many of his later actions, decisions and behaviour.
I say this because recently I had a dalliance with someone who could best be described as Toby Young, without the humour.
Look, I work in advertising so I’m used to working with twats.
There’s actually a lot less of them than people like to think, but the ones who are there are generally stupendous at twatdom.
But this interaction was not someone I work with … it was someone on Linkedin.
Yes … Linkedin. The platform that is to community what Boris Johnson is to leadership.
Now even though this person and I are not ‘connected’, I do kind-of know him.
He was in Asia when I was there and had a reputation for grandiose statements that rarely could be backed up.
Anyway, I hadn’t heard about him or seen him for literally years, so I was surprised when a few weeks ago, he suddenly came into my life.
He did this by writing a comment under a Linkedin post I’d put up about one of the biggest mistakes a planner can make.
He asked:
What’s the difference between thinking and planning according to you? And is there a difference? And how do you see modern day account planning influencing business and corporate strategy which is really what CEO’s want to see – they’re not interested in ads or creativity unless its making them money?
I answered as best I could … saying I felt he was implying some planners didn’t care about the impact creativity had on the clients business, just their ego and if that’s the case, maybe he’s spending time with the wrong planners, clients and creatives.
In the blink of an eye, he responded with these 2 gems:
First this …
“I’m not implying anything- I’m asking a question. I be;lieve that’s valid on a social media platform. What I’ve foudn theough Experience s that sometimes it’s better to just answer instead of reading too much into it.”
[Spelling mistakes were his, not mine]
And then this …
“You really don’t get social, do you? You can’t be focused and social at the same time. I’ve been studying clinical psychology and the mind for 7 years. It’s two ends of the same frequency . Planners are focused (head) creatives are social (HEART). Open your heart my friend before a surgeon does the job for you. Good luck. You’re mucking around with someone with a lot of medical knowledge and experience.”
That second comment was bizarre.
Judgemental. Condescending. Patronising. Almost threatening.
I have to be honest, I was quite impressed. It’s been a long time since I’ve come across such a prick who can get so personal and so insulting so quickly.
But then it got weirder, because he then sent this:
Seriously, what the fuck?
From slagging me off to interrogating the most stupid shit [like my bloody camouflage background????] to then asking me to give him free information and advice so he can win a client and charge them money for his ‘help’.
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised because Linkedin is full of people who think they can just ask or say whatever they want as long as it benefits them. I’m sure we’ve all had headhunters contact us for names of people they should talk to – when they’re literally being paid by clients to know people who they should talk to.
But there’s something about this persons manner that pisses me off.
Maybe it’s the contradiction between acting superior but still wanting stuff.
I can’t help but feel he is someone who read Neil Strauss’, ‘The Game‘ [who also wrote Motley Crue’s, admittedly great, The Dirt … which tells you a lot] and saw it as a philosophy for how to live rather than the exploitative, manipulative and destructive book it actually was.
Part of me really wants to name and shame him.
If he’s doing that to me, what is he like to others.
Women. Or juniors. Or anyone to be honest.
But I won’t because who knows what he’s going through however – as I mentioned in my final response to him – for all his alleged expertise in clinical psychology and social platforms, he sure hasn’t got the faintest idea how to communicate with people.
So I’ll leave him be but if he does comes back [again] I’ll simply point him to this post and hope he understands the responsibility for clarity of communication is with the communicator, not the recipient. Something tells me, he wouldn’t.
But what all this shows is a mistake that companies, platforms and agencies continually make with the idea of community.
I get why it’s so interesting to them, but the problem is – what they think is a community, isn’t.
A community isn’t where you go to continually satisfy your own needs.
In essence, that’s the total opposite of a community.
What a real community is something built on shared beliefs and values … where you want to work together to help push or achieve a common goal. It absolutely isn’t about personal benefit at others expense, it’s about something much, much bigger.
And while it’s power and influence can be enormous …
Linkedin doesn’t get this.
Agencies flogging membership and community doesn’t get this.
And this ‘competitive strategist’ doesn’t get this.
