Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Apple, Attitude & Aptitude, Audio Visual, Comment, Content, Context, Craft, Creative Brief, Creativity, Culture, Design, Emotion, Experience, Imagination, Innocence, Innovation, Insight, Marketing, Music, Planning, Presenting, Professionalism, Relevance, Resonance, Standards, The Beatles, The Kennedys, The Kennedys Shanghai, Unexpected Relevance, Wieden+Kennedy
One of the things I love about this industry is our way of re-writing rules.
I don’t mean that in terms of post-rationalisation.
I don’t mean that in terms of rebellion.
I mean it in terms of letting creativity take us to new places.
That said, I think a lot of people forget this.
Clients and colleagues.
Specifically the one’s who encourage work to go where others have gone before.
Or where the brand has previously been.
Or just killing ideas before they’ve had a chance to start to evolve.
Of course I appreciate what we do has a lot of implications on our clients business.
That to get it wrong has serious ramifications.
But – and it’s a big but – doing the same thing over and over again doesn’t move you forward.
The opposite in fact.
They know this.
We know this.
And yet I hear words like ‘optimisation’ far more than I do ‘creativity’ these days.
Now I get it, you want to get every bit of value from something that you can, but our obsession with models and processes just limits our ability to invent and move forward.
Please don’t think I’m discounting the value of experience.
There’s a lot to be said for it.
But basing the future purely on what has happened in the past – specifically your individual past – is not experience, it’s blinkered.
Case in point.
Mouldy Whopper.
Here was a campaign that was attempting to do something differently. But rather than be curious about how it would be received, industry people – the same folks who are supposed to be pushing for creativity – were violently writing it off from the beginning. And when I pointed out that no one really knew what the campaign was trying to achieve – I copped it too.
Hell, I didn’t even like it very much, but I appreciated they were doing something different and evidence showed it was getting people to talk about preservatives in food – which was a positive for BK – so at the very least there were something positive in that. But then a senior industry person challenged me – said it was only people in the bubble of adland doing that – so when I proved he was wrong, he just disappeared. Happy to throw out personal opinion but not happy to be shown it was just his personal opinion. And that was my issue, we didn’t know how it would go. We had thoughts, we had opinions but we didn’t give it the time to see how it played out and apparently, it did pretty well by a whole range of metrics.
Of course, the great irony is that when you do have a brand that believes creativity can move things forward in unexpected ways, then you get accused of your job being easy.
I can’t tell you the amount of times people said to me, “it can’t be hard working on NIKE, they love being creative”.
Of course, the people who say this have never worked on NIKE and tend to be the first to criticise anything they think is ‘too creative’.
My god, when Da Da Ding came out, the wave of, “I don’t get it”, “it’s indulgent” was amazing.
But not as amazing as the fact that a lot of the abuse came from white men not based in India.
But I digress.
I love creativity.
I use that word specifically as I see it as being much bigger than advertising.
At least in terms of where the inspiration can come from and how it can be applied.
I am in awe when I see ideas taking shape. Things I never imagined coming together in the aim of changing something rather than just communicating it.
One of my greatest joys was running The Kennedys, because I saw that in possible its purest form.
From making takeaway coffee cups into dog frisbees to re=programming Street Fighter to represent the lessons they’d learnt over the previous year … was epic.
Sure, sometimes it was scary, frustrating and painful.
Sure, there were arguments, walk-outs and moods.
But as I wrote before, great work leaves scars and while that doesn’t mean it can’t be an exciting journey to be going on, it will have many twists and turns.
Or it will if you are pushing things enough.
And that’s what this post is about, because recently I read a story about John Kosh.
John was the creative director of Apple.
Not the tech company, but The Beatles.
John Lennon loved him and at 23, he found himself art directing the cover of their iconic album, Abbey Road.
What many people fail to realise is the band name was no where on the cover.
And while John had logic behind that decision, many in the industry thought differently.
Especially at their record company, EMI.
In fact, the only reason it ended up happening is that timing was so tight that it was allowed to slip through before anyone else could stop it.
Another example of chaos creating what order can’t.
What a story eh?
And before anyone starts saying I’m wrong …
I’m not saying the decision to remove the bands name from the cover made the album successful. This was The Beatles after all – the biggest, most successful band of all time – so it was always going to sell by the bucketload. However I am saying the decision to remove the bands name from the album cover helped make it iconic … which arguably, helped make it even more successful.
Not to mention make the zebra crossing on Abbey Road one of the busiest in the World.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, America, Anniversary, Attitude & Aptitude, Birthday, China, Cunning, Embarrassing Moments, Family, Goodbye America, Goodbye China, Home, Hong Kong, Jill, Legend, Love, Otis, Shanghai, Singapore, The Kennedys, The Kennedys Shanghai, Wieden+Kennedy
So today, Rosie is 13.
