Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Comment, Creative Brief, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Effectiveness, Egovertising, Fake Attitude, Honesty, Insight, Luxury, Management, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Planning, Positioning, Relevance, Resonance, Status
A client recently told me a story of a very successful client he worked with.
Apparently this person was a lover of cars and owned Ferrari’s and Rolls Royce’s.
My client asked him what the difference was between them.
Expecting some conversation about performance or comfort, he was surprised when he heard:
“When I pull into a hotel in my Ferrari, I’m treated like I’ve booked the Penthouse Suite. But when I pull up in my Rolls, I’m treated like I own the hotel”.
I really like that.
I like it for a whole host of reasons.
But the main one is the clarity in differentiating ‘success’.
So often, as an industry, we define things in absolute terms.
Good. Bad. Rich. Poor. Success, Failure.
But as with all things in life, there’s nuance and texture in there if you look closer.
Which is why planning – despite all the information that is now available to us – is still an outdoor job.
Going out to talk to people.
Listening to different viewpoints.
Watching how different groups react to different situations.
It’s not a ‘day out’. It’s not ‘superficial fluff’.
It’s the difference between doing work for people or about people.
I’ve banged on about the importance of resonance over relevance for years, but it’s never been so important … because with so much choice of who we can give our attention to, if we want to stand any chance of having people give a modicum of a shit about us and what we do/think, then we better be speaking their language and context rather than the language and context we think – or want – them to speak.
[A classic of utter bollocks is still the Gerard Butler, ‘Man of Today’ ad for BOSS. You can read the post I wrote here and see the ad it is referring to, here]
If the people behind the brilliant TV show, Succession, can talk to billionaires to ensure everything on the show reflects how the super rich spend their money – and how they act because of it, ie: they never bend their head down when entering or existing a helicopter because they travel by them so much, they know exactly where the propeller is in relation to their height – then surely we can go and spend some time with people to see what they do and hear how they think about brushing their bloody teeth or something equally inane.
If we want to get back to being valuable to clients, we’d go a long way towards that by stopping with audience generalisations – of which I am absolutely including broad – or even narrow – Lifestage segmentation – and knowing the real nuances.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Comment, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Effectiveness, Fake Attitude, Management, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Michael Mann, Professionalism, Resonance, Teamwork
Teamwork.
A word used so much, by so many, to ironically control others into doing what they want them to do. It’s often got far more in common with production line subserviency than teamwork.
Then there’s the other version.
Where people spout teamwork with a big smile on their face while openly trying to fuck others over so they look better to the people who matter most. The boss, for example.
But what is even worse is when people are called out for not being a team player simply because they have a different opinion.
The great irony is they’re not doing it to be a pain or problematic or to express an ego. It’s to try and offer a viewpoint they think may help get an even better outcome so literally everyone wins.
But no.
They’re criticised, belittled, undermined and made to feel like they’re the problem.
Of course teamwork is important.
It can make a huge difference to the end result.
An exponential difference.
But to do that it’s not simply telling people to practice teamwork.
It’s about having the right people in the mix – by discipline, standards and character. It’s about ensuring everyone has clarity on what they’re all working towards beyond their individual discipline. It’s about ensuring everyone knows what is expected of them and how that works in relation to those around them. It’s about giving them the freedom to use their talent to push the standards and capabilities of what they are responsible for creating, while remaining true to the overall goal everyone is working towards achieving.
I learnt that last bit from the film director Michael Mann.
I found myself with him in a meeting so asked him how he makes films given the amount of different people and disciplines involved.
He told me he starts every project by sitting with the entire production team and explaining his vision for his movie.
The story he wants to make.
What is really important to him.
What he wants people to feel watching it.
He then added this vital element:
“I want everyone to use their talent to make this film better than I could imagine. But it’s has to be my vision of the film. Not one they think I should be making.”
I love that. I love it because his version of teamwork is encouraging everyone to play up to a standard rather than down to a tick box. Which all goes to show that real teamwork is so much more than just sticking a bunch of random people and companies in a room and expecting them to “be a team”.
But that’s what so many companies and managers do.
Either because they’re lazy or just want overall control.
Once upon a time a very good friend of mine went into his annual review.
He had done incredibly well and was hoping he would be recognised for it.
Instead he was bollocked …
Bollocked for having opinions.
Bollocked for asking questions.
Bollocked for not being a ‘team player’.
He listened patiently before replying with what is still the best fuck you, power play I’ve ever heard to that accusation.
“Oh I’m a team player …”, he said, “… I’m just the captain of the team”.
Forever proving – as the pic at the top of this post shows – that as much as people may try to tell you otherwise, there is most definitely an ‘I’ in team.
