Filed under: Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Communication Strategy, Context, Creativity, Culture, Emotion, Empathy, Equality, Fulfillment, Loyalty, Management, Planning, Relevance, Resonance
Great advertising ideas – like any form of success – tend to have a thousand authors.
Of course, we all play a part in the journey to something being awesome, but it’s fair to say some play a bigger part than others.
What makes me laugh is when people who had nothing to do with the work suddenly – and publicly – start associating with it.
Not just in terms of being employed by the same company, but in having some magical, pivotal role … even though when the spotlight turns off, they’re back to their usual obstacle-creating, idea-destroying self.
But there’s something worse than that …
It’s the people who were pivotal in developing the idea but are not acknowledged for it.
They tend to be young teams …
Too junior to feel they can say something, surrounded by people who think this is just part of the right of passage.
And it is. But it shouldn’t be.
For me, this is where management need to take responsibility.
Ensure their people share the spotlight.
Let them enjoy the feeling of doing something good.
Make sure they understand the responsibility they have, not just the glory.
But too often that is not what happens …
Too often, they see their manager take the credit – and while they definitely played a role in helping their team play to that level – the real rewards should be saved for those who did the work, rather than those who happened to be in the same room when the work was being made.
A friend of mine has recently experienced this.
Ideas dismissed, then slightly rephrased by another, more senior person, to take the praise and credit.
And the people around them all knew it was happening but they let it continue happening.
“It’s just their way” they say.
“They made it better” they claim.
What makes it even worse is the reality of the situation soon gets forgotten and it’s the person who claimed the work who gets placed on a pedestal for all the great things that happened.
Leaving the originator behind.
Wondering what the fuck just happened. Questioning their ability and talent. Losing their confidence to keep going.
I’ve seen it happen.
I’ve seen it not that long ago.
Hell, I’ve had it happen to me … and when I stood up to the person doing it, I got in trouble with my then boss for being a ‘disruptive force’.
This taught me a valuable lesson – reinforced by some of the amazing leaders I’ve had the privilege of working with – and that is the true value of management is ultimately defined by how well the team does.
Not personally.
But collectively.
And by well, I mean in terms of the work that is created, rather than the documents written.
Don’t get me wrong, decks have an important role to play – but I’ve seen far too many managers only care that their ‘bit’ goes down well with the client, forgetting if it doesn’t help those around them get to better, more intriguing or provocative work, it’s nothing more than self-serving vanity.
Which is why I believe a managers role is to create an environment that lets their people be vulnerable, audacious, experimental and exploratory … as well as forging a culture that ensures the team feels backed, supported, acknowledged and pushed – rather than ignored, misled or stolen from.
And if they do that, then they’re doing their job.
Not a great job. Just their job.
Please do not mistake this as condescending compliments at all agency meetings.
Nor patronising pats on the back at team get-togethers.
I mean they actively fight for the career development of their team individually and as a whole.
Not just money or title or promotion …
But exposure, experience, possibilities and opportunities. So when a member of the team leaves – and everyone does at some point – they get a job that is better than they ever imagined they’d get.
One where they’re hired for how they look at the world rather than just filling a position.
Now you don’t get this easy. People have to earn it. They have to graft for it. They have to have awareness about what they’re doing and where they’re at.
But if they do that, the least a manager can do in return is back them, support them and push them on every step of their journey … even when they fuck up.
Which they will do at some point, because we all do.
And frankly, if they don’t … then they’re not trying hard enough.
The young of this industry are often used as cannon fodder.
Run to exhaustion.
Given huge demands.
And while not everyone will be the same in terms of skills, ability or outlook (which is a good thing or you’ve got a department of one dimensional robots) … they all need to be protected, nurtured and supported, because the future of this industry will be built on the standards and experiences we pass on to those we are responsible for, rather than leaving them to fend for themselves with all that they do.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Audio Visual, Authenticity, Comment, Confidence, Craft, Creativity, Culture, Design, Fulfillment, Honesty, Perspective, Presenting, Relationships
One of the things I find really interesting is how adland has got into the habit of providing clients with multiple options for every bit of work.
Oh I get it.
Apart from the fact there’s always more than one way to answer any brief, we want – or should I say, we need – clients to be happy.
Except it doesn’t always end up that way does it?
We make alternatives that aren’t as good as the idea we think they should buy.
Clients demand diluted versions of the work we don’t really like in the first place.
We end up getting fired because the campaign they pushed us to make didn’t work as well as they wanted.
Who are the bigger idiots?
The people who don’t buy what the experts put forward or the experts that offer alternatives they don’t really believe in?
Which is why every single person should read the story of Paul Rand – the designer who Steve Jobs turned to, to design the logo for his NeXT computer company.
Not just because it’s a brilliant story.
Not just because he didn’t even bother to turn up to the pitch, he just sent a brilliant 100 page book with his idea in it.
But because when Jobs was asked what it was like to work with Rand, he said …
“I asked him if he would come up with a few options, and he said … no, I will solve your problem for you and you will pay me.