THIRTEEN!!
Yes, she’s slower than she was.
And definitely more bad tempered.
But overall, she’s in pretty awesome nick for someone who was once a Singaporean street cat.
Of course, part of this wellbeing is she got the best adoption ever.
Her life, since that day we got her back in 2007 has all been first class.
Not just in terms of the life she has gets to enjoy – which has seen us do all manner of things, from building her penthouses for the home to importing her favourite snacks – but also in the fact that she has lived in 5 countries and has entered each one in pampered luxury.
Hell, I even did freelance jobs just to ensure she moved to countries in more style than any other pet could dream of.
And you know what? I don’t begrudge a second of it.
Since the moment we got her, she’s given us nothing but joy.
OK, there have been a few headaches …
When she almost strangled herself to death with an elastic toy.
When she was so dehydrated they thought she might die.
When I turned down an amazing job in New Zealand because immigration wouldn’t let us bring her due to being based in China.
And when she broke my lamp and my X-Box all at the same time and I wanted to kill her.
But overall, she has been nothing but an absolute joy … which is pretty amazing when you remember she’s a cat.
Let’s be honest, cats are assholes.
They are the masters of manipulation.
They can become the cuddliest bundle of fluff when they want something and can be the coldest fuck when they don’t.
And yet you come back for more because you want their acknowledgement … which only encourages them more.
Which is why they end up thinking they can sit wherever they want because they think everywhere is theirs.
They’re not our pets, we’re there’s … and I hope we have many more years of being her servant because while many may regard her as an animal, I see her as family.
So happy, happy birthday my dearest Rosie … and to sign off I thought I’d show you a video I made when I was running The Kennedys.
I had given everyone an assignment to ‘make a video on their smartphones about a family member and their dirty little secret’.
I could have done one about Jill.
I could have done one about Otis … even if he was months old.
But no, I did it about you. THAT’S how much I love you.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, America, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Deutsch, Emotion, Goodbye America, LaLaLand, Planners, Point Of View, Resonance, The Kennedys
So today is going to be my last post for a while.
As you know, I’m leaving America and moving to the UK … and that all happens over the next 12 days.
Next week I say my goodbyes to Deutsch and then, 6 days after that, we move to the UK.
Because we have a bunch to do – from packing up to finding a new place to live – I need to focus on my family more than writing rubbish blog posts, hence while I endure a momentary period of maturity pain, you get to experience a momentary period of peaceful gain.
But don’t get too comfortable … it’s definitely going to be momentary as I’ll be back up and running on October 1.
Oh yes. Be afraid, be very afraid.
That aside, I have to say the last few weeks have been pretty hard.
Not in the sense of getting everything together for the move – though that is still an utter pain in the ass, despite the fact we have done it so many time – it’s just that the life in LA is pretty spectacular.
As I wrote once before, I’ve had better weekends in America than I may have had pretty much anywhere in the World and to say goodbye to that is hard.
Of course a big part of it is the amazing weather and that we had cars for the first time in 15 years [and trust me, after all I went through to get my car, saying goodbye to that has been a pain too] but the other key element is that LA is an outdoor city and to be able to spend so much time with my family in the fresh air has been an amazing gift.
Of course London will offer us alternative wonderful experiences, but that sunshine is a pretty addictive thing.
The other hard part is saying goodbye to people.
OK, not goodbye for ever – technology ensures that doesn’t have to happen – but goodbye in terms of seeing you each day.
All of my family have met people here who have become incredibly important to us.
Jill has made friends here that have become incredibly important to her. Friends that will stand the test of time and distance. Friends that have made my wife truly happy and supported … and for that, I send a personal big thanks to Emma, Zoe and Amber to name a few.
Otis is inundated with them – thanks to his magnificent school – but no one will be missed as much as his beloved Elodie.
To be honest, we’re not sure if he truly understands what moving to London means in terms of implications. While technology means he will be able to still see and talk to Elodie, it will obviously be very different. I have to say we’ve handled this move with him very gently. Even though he’s already moved from China, he’s only 3 years old so his World is both huge and small. To try and make him feel as comfortable as he can be, we’ve made sure his feelings have been taken into account at every stage of the process – from creating a book of all the things he has seen and done in LA to showing him pictures of the things he will see in London to asking him to help us decide where our new family home will be.
Despite having moved countries more times than I care to remember, the fact is I never left home until I was 25 and I remember how traumatic that was for me. For a kid of 3, it must be insane … which is why he needs to feel his family unit is stronger than superglue while everything around him is changing.
I wish I didn’t have to put him through this, but apart from it being linked to work [more of that at a later date], part of this move is because Jill and I [and even the cat, probably] want him to be somewhere he can build real, longer-term roots.
As much as we loved LA, it was never going to be our long term home.
