Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Advertising [Planning] School On The Web, America, Attitude & Aptitude, BBH, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Emotion, Empathy, Insight, Perspective, Planners, Planning, Point Of View, Prejudice, Relevance, Resonance
I know I said there’d be no blog posts till October because I’m busy moving countries [again]. but I thought I could use this ‘empty’ time to set a new APSOTW assignment.
Over the years we have covered all manner of subjects … from validating flag design to pitching new business to developing comms strategy to creating solutions to difficult problems.
But this time we’re going to do something different.
To be honest, it’s less about being evaluated on how you present your thinking and more an exercise on thinking.
Now the thing with thinking – especially thinking where advertising and creativity is concerned – is it rarely can be wrong.
Sure, people can have all manner of opinions on what you think… but it generally can’t be viewed as being fundamentally right or fundamentally wrong.
This is liberating – or should be – which is why I’m hoping as many people as possible will have a go at this assignment.
The actual deliverable is easy.
All you have to do is watch the below clip and tell me– based on what people are saying in the clip – what you think the brand could have said to make their audience care about shaving.
That’s right, all you have to do to take part in this assignment is watch a short film and then send me a single sentence.
That’s it. Easy eh?
OK, I’m not going to deny this is harder than it may first seem.
Part of that is because the clip is about African American men … so to succeed, you have to appreciate the context how African American men live in America.
The other challenge is you need to get your point of view into a single sentence.
That might sound super easy until you remember that single sentence has to also capture the context that makes your point of view so powerful.
[For a clue on how this could be done, click here … even though this example isn’t quite right as it’s based on having lots of additional information, which this challenge does not allow]
The reason for this challenge is 3 fold.
1. It will help your skills in reading subtext.
2. It will help you ability to write a provocative point of view.
3. It will help you make audiences want, or imagine, more from themselves.
As I said at the beginning, there’s probably no wrong answer to this assignment, but to win [and there will be a prize] you’ll need to see something in the conversations within the clip that you feel opens the door to a bigger, more intriguing, more exciting, more resonant point of view for the brand.
This is not about inventing something that isn’t there … this is about seeing something that is, but hidden in plain sight.
While the ultimate deliverable for this assignment is easy, your submission will be judged by some of the toughest, most experienced, most culturally authentic experts in their field, including – if I can convince him to publicly associate with me again – Jason White, the Global CMO of Beats.
So have a go, it will be fun and all you need to do is send me a SINGLE SENTENCE by September 30th to this address.
As I’ve said before, I believe the future of our industry will be built on developing ideas that are resonant with culture rather than trying to be relevant to them and hopefully this will help make that happen.
If you have any questions, please place them in the comments. Thank you.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, America, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Deutsch, Emotion, Goodbye America, LaLaLand, Planners, Point Of View, Resonance, The Kennedys
So today is going to be my last post for a while.
As you know, I’m leaving America and moving to the UK … and that all happens over the next 12 days.
Next week I say my goodbyes to Deutsch and then, 6 days after that, we move to the UK.
Because we have a bunch to do – from packing up to finding a new place to live – I need to focus on my family more than writing rubbish blog posts, hence while I endure a momentary period of maturity pain, you get to experience a momentary period of peaceful gain.
But don’t get too comfortable … it’s definitely going to be momentary as I’ll be back up and running on October 1.
Oh yes. Be afraid, be very afraid.
That aside, I have to say the last few weeks have been pretty hard.
Not in the sense of getting everything together for the move – though that is still an utter pain in the ass, despite the fact we have done it so many time – it’s just that the life in LA is pretty spectacular.
As I wrote once before, I’ve had better weekends in America than I may have had pretty much anywhere in the World and to say goodbye to that is hard.
Of course a big part of it is the amazing weather and that we had cars for the first time in 15 years [and trust me, after all I went through to get my car, saying goodbye to that has been a pain too] but the other key element is that LA is an outdoor city and to be able to spend so much time with my family in the fresh air has been an amazing gift.
Of course London will offer us alternative wonderful experiences, but that sunshine is a pretty addictive thing.
The other hard part is saying goodbye to people.
OK, not goodbye for ever – technology ensures that doesn’t have to happen – but goodbye in terms of seeing you each day.
All of my family have met people here who have become incredibly important to us.
Jill has made friends here that have become incredibly important to her. Friends that will stand the test of time and distance. Friends that have made my wife truly happy and supported … and for that, I send a personal big thanks to Emma, Zoe and Amber to name a few.
Otis is inundated with them – thanks to his magnificent school – but no one will be missed as much as his beloved Elodie.
To be honest, we’re not sure if he truly understands what moving to London means in terms of implications. While technology means he will be able to still see and talk to Elodie, it will obviously be very different. I have to say we’ve handled this move with him very gently. Even though he’s already moved from China, he’s only 3 years old so his World is both huge and small. To try and make him feel as comfortable as he can be, we’ve made sure his feelings have been taken into account at every stage of the process – from creating a book of all the things he has seen and done in LA to showing him pictures of the things he will see in London to asking him to help us decide where our new family home will be.