You don’t have to use the solution. If you want options go talk to other people.’”
How good is that?
+ I will solve your problem for you.
+ You will pay me for my recommendation, whether you use it or not.
+ If you want options, go talk to other people.
While some may claim that makes Paul Rand arrogant or petulant, I would say it shows someone who knows the value of their experience … their talent and their craft.
More than that, I think it shows someone who really thinks about what idea is the right one for their client and then puts only that one in front of them.
Not countless options.
One.
A single idea that has gone through hundreds of possibilities to get to that single recommendation.
Something that has been created and crafted to answer the brief, rather than simply executed to satisfy the clients taste.
And while the article itself states the NeXT logo might not be a classic … the style, approach and attitude of the presentation certainly is.
Adland should take note.
Read it here.
Filed under: Attitude & Aptitude, Childhood, Dad, Daddyhood, Emotion, Family, Fatherhood, Fulfillment, Home, Jill, Love, Mum, Mum & Dad, My Fatherhood, Otis, Relationships
Nothing says privileged like an unemployed, 50 year old man moving to a new house in the country.
And I am that privileged prick, because today, we’re doing just that.
Given the terrible times people are going through, I appreciate how shit that sounds … and it is … but it’s also something my wife and I have been working towards for the last 15 years and why I sold the family home I grew up in, loved and inherited when Mum died so we could one day have this moment.
I don’t mean that just in terms of being able to afford the house – though that was a big part of it – but also because it meant my parents could feel they helped their only son create the family environment they always wished for me.
The reality is my Mum – my wonderful, beautiful, kind and compassionate Mum – told me the day before she died, that she wished she could leave more to me.
As I told her, she had given me the most amazing thing … a loving, supportive, encouraging family life and childhood.
When I was young, I didn’t know how special it was … but as I got older, I realised the upbringing I enjoyed with my parents was very different to many.
So to have that AND a house is like winning the jackpot.
I am not sure if Mum ever understood that, but I hope she did.
I hope she also understands that the wonderful family home I lived in for the first 25 years of my life and that she kindly and generously left to me, directly allowed my family to buy the home we’re moving into today.
So she gave me so, so, so much.
Plus the house has a stellar garden which would make Mum and Dad ecstatic … though I’m pretty sure they’d feel less happy about it when they see their son will have inadvertently killed everything within a month.
This is an important move for us.
Previously we knew we were only in places for a period of time, so while we settled there and enjoyed everywhere, there was something that stopped us truly connecting. Even if we bought the place we were living in, we knew we would be gone at some point so it was our temporary house … our temporary home … but this is different.
Not just because it’s in the countryside rather than the city, but because this is where we want our roots to grow. Where we want the walls to hold stories from our past and future. Where we want to be part of – and add to – the local community.
Now this doesn’t mean we will stay here forever, neither does it mean we will never move countries again … but what I can tell you is we buy this house with the view of it being our real family home.
Somewhere for the long term, not the short.
Somewhere we will always return, wherever we go.
Somewhere where Otis can blossom and connect.
And the fact we are moving into it on Jill and my 13th wedding anniversary just makes it feel even more special. At least to us.
Because of this, there will be no more blog posts till next Tuesday … we need to move, unpack and help Otis settle into his village school … another thing he’s never really had a chance to be a part of.
I have loved living in London.
I will always be a city person.
But I’m excited to experience what our first proper home, deep in the countryside, will do for my wonderful family, especially as the first thing my nature loving [and needing] Australian wife said as we got out the car to check the house out for the first time was …
“Listen, it’s so preciously quiet”.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Confidence, Fulfillment, Happiness, Management
It’s Monday.
The start of the week.
A week full of hope, promises and potential.
Oh who am I kidding? It’s Monday. Fucking Monday.
Now at this point, maybe you expect me to sweep in and add some colour to your grey day. Some optimism to your 8 hours of impending misery? Well if you do you obviously haven’t been reading this blog very long because in reality, I’m going to double down on the misery.
Here is a website.
Click on it.
Go on. I promise it won’t take you to anywhere embarrassing. Oh no, it will just take you to somewhere humiliating.
I don’t mean weird pictures or embarrassing photos – oh no – I mean something much worse.
Your salary!
OK, not literally yours – but it’s a website that shows you how quickly certain CEO’s take to earn your salary. Your annual salary.
And while I get that people like Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos would take an embarrassingly small amount of time to do it – in many cases, seconds rather than days or weeks or months – when it takes an equally small amount of time for the CEO of LinkedIn, that’s why your Monday will hurt with the sort of ferocity that you last felt when you had to go back to school after summer holidays.
With that and the news that the best Prime Minister in the World, New Zealand’s Jacinda Arden, has only just turned 40 … you can look at yourself in the mirror and feel really good about yourself.
Hey, it could be worse, you could be unemployed and 50.
