Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Context, Experience, Loyalty, Management, Marketing, Planning, Premium, Relationships, Relevance, Resonance
So I was talking at event recently about ‘loyalty’ and mentioned how when the Amazon Dash button came out, one of my clients was ecstatic.
In their mind, it meant they were going to see sales grow because instead of having to risk a shopper buying a competitive brand, they would press the button and the sale would be there’s guaranteed.
In my talk, I went on to say how I told the client that was great in theory, but there were 3 things they had to think about.
1. The real winner is always going to be Amazon.
2. It was going to be a huge race to see who could get the most ‘buttons’ into homes.
3. The result would be the destruction of their hardly fought – and expensively bought – premium brand value status.
At the end, a gentleman asked me why I thought turning a brand into a commodity was a bad idea as it meant more sales and that meant more money for the brand and the shareholders.
I must admit, I was quite taken aback by this response and pointed out that being a commodity might generate more sales, but it loses profitability and – more scarily – leaves you open to a competitor deciding to either launch a price war or disrupt the market with a new product.
He wasn’t convinced and kept going on about commodity value and how soon all brands will end up following that route.
I must admit I was a bit rude to him so after the event, I sought him out to have a chat.
Turned out he worked for a car insurance company and highlighted his category was driven purely by price.
When I asked him what he meant, he said:
“As long as your company name is generally known in a generally good light, you will get business”.
It took all my strength not to laugh in his face, so instead I simply replied,
“So you do believe in brand value or you wouldn’t care if the company name was generally known in a generally good light”.
You could see him look confused, so I decided to just finish the job off by saying …
“And if you believe everything is a commodity, why are you wearing an expensive watch when a Timex does the same job?”
He smiled a ‘fuck you’ smile at me, said goodbye then left.
It was a good evening.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Bangkok Shakes, Childhood, Culture, Education, Experience, Happiness, Queen
When I was in my late teens, I would go to Rock City, every Friday night.
Rock City was a mecca for heavy rock music fans.
From 9 till 2am, it would play none-stop tunes at eardrum-busting volume.
There would be the classic songs by the classic bands – Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Queen, Whitesnake – but the best bit was when they would play something that was just breaking over in the US.
It was at Rock City I first heard Guns n’ Roses, Cinderella, Love/Hate, Badlands and countless others.
Eventually, Rock City gained an international reputation and so bands would not only send them copies of their new album before they were released, but they would ensure they visited and played at the venue as part of their World Tour.
I went to that smelly, sweaty, cramped and pulsating venue for absolute years.
Starting at the Tap and Tumbler pub round the corner before queuing up for entry in the sort of clothes a stripper would balk at before hanging around the edges of the club to say hello to the friends and acquaintances you knew before finally working your way through the heaving, throbbing masses to get into the middle of the dance floor so you could be swept up and pushed around by the intense energy of hundreds of people all loving the same thing at the exact same moment.
They were, quite frankly, some of the best times of my life.
I made friends.
It forged and influenced my love of music.
I discovered what being part of a community was really like.
It pushed me to experience and experiment with things I may never have done.
Which is all my way of justifying why – when I heard they were changing the floor after
40 years and were selling the old one off in pieces – I happily paid them £40 so I could own a piece of my history forever. [See pic at the top of this post]
Yes, it’s tragic.
Yes, it’s pathetic.
But as mid-life crises go, it’s less expensive than a Porsche.
Or an affair.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Brand Suicide, Cannes, Chaos, Content, Context, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Differentiation, Experience, Honesty, Imagination, Innovation, Insight, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Martin Weigel, Professionalism, Relevance, Resonance, Unexpected Relevance
I love chaos.
Always have.
In fact, my approach to work can be summed up in 3 words.
Culture. Chaos. Creativity.
And yet, I do appreciate the importance of some sort of process … some sort of systematic thinking in terms of approach … because ultimately we are in the commercial creativity business, so we need some guide rails to ensure we’re heading in the right direction, even if I am removing any specific destination.
Where things go wrong is when people care more about the process than what the process is supposed to create.
Where systematic thinking goes from direction to dictation.
That’s when things go wrong.
