Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Comment, Communication Strategy, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Cunning, Differentiation, Emotion, Empathy, England, Entertainment, Experience, Football, Happiness, Honesty, Imagination, Innovation, Insight, Interviews, Love, Loyalty, Management, Marketing, Nottingham, Nottingham Forest, Paul, Planners Making A Complete Tit Of Themselves And Bless, Point Of View, Presenting, Sentimentality
So a while back I was invited to do a talk for Isolated – the TedTalkesque site that raises money for charity.
I could have revisited a presentation I’d written I the past, but I thought I would take the opportunity to write the presentation I’ve always wanted to write …about why Brian Clough was so amazing.
Now I could have written a thousand slides, but as Isolated in linked to creativity, I decided to make it slightly relevant to that subject by framing the presentation about ‘why the creative industry needs more of Clough’s attitude towards success’.
Whether I pulled it off is anyone’s guess and frankly – I don’t really care – because I got to write about Cloughy, but if you fancy checking out a long, rambley, over-sentimental and biased talk about Clough and Nottigham Forest, then head over to Isolated and hear me bore you half to death.
Now I appreciate the idea of hearing my voice could be too much for you to deal with, and if that’s the case, I have an alternative plan …
1 Donate money to Isolated … because it’s for a good cause.
2 Look at the deck below.
Now I admit you won’t get much out of it just seeing the deck without my accompanying narrative because it’s my usual random ‘picture’ rubbish … plus the gifs don’t work.
And where there is some writing, the lack of context means it may come across as some sort of z-grade psychobabble [even though it is all from interpreting Clough’s beliefs and philosophy over his near 20 years running Nottingham Forest] … however if you can put that all aside and want to look at some amazing pics of some amazing Forest players over the years, then it may be the best presentation you’ll ever see.
Maybe.
Possibly.
Hopefully.
Anyway, it’s Friday so just humour me and even if you don’t agree with what I say [which would be hard because there’s no chance you’ll be able to work out what I’m trying to say, because even I’m not entirely sure] know my goal wasn’t to get your agreement, but just to write a presentation about Nottingham Forest and the incredible Brian Clough.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Brand Suicide, Comment, Confidence, Corporate Evil, Crap Campaigns In History, Crap Marketing Ideas From History!, Creativity, Culture, Emotion, Empathy, Fake Attitude, Honesty, Insight, Interviews, Management, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Perspective, Planners, Planners Making A Complete Tit Of Themselves And Bless, Planning, Point Of View, Resonance
Purpose.
Planning.
Both have had a lot of debate about them in the past few years and both have their cheerleaders and detractors.
The reality is they both have incredible value but – and it’s a big but – only when used responsibly.
Of course, what ‘responsibly’ is, is often in the eye of the brand owner and that’s where the problems starts … because too often, the focus is appealing to the ego of the company directors rather than the pulse of culture which is why we’re seeing more and more ‘purpose work’ that communicates in the corporate monotone of egotistical, bland, business-speak.
The client doesn’t think that of course, they think they’re doing an amazing thing and that people will really believe Hard Rock Cafe’s want to stop hunger or a plastic lighter company in HK wants to save the rainforest [which is true, but I can’t find the post about it, mainly because it was back in 2010] or – hold on to your hats – this …
WHAT. THE. FUCK.
Yes, that really is an umbrella company claiming their purpose is to offer lifestyle solution and protection for the public.
Are they insane?
Even if that was true – which if it is, means they’re bonkers – then the way they’ve written it means the umbrellas are to save you from marketing bullshit raining down on your head.
Purpose has a really important role for brands … but you don’t just ‘make it up’.
I am utterly in shock how many companies sell ‘purpose’ to brands and yet never investigate the soul of the brand.
Go into the vaults.
Look inside every single box.
Discover what made them make their decisions.
Understand the values they lived by and fought for.
Talk to the people who have worked there or shopped there since the earliest of days.
Basically discover their authenticity rather than what they wish their authenticity was.
And yet a lot of companies are paying a lot of other companies to literally make up a bullshit story about them.
Something they think makes them sound good.
Something they think will make people want to choose them.
And while we are definitely seeing more and more people choosing to associate with brands that live by a set of values and beliefs, the thing the brands who ‘invent a purpose’ fail to understand is that this audience seeks truth, not bullshit and so what they’re doing with their make-believe is actually achieve the absolute opposite of what they were trying to do.
Purpose matters.
Planning matters.
But the moment you let ego drive your ambitions rather than your authenticity, you end up being a brand that is flying extremely high on the Planning Purpose Twatosphere.
Remember brands, by being yourself you will be different.
Stop inventing bullshit and start acting your truth in interesting ways.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Brand Suicide, China, Comment, Crap Marketing Ideas From History!, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Deutsch, Differentiation, Food For Thought, Goodbye China, Hello America, Insight, Internet, Interviews, Marketing Fail, Martin Weigel, My Fatherhood, Otis, Paul, Planners, Planners Making A Complete Tit Of Themselves And Bless, Planning, Point Of View, Positioning, Pretentious Rubbish, Relevance, Resonance, Social Media, Standards, The Kennedys, The Kennedys Shanghai, Unexpected Relevance, Unplanned, Unprofessional Professional, Wieden+Kennedy
How is your 2018 going so far?
I know it’s still early days – but is it looking good or bad?
Well, if it’s looking positive, I’m about to ruin it for you and if it is looking dodgy, I’m going to help you solidify your opinion.
Why?
Well, a few weeks ago, a nice guy called Paul McEnany asked if he could interview me about my career.
While I’m sure his reasoning for his request was to help planners learn what not to do, my ego said yes even before my mouth did … and while the end result is the bastard love child of rambling randomness and base-level swearing, it’s the perfect way to justify your pessimism for 2018 or to ensure your optimism for the new year doesn’t get too high.
So go here and errrrrm, enjoy [if that’s the right word for it, which it isn’t] and after you’ve heard my crap, listen to the brilliant interviews with people like Gareth Kay, Russell Davies, Richard Huntingdon, Martin Weigel and the amazing Chris Riley because apart from being hugely interesting and inspiring, you’ll get the added bonus of [1] undeniable proof I’m a massive imposter and [2] the knowledge that if I can have some sort of semi-successful career in advertising, you certainly can.
You’re welcome.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Interviews, olympics
So I’ve written before about the value in starting your own business … and I still wholeheartedly stand by that.
However I recently read an interview with the actor Michael Keaton, that made me re-think a bit about what ‘starting your own business’ really means.
I love how he connects choosing a role with running his business.
It’s so obvious, but I never thought of it that way before.
But this is exactly how everyone should look at what they do … even if you are an employee of someone else.
What are you choosing to do?
What are you choosing to accept?
What are the standards you will work to and will expect from others?
Sure, some of these things are easier to control when you literally run ‘your own business’ … but if we acknowledge that our careers are ultimately in our own hands, then looking at what we do through the lens of it being ‘our own business’, may make us sharper on what we do and what we are willing to do. Or – as is sometimes even more important – what we won’t.
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.