Filed under: Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Corona Virus, Corporate Evil, Culture, Emotion, Empathy, Management, Marketing, Marketing Fail
There’s an old saying that where there’s crisis, someone is making a fortune.
But this time, things are different.
Whatever industry – except, perhaps, video-conferencing, pasta-making and loo paper manufacturing – everyone is being challenged.
In fact the impact of COVID-19 has been so fundamental – from how society lives to how business operates – that things may never be the same again.
That sounds terrifying, especially with so many challenges to overcome, but one of societies greatest abilities is their way of adapting to – and creating – the ‘new normal’ which is why [to paraphrase Alvin Toffler] the illiterate of business in a post-COVID-19 era won’t be those who cannot read or write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.
Right now, across the World, the everything is being re-written.
What people want …
What people value …
What people expect …
What people aspire to …
And while some will claim that as things become normal, so will habits … it doesn’t take much to realise COVID-19 has already pressed societies reset.
The British government gave data to supermarkets so they could prioritise the elderly.
Companies stepped up for the greater good … from free food for the DR’s and Nurses to manufacturing products needed in the fight against COVID-19.
Communities started forming again. Really forming. Coming together to look after each other with compassion and fairness.
Humanity can work.
Government can care about the masses.
Commerce can balance compassion with profit.
The people who keep the country moving can be more respected than the people who earn the most.
We can’t forget this.
I hope we are not allowed to.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Confidence, Creativity, Culture, Digital, Embarrassing Moments, Emotion, Empathy, Entertainment, Immaturity, Innocence
In these days of working at home, the possibility of making a video-conference disaster are quite high.
I’ve already had some ‘incidents’ …
For example I was on a concall recently and Rosie – our cat – decided that would be the perfect moment to release the World’s biggest hairball right by the microphone of the laptop.
That went down well.
Then there was the moment Jill and Otis thought it would be fun to fire water pistols against the window I was working from. What they didn’t know was that I – you guessed it – was on a concall again.
The photo at the top of this post captures that moment.
Then there was the second ‘cat’ incident.
I was on a video conference with a client when I noticed them smiling.
“Hey Rob …”, they said, “… your cat seems to have climbed your wardrobe”.
Now given Rosie is so old she won’t even jump on my lap, I looked behind me to see what he was going on about.
“Oh,” I replied, “that’s not my cat, that’s a cuddly toy”.
The client laughed and said, “Wow, it looks very life like” to which I responded …
“I hope so, I paid a fortune to have it made to look exactly like my cat”.
He quickly changed the subject, but he had that unmistakable look in his eye … the look of, WHY HAVE I LET THIS LUNATIC WORK ON MY BRAND?
But for all those incidents, nothing – absolutely NOTHING – compares to this …
Do I feel sorry for ‘Jennifer’?
Sure. But my god, it made me laugh.
I know for a fact if I was on a zoom call and did this in front of my team, not one of them would say a word.
Not because they would be wishing they were blind, nor because they’d be vomiting on sight … but because they’d be busy instagramming the shit out of it.
And I don’t mind telling you, I’d be very proud of them for their evil genius.
Then I’d release all the bad instagram photos I’ve taken of them.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Communication Strategy, Creative Brief, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Emotion, Empathy, Planners, Planners Making A Complete Tit Of Themselves And Bless, Planning, Point Of View
Sam, one of my creative colleagues, excitedly sent me a song that he said, clearly explains the relationship creatives have with planners.
He did add ‘bad planners’, but he was only feeling guilty after I bought him a Kit Kat.
While it would be easy to say he’s a prick – and he is, but more in his general behaviour and attitude than this moment of cheek – his point is an important one for planners to remember.
Our job is to be useful to the creatives.
Doesn’t matter what sort of creative they are – ad, design, tech, industrial, the answer is the same …
Useful.
Not dictatorial.
Not demanding.
But actually helping them to do something interesting rather than just right.
That means giving them the right problem to solve rather than the answer you want.
That means talking to them about the brief rather than presenting it to them.
That means understanding the nuance of culture not the generalisations.
That means giving them a direction rather than a specific destination.
That means remembering your job doesn’t stop when creative development starts.
That means always looking for ways to give them more stuff that can expand or deepen their idea rather than think ‘working with the creatives’ means sitting with them and pretending you are one of them”.
That means building things up, not tearing things down.
That means focusing on the work, not your ego.
That means being open rather than closed.
That means pushing creativity not agendas.
That means being clear, not complicated.
That means giving space not pressure.
That means loving the fuck out the work.
Filed under: Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Audio Visual, Authenticity, Business, Comment, Communication Strategy, Confidence, Content, Context, Creative Brief, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Emotion, Empathy, Experience, Fulfillment, Innovation, Insight, Management, Marketing, Planners, Planners Making A Complete Tit Of Themselves And Bless, Planning, Point Of View, Positioning, Relationships, Relevance, Resonance, Standards
Problems.
We love them.
The bigger and badder the better.
Of course you have to be sure you have the right problem.
And then you have to remember that as much as some people may want to claim it, business – and life, for that matter – can not be approached like one big engineering problem.
Well, it can, but the solutions are – at best – short term and – at worst – ignored for being utterly bland, boring and emotionless.
But that’s not what this post is about.
