Filed under: 2026, A Bit Of Inspiration, Agency Culture, Apathy, Attitude & Aptitude, Brand Suicide, Brands, Career, Cliches, Colleagues, Communication Strategy, Conformity, Consultants, Corporate Gaslighting, Creative Development, Creativity, Egovertising, Logic, Loyalty, Management, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Marketing Practice, Marketing Science, Mediocrity, Privilege, Professionalism, Reputation, Resonance, Respect
So, this is the last working day of October and on Monday, we’re in November.
NOVEMBER?!
Thank fuck because I’ve found this year very, very difficult and November means it’s almost over.
I don’t really know why I have such a problem with 2026 … let’s be honest, I’ve had another year that many people would love to have experienced – not to mention the fact that compared to last year, my health has been in a much better state than it has been for the past few years.
And yet this year has felt a struggle.
Like walking through treacle.
Struggling for oxygen.
A difficulty to ignite energy and enthusiasm for stuff.
Not for everything … but given the one thing I’ve never struggled to have is energy to do stuff that excites me, it’s quite the revelation.
So why is this the case?
Who knows …
I do think the state of the World has a lot to do with it.
As has the almost shameless irresponsibility of the tech companies to destroy the future for all of us.
And then the equally repulsive behaviour of so many leaders in our industry who love acting like business pioneers while acting and behaving like the spoilt, greedy, selfish psychopathic children they are.
And yet despite my incredibly privileged and fortunate position, I am being deeply affected by it.
Not just for my personal situation – which is admittedly far better than most – but also for the millions of talented people who are either being discarded by the industry or are walking into it with high hopes and wide eyes.
Thank god, there are still some good people, companies and clients out there.
Who value quality rather than easy.
Who want to grow through standards rather than shortcuts.
Who care about the people who work for them rather than see them as an annoying cost.
But it feels like there are less of those than ever before … though that could be because the momentum of the industries publicity seems to be focused on the promotion of bullies and loudmouths, which makes me angry as anyone who doesn’t subscribe to their point-of-view ends up feeling there is no place for them and start to questioning if the industry is for them.
I’ve talked to so many of these people this year.
Struggling to work out where they fit in.
Wondering if there is a future they can grasp.
Confused why the standards they’re being asked to work to are so low.
It’s really that bad for so many and while it would be easy to say they’re complaining – the issue is with us, not them.
Which leads to this week’s posts.
I appreciate anyone who has read them may ask “is Rob OK?”
And the reality is I am … but I’m tired.
Tired of the hypocrisy.
Tired of the exploitation.
Tired of the pundits and theory pushers.
Tired of the gaslighting where everyone says nothing is wrong.
This industry used to be full of different voices, backgrounds, experiences and ideas. But now? Well now it feels everyone is adopting the same methodologies and approaches pushed by the same few people.
Worse, the same few people who either have never done the work they are so loud in criticising or have a self-interest in wanting others to adopt their ‘system’.
Earlier this year I spoke at the Berlin Strategy Conference.
At the beginning of my talk, I said how I keep hearing people talk about how we can make the industry better, but no one ever asks what I think is the critical question:
Are we having fun?
Not for superficial bullshit reasons but because if we’re not having fun, why are we doing it and – even more importantly – why do we think we’ll get paid and respected for it.
I appreciate not everything is going to be fun and frolics, but given our job is to use creativity to help society not just know about a brand or product, but to give a shit about it, means if we’re not enjoying making the work, you can be sure-as-fuck people won’t enjoy being exposed to it.
I appreciate systems, processes, formats and rules have an important role to play, but when they end up dictating WHAT we do and HOW we do it, then it’s hardly surprising the work we make isn’t just increasingly the same but is lacking the energy and intrigue that can deeply connect and motivate society at large.
That the value of creativity to inspire, encourage, motivate and engage people has been replaced by the ability to fire-hosing of the public with whatever self-serving, monotone message a company says all you need to know about the rise of consultant-think.
Add to this the fact companies spent over ONE TRILLION DOLLARS on media over the last 12 months and surely someone should be asking just how smart all these supposed smart systems and formats actually are.
Again, not because they don’t have any value, but because they definitely don’t provide all the value they love to claim.
So, here’s to the end of month 10 of 2026 … we’re much closer to [hopefully] ending a year of big egos and small thinking.
On the bright side, it’s the perfect conditions for a truly scary Halloween.