You’re welcome.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, America, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Brand, Brand Suicide, Business, China, Comment, Communication Strategy, Confidence, Content, Context, Corporate Evil, Crap Campaigns In History, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Design, Differentiation, Emotion, Empathy, England, Fake Attitude, Fulfillment, Hope, Imagination, Innocence, Innovation, Insight, Loyalty, Management, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Only In Adland, Perspective, Planners, Planning, Point Of View, Positioning, Premium, Professionalism, Relevance, Research, Resonance, Supermarkets
Above is a point of sale sign from a local supermarket.
Look at it.
LOOK AT IT!!!
What a pile of utter shite.
Noticeable for it’s stupidity rather than it’s inspiration.
The sort of stuff you would expect from a 5 year old writing jokes for a Christmas Cracker, than a company with well paid staff, responsible for the commercial growth of an organisation.
So who is to blame?
Well there are many who should feel a sense of shame – from ad agencies to research companies to clients – however when I think of who started this horribleness to begin, I can’t help but feel it was at the hands of the marketing department.
Of course even they are not totally to blame.
The C-Suite, with their demands and expectations have a lot to answer for … almost as much as the investors, who say they want the companies they invest in to be good companies but they better make increasing profits every quarter.
But what I found fascinating coming back to Western markets from Asian – specifically China – was how little ambition there really was.
Oh companies would talk about it – wax lyrical about it – but when you delved a little deeper, you saw there wasn’t much there.
Instead the focus was far more about defending rather than growing, corporate convenience rather than customer understanding, explaining rather than communicating and short-term conformity rather than long term change.
But of course, ad agencies need to take their blame for this situation as well.
Too many doing whatever clients want rather than what they need.
Profiting from process over creativity.
Celebrating speed over substance.
What makes it worse is some think this leads to good work.
Effective work. Using ‘proof’ that ignores the myriad of small, separate elements that combine to drive success so they can place themselves on a self-appointed pedestal.
But there are some who have a bit more self-awareness.
Who know what they’re doing is not as good as it could be.
Or should be.
But rather than face their responsibility in all of this, they blame others for how this came about … turning to questionable research that is based on a few tweets, a couple of chats around the agency or claims every single person on the planet can have their attitudes and behaviours characterised by a singular colour or some other bollocks.
And from this, they will claim the public don’t care about smart stuff.
That they ‘don’t understand’ good ideas and writing.
They they’re simply not interested in creativity and ideas.
Bullshit.
Bullshit.
Bullshit.
I’ve got to tell you, I’m absolutely over it.
I’m over the focus on the lowest common denominator.
Let’s face it, life would be pretty horrible and boring if that is how we really operated … and contrary to popular belief, we don’t.
That doesn’t mean there aren’t elements of predictability in what we do, but to ignore the nuance … to suggest everything we aspire to is exactly the same, delivered via an identical approach … is just plain bullshit.
But here’s the kicker, because more clients and agencies seems to be adopting this approach.
White labelling, phoned-in solutions with a cool sounding names that actively destroys any sense of differentiation and distinctiveness of their brand from countless competitors while also directly insulting the intelligence of the customers they rely on to survive.
I get it’s less hassle to just agree with clients.
I get that having income coming in right now is very important.
I get that a single point-of-sale sign is not going to change the world.
But when we are willing to allow our standards to be determined by how quick we can make money, then all we’re doing is ensuring the long-term value of our industry – and the talented people in it or wanting to be in it – dies even more quickly.
And that’s why I am also over people being quick to piss on anyone trying to do something different.
Claiming it’s self indulgent.
Labelling it a failure before it’s even run.
Saying it won’t appeal to the audience … despite not knowing the brand, the brief, the audience or how people actually think or act outside of some hypothetical customer journey / strategic framework of convenience.
And yet, when you look at the brands, the work and the agencies who consistently resonate deeply and authentically with culture and drive long-term loyalty, growth and profit – it’s the usual suspects and a few newbies, like Nils and the fabulous folks at Uncommon.
Yes our job is to help our clients achieve more than they hoped. Yes our job is to attract rather than repel. But our job is also to help build the future for our clients … influencing, shaping and – sometimes – forcing dramatic change even before the masses are quite ready for it, which means doing work that challenges and provokes for all the right reasons … sometimes asking questions of the audience rather than boring them into beige submission.
And while I acknowledge there are risks in all of that, I personally believe it is far riskier to dumb everything down to it’s lowest common denominator, because every single thing we love, respect and covet has come from someone or something doing something different.
Whether that’s an idea, a product, a story or a new way of looking at the World … it has come from people who understood who we are but take us further than we imagined, pushing the journey and the story with every new chapter of what they create.
They could have taken the easy route.
They could have focused on optimising the rewards.
They could have spent their time ‘removing friction from the transactional process’.
But they didn’t. Or at least, they didn’t just focus on that.
They embraced the risk to create something bigger and more unexpectedly resonant.
Or should I say unexpectedly resonant by those judging them, because they knew exactly where they were going.
And this is why the people who are so quick to dismiss anyone trying to do something new need to understand their actions say far more about who they are and what they value than anything else. And in an industry that is fighting for its life, I put my faith in those using creativity to change the game rather than those who just talk about violation of some old rules.