Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Communication Strategy, Confidence, Creative Brief, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Deutsch, Emotion, Empathy, Imagination, Insight, Planners, Planning, Point Of View, Positioning, Resonance, Social Commentary
So we’ve recently had some interns join the Deutsch planning mob.
They’re smart, passionate and enthusiastic as hell.
Far smarter than I was at their age. Arguably, smarter than I am now.
So I met up with them to see how they were going and they told me how they were getting to grips with things because initially, it was so overwhelming that they found themselves going down a lot of rabbit holes.
I get it, it was super daunting to me when I started too but the one thing that concerned me was their belief that rabbit holes were a negative.
As I pointed out to them, if they don’t go down rabbit holes, then they’re no use to me.
Rabbit holes are an essential part of the planning process.
Not just in terms of exploring possibilities to tackle the problem you have been given … nor to pressure test the strategy you have identified … but to also reveal if there is are more interesting ways to tackle the problem than you may have originally considered or identified.
Rabbit holes are as much about opening possibilities as they are closing them which is why if you don’t embrace them, all you’re doing is screwing yourself – and the client – over.
Sure, focusing on what you think the client will buy may get you quicker approvals and client compliments, but allowing your brain the space and time to wander can help you get to somewhere new … somewhere exciting … somewhere that allows creativity to take you to places no one saw coming … places that will attract rather than chase … and even if you don’t end up somewhere more interesting than where you started, at least you can be sure the strategy you’re recommending has been pushed and prodded, which is why I passionately believe rabbit holes aren’t a waste of time, but a key deliverable of what we do and have to do.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Communication Strategy, Crap Campaigns In History, Creativity, Embarrassing Moments, Marketing Fail
Now I appreciate I am a social media whore and have posted all sorts of rubbish in the past, but even I would never do something like this …
I honestly don’t know who is the bigger idiot …
Nescafe for thinking this is a good idea.
The agency for coming up with this idea.
The couple – who occupy that unique space of un-influential, influencers – who decided to commemorate their engagement by selling their souls for a few quid and appearing in a social media post for an international coffee brand while pretending [1] it’s totally natural to commemorate your engagement by appearing in a social media post for an international coffee brand and [2] it’s totally believable to have a staged photo of you in bed, despite the fact there was a photographer in the room with you..
Some other questions are:
+ Why are they not looking at each other?
+ Why is he so, so, so brown?
+ Judging by how tensed up his arms are, just how heavy is that cup of coffee?
+ Why is he cradling his cock?
Seriously, this might be the most z-grade version of Hello magazine that ever lived.
Everyone involved in this – and I mean everyone – needs a bloody big smack in the head.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Creativity, Culture, Imagination
When we think of the people who are pushing society forward, who do we tend to think of?
OK, so a lot of that is dependent on your personal context … but in general, I would say we’d tend to think of scientists, technologists and – occasionally – politicians, to name but a few.
And while I totally agree with that, I think so much of the things that move culture forward are the freaks and the outsiders.
They might not get the credit.
They might not get the acclaim.
But so much of what ends up becoming the mainstream is created by the people in the shadows … those who didn’t follow the rules or expectations of others because they either didn’t know what they were or weren’t in a position to ever stand a chance of achieving it.
The misfits are the ones who can make the biggest differences.
Not because they know how to break the rules, but they don’t know what the rules are.
For the record, this does not make them rebels.
Rebels is something in the eye of the observer, not the beholder.
These people simply see the World differently which shapes why they do things differently.
They’re the people adland should be embracing more of.
Yes, I know it may mean they’re harder to work with.
Yes, I know clients may question what they are offering to their business.
But the power of creativity starts with how you think and this is exactly why we should be embracing them.
One of the best people we ever hired used to be a kids bed designer at IKEA.
Another was a pig feed salesmen.
Both of them had absolutely no idea what advertising was beyond the executions they see every day.
And yet both of them were brilliant for exactly this fact … because they were able to use their unique creative talent to develop ideas I doubt anyone ‘trained in advertising’ could ever achieve.
Don’t get me wrong, being trained in the craft of advertising is vital – and there’s amazing people who can do amazing things that outsiders, or anyone else for that matter, may never achieve – but I fear we are in danger of becoming an industry of ‘production line thinkers and doers’ and that’s why we need to embrace those who play outside the lines of the creativity because without them, we’re getting far too neat and tidy in our responses to challenges.
Now I fully appreciate holding companies and clients may think ‘neat and tidy’ is a wonderful thing – it means greater efficiency, accuracy and profitability – but that’s short-term thinking, because in a World where competition is more intense than ever, creativity may be the only legal means a company has to counter heritage, distribution and budget and the only way we can ensure our creativity works it’s best is if we embrace the people who don’t follow the rules because they don’t even know what they are.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Business, Creativity, Culture, Insight, Management, Marketing, Marketing Fail
Remember, the more confident the marketer the less messages they demand.
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 …