Filed under: 2025, A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Anniversary, Attitude & Aptitude, Career, China, Colleagues, Creativity, Friendship, Love, Loyalty, Management, Planning, Professionalism, Relationships, Resonance, Respect, Shanghai, Wieden+Kennedy
One of the most special times of my life – not just career – was working at Wieden+Kennedy.
Specifically Wieden+Kennedy Shanghai.
Of all the adventures and experiences I’ve had in my life, it stands out highest simply because I feel a deeper sense to China and its people than any other place I’ve ever lived.
It helped that I was there during a time where the World needed China more than China needed the World – so I found myself invited into meetings and situations that frankly, few people – let alone strategists – would ever get to experience.
Wieden were amazing to me personally and professionally but I paid them back in droves.
But that said, leaving was very difficult.
They wanted me to stay.
A big part of me wanted to stay.
But I’d been there for a lonnnnnng time, I’d done pretty much everything that could be done – including starting and running The Kennedys – plus I had a young boy who needed a different environment to grow up in.
So with very bitter sweet tears, I said goodbye to a magical place in a magical country. Except I said it in a way where they would forever remember me. Specifically as the pain-in-the-fucking-arse I’d been to every single person in that place for seven fucking years.
You see about 6 weeks prior to leaving, I had 600 of these stickers made.
I then proceeded to spend the next 5 weeks hiding them everywhere.
From the – then – refurbished Shanghai office to all the local W+K hangouts, like Baker & Spice, Jamaica Blue, Little Catch and, of course, Nike HQ.
It made some people furious. Specifically one person. Which made me especially happy because in terms of making a final decision whether to stay or go, they were the determining factor on why I left.
And over the years, people would send me a photo where they had come across one or two.
And despite it now being 8 years … there’s still some there.
In fact, there’s now more than just some.
You see a few weeks ago, I was in Shanghai and was invited to visit the office.
I had not been in the place since I left … but given I’d now been away longer than I was there, it felt OK to go in.
And it was lovely and familiar.
But then it was a place where I did a lot of growing up.
And made a lot of friends … friends who are with me for life.
Which is why it was extra special for me to see some familiar faces from my time there.
And because of this, I wanted to honour the place and give them something new to show my gratitude and love.
So I gave them this:
That’s right, I made a new sticker to accompany the old ones.
“But how many stickers?” I hear you cry.
Well I couldn’t possibly divulge that information because it would ruin the fun of finding all of them, but in the interests of friendship, here’s a clue:
Now I fully appreciate this act of ‘love vandalism’ may result in them never inviting me back, but I do hope they see it as my own special way of showing my deepest and sincerest respect to a place and country I truly love.
Because Wieden Shanghai and China wasn’t just a place I lived and worked …
It was where I was reborn.
Filed under: 2025, A Bit Of Inspiration, Airports, America, China, Creativity, England, Experience, Great Ads In History, Legend, New Zealand, Planning, Respect, Royalty
So this is my last post for just over a week.
I know, I know … I just did that a few weeks ago.
But while any trip overseas is a privilege, this is almost indescribable in its beautiful madness.
Or it would have been, until plans got slightly changed.
ARGHHHHHHHHH.
I must admit, I was devastated when I first got told because as I hinted on my 1st Oct post … it was going to be one of the most insane, wonderful, special, magical and utterly, utterly bonkers trips and experiences of my entire life.
ENTIRE. LIFE.
And I was happy so say that, even if it turned it into a total fucking disaster.
But alas, things got changed and delayed so while I am going away, it’s to a different place for a much shorter time and to meet a rep of the individual – rather than the actual individual, which will now happen in late October and then a big event thingymajig in early 2026. So while that’s a bit disappointing for me, it’s still great news for you because while I’ll now be back in NZ for some of next week, there will only be a few posts over next week.
You’re welcome.
So with that, I wish you all a good weekend … and to say goodbye, I can’t think of a nicer way to do that than leave you with the great Dolly Parton singing a song that perfectly sums up my week ahead.
Have fun. Take care.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Brand, Brian Clough, Comment, Communication Strategy, Confidence, Consultants, Craft, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Effectiveness, Empathy, Football, Grifting, Management, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Mediocrity, Nottingham Forest, Perspective, Planners, Planners Making A Complete Tit Of Themselves And Bless, Planning, Point Of View, Positioning, Process, Professionalism, Relevance, Reputation, Research, Resonance, Standards, Strategy, Success, Systems, Work
A little while ago, A few months ago, the ‘25/’26 Premiership football season started.