Despite having moved countries more times than I care to remember, the fact is I never left home until I was 25 and I remember how traumatic that was for me. For a kid of 3, it must be insane … which is why he needs to feel his family unit is stronger than superglue while everything around him is changing.
I wish I didn’t have to put him through this, but apart from it being linked to work [more of that at a later date], part of this move is because Jill and I [and even the cat, probably] want him to be somewhere he can build real, longer-term roots.
As much as we loved LA, it was never going to be our long term home.
It was/is great, but we just didn’t really have an emotional connection to the place because we came here for work more than anything else.
Sure, if we had stayed longer, that might have changed – but England offers us roots. A place with some deep connections thanks to my background and – to a certain degree – Jill’s.
We have old friends there. People Otis knows and loves. And while I don’t think England will be our last stop on our journey, I do think it will be a significant one … a place where my family can build real roots and my son can find someone who becomes as important in his life and history as my beloved Paul is to me.
That is our goal. That is what my family needs. That is something we’re excited about.
But moving on means leaving things behind and for me, I am going to be saying bye to a bunch of people that have become very important to me.
The weird thing about LA is that by the time we moved here, an incredible amount of old friends and colleagues had also moved here. In fact, it meant LA was the place where I knew more people than anywhere else in the World.
Madness.
And as much as I’ll miss those guys, I’ve gone through this with them before so they don’t get to fuck with my heart that badly a second time. However there are a bunch of new people who I am going to hate to say bye too.
From our wonderful neighbours Kim and Dave to the lovely Elena – who Otis adored and trusted in no time at all – to the people at Noah’s Bagel’s who kept giving me free coffee because they found my t-shirts ‘amusing’.
But in particular I want to say a big thank you to some folks who made my weekdays better than I deserved.
There’s a bunch of them, but in particular I need to single out the amazingly talented and beautiful Jorge, the always happy [despite my shit] Zaid, the ‘Bake Queen’ Dana, the brilliant, patient, supportive and precious BCG [you know who you are, what you did for me and how much you mean to me] and – of course – my planning team.
Having spent 7 years with an incredible group at Wieden Shanghai, I didn’t know how I’d feel working with a totally different bunch, in a totally different country with a totally different context in terms of planning and creativity … but I can honestly say, it’s been an absolute pleasure working with them.
They’ve been incredibly good to me.
Putting up with my ‘ways’ and embracing my approaches.
And while all of them have played an important role in pushing the department forward, I have to give a special thanks to Kelsey, Rachael, Maya, Leigh, Heide, Lani, Ben, Mitch and Armando [and Donn, who fucked off for a pot of gold and a Lexus] for simply putting up with me on more projects than anyone else without – as far as I know – reporting me to HR.
There’s a lot of talent in this team, talent that can push them – and the agency – a long way, so I hope they continue being mouthy, opinionated, curious fucks … because as we saw in our brilliant America In The Raw study/book … when you stand for something, it stops the masses falling for anything.
I hope they feel I made a difference.
I hope they feel they’re in a better place than before I arrived.
I hope they can see bigger possibilities for who they are and what they can achieve.
For me, that’s the most important thing, even though I wish I could have achieved more.
For them. For me. For the agency.
[Though I have to say, I’m particularly proud that I got the office billboard changed, hahaha]
In all seriousness, I feel I’m leaving America a better person than when I arrived – which is the best way to leave any place – and that’s why I’m so grateful to all my planning team for what they did for me and helped me do.
Honestly, there’s a bunch of people here I’ve enjoyed working with, but this is already getting into Oscar speech territory, so in the interests of boredom, I’ll end this post with this.
Thank you LA.
Thank you for giving my family an experience we will always remember and treasure.
Thank you for the friendships, the memories and the opportunities we got to explore and enjoy.
I will always be grateful for the time I spent here, however short.
I hope America sorts itself out.
It’s an amazing country that deserves better. Needs to be better.
To do that, it needs to stop fighting as enemies and start talking as friends.
I don’t know if that will ever happen, especially under the current regime, but a united America is a good America and I want everyone I’ve met here to have the opportunities they deserve.
It’s been an honour and a privlidge and we’ll be back … for a visit, if only to prove to Otis that once upon a time, he really did live in [lifestyle] paradise.
London … here we come.
______________________________________________________________________________
Oh hang on, there’s one last thing before I go.
I know … I know … this post is going on forever.
In the tradition of leaving companies with my indelible mark, the good people of Deutsch LA have received 2 things:
Every member of my wonderful planning department have been given a copy of the highly enlightening Ladybird Book Of Meetings [for future ‘self protection/preservation’ purposes] while the rest of the agency have been left with these highly desirable, culturally bold [Ahem!], future collector item badges/buttons.
I think it’s how they’d like to remember me.
Or should I say, how they will remember me.