Always a silver lining … ahem.
Filed under: 2026, A Bit Of Inspiration, Comment, Consultants, Corporate Evil, Egovertising, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Technology
Following on from yesterday’s post, I thought I would leave this here without comment.
Well, I say ‘without comment’ but it does reinforce this post I wrote a while ago. And if you can’t be bothered to read that – you lazy bastards – the point is basically this:
Why does business revere ‘leaders’ who have a history of failing at breathtaking scale?
Is it the breathtaking scale that turns them on, or the idea they reframe their choices as ‘innovation’?
Which raises another question:
If Mr Zuckerberg can’t make AI work with his almost endless resources and investment in the technology … why the fuck does every legacy company think they can create an AI product – from scratch and with tech people who are NOT leaders in their field – that will?
God bless the egotistical delusion of old men who think creating their own AI platform makes them look young and relevant.
Hey, at least it makes a change from ‘sports car and having an affair with their secretary’.
Filed under: 2026, A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Apathy, Aspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Cliches, Clients, Collaboration, Communication Strategy, Complicity, Conformity, Consultants, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Distinction, Diversity, Effectiveness, Efficiency, Egovertising, Emotion, Empathy, Entertainment, Experience, Fake Attitude, Focus Groups, Food For Thought, Fulfillment, Independence, Influencers, Integrity, Leadership, Loyalty, Management, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Marketing Practice, Marketing Science, Mediocrity, Perspective, Planners, Planning, Point Of View, Popularity, Professionalism, Provocative, Purpose, Relevance, Reputation, Research, Resonance, Respect, Strategy, Technology, Toxic Positivity, Work
I know, that’s quite the title isn’t it.
Some would even say it’s ‘clickbait’.
Well, while I readily admit it’s slightly exaggerated, hang in there …
So years ago, Jill rang me to tell me she’d discovered Otis – who was about 4 years old back then – had made a shopping list of things he wanted to order on Amazon through Alexa.
Loads of stuff.
Fortunately for us, this included a range of items even Amazon can’t source.
Stuff such as: Eyeballs … Polar Bears … “Poo Poos” … and countless other weird shit his mind decided would be fun to own.
Putting aside the fact this proved he was most definitely my son, hearing his little voice recite all the things that were on his ‘ownership bucket list’ was wonderful, which is why we have never deleted it.
Not just so we can forever relive his childhood curiosity, but because it will be brilliant to play it when he has his 21st birthday – hahaha.
I say this because I recently read another evil genius use – or should I say, abuse – of Alexa.
This.
Why the hell had I never thought of doing this before?
On the positive, it has shown how mature I have become over the years. On the negative, it has highlighted how I am a groupie for mischief because you can be sure-as-hell I will be finding ways to do this to people from here on in. No wonder the guys at Q-Prime called me ‘immune to maturity’.
And while you may shake your head and call me a ‘sad bastard’ for wanting to do this, think of it as an act of revenge against the tech-bro boys.
Because as much as Alexa may have many uses and benefits … it has also fucked humanity. Teaching us to expect instant gratification for whatever we want, whenever we want it.
No moment for pause.
No time for consideration.
No appreciation of nuance.
Where the only thing that matters – and you are judged on – is the speed of the response.
It’s probably why so many brands love influencers.
Not simply because of their audience.
Not simply because of their popularity.
But because they will say EXACTLY what they want … without challenge, opinion or rearticulation.
I don’t blame the influencer for this, because not only are they making bank out of it, why should they give a shit … for them, the relationship is purely transactional and what they’re selling is access, not authenticity.
But I tell you who should care …
Clients.
But in these days where the main topic of conversation seems to be about ‘shouting at scale’ – read: believing media is way more important than working with people who know what to say and how to say it – is it any surprise that despite spending over US$1 TRILLION dollars on advertising last year, the industry feels like one homogenous, barren contrived-as-fuck blob?
Or as a client of mine recently said, “we’re past the brand building age and now in the brand shrinking era”.
I get instant answers are convenient.
I appreciate having people push back on you can be a pain.
But we need to get back to normalizing the value of objectivity.
Because the point of it is not to frustrate, but to stop you shouting into an echo chamber and building something that people helps people become something.
__________________________________________________________________
Finally – as if it being Friday wasn’t good enough – I am away again for 11 days.
ELEVEN!!!