Following an incredible season the year before – which saw Forest get into Europe for the first time in 30 years – their first match was against our bogey team, Brentford.
We won. 3-1.
But this post isn’t about the victory … nor is it about the implosion of the team thanks to the ego of the owner and his disastrous and potentially ruinous hiring of Ange Postecoglou who, at this point, has not won a match in 7 attempts and has seen our European and League dreams already end because he’s shit, arrogant and never cared about Forest, just the money he would get from the job [can you tell I’m bitter?] – it’s about the goal Forest scored when Nuno was still our wonderful, beloved manager.
Specifically, THIS goal.
Now I should point out this post is not about the outrageously brilliant pass from Elliott Anderson to Chris Woods that allowed a goal out of nowhere.
Nor is it about how Chris Woods started sprinting towards goal before Elliott had even reached the ball, let alone made the pass.
It’s actually about what Chris Woods did next …
Yes, he scored, but it’s how he scored that I found interesting.
Truth be told, if it hadn’t been for a post-match interview with an ex-Nottingham Forest player, I may not have realized the significance … but when I heard him talk about ‘the successful strikers mindset’, I suddenly realized how valuable – and relatable – this could be to strategists.
You see in the interview, the ex-player – Gary Birtles – talked about how decisive Chris Woods had been when running towards the goal. How he had decided very quickly how he was going to deal with the on-coming keeper. How once he had made his choice, he was going to stick with it which, according to Gary Birtles, gave him an immediate advantage over the goalie. He went on to say how Brian Clough – the iconic and ridiculously successful Forest manager he played under in the late 70’s/early 80’s and someone I’ve written copious amounts about, over the years – had always told him this:
“When you’re in a one-on-one situation with the goalkeeper, make your decision immediately and don’t second guess it. It might not always come off, but if you wait or hesitate, you give the competition the split second they need to adapt and then you lose the opportunity of even having an opportunity”.
I love that.
I love that because it gets to the heart of what sometimes strategy needs to do.
Because contrary to what many say – especially those who make their money flogging for-profit systems and models – the reality is the ‘answer’ very rarely reveals or presents itself, you come to a point – once you’ve done the hard work and rigor – of making a call on what you think is best.
It may be to enable a fast result.
It may be to enable a more effective outcome.
It may be to enable a more interesting solution.
But at some point, you have to decide which side of the fence you’re going to jump on and back yourself.
We don’t talk about that enough.
We don’t talk about the importance of the independent mind.
We don’t talk about the value of experience, perspective and belief.
Right now, everything we talk about is systems, models and processes. And while there is a role in those – or at least some of those – if we are outsourcing all decisions and choices to that, then not only should we be asking exactly what the fuck we’re adding to the outcome, we also have to ask why on earth we think we’re going to get to a different outcome that every other fucker following the same one-size-fits-all, the-computer-told-me-to-do-it approach.
Look, I appreciate what we do costs a lot of money.
I also appreciate that means companies are seeking more and more certainty in their lives.
But while some may say allowing someone to make a call on what should happen next is a sign of insanity, I’d argue the crazier thing is to do nothing and let others make the choices and decisions for you.
Sure you need to have experience.
Sure you need to have put in the rigor and work.
But at the same time, you can’t play to win, if you follow a system designed to play not to lose.
Given all the gurus in our industry flogging their system on how to do the job – despite having never made any work of note – it probably can’t hurt to repost a talk I did years ago about what we can learn from Brian Clough about how to ‘win better’.
Filed under: 2025, A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Ambition, Aspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Career, China, Clients, Colenso, Colleagues, Comment, Community, Context, Contribution, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Curiosity, Effectiveness, Emotion, Environment, Family, Fear, Honesty, Hope, Imagination, Individuality, Katie, Love, Loyalty, Luck, Management, Martin Weigel, Metallica, Miley, Mr Ji, Paula, Perspective, Planes, Planning, Relationships, Relevance, Reputation, Resonance, Respect, Standards, Strategy, Success, Wieden+Kennedy
Once upon-a-time, I hired a head of planning for NIKE at Wieden Shanghai.
They’d come to my attention via a colleague who’d worked with them in the past.
On top of that, they had a good pedigree of work and – just as importantly – they loved sport.
