Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Brazil, Colenso, Crap Marketing Ideas From History!, Food, Kev, OnStrategy, Planners, Rio, Wieden+Kennedy
So last month, I said that Fergus – the founder, host and owner of the most honey-dripped voice in history of OnStrategy – was coming to Auckland to do a panel at Colenso’s offices.
Well today is the day and I’m excited.
I don’t mean because I’m one of the panel – don’t get me wrong, that’s lovely – but because I get to meet the big man in person.
He’s going to get a big hug.
That might not be very professional. That might be the last thing he wants. But he’s going to get one because he’s a good human and I like having those more and more in my life.
Recently, I met someone else who has been in my life for years without being in my physical proximity – albeit we had met once before.
In Rio.
In a meeting room.
That was underground.
Despite literally being opposite Cocacobana beach.
It was the one and only, Kevin Chesters.
I love Kev. He’s a tall, bald, charismatic and clever bastard.
We met in Rio because I basically guilt-tripped Dave Luhr – Wieden’s Global CCO – into letting us have a ‘head of planning’ get-together because every other bloody department at Wieden seemed to be having one every second week.
Dave was always great to me and said yes … so we chose Brazil, mainly because we could.
And yet, for reasons I can’t quite remember, we ended up choosing the only hotel in Rio where the meeting room was underground.
With no natural daylight whatsoever.
Unsuprisingly we didn’t spend long down there – I think just long enough for the video call with Luhr – mainly so he would think we were ‘hard at work’, rather than hard at chatting and sightseeing.
It was a crazy trip which I remember mainly for eating the biggest and best piece of mozzeralla of my life, accidentally walking through a favela on my own at 1am and then having a 42 hour flight home.
Anyway, since then, Kev has started his own management/training company and it’s epic.
Insightful yet practical advice on all manner of subjects from how to better deal with time, how to have a constructive argument and what you can learn from gangs.
We’ve been using him at Colenso for a while and were able to manipulate a situation that brought him out to us from the UK.
Which is why I got to see him again after 12 years.
And he got a big hug too.
Which for me, highlights one of the best things about this industry.
Because while it may be global, it’s really a village … and so getting to hang out with people you feel you know – but rarely meet – is a wonderful, special thing.
In many ways, it’s one of the best reasons to go and live/work overseas, as well as, bizarrely, go to Cannes.
Because for all the talk of adland being a service industry, it’s really a human industry – and while technology can enable great things to happen, it will never achieve what connections, collaborations and communication can achieve.
So welcome Fergus.
And hello again, Kev.