It was/is great, but we just didn’t really have an emotional connection to the place because we came here for work more than anything else.
Sure, if we had stayed longer, that might have changed – but England offers us roots. A place with some deep connections thanks to my background and – to a certain degree – Jill’s.
We have old friends there. People Otis knows and loves. And while I don’t think England will be our last stop on our journey, I do think it will be a significant one … a place where my family can build real roots and my son can find someone who becomes as important in his life and history as my beloved Paul is to me.
That is our goal. That is what my family needs. That is something we’re excited about.
But moving on means leaving things behind and for me, I am going to be saying bye to a bunch of people that have become very important to me.
The weird thing about LA is that by the time we moved here, an incredible amount of old friends and colleagues had also moved here. In fact, it meant LA was the place where I knew more people than anywhere else in the World.
Madness.
And as much as I’ll miss those guys, I’ve gone through this with them before so they don’t get to fuck with my heart that badly a second time. However there are a bunch of new people who I am going to hate to say bye too.
From our wonderful neighbours Kim and Dave to the lovely Elena – who Otis adored and trusted in no time at all – to the people at Noah’s Bagel’s who kept giving me free coffee because they found my t-shirts ‘amusing’.
But in particular I want to say a big thank you to some folks who made my weekdays better than I deserved.
There’s a bunch of them, but in particular I need to single out the amazingly talented and beautiful Jorge, the always happy [despite my shit] Zaid, the ‘Bake Queen’ Dana, the brilliant, patient, supportive and precious BCG [you know who you are, what you did for me and how much you mean to me] and – of course – my planning team.
Having spent 7 years with an incredible group at Wieden Shanghai, I didn’t know how I’d feel working with a totally different bunch, in a totally different country with a totally different context in terms of planning and creativity … but I can honestly say, it’s been an absolute pleasure working with them.
They’ve been incredibly good to me.
Putting up with my ‘ways’ and embracing my approaches.
And while all of them have played an important role in pushing the department forward, I have to give a special thanks to Kelsey, Rachael, Maya, Leigh, Heide, Lani, Ben, Mitch and Armando [and Donn, who fucked off for a pot of gold and a Lexus] for simply putting up with me on more projects than anyone else without – as far as I know – reporting me to HR.
There’s a lot of talent in this team, talent that can push them – and the agency – a long way, so I hope they continue being mouthy, opinionated, curious fucks … because as we saw in our brilliant America In The Raw study/book … when you stand for something, it stops the masses falling for anything.
I hope they feel I made a difference.
I hope they feel they’re in a better place than before I arrived.
I hope they can see bigger possibilities for who they are and what they can achieve.
For me, that’s the most important thing, even though I wish I could have achieved more.
For them. For me. For the agency.
[Though I have to say, I’m particularly proud that I got the office billboard changed, hahaha]
In all seriousness, I feel I’m leaving America a better person than when I arrived – which is the best way to leave any place – and that’s why I’m so grateful to all my planning team for what they did for me and helped me do.
Honestly, there’s a bunch of people here I’ve enjoyed working with, but this is already getting into Oscar speech territory, so in the interests of boredom, I’ll end this post with this.
Thank you LA.
Thank you for giving my family an experience we will always remember and treasure.
Thank you for the friendships, the memories and the opportunities we got to explore and enjoy.
I will always be grateful for the time I spent here, however short.
I hope America sorts itself out.
It’s an amazing country that deserves better. Needs to be better.
To do that, it needs to stop fighting as enemies and start talking as friends.
I don’t know if that will ever happen, especially under the current regime, but a united America is a good America and I want everyone I’ve met here to have the opportunities they deserve.
It’s been an honour and a privlidge and we’ll be back … for a visit, if only to prove to Otis that once upon a time, he really did live in [lifestyle] paradise.
London … here we come.
______________________________________________________________________________
Oh hang on, there’s one last thing before I go.
I know … I know … this post is going on forever.
In the tradition of leaving companies with my indelible mark, the good people of Deutsch LA have received 2 things:
Every member of my wonderful planning department have been given a copy of the highly enlightening Ladybird Book Of Meetings [for future ‘self protection/preservation’ purposes] while the rest of the agency have been left with these highly desirable, culturally bold [Ahem!], future collector item badges/buttons.
I think it’s how they’d like to remember me.
Or should I say, how they will remember me.
Look, I know as horrible as these things are, they’re still less painful than the 600 stickers I hid throughout Wieden+Kennedy Shanghai, but then Deutsch only had to endure a year of my pain where the lovely folks in China suffered for over 7.
I’m so considerate with my nastiness.
Which is probably why that after all this, they still have to put up with me for 4 days next week.
Cue: Evil Laugh.
It’s been a memorable adventure so a big thank you for everything.
See you America. See you soon England.
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: Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Audio Visual, Authenticity, Chaos, China, Chinese Culture, