Filed under: Apathy, Attitude & Aptitude, Content, Context, Culture, Social Media
I’m back.
Best not ask. Not because it’s bad news – but it’s definitely not good.
Unfortunately.
I must admit it’s getting to me, but there’s many more worse off than me, so I just need to keep the faith and follow the DR’s orders.
So given I don’t want to bring myself down – I’ve had enough of that over the last week – let’s launch into a rant shall we?
In the time off, I made the mistake of spending some time on Twitter/X.
While I still post on there, I don’t do much of it … and do even less reading of it.
To be honest, I had stopped prior to Elon buying it. I was over the endless humble bragging and hot takes from people who desperately wanted ‘twitter fame’ without ever really doing anything worthy of getting it.
Not just from adland – though there was a ton of that – but from people in general.
But when I revisited it, I was shocked.
On the positive, a lot of the ‘ego shouting’ had gone – moved to Linkedin, the home of ‘thought leadership’, hahaha – but what had replaced it was a torrent of blame throwing.
People blaming people for the bad choices of people.
You name it, they were shouting about it.
Government policy.
Kids behavior.
Employees.
Health.
It was not just depressing, it was exhausting …
Everyone picking fights with everyone around them.
Shouting, never listening.
Throwing stones regardless of the subject matter or situation.
Blinkered and blind opinions, subjectivity and contexts.
And it just reminded me of the image at the top of this post …
I got sent that ages ago, but it never became as powerful as when I took a brief swim back in the cesspool of what was once a relatively cool place to hang out in.
But it’s not just X/Twitter where this attitude prevails. It’s creeping into all avenues of life.
Where people are blaming everyone else for what is happening – or not happening – to them.
Of course there are many who are well within their rights to be angry at decisions forced upon them, but there are more who aren’t … they chose it directly or indirectly but just don’t want to accept or acknowledge it.
And while I appreciate no one likes to admit they made a mistake or did something wrong, it’s funny they all want the people they have decided to blame to do exactly that.
Making a mistake isn’t bad – we all do it – but never taking responsibility for it is another thing altogether. Yet we see this all the time. Professional gaslighting and blame-storming at every level of society.
From companies making thousands redundant and then claiming ‘they’ve never been in better shape’ to people on social media shouting abuse at people and positioning themselves as role models to governments blaming youth for crime while being conveniently ignorant to the fact they have robbed entire generations of opportunity or hope. We live in a world where it seems everyone wants the authority to dictate and judge but no one wants to take the responsibility for what they’ve enabled to happen.
God, it’s all so depressing which, on the bright side, is kinda perfect for a Monday.
Have a great week … hahaha.
When I was in London, I went to Borough Market.
It had been years since I’d last visited, but the allure of TikTok videos saw me heading there early one Saturday morning.
I knew I was going to go a bit crazy with eating stuff – but in my defense – I live in NZ so I knew I wouldn’t be doing it very often.
When I arrived, I basically attacked it with military precision.
By precision, I mean I went straight in … sampling everything I had seen on the socials as well as anything that caught my eye.
And a lot caught my eye.
Breads.
Sausage Rolls.
Specialist sandwiches.
Fruit covered in chocolate.
Fancy pants pastries.
Doughnuts with exotic toppings.
You name it, I spent a fortune buying it, scoffing it and – if truth be told – being disappointed with it.
Not all, but most.
In fact, the best thing I ate was the easiest to make … the strawberries covered in chocolate.
Admittedly they were fucking good strawberries – and how can you go wrong with chocolate? – but even so, to have that as the tastiest thing I put in my mouth that day is pretty sad. That said, it does explain why that stall allegedly clears 20,000 quid profit a day.
A DAY!!!
[I know that sounds mad, but it came from a person in the know so don’t shoot the messenger]
What blew my mind was how packed it got …
People of all ages and places flocking to it like it was a new type of religion. Except instead of bringing bibles, they brought their cameras, smartphones and selfie sticks to flood their socials with more appetite illusion.
Me included, obvs.
Anyway, as I approached the whole experience like it was some sort of bizarre race, I was in and out within 2 hours … which is good, as I then proceeded to walk 29,000 steps to offset what I’d put in my mouth, but if it was based on taste rather than calories, I reckon I could have got away with about 40 steps.
Another reminder social media may wet the appetite, but its reality rarely satisfies.
Filed under: 2025, A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Confidence, Content, Context, EvilGenius, Relationships, Relevance, Revenge, Rivalry, Social Media, Stupid, Twitter, Viz
Monday.
On the second week of this blog of the new year.
So what better way to start it than a post from Satan about Jesus.
There’s a lot of talk at the moment about the dangers and damage the internet – specifically social media – can do. And it’s all true. But then, anything in abundance with minimal control will do that – albeit, it’s worse when the person ‘in control’ is the egotistical, arrogant, spoilt, delusionist, that is Elon Musk.
However, among all the darkness is light.
Glimpses of the brilliant madness that the internet offered us all in the earliest of days.
Where people found ways to use it that served little purpose other than to add colour, weirdness and humour to our lives. Things like Star Wars Kid or Eric Conveys An Emotion.
But one other place that was a beacon for the good weird was, at least in its early days – when it was 100% Bird and 0% X – was Twitter. And while it is now a cesspit of hate, porn and ego, it still has some magic on there and two of my fave people are God and Satan.
Given I am not religious at all, that may seem strange. But what is even stranger is that they often post shit that I find far more sensible or insightful than many of the self-professed geniuses on there. Or Linkedin.