That’s when potential and ambition are killed in the quest for control.
But here’s the thing …
For all the processes talked about.
For all the proprietary tools hyped.
The system agencies tend to end up adopting – even when they’re hidden inside a beautifully constructed, clearly planned out, client facing framework – is this.
This is not a criticism.
To get to somewhere new … somewhere interesting and intriguing … you have to take a leap of faith at some point, even in the most well-organised, well thought-out of processes.
Some people don’t like admitting that.
Some people don’t want the pragmatism of creativity to overshadow the ego of their process.
Some people don’t even want to accept creativity rarely follows a straight line through the entire process.
And yet it is creativities ability to solve problems in lateral ways that makes it so valuable and powerful, which is why for me, those who are comfortable with uncomfortable are the ones who create the most enduring ideas for brands, business and culture.
And the ones who aren’t?
Well they tend to be the ones who use words like operationalize or optimise or codify or, the old classic, ‘proprietary tools and processes’ a lot … the ones who want to feel in control, despite the fact what they’re actually saying is they want to replicate creativity rather than ignite it.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s always some element of process in any development of creativity – whatever form that manifests – but there’s also messiness and chaos and to remove that, not make room for that or go around that is either a lie or an act against the incredibly infectious possibilities of creativity.
As Martin and I said at Cannes, chaos creates what order can’t.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Confidence, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Emotion, Empathy, Experience, Fashion, Insight, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Relevance, Resonance
I saw this person on the tube recently.
I don’t know who they are.
I accept I have no right to talk about fashion or shoes.
But a pair of brown crocs with some glittered-up stones glued to them feels the sort of things by a Blue Peter host would have come up with circa 1982.
What makes it even more confusing is they were carrying an LV bag.
And while I haven’t seen such an odd pairing since I saw Cate Blanchett and her husband, I have to say I loved it.
It was quirky.
It was individual.
It was the sort of thing that pushes ‘fashion’ and could either crash and burn or open up a new chapter of it. And given we live in a world that tends to play safely in the middle, the people on the edges are the ones we should be looking at and celebrating.
When Martin and I did our Cannes talk for Warc, we talked about ‘the edge effect’.
It’s a genuine term – associated more with nature than planning – but the point is still valid. If you want to move brands forward, play to where culture is heading not where it is and to do that, seek out the people on the edges not smack bang in the centre.
_________________________________________________
UPDATE:
Since I wrote this post, I discovered these shoes weren’t the work of a children’s TV presenter, some Pritt Stick glue, some stones from the garden and a couple of tubes of glitter but a real live bloody shoe designer.
Christopher Kane to be precise.
And what’s more, they cost £325.
THREE HUNDRED AND TWENTY FIVE POUNDS.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
Suddenly my wifi cup, remote control ball and basically 99% of everything I’ve ever bought looks a wise investment in comparison.
So to Mr Kane, your career might be done but you made me feel better about myself.Ta.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Confidence, Culture, Embarrassing Moments, Experience, Planners, Planners Making A Complete Tit Of Themselves And Bless, Planning, R/GA
Yes, that’s me.
It’s not totally random because a few weeks ago, the planning department at R/GA held an impromptu Elton John party.
Though I’m not quite sure why we did it to be honest.
Anyway, we went to town with it …
Elton glasses … Elton inspired drinks … Elton boa’s … Elton masks … even an Elton John impersonator.
I’m not sure which was my favourite part of fake Elton’s performance.
On one hand, it was pretty hilarious when he loudly announced through the PA system “Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome Elton John to the stage” and then we saw the post room door [which was doubling as his dressing room] rattling madly as he tried to get out without realizing he had to press the unlock button.
Though – all things considered – I probably prefer the moment he ran out of Elton John songs and decided to start singing The Proclaimers. [See the video below]
But back to that photo …
While you might think the sight of me on a stepladder wearing an Elton John mask is the worst thing you can imagine, let me remind you of the time I wore a mask of the Queen for my first ever photo with my son.
See, nowhere near as bad.
That said, I acknowledge it is pretty tragic which means – in comparison – your Monday is far less horrific.
You’re welcome.