Look, I know as horrible as these things are, they’re still less painful than the 600 stickers I hid throughout Wieden+Kennedy Shanghai, but then Deutsch only had to endure a year of my pain where the lovely folks in China suffered for over 7.
I’m so considerate with my nastiness.
Which is probably why that after all this, they still have to put up with me for 4 days next week.
Cue: Evil Laugh.
It’s been a memorable adventure so a big thank you for everything.
See you America. See you soon England.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, China, Confidence, Creativity, Culture, DLin, Emotion, Empathy, Insight, Management, Planning, Rodi, Wieden+Kennedy
A few weeks ago, I woke up to the photo above appearing on my phone.
The 2 people are both ex-planners of mine from Wieden and I admit it was nice to see them.
Then I realised they were never at Wieden at the same time – and even though they’re now both bigwigs at Apple – I suspect there reasons for getting together [and making sure I knew about it] was more to talk shit about me than to discuss the launch for the next iPhone.
Eitherway, I’m as proud as fuck about them and for them … and not just because I’m hoping for freebies.
As I’ve said many times before, I believe the role of a boss is to help develop your people so when they leave, they get a better job than they could ever of hoped for.
Of course, they have to do all the hard work.
They have to want to see where their potential could take them.
But by pushing them, developing them, giving them opportunities to grow and just overall helping them believe in their talent and where it could take them beyond where they currently are, you have a chance to play a small role in creating their future.
And that’s why, seeing David and Rodi lead Apple strategically across the entire Asia region [and for some perspective, just the iPhone business in China is bigger than the entire NIKE company worldwide] makes me so happy.
Not for what I did for them.
But what they did for themselves.
Now please give me the new iPhone or I’ll ask Baz to fire you.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Creativity, Music
Yoyoka Soma is 8 years old.
She’s a fierce-as-fuck drummer.
Not in a ‘cute kid plays drums’ sort-of way … but in a she’s a ‘great drummer sort-ofway.
Frankly, if the World felt as much joy as she does when she hits those drums – especially when she’s playing the rhythm with the hi-hat – everything would be perfect.
She – like her fellow Japanese musician, Hiromi – is my hero.
Hope you have a weekend that will make you smile as much as this …
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Chaos, Comment, Craft, Creativity, Culture, Design, Emotion, Empathy, Imagination, Innovation, Internet, Planners, R/GA, Relevance, Resonance, Technology, Wieden+Kennedy
So today I start my new job.
In England.
The last time this happened was in 1989 which blows my mind.
Of course, this situation is quite different to the last situation.
I’ve had a family.
I’ve lived around the World.
I’ve worked – and started – a bunch of companies.
I’m slightly better off than I was back in the late 80’s.
And while I enjoyed my time in the US, I’m very excited about what I’m going to be doing because whereas previously the big opportunity for me was more around understanding different cultures, this new role gives me that while also challenging and teaching me about possibilities that go beyond my areas of experience, because today I start as the head of strategy for R/GA for EMEA.
There were a bunch of reasons for leaving America, but one thing we knew was that there was no point if I wasn’t going to be enjoying myself.
For enjoying myself, I mean pushing me, challenging me, educating me and helping me make a bigger difference than I thought I could make.
I’ve long admired R/GA – especially R/GA London – so when we started chatting, I was fascinated about the opportunity and was incredibly happy/surprised, to learn they seemed to feel the same way.
Quite frankly, while all agencies talk about ‘creating cultural change’, R/GA seem to be the only one trying to make it happen on an ongoing basis. Don’t get me wrong, there’s some agencies out there who definitely help shape cultural behavior and attitudes – like my beloved W+K – but R/GA want to create the ideas, systems and communication that can encourage longer term cultural change rather than momentary effect.
At the end of the day, the idea of working with smart people who want to use creativity to impact the future and smart clients who want to walk towards the future was hugely infectious for me, especially at my age.
What makes it even better is that my remit means I’ll still get to work and discover different cultures, which is something I’ve done for the past 20 years all around the World … though given it’s been 24 years since I’ve lived in the UK, I’m pretty sure I’m going to find it fascinating understanding what is making this country tick.
All in all, I’m super excited.
At the interview I was asked why I wanted the job and I told them about a friend of mine who works for architect extroidinaire, Sir Norman Foster.
My mate is disgustingly epic … smart, charming and as handsome as hell … but despite all those enviable attributes, the thing I’ve always been jealous of is that his job requires him to create stuff that will outlive him.
I love advertising.
I think it is massively undervalued.
But the way the industry is going – focusing on the present, not building for the future – is scary as hell.
Not just in terms of the longevity of adland, but the ambitions of brands.
So to have a chance to work for a place that attracts clients who want to build rather than just plunder is very exciting for me.
Especially if there’s a shot of creating something that could outlive me.
Let’s just hope I can fool them into thinking I’m worth keeping around for more than a week …
Given my love of chaos, that might be over-ambitious.