Every now and then, you see a video that just gets to you.
Sometimes it’s something very sad.
Sometimes it’s something very funny.
Sometimes it’s just something that reaches deep down and squeezes your heart.
This is one of those videos.
It’s beautiful.
It’s beautiful for its genuineness.
It’s beautiful for its love.
It’s beautiful for it’s joy.
And while it reawakened how much I miss my Mum – and actually made me cry – it’s also just bloody lovely.
My favourite bit is the moment he realises his Mum is there and immediately runs towards her shouting “Mama”.
Despite not seeing her for 10 years, his reaction is instinctual … not even leaving time for him to pause in shock.
In the blink of an eye, he goes from being a big guy to a little boy.
That’s how important Mum’s can be to you.
They’re special.
My Mum was that for me.
And Otis’ Mum is that to him.
It’s pretty fucking awesome when you think about it.
Literally, the power of love and compassion.
We could all do with a bit more of that in the World.
So have a good weekend and give a loved one a hug or a call. Everyone will feel better for it.
So when I was in Italy my family there showed me a lot of photos.
Many I had seen before, some I hadn’t.
This is one of them …
That’s my Mum.
I don’t know when it was taken, but I’m guessing it was in the early 60’s when she arrived in London to study English.
If I’m right, she wouldn’t have even met my Dad yet – let alone started dating him – which means this is a part of her life where she is literally crossing the bridge between her old life and her future.
I love this photo.
I love it because obviously, it’s my Mum … but also because her body language conveys confidence and excitement.
I am in no doubt she knew she was entering a World of possibilities and she was thrilled by the idea of it.
But there is something else I love.
It’s the man on the top right of the photo looking back at Mum.
Even though it captures a millisecond of an event that happened over 50 years ago, I adore the fact it appears this guy was so taken by this striking and stylish young lady, that he had to turn away from the woman he was in conversation with to look at her.
Not just because of her beauty, but because of her confidence.
And I love that because it’s a side of my Mum that I didn’t really see.
Let me rephrase that.
It’s not that my Mum wasn’t confident in later life, but it was less overt in her body language.
Or maybe I didn’t see it because she was just my Mum.
But I love it.
I love how she looks like she’s cutting a swathe through the busy streets of London.
That she is the star.
That the World awaits.
I wish I could have talked to her immediately after this photo was taken.
Yes, I know that would be very Back To The Future … but it would be amazing to ask how she is feeling, what she is thinking and – most interestingly of all – what she hopes for her life.
I hope she was not disappointed with what she got because she deserved the World.
Miss you Mum.
Love you Mum.
Filed under: Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Experience, Family, Fatherhood, Holiday, Jill, Love, Otis
So by the time you read this post, I’ll be in Paris.
And yes, it’s for work.
It’s potentially the best work assignment of my life because not only do I have the pleasure of presenting to a bunch of global NIKE guys, I’m doing a presentation about Boatie McBoatface.
No really, I am.
Mind you, having written that down, I’m starting to realise the idea was better when it was in my head.
Oh well, too late now …
But if you think that’s showing off, wait till you hear this.
Tomorrow I fly home …
But it’s not to go back to work, oh no, it’s to pick up my wife and son and then get on another plane and spend a month on holiday.
I can’t wait … we will be catching up with old friends, seeing members of family and doing a bunch of new things in new places.
But most of all, we will be together … and while I’d love Rosie the cat to be with us, it will still be very special for me.
Being together is precious.
Of course that is to be expected, however when you have a young child, it takes on another dimension.
You don’t just do things together … you get to experience new things together.
Normally with a young child, life falls into 2 parts:
1. You bring them into your life. [Where they experience things you’ve done before]
2. You let them explore their life. [Where they experience things designed just for them]
But on a holiday – especially a holiday where you will be spending time in a place none of you have been before – you get to experience things for the first time together, literally share an experience where everyone is [kind-of] equal.
Now while I know it is exceedingly unlikely my 18 month old baby will ever remember anything from it, the fact is I will and I can tell you it will automatically be something important in my life and that makes me extra excited to be going away.
I’m back on the 17th July, so enjoy your holiday from me while I enjoy my holiday from you.
After a wonderful day for Jill’s birthday – which included a surprise visit from her Mum, all the way from Australia – today I celebrate another incredible precious person in my life … Paul.
I’ve written so much about this guy over the years …
From our childhood.
To his clumsiness.
To his appendage.
To our history.