Because the key rule for a real community is about adding to it, not just taking.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Apathy, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Brand Suicide, Comment, Consultants, Content, Context, Creativity, Culture, Differentiation, Distinction, Egovertising, Emotion, Empathy, Honesty, Innovation, Insight, Loyalty, Management, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Membership, Perspective, Planners, Planning, Point Of View, Positioning, Relevance, Research, Resonance, Virgin Atlantic
When Phil Spector died, I went down a rabbit hole of his life.
On that journey, I spent some time looking into the life of Lana Clarkson, the woman he murdered.
Which led me to this …
Find the perfect Lana Clarkson death photos!!!???
Seriously, what the fuck?!
I know they don’t mean to be so disrespectful.
I know it’s a standard Getty Image response to any image search – except I was looking for Lana Clarkson, not Lana Clarkson death photos – but this is what happens when you automate a process to maximise your profit potential.
And while I get Lana’s photos were topical given the death of Spector so many media outlets may be looking for them … it doesn’t make them look good. And god knows how it would make Lana’s family feel, if they saw it.
For all the talk about brand experience, it’s amazing how much bullshit is said.
Do I think experience is important? Absolutely.
Do I think experience is done well? Not that often.
For me, there is one overarching problem.
Brands would rather be OK at a lot of things than stellar at a couple.
Before people have a meltdown, let me just say this.
I am not questioning the value of experience.
Believe it or not, it is not a new concept … it has been practiced by great brands and strategists for decades.
However experience loses its impact when the goal is to be OK at everything rather than amazing at some things.
Oh I know what people are going to say …
“But every interaction should be an experience of the values of the brand”.
Yeah … maybe.
It’s great in theory but doesn’t seem to be realistic in practice.
I mean, how many brands really have achieved that?
Let me rephrase that.
How many brands that have a clear, desirable position in culture have really achieved that?
I would say it is a handful at most.
Now compare that to the brands who have focused on doing some things in a way that is exceptional and memorable?
I’ve written about the Virgin Atlantic Lounge before.
Imagine if Branson had said, “Create an experience that is commensurate with the values of the brand for the business class customer” versus, “Create a lounge people will want to miss their plane to stay in”.
Do you think they would have got to the same place?
Do you think the former would have helped drive the brands economic and repetitional success as well as the latter?
Don’t get me wrong, Virgin Atlantic have a lot to do to improve their experience.
Their booking and loyalty schemes are a fucking mess for a start. But while I appreciate I am biased, I would gladly sacrifice that for the lounge experience that makes me look forward to every trip.
An experience that is distinctively memorable, not just corporately comfortable.
The reality is there are more highly profitable, highly desirable brands who offer an inconsistent brand experience than those who offer a consistent one.
More than that, brands that offer a consistent brand experience across all touch points do not automatically become a brand people want to have in their lives.
Part of this is because their version of consistent tends to be using their name or colours or slogan everywhere.
Part of this is their version of ‘brand experience’ is the absolute opposite of what the word experience is supposed to mean.
[Seriously, can you imagine the sort of parties they would have?]
And part of this is because they want to talk to everyone which means their experience appeals to no one.
Because while it might not be fashionable, great brands are built on an idea.
Something they believe, stand for, fight for.
This is very different to ‘purpose’.
Purpose – at best – is why you do something.
Belief is how you do it.
The sacrifices you make. The choices you make. The people you focus on.
Don’t get me wrong, this doesn’t mean great brands shouldn’t want to ‘fill the gaps’ that reside in their experience eco-system, but it does mean it should only be done if each element can be done brilliantly and distinctively.
Anyone who has read the book ‘Why I Hate Flying’ will know the vast majority of brand values are basically the same – which means the vast majority of brand experience strategy ends up being predominantly the same.
However the brands who command the most consistently vibrant cultural interest and intrigue are the one’s who have a point of view on what they do and what they believe. They have a real understanding of who they’re talking to rather than a generalised view of them. They have values that step out of the convenient blandification that so many companies love to hide behind – where the goal is to look like you care without actually doing something that shows you care. And they absolutely know it’s better to do some things that will mean everything to someone rather than lots of things that mean little to everyone.