Of course, what they write has zero to do with religion and more pisstaking out of it. But like The Stones vs The Beatles … Oasis vs Blur … Coke vs Pepsi … Democrats vs Republicans … Kodak vs Fuji or Delivereasy vs Uber Eats … they make it – intentionally or otherwise – a 2-horse race so the cultural narrative around the topics and subjects they represent or cover are sucked up and conducted by them or about them.
In other words, they have a disproportionate influence in the direction of how and where the category travels … meaning it’s harder for others to break in and mess with stuff.
Not impossible. But harder.
Of course, there is also the danger of it backfiring. Where you get so obsessed looking to your side to see what your core competitor is up to, you fail to see what is happening behind you. Or in front. Or around. Just ask Nokia, for example. However, when done well – and with the right amount of self-awareness and openness – the power of the 2-horse race is almost unprecedented in its ability to shape a cultural and category narrative in your favour.
Which all sounds incredibly serious given this is coming from a photo of a tweet where someone is pretending to be Satan and taking the piss out of the ‘virtue signaling’ of Jesus.
Maybe it’s funny because it’s challenges the righteous pomposity of Christianity.
Maybe it’s funny because we all know someone a bit like this.
[Minus the death/crucifixion]
Maybe it’s funny because it’s petty and that can be funny.
But whatever the reason, it’s good … but still not as good as this masterpiece about Skegness by the Mablethorpe Tourist Board, courtesy of the twisted brilliance of Viz:
God, 2nd week in and I’m already at the barrel scraping level of posts.
It doesn’t bode well for the rest of the year does it?
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Colenso, Colleagues, Comment, Communication Strategy, Complicity, Creative Brief, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Emotion, Empathy, Honesty, Leadership, Loyalty, Management, Marketing, New Zealand, OnStrategy, Perspective, Planning, Point Of View, Positioning, Relationships, Relevance, Reputation, Research, Resonance, Social Media
Late last year, the silver-tongued man with the honey voice – that’s Fergus of OnStrategy fame, if you were wondering – asked if we could do a podcast about our work with our latest client, Delivereasy.
I’ve always steered away from talking about work I’m a part of because – for all my ego – I don’t like the idea one person becomes the spokesperson for it. Especially a strategist. However on this occasion, I changed my mind … not just because it was Fergus doing the asking – and no one can say no to him, including Putin, probably – but the story behind how we ended up working together is funny and definitely about me.
Or said another way, about my inability to be professional.
And while the work we’re doing together has only just started … it’s already setting the foundation and tone for something special.
From the new logo we designed that had 17 members of the company tattoo it on themselves [Including one of the founders who had 1.5 million people watch it on TikTok resulting in him sitting next to someone on a plane from China, who recognised him because of it]
To promising the coach of the All Blacks a curry and naan bread every week if he brought back the Rugby World Cup to New Zealand./ [Which we downgraded to just a curry because he failed, ahem!]
To a bunch of ridiculous ads like the one above …
But better yet, there is sooooo much coming.
Mad, ridiculous and brilliant stuff.
And while I would say that, the reality is that with our situation, we know the only way we can win is to outsmart the competition rather than outspend them.
But what’s interesting is that while this approach is founded on a strategically sound argument, it can only happen when your client understands it as well as the implications of it.
And in this case, they do.
Not just strategically. But also in terms of the ambition we have for each other and what we want/need the work to be to help us get there.
Truth over harmony.
Transparency over power.
Trust over control.
The reason I’m telling you this is because you can hear what a great client sounds like by listening to the podcast.
Sure you’ll have to put up with me, but in the case of listening to Jean … you’ll definitely leave with a better taste in your mouth.
Have a great weekend and happy invasion, I mean Australia Day.
Filed under: America, Attitude & Aptitude, Australia, Authenticity, China, Content, Context, Corona Virus, Creativity, Culture, England, Environment, Government, Perspective, Social Media, Technology
So I’m back.
I had a lovely time and Croatia is proper beautiful.
I know that’s a big call given I spent 2½ days there, the rest travelling, but it was.
God I miss travelling.
You’d think after almost 20 years of basically living on an airplane, I’d be over it … but there’s something so magical visiting new places and meeting new people.
Of course the environment is even more important – and COVID has shown we can do a lot without having to be in the same room – however being in another country and culture is a powerful and important experience. Especially given all the nationalistic bullshit going on … so having people engage with each other in different environments and geographies – rather than just stay in their own bubble – is probably better for the state of the World than just keeping to your own shores.
Nothing highlights this more than the paranoia regarding TikTok.
All apps are harvesting data, but because the parent company of TikTok is Chinese, governments and business are telling their employees they can’t have the app on their phone.
And yet TikTok, unlike other social media firms, have not – as far as I understand – been caught using the data in illegal ways. And even if they have, I am sure it’s no where near to the level of other companies that have been caught.
But here we go … the classic racism and prejudice towards China.
I know I’m biased.
I also know China has many issues.
But as I’ve said many times, the actions of other governments are equally as bad … they just hide it better, package it better [if that’s what you can call something as sick as Guantanamo Bay] or use the focus on China to distract people more convincingly.
Then there’s the fact some of the stuff the Chinese Government do get away with – and they do – is other politicians wet dream. Specifically the Republican and Tory parties.
Anyway, I don’t know what the problem is because as you can see from the photo above, if TikTok thinks I’m 15, then the data they’re harvesting is nothing to worry about.
Oh hang on, unless that’s my mental – not physical – age, and then we have a lot to worry about indeed.
Sorry for the rambling, jet lagged, post.
I wish I could say tomorrow will be better, but we all know it won’t be.