Legend.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Comment, Confidence, Consultants, Content, Creativity, Culture, Digital, Fake Attitude, Innovation, Management, Perspective, Planners, Point Of View, Professionalism, Relevance, Resonance, Respect
I used to think it took a lot of hard work to be simple.
A lot of thinking.
Evaluating.
Sharpening.
Changing.
But maybe I was wrong because I literally cannot imagine how much time it took to create this:
It’s a masterclass in nonsensical.
A blueprint for showing a company who doesn’t know what they actually do.
A celebration of the buzzword bingo bullshit that permeates so many organisations.
Basically, imposters talking to imposters with words they’ve so bastardised the meaning of, that you’d be hard pressed to recognise their original definition if you were left alone with them in a bar overnight with only a dictionary for company.
The verbal equivalent of Mickey Rourke.
Or Lara Flynn Boyle.
Hence now …
Innovation means ‘we’ve made something average a little bit better’.
Revolution means ‘we’ve never done this before though others have’.
Experience means ‘we offer our customers boring and average’.
Transformation means ‘we’ve caught up to everyone else’.
[hence ‘digital transformation’ is simply code for, ‘not being left so far behind’ as opposed – as many in the industry also like to position it – as reinventing the whole category]
And while adland is the cause of a lot of this bullshit, the consultancies – or worse, the wannabe-consultancies – are taking it to a whole new level. Continually creating nonsensical language and definitions in an attempt to feel intellectually superior to those around them. Believing this sort of language acts as a sort-of ‘code’ that helps identify other delusionists, wannabe’s and/or victims … so they can revel and reward themselves with their Emperors New Clothes bullshit.
Until they can’t.
What is particularly amusing is these companies still celebrate the old adage of ‘quality over quantity’ … even though they show up with a level of excessive vulgarity that would put Donald Trump to shame.
Talking in plain English – or plain any language – is not a bad thing.
If anything, it is the most powerful.
Not just because it is easier to communicate and relate to.
Nor because it shows you can identify the core problem that needs addressing.
But because it captures something my old man used to say to all his young lawyers:
“If you want to show how intelligent you are, you’re not that intelligent”.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Colenso, Comment, Confidence, Consultants, Content, Context, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Emotion, Empathy, Fake Attitude, HHCL, Imagination, Immaturity, Love, Management, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Only In Adland, Planners, Relationships, Resonance, Respect, Uncommon, WeigelCampbell, Wieden+Kennedy
This is a plant in our office.
I have no idea who owns it.
I must admit I don’t even really like it.
But that sticker …
Oh I like that.
I like it a lot.
Sure, to some it may be stupid.
Or even disrespectful.
But to me, it shows a company where the people within it have a mischievously creative spirit. The sort who spot creative opportunities to do something people will notice, or relate to or just feel for a whole host of reasons.
In just a single word, they found a way to make anyone who sees that little sticker not just see a plant, but a hard-to-please, always demanding, never content, forever dissatisfied pain-in-the-ass plant diva.
In short, they gave a plant a personality.
In one word.
Yes I know I have a ‘history’ with dodgy stickers – and I also loved the time someone at Wieden Shanghai put the sticker ‘freedom’ next to the ground floor button in the lift [which was promptly taken down, probably by the same person who still goes mental when they discover another of my Wieden leaving stickers hidden somewhere in the building despite me having left years ago, hahahaha] … but I particularly love this one.
I love someone thought it was worth doing.
I don’t care they may have given it no thought whatsoever – in fact that makes me like it more – because it’s those little, pointless things that reveals the most important thing you could ever want to know about an agency.
Are you entering a place that has a culture of creativity or a business that sells efficiency processes under the label of creativity?
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Chris Jaques, Comment, Emotion, Fake Attitude, Fear, Fulfillment, Honesty, Interviews, Management, Parents, Point Of View, Relationships, Relevance, Respect, Standards, Teamwork, Truth
Recently I was interviewed by 2 creatives who have set up a podcast about imposter syndrome.
As I wrote a while back, imposter syndrome affects pretty much everyone in the industry and can be utterly debilitating.
In that same post, I suggested one way to deal with it, is not to hide from it, but to embrace it.
Because in some circumstances, imposter syndrome can help your career.
Seriously.
It means it never let’s you phone something in.
It means it always demands you push your talent further.
It means it will force you to keep exploring possibilities.
I’m not saying that isn’t painful, but it may change your relationship with it … because instead of undermining your career, maybe you can use it to build it.
Maybe.
Anyway, I was interviewed about this and a bunch of other issues connected to imposter syndrome and if you want to listen to that – or the much better ones, such as Nils from Uncommon – then you can go here and find out more about something that more people than you’d imagine have to deal with.