Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, America, Anniversary, Attitude & Aptitude, Chaos, Creativity, Culture, Cunning, Deutsch, EvilGenius, Goodbye China, Wieden+Kennedy
So today is a year since I left Wieden and – in 6 days – Shanghai.
That’s incredible.
In some ways it seems it was just a few weeks and in other ways, it feels like a lifetime ago.
While it was absolutely time to start a new adventure – something LA and Deutsch have kindly given me – I still miss China and Wieden very much because I had 7 years of brilliant things happen in my life [such as this] and career [such as this and this] there … though I have it on good authority this sentimentality is only one way, mainly because those stickers I left behind are still being discovered.
And they will for many more years to come.
Cue: Evil laugh.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, America, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Confidence, Creativity, Culture, Deutsch, Donn, Friendship, Insight, Planners, Planning
When you start a new adventure – be it a new country or company – it can be daunting.
Of course no one starts a new adventure without there being a reason for it, but that still doesn’t mean you don’t find yourself being pulled into looking at what you are losing rather than what you could gain.
But good things can – and do – happen, of which one of them is meeting new people who make your new adventure more fulfilling and exciting.
One of those people is a guy called Donn Rohn.
I never knew Donn before I started at Deutsch. In fact on my first day at work, when I saw him, I thought he looked a bit of a dick, despite the fact a guy who used to work with him told me he was good.
But once I got talking to him, I realised almost immediately that it was only his walk that made him look an asshole [I’m serious, his walk is a cross between Dirty Harry and John Wayne] because the truth is, he’s as honourable a man as I have ever met in my life.
Smart.
Defender of his team.
A leader not a manager.
Committed to doing the right thing.
Empathetic, passionate, a dry sense of humour that drives brilliantly evil turns of phrase … he’s just a great human being and that’s before I mention how great a colleague, friend, husband and father he is.
I say all this because he leaves us today.
As sad as that is – and it really is – he’s off to do something that will change the path of his life so I’m genuinely happy and excited for him and his family because they deserve nothing but good things.
While I would have loved our time together to be longer, I’m grateful I met him and even more that I get to call him a mate so while he leaves a huge hole behind – especially in his ability to rock ‘grandpa sweaters’ that take no prisoners [his leaving present is the picture accompanying this post] – he also leaves a legacy of how to be a good human in a business that often tries its best to destroy that in all of us.
Thank you for everything Donn, never change.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Brand Suicide, China, Comment, Crap Marketing Ideas From History!, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Deutsch, Differentiation, Food For Thought, Goodbye China, Hello America, Insight, Internet, Interviews, Marketing Fail, Martin Weigel, My Fatherhood, Otis, Paul, Planners, Planners Making A Complete Tit Of Themselves And Bless, Planning, Point Of View, Positioning, Pretentious Rubbish, Relevance, Resonance, Social Media, Standards, The Kennedys, The Kennedys Shanghai, Unexpected Relevance, Unplanned, Unprofessional Professional, Wieden+Kennedy
How is your 2018 going so far?
I know it’s still early days – but is it looking good or bad?
Well, if it’s looking positive, I’m about to ruin it for you and if it is looking dodgy, I’m going to help you solidify your opinion.
Why?
Well, a few weeks ago, a nice guy called Paul McEnany asked if he could interview me about my career.
While I’m sure his reasoning for his request was to help planners learn what not to do, my ego said yes even before my mouth did … and while the end result is the bastard love child of rambling randomness and base-level swearing, it’s the perfect way to justify your pessimism for 2018 or to ensure your optimism for the new year doesn’t get too high.
So go here and errrrrm, enjoy [if that’s the right word for it, which it isn’t] and after you’ve heard my crap, listen to the brilliant interviews with people like Gareth Kay, Russell Davies, Richard Huntingdon, Martin Weigel and the amazing Chris Riley because apart from being hugely interesting and inspiring, you’ll get the added bonus of [1] undeniable proof I’m a massive imposter and [2] the knowledge that if I can have some sort of semi-successful career in advertising, you certainly can.
You’re welcome.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Agency Culture, America, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Creativity, Culture, Deutsch, Emotion, Empathy, Insight, Perspective, Planners, Point Of View
When I first joined Deutsch, I wanted to understand what the hell was really going on with American youth so I sent 3 of my team – Maya, Armando and Leigh [along with Sarah, a photographer and co-supported back at HQ by the wonderful Kelsey] – backpacking across the US to spend about a month in some of America’s most opposite cities.
Specifically the richest/poorest … fastest growing/shrinking … most/least diverse.
No nice hotel rooms.
No fancy travel.
Just a month hearing and learning from America in The Raw.
As you can see from this little text exchange below, it left a mark on the guys …
In all seriousness, while they loved it, there were some things they saw and went through that challenged them deeply on a personal level. So deeply, that I honestly believe they have all come back changed for the experience.
And yet overall, what they found was a nation full of young people who wanted their country to be the one they had been brought up to believe in.
A country that lets anyone succeed.
A country that cared for their own equally.
A country where it led by taking on the big challenges and issues and crushing them.
Now of course, you could argue America was never really any of these things – just a master of PR – but that aside, the country they have found is not the country they want and so the way they are approaching their life is basically one of survival.
And what do I mean by survival?
Well in essence, it’s how they can cope with what’s going on until it stops.
Their overall view is “I can’t control the future, but I can control the present”.
And while their behaviour is expressed in multiple ways, we believe they fall into 4 distinct territories …
Protect: Keep safe what you have and don’t risk anything to get what you want.
Disguise: Define your relevance by the topical things you want to associate with.
Escape: Physically create a [momentary] world you want to live in.