To my love for him.
Now my parents have gone, he is the person I have known the longest in my life and is now even more important to me today than he was before.
Every single important moment in my life has involved him.
Some directly, some indirectly … but always with him a part of it.
From my first days in the World to starting pre-school to failing/passing/failing/passing my exams to being in a band to getting a job to moving countries to experiencing family tragedy to getting married to becoming a Dad.
I swear he is one of the main reasons I’ve been able to get through the highs and lows of life relatively unscathed because at the heart of it, he brings incredible happiness into my life.
Not just for a moment.
Not just every now and then.
But every single time I’m with him or think of him.
Part of this is because when we’re together, we immediately revert back to who we were as little kids and part of it is because he gets into all manner of ridiculous scrapes, but a lot of it is because he’s just a kind hearted, wonderfully-natured idiot. Ha.
Of course he would probably say the same about me … and I’d be extremely happy about that, because despite us living very different lives, we are still fundamentally the same as we always have been – at least where we are both concerned – and I regard that as one of the greatest things that’s ever happened to me.
Sadly, I won’t be with him to share his special day today, but I will be with him in a few weeks and I look forward to smiling and laughing till it hurts because he’s more than a special friend, he’s literally good for my health and wellbeing.
Happy birthday lovely man, I hope you enjoy a day of presents, drink and general stupidity.
See you soon.
Filed under: Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Communication Strategy, Corporate Evil, Crap Marketing Ideas From History!, Creativity, Family, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Only In Adland, Parents, Social Media, Standards
So writing a post this topical is a new experience for me, but I saw an ad being posted over and over again on social media this past weekend and I had to write about it.
This is the ad …
Now I admit, when I first saw it, I smiled and thought it was mildly humourous and then I realised what I was looking at was a company being massively exploitative and basically horrible.
This airline is using the break-up of a family … a family involving 6 kids … as an opportunity to try and flog their airline tickets.
Think about that for a moment.
Sure, the parents involved in the ad are huge celebrities … but does that give a company the right to literally piss on their pain for their own gain?
I don’t think so.
Imagine if someone did that to you in your moment of sadness.
Your marriage breaks up.
You lose your job.
A loved one dies.
I pretty much doubt you’d let a family member make a joke like that, let alone a total stranger.
Of course the marketing community will say I’m being a miserable old bastards and say this is a great example of being a ‘challenger brand’ or ‘cultural hijacking’ but that’s because a lot of the marketing community are a bunch of empathy devoid fucks who don’t know what the hell they are talking about.
Most of my career has been connected to challenger brands – and I’ve done more than my share of cultural hijacking – but I’ve never done work where I used an individual persons tragedy to big my client up … especially when my client and the individuals involved have absolutely nothing to do with each other.
Is taking the piss out of companies who have done wrong, fair game?
Sure.
Is taking the piss out of people who have a reputation for a particular behaviour fair game?
Maybe … in very specific circumstances.
But even if the CEO of Hitler Industries endured a personal tragedy, I would never advocate using that as a platform to flog some airline tickets because if you have no empathy or standards, why do you think anyone should have it towards you.
Imagine if a Swedish Airline ran this ad after the terrible 2011 massacre in Norway:
Do you think Norwegian Airlines would be happy?
Do you think they’d say it was unprofessional and in terrible, terrible taste?
I am pretty sure they would, but it seems that rule would only apply if it concerns their wellbeing.
Pricks.
Of course some will say, “but the ad’s worked because people are talking about it” … but there’s 2 responses to that.
1. Awareness doesn’t mean effectiveness.
Given the ad is all about trying to flog some tickets to the US, it can only be deemed successful if they sold out. [And even that is open to intreptation given they may have only put a few tickets on ‘sale prices’ to justify the ad]
2. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.
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I know you may think I’m going on and on about this, but if this kind of work becomes acceptable, where does the line get drawn?
More than that, if this sort of work becomes your baseline, what do you think people will think of you?
Sure, they may find you amusing, but does that mean they will want to give you their money.
Many years ago I was working with a big global consumer electronics brand that kept talking about wanting to do ads using Mr Bean because of the shows popularity in their market.
It was only when we pointed out that while people may like Mr Bean, how many would trust his advice to spend US$10,000 on a television.
I get the first rule for communication is to get noticed … but if revelling in others misery or misfortune becomes your schtick, then don’t start crying when people start turning on you. Just look at GREY FOR GOOD if you want more proof of that happening.