The obsession with 360 brand experience is as flawed as the 360 media approach from a while back.
Frankly conveying the same message everywhere felt more like brainwashing than engaging.
Experience is a very important part of the strategic and creative process.
Always has and always will be.
It can make a major difference to how people feel about a brand and interact with a brand.
But like anything strategic, sacrifice is a vital part of the process.
While in theory it is nice to think every interaction will be something special and valuable, the reality is that is almost an impossible goal.
Different audiences.
Different cultures.
Different needs.
Different times.
Different budgets.
Different technologies.
Different interactions.
So anyone who thinks experience should be executed ‘down to a level that allows for mass consistency’ rather than ‘up to a standard that allows key moments to be exceptional’ are creating another layer to get in the way of making their audience give a shit.
Or said another way, you’re adding to apathy rather than taking it away.
OK, I accept that for some categories unspectacular consistency can be valuable – hospitals for example – but the reality is in the main, audiences care less about consistent brand experience than brands and their agencies do.
That doesn’t mean you can’t make them care by doing something great – like Tesla did with their ‘dog and insane’ modes for example – but you need to understand you’re playing as much to your audience standards, as yours.
Now I appreciate I’ve gone off on one, given this post was originally about a search engine response to a murdered woman’s photograph rather than brand experience … but while they’re very different in many ways, there is one thing that is the same.
They’re all focused on satisfying an audience need … and while standardised processes can help ensure we are ‘dumbing up’ with our approaches to the challenge, when that manifests into a standardised experience, then you are dumbing down the value of who you are and who you can be.
For the record Getty, this is what Lana Clarkson looked like.
There’s no ‘perfect’ photos of her death.
But there’s plenty to signify the person she was.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Chaos, Comment, Content, Context, EvilGenius, Experience
Of all the types of revenge you can get, petty revenge is one of my favourites.
The beauty of it is that it’s petty. Meaning it’s for something the aggressor doesn’t even realise they have done. At least not until they experience the act of revenge.
The other wonderful thing is that the pettiness often extends to the act of revenge.
In most cases it’s about forcing some sort of ‘inconvenience’ upon the victim … even if organising it took longer than the actual inconvenience lasted.
It’s why the question asked of many revenge makers is, “was it worth all that time just to do that?”
And almost universally, the answer is “yes … it most definitely was”.
Over the years I’ve embarked on a reign of petty revenge terror. Seeking to even the score against people who have either inadvertently- or consciously – tried to fuck me or a mate over.
This has resulted in all manner of acts.
From stealing a single wheel from their desk chair so it was annoyingly lopsided … to having stickers printed so I could put the word “last” over all their out-of-date ‘agency of the year’ posters … to placing a ‘honk if you hate the police’ bumper sticker to the back of their car to having badges made that said “I’m a sexist twat” that we sent to every male boss who had harassed my female friends to – in the very old days – changing the keys around on their laptops in the knowledge they couldn’t touch type so every time they wrote words like ‘they’, it would type a very different word.
I would like to point out 3 things:
1. They all deserved it.
2. This was all a very, very long time ago.
3. I’m much more sensible these days.
Well, I say that, but when we lived in London, a neighbour denied they had taken delivery of my Amazon order – despite me being sent photographic evidence of them accepting it – so I spent 2 days signing them up to every catalogue I could find and I hope they’re still getting them. I added a nice touch by addressing it to, ‘Ima Lyer-Antheef’.
But compared to my friends, I’m still an amateur. The stuff they’ve done is incredible in it’s pettiness and time consumption.
There’s one involving a famous cereal manufacturer – that I can only say when on my death bed – that still raises a smile even though it occurred 16 years ago.
But all that pales into insignificance compared to this …
They say heroes wear capes.
Well sometimes they wear their pettiness on their sleeve.
All bow down to a true master at work. Bravo. Bravo. Bravo.