Fight: Push against the unfairness you face.
Of course it’s way more complex and complicated than that – and we have spent a lot of time exploring and uncovering the influences, attitudes and behaviours that drive it and define it – but it does seem those 4 lenses are consciously and subconsciously influencing how people are starting to behave.
In all honesty, this adventure has been fascinating – not just in terms of understanding what is starting to happen, but how the issues of race or equality are reaching points where you can feel major change is on the way. Whether that change is instigated by government or the people is still anyones guess, but what we know is that it won’t be able to be swept under the carpet as easily as it has in previous years.
They won’t let it, especially with the current administration doing all it can to prod and provoke them.
The implications for society and business are huge – both in terms of positive change and negative potential – which is why we have created a [coffee-table] book and a presentation and – when we get some breathing space – a short film to truly define and explain what we heard and discovered. But as much as all those things are exciting, the bit I love the most is my team have given a voice to those who are rarely heard in the purest and most unfiltered way you can get.
There’s a lot of things I’ve done in my career that has made me proud.
This is most definitely one of them.
_________________________________________________________________________
If you’re interested in seeing/having a copy of the ‘America In The Raw’ book, let me know. I can’t guarantee we can accommodate everyone, but we’ll try.
Filed under: Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Context, Creativity, Culture, Deutsch, Goodbye China, Innovation, Insight, Management, Marketing, Northern, Planners, Planning, Wieden+Kennedy
So as you know I have left China and moved to LA.
And, given I’ve written about it, you know the reasons behind the decision.
However I am also conscious I haven’t said where I am going. OK, so I know others have said where I’m going, but I haven’t. At least on here.
Well today is the day, because today is the day I start my new job.
Actually I should say today is the day I start my main job because I’m also doing an on-going project with a rather famous rock band [ no, it’s not Queen] however I’m super excited to announce that as of this morning, I have become partner, chief strategy officer and official ‘new boy at school’ at American agency, Deutsch.
If you are based in the US, I’m sure you’ve heard of them but if you’re not, you’ll probably know them for this.
To say they’re big is an understatement.
They’re huuuuuuuuge.
Massive clients. Massive office. Massive team.
Basically it’s the classic American cliche … everything is bigger in the US.
Now I’ve got to admit, there’s an element of their scale that makes me nervous … but that’s part of the reason I am so excited to be here.
When we were deciding where to go, I was very clear I didn’t want to do something that was similar to what I’ve been doing over the last 7 years. That’s not because I haven’t loved it – I’ve loved it almost too much – but because I couldn’t see the point of leaving a company I love if I was only go to end up at another company that wanted to be like the company I’ve just left.
What Deutsch offers me is the chance to play and learn in new areas.
Sure, it’s still advertising … but there’s a few fundamental differences from what I’ve been doing for the last few years.
1. I’m going to be a partner.
I’ve got to be honest, this was very important to me. I always want to grow and be challenged and one of the things I knew would be good for me was if I was given the additional – and official – responsibility for helping run an office.
Now you may think I had that at Wieden Shanghai – and I did, kinda – however the structure of the company meant that unless I become an MD [something I don’t want to be] I would always be an invited guest, never one of the hosts.
I should point out I knew this when I joined and I was always given the opportunity to speak up and speak out, however I believe there’s a point where responsibility without authority undermines your potential and ambition and ultimately, I wanted to see if I could make a bigger difference to a company or if I’m full of shit.
2. Deutsch are much more into using tech to solve their clients business problems.
This is almost going back to the way cynic approached things and I love that. However, it is not for the reason that I am sure Northern Planner will suggest … which is that I might be able to convince a client to let me make a moped or car for them.
In all seriousness, one of the things I really liked about Deutsch was their desire to forge their own direction rather than replicate someone else’s. That sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised how many places try and mimic Wieden without seemingly realising there’s only one W+K and they will always be the best in the World at what they do.
Deutsch’s ambitions feel more entrepreneurial and applied and I find that desire, fascinating.
3. I get to set direction for brands rather than translate someone else’s direction.
While I’ve worked around the World and represented massive regions of the globe, the reality is in most cases, I’ve been about translating someone else’s perspective on what the brand does/is. Someone who tends to work and live in America.
If I’m honest, I’ve never really found this a hindrance – especially in China, where the cultures was so different, so it was always fun to try and work out how to make things connect – but it will be nice to be at the real start of the challenge for once.
Of course there’s other reasons …
The partners are all great people who just happen to work in advertising.
I get to infect a new bunch of talented planners and hopefully make them even better than they thought they could be.
I have the opportunity to make my new team one of the most respected/hated/mischievous departments in the whole of North America. I find that idea really exciting and really infectious.
And then there’s the 2 big ones …
I get to give my family an environment that is healthy for them and we get to experience and immerse ourselves in a brand new culture. Again.
Those are worth their weight in gold … especially as we’ve found a Mandarin school for Otis so he can still feel a connection to the country he was born in and the country his father loves and will miss deeply.
[Oh, we also own and get to drive cars again for the first time in 15 years. I am embarrassingly excited about it … though driving on ‘the wrong side of the road’ is interesting … especially for all the other drivers in LA]
In fact the only thing I don’t like about my new job is that I’m called the Chief Strategy Officer.
I’m not that keen on that. It feels so cold. So exclusive. So disconnected to creativity.
But I get America loves its titles so it’s a small price to pay for the adventure.
So we will see what happens.
It could all go down in flames or it could be a fantastic adventure and for me, when those are the possibilities, that makes me massively excited.
So thank you Deutsch for the incredible opportunity, let’s hope you don’t regret it …
More posts in a couple of weeks when I’ve either [1] settled in a bit or [2] been fired.