I was excited to welcome them into the team and everything was good … until it wasn’t.
One evening, I received an email saying they’d thought about it and didn’t want to do it.
I understood the cold feet, they were US based and I was asking them to move to China … but we had spent a lot of time discussing this and they had assured me they were up for it.
And they probably were – when it was theoretical.
Everything is fine when it’s theoretical.
The problems always lie once you move to reality.
What bugged me was this person refused to get on the phone to discuss it. They sent their email and in their mind, that was the only correspondence they were going to enter into.
Was I pissed?
Yeah, initially I was … because we’d invested a lot of time and effort into helping this person get a good taste of what the opportunity was, what life was like here and what we’d do to make their move as easy as possible. Add to that, I always take huge responsibility when bringing people over from another country and it all felt like they had just wasted our time a bit.
But by the emorning, I was fine with it.
In fact, I was bloody happy about it.
Because if they didn’t want to come to us, I sure as hell didn’t want them to be with us.
Now I appreciate that may sound cold as hell – and I was grateful they made the call before they actually moved here – but I haven’t got the time to waste on people who aren’t excited about what they could be doing and learning and who only want to repeat or surround themselves with the stuff they know and have done.
We used to have a lot of those people apply to be at Wieden Shanghai.
Same with Colenso, albeit to a lesser degree.
People who want to work at the agency, but don’t want to move for it.
Oh they say all the right things.
They complain about all the right things.
But then you realise they don’t want to change any of the things.
They prefer to be a blame thrower rather than an opportunity grabber.
I find that bonkers … especially for strategists … but it happens more than you could ever imagine. People only focusing on what they lose rather than all the things they gain.
And you gain a lot. In every single possible way.
But that’s not what this post is about …
Because the person I hired to replace the person who walked away, was the brilliant Paula Bloodworth.
THAT Paula Bloodworth. The fucking weapon of strategy and creativity.
A person with a reel that is better than entire agencies, let alone strategists.
And while I take absolutely no credit for all she has gone on to achieve, I do express my gratitude to the person who pulled out the job.
Had they not done that, Paula would not have entered my life … and given she is one of the most important people in my life – not as a colleague, but a full-on friend – that is something I feel eternally grateful for.
In many ways, my job at Colenso followed a similar story.
They’d hired a CSO from Australia, but before they could move, COVID happened and they realised they didn’t want to leave where they were.
It was at that point, Colenso saw I’d been made redundant from R/GA and – having almost got together in 2015 – they put in a call.
Had that not happened, I’d likely still be in the UK or back in the US … rather than at a place that is increasingly more special to me with each passing year.
‘Accidental Luck’ is everywhere …
Hell, we’re in talks with someone who embodies this on steroids.
Where they sent a VERY speculative email at the very moment a candidate we were talking to, pulled out.
OK, it helps they’re talented and have a ton of potential we see and can/will grow … plus there’s the good fortune we have a new client who is not only based in the very country they’re from, but also works in the same category they’ve been focused on for the past few years and they want to become what they want have always wanted a brand in that category to be … but suddenly a person we may never have known – let alone hired – could be someone we get to call a brilliant new member of our strat gang soon.
Hopefully.
For fucks sake, hopefully, hahaha.
[And if they don’t, they don’t – we all move on – however the real lesson they need to understand is what I write about next in this post … that is if they read this blog, which they don’t. Which is another sign they’re smart … haha.]
Which goes to the point of this post.
We can plan our careers to within an inch of their life.
We can study and follow the latest theories and systems.
We can spend time looking at every possible permutation.
We can demand every part of the job is described in minute detail.
Hell, we can even write 20 Linkedin posts a day, every single day.
But none of that – absolutely none – matters as much as being ready to act when the opportunity strikes.
Yes, it’s nice to think you will always have companies come to you.
Yes, it’s nice to think you will always have options and choices.
But often, the best thing you can do for your career is be ready to go when someone else isn’t.
If I am being honest, I owe pretty much everything I have ever done to the fact I’ve always been willing to move to wherever the best opportunities was located and then work my ass off to make great things for them.
Or said another way, if I heard of something exciting [and credible] was on the table, I was on the plane.
No if’s.
No buts.
No umming and ahhing.
I was sprinting towards it.
Doesn’t matter if it was an agency in China, an artist in America or a fashion designer in Italy … if it is interesting, intriguing and scary-as-fuck, I am there.
Now of course I appreciate not everyone has the ability to do this.
I also understand that ‘moving countries’ for a job has become infinitely harder.
And I get that there are occasions where opportunities can turn into fucking nightmares.
[Though that’s very rare as long as you stick to the rule that is detailed a bit further below]
But this isn’t really about your willingness to move countries – though that can help – it’s more about your hunger to go after what excites and interests you …
That doesn’t mean a role has to be perfect.
Frankly, when companies say there are no faults, that is ALWAYS a red flag … it’s more about whether the opportunity excites you and if the company and the person who will be your boss have a track record of consistently doing good shit. Maybe not pulling it off every time, but always pushing to do interesting things and having a on-going history of doing it.
It’s how I ended up working at Wieden … which definitely isn’t perfect.
It’s how I ended up working with Artists … who definitely aren’t perfect.
It’s how I ended up working with amazing creatives … who definitely aren’t perfect.
It’s important, because for all the good things the Bloodworth’s, the Weigel’s – and dare I say it – the Campbell’s have achieved, one of the biggest reasons for it is whether it’s a boss, a team, a company, a client or even a creative opportunity … we never, ever, ever look a gift-horse in the mouth.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Audacious, Authenticity, Comment, Cynic, Devious Strategy, Differentiation, Distinction, Planning, Point Of View, Process, Relevance, Reputation, Resonance, Respect, Strategy
I’m back.
And – as usual – I found my heart in China.
I love that place so much. Literally love it.
It is arguably the only place in the World – and certainly the only place I’ve lived – where I feel I am able to breathe.
Obviously I mean that metaphorically [though they’ve sorted out the air, big time]… but the energy, the craziness, the extremes and the constant change bizarrely makes me feel calm, settled and at peace.
I don’t understand why – I get that’s bonkers – but it does and always has, and while I won’t ever live there again, I will find any excuse under the sun to keep going back.
For me, it’s more than a place I once had the honour and privilege of living … it feels ‘home’.
That does not mean I do like – or am not grateful – for all the other countries I’ve had the incredible opportunity to live in, but there’s something about China that I connected to on a level that is incomparable to anywhere else I’ve been. And while it is getting a bit too smooth, slick and convenient for my liking [haha] the people keep it real.
Amazing. Interesting. Dramatic. Smart-as-fuck.
I met some incredible people on this trip.
Not just old mates [who I kept bumping into on the street, which is something I’ve never done in Auckland, despite being a fraction of the population size and geography – haha] but some brilliant new people who I hope will become long-term new mates. And nothing sums this up more than the fact I was out all night.
ALL NIGHT.
TWICE!!! [Admittedly once was so I could listen to Forest play in Europe with the worst manager since Megson, Ange]
Jesus Christ, I’m 55 … I should be in bed with a Hot Chocolate by 8pm shouldn’t I?
But that’s the effect China has on me. I absofuckinglutely adore every single bit of it.
No doubt that statement will have my NZ/Australia/Singapore/HK residencies revoked, so we better move on … haha.
Not that long ago I wrote about a campaign we’ve just done for Delivereasy that reminds me of my beloved Viz ‘adult’ comic.
Well recently I got sent 2 photos of real-life businesses that seem to have adopted a similar approach …
First the most genuine ‘health and fitness’ ad in the history of health and fitness ads:
Quickly followed up by this masterpiece by a global – yet local – painter and decorator:
I love them.
Their magical and memorable.
Arguably more magical and memorable that many campaigns that have had millions and months of time spent on them.
Way back in 2007, I wrote about the power of ‘unplanned thinking‘.
Unplanned is when you go directly at the truth of a product – or audience perception – rather than play into the marketing hype machine. The point was that so many brands had stuck their head so far up their own pretentiousness arses, that rather than create aspiration with audiences, they were creating revulsion.
Unplanned killed that.
More than that, it killed it in a way that was refreshing, invigorating, distinctive and differentiated which – as a byproduct – meant it became more aspirational than an ad claiming a can of sugary fruit juice was in fact, a statement of discernment in a world of choice. Or some other bollocks.
And while I accept the examples above are one-offs, both are delivered in a way where I not just see the truth in them, I see the human in them as well – and as I’ve written a million times – the idea of interacting with real humans is far more interesting and enticing to me than engaging with yet another corporate monotone of a contrived mission statement.