However it’s not all good news because if you’re in Perth, Western Australia … then Paris, France … then Beijing, China … I’m going to be in your hood so watch out.
Actually, it’s even worse for the people in Perth because I’m going to be shouting swearwords at the brilliant State Of Social conference.
That’s right, the wonderful, generous, kind idiots have invited me again … which means some people just never learn from their mistakes.
So have a good weekend/week. Unless you’re in Perth, Paris or Beijing.
See you around the 3rd Sept.
Filed under: 2026, A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Aspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Communication Strategy, Complicity, Conformity, Craft, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Effectiveness, Efficiency, Egovertising, Experience
If you are going to read this post, please start by watching this clip …
I cannot tell you how much I love it.
Not because the speaker answers the question in a way that forces the entire audience to reconsider or re-evaluate their own perspective or judgement … but because I feel it shines a light on something we – as an industry – are increasingly failing to care about.
And that is, ‘do we like what we are creating?’
Don’t get me wrong, I know our job is to find a way to make audiences think or care about our clients in a way that offers them a commercial advantage … but too often it feels we’re ignoring the importance of whether ‘we like it’ in favour of whether ‘the focus groups’ and/or ‘research methodology’ does instead.
And while I fully expect many people will say, ‘who cares, the only people who matter are the customers’, you’d be wrong.
Not simply because it can feel you’re making work to please/appease the C-Suite more than the audience. Not simply because despite billions spent on market research [$150 billion in 2025], we still see high levels of underperformance when work is put out into ‘the real world’. But because if the people creating the work don’t find any joy in the work, then why the fuck do you expect anyone else to like it?
Actually, let’s go one step further …
If you don’t find any joy in what you’re creating, why would anyone else like it to the point they will actively choose to pay large sums of money for it?
Of course, ‘like’ is subjective. On top of that, it is incredibly dependent on having been exposed to a level of breadth, depth and craft of creativity that enables them to make objective and considered choices in how they judge and answer challenges. Which all leads to 3 points:
1. Companies need to stop thinking outsourcing their annual ‘one-size-fits-all’ training is acceptable behaviour. Especially when it’s outsourced to the same individuals and companies as everyone else is using, even though – ironically – they have never actually made any work that has made a sustainable and meaningful impact on society or categories.
2. Employees need to stop thinking that just because they receive a salary for doing a job – and/or have social media followers – they are equipped with all the skills, standards and qualifications to consider themselves ‘an expert’.
3. Marketing needs to respect and elevate the value of ‘experience’ again.
Not popularity.
Not price-point.
Not the ability to write ‘thought leadership’ articles.
Actual experience.
People who have consistently created, crafted and delivered work – not simply been associated with it – that has achieved, challenged pushed standards, brands and categories over and over again.
Because while they may be more expensive than other hires.
While they may be harder to work with because they call out the bullshit.
The value they offer is they’ll create work for you that passes the first level of the harshest critics … themselves.
And in a world of slop, parity and lowest common-denominator landfill, experience means you’ve just increased the odds of your business being able to take giant leaps rather than – at best – a few teeny-tiny, barely noticeable [unless pointed out with a big arrow] shuffles.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Apple, Attitude & Aptitude, Auckland, Brand, Brand Suicide, Clients, Clothes, Communication Strategy, Content, Context, Craft, Crap Campaigns In History, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Design, Details, Effectiveness, Egovertising, Emotion, Empathy, Entertainment, Fans, Fashion, Film, Management, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Marketing Science, Media, Mediocrity, Metallica, Netflix, New Zealand, Premium, Privilege, Relationships, Relevance, Reputation, Respect, Standards, Steve Jobs
For 50 years, I never dressed particularly fashionably.
I had a ‘style’, but it was never one people looked at and thought, “I want to dress like that”.
Questionable t-shirts, ripped jeans and a pair of birkies tend to have that reaction.
Part of this is because growing up, I was never exposed to anything ‘fancy’. Despite my Mum being Italian and going to Italy a lot … my version of designer clothing was stuff from Burton’s and C&A and nothing more.
But over the years, I got more and more exposed to the high-end fashion houses.
Projects with Prada and Chanel introduced me to people, stories and experiences that taught me there was far more to who they were than big prices and even bigger pretentiousness. But even that was not enough to convince me this was something for me.
Hell, I still remember the utter shock I felt when I heard a mate tell me they’d spent 70 quid on a t-shirt.