You see, in our quest to solve big problems, we like to show our solutions by overwhelming the client with our brilliance.
Brilliance of our considerations.
Brilliance of our proof points.
Brilliance of our brains.
I get it …
You not only want to lead the client through your thinking so they ‘get it’, but because you’re proud of what you’ve done.
But there’s 3 things wrong with this approach …
The first is – as my Dad used to say – if you’re desperate to show how intelligent you are, then you’re not that smart.
This has never been more true in the creative industry where the reality is the work should be doing the proving, not you.
And secondly, this ‘demonstration of intelligence’ approach more often than not, results in presentations that are hundreds of pages long.
Literally hundreds.
Slide after slide that takes people on an extremely long journey on how difficult the problem is you have to solve and how complex and detailed the path to your solution has been.
It is, at best, a strategy where the goal is to beat the recipient into submission.
And why am I saying all this?
Well recently, I caught up with someone who told me 3 things I absolutely love.
Three things that should change the way companies approach problems and communicate their solutions.
Now full disclosure …
The person who said this is not some random individual.
In fact I’ve known and worked with them for a long, long time.
But more than that, he is – and has been for 2 decades – at the top of his game.
The business leaders, business leader.
An individual with an incredible history of success through pragmatic decision making and investment in innovation.
I asked him if I could mention his name but he said he preferred if I didn’t. Not because he wants to be mysterious, but because he’s humble … which is another reason he doesn’t work in adland, ha.
That said, he has personally shaped the way I present …
Semi-structured, singular stories rather than a mass of slides.
Strong visuals rather than pages of information.
Clarity rather than confusion.
Spoken through the nuanced, authentic lens of culture rather than superficial generalisations of convenience.
Communicating as an informed outsider rather than a blinkered insider.
The language of people not corporates.
Provocative rather than comfortable.
Inspiring the possibilities of creativity rather than creating structures to stop it.
Now I appreciate not everyone appreciates my style – and that’s fine – however, it has led to a lot of success for me and now, I realise why.
You see what this individual said to me was this:
1. Make sure your presentation is focused on the opportunity not the problem.
2. Remember, solutions need to be simpler than the problem.
3. If you can’t sum your solution up in a sentence, you have either an ego problem or a problem with your solution.
That’s it.
Sounds obvious doesn’t it.
But how many of us are doing it?
How many of us are writing presentations that celebrate the complexity of the problem rather than the power of the opportunity?
How many of us are talk about our approach to executing the solution rather than what the solution actually is?
How many of us talk about solutions as a range of elements tasks rather than one overarching idea?
I would like to think I’ve been following those 3 steps for years, but even now – I read them and go through old approaches and see where I could have done things differently.
More concise.
Cleaner … at least in the articulation of the solution and how I got there.
One of the best bits of advice I ever got was ‘talk to a friend outside the industry about your idea. If they don’t get it, you might need to re think about it.’
This is not about dumbing down.
Or being simplistic and basic.
It’s about really thinking about what you’re doing and how you’re expressing it.
Because as Ronald Reagan said, “if you’re explaining, you’re losing”.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, China, Chinese Culture, Comment, Confidence, Context, Creative Brief, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Emotion, Empathy, Insight, Marketing, Nike, Planners, Relevance, Resonance, Wieden+Kennedy
Jordan.
Basketball. Baseball. Movies. CEO. Icon.
As careers go, that’s pretty impressive.
But what is even more impressive is his competitiveness.
When I was working on his brand, we heard so many stories about this.
His relentless quest to succeed.
His insane focus and drive.
Of course, a lot of these tales have now become folklore as they became the backbone to many of his – and his brands – most famous ads … with ‘Failure’ probably being one of the most well known of them all.
And while it would be easy to brush all this off as marketing hype, the reality is they all represent Jordan at his core – his ability to reframe better than almost anyone – because he can one see one thing … the power in competitiveness.
Note this is different to winning.
Winning may be the goal, but how you get there is by being competitive.
This means you never take anything for granted.
This means you practice with the same intensity as if you’re in a game.
This means you don’t give an inch, regardless who the competition are.
This means you commit to being your best before your feet even hit the court.
It’s this approach that led us – when I was at Wieden Shanghai – to making a film in China to help kids see competitiveness as a good thing.
You see in China, while everyone knows the sheer amount of people there means you have to be competitive to stand any chance of getting ahead, culturally it is not seen as a good thing to openly talk about your ambitions.
Not because it’s a communist country – though there is a bit of that – but because it’s a country that likes to talk about harmony.
The ability to be balanced and together.
This meant kids were conflicted between acting with grace while feeling the pressure to be get ahead and we saw this tension as the perfect opportunity for Jordan – a man and a brand, built on performance – to help kids see the beauty in being competitive.
Not at the expense of destroying others, but the commitment to always be your best … never resting, never being satisfied, never losing the hunger to win.
And while some may think that is pretty one dimensional … I prefer to see it as believing in your ability to make a difference.
That with hard work, you can be noticed.
You may not win everything.
Hell, you may not win anything.
And the only guarantee is you will face challenges and hardship.
But with commitment, you can – at the very least – make it difficult for the ones who think their victory is inevitable.
And that in itself, is often the best victory of them all.