Sure, this was a 1000 years ago, but back then I didn’t know how that was even possible.
T-shirts were 3 for a few quid from Asda so what on earth could justify 70 pounds for a single tee???
And that was how things carried on for decades until 2 events happened in my life:
I got healthy and I started working for the most successful and influential luxury and street-fashion investor on the planet.
And with those 2 things, everything changed …
I got to go behind the scenes of the highest level of the industry.
I got to talk to the creative directors of the houses and labels who define global fashion.
I got to meet the people who create, curate and craft the experiences that define how fashion makes us feel.
But most of all, (1) I could now actually fit in their clothes and (2) my client sent me shitloads of them for free.
Of course, I appreciate how lucky I am for that – and I massively appreciate that they were doing it to ‘keep encouraging me on my health journey’. But – and I say this with utter love and respect for them – I can’t help the real reason is because they didn’t want me turning up to their big meetings and fancy events dressed like a trainwreck. What maybe triggered this was the time I found myself sitting next to Phoebe Philo, ex-creative director of Celine and founder of her own label, who – on seeing my t-shirt, featuring a cat logo – said:
“I love this, who is it by?”
To which I replied:
“My son made it, and that’s our cat”.
To be fair, she was brilliant but I can’t help but imagine she was also thinking, “who the fuck is this nutter I’m next to?”
Bit like the time I was in the lift with members of the Prada family.
They were – literally – the best dressed people I had ever seen in my entire life.
Me? I was wearing ripped jeans, some Nike’s and a hoodie probably from Asda.
Again, they were kind, warm and welcoming – and never once did I feel judged, in fact the opposite – but it was not long after that I started receiving a lot of fancy clothes – hahaha.
But the point of this post is not that I am more fashionably dressed person than I’ve ever been in my life.
Nor is it that I am one of the luckiest bastards on the planet.
No, it’s that the last few years have completely changed my perspective of the industry.
Where once I may have just seen it as pricey and poncy, I now have a deep appreciation, understanding and respect it..
The creativity, the craft, the inspiration, the statements, the history, the details, the obsession.
Put simply, the belief that EVERY detail matters, no matter how big or small.
Steve Jobs once talked about the importance of ‘painting behind the fence’ – the belief that even if no one ever sees or recognizes the care and consideration you have put into your work, you know and that matters – and in many ways, he could have been describing the luxury fashion industry.
You only has to watch the Netflix Documentary ‘7 Days’ – specifically the episode about Chanel’s couture catwalk show – and you’ll see how much thought goes into how every single detail is presented.
Not simply because image is important to them, but because they want to honour the work they have created.
Make sure it is represented, seen and felt exactly as intended and created.
It is a similar approach Metallica have to their music.
It’s why they bought the best vinyl printing plants in the World.
It’s why they invested in the best live concert sound-system in the World.
It’s why they own the rights to all the music they create and have ever created.
It’s not ego. It’s not hyping. It’s about ensuring they honour the work they’ve made so everyone experiences it exactly as intended, versus letting someone else determine that.
So where the fuck is this all going?
Well, it’s because recently I saw this.
Yep, it’s a billboard for the movie Devil Wears Prada 2.
BUT WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON WITH THAT IMAGE???
How is a movie centered around the world of luxury fashion and media using such a badly designed, stretched and distorted billboard like that?!
Looking online, I can tell you that’s not the official image – at least as far as I can tell – plus I should point out the image has accentuated the lines of the digital billboard, which weren’t visible to the human eye.
But that aside, the image used looks like someone at the local distributor, media agency or billboard company decided, for reasons I don’t understand, to create – or adapt – their own version of the official artwork; the result of which is a visual that makes Devil Wears Prada 2 seems more Poundland than Prada.
Which highlights two very important reminders:
1. Everything communicates who you are and what you value.
2. For the best result, make sure all who work for you – or with you –know who you are and what you value.
I’m not saying price or speed doesn’t matter, of course it does … but what price does sloppiness, misunderstanding or a need-for-speed end up costing?
And to those who say that doesn’t matter, because no one cares … I say this in return.
Not only do you not understand marketing …
Not only do you not care about your company …
You sure as shit don’t understand your customers.
Which gives us one final thing to remember …
For all the systems, processes and marketing practice methodologies you can use … if you forget who its for and what its for, then you’re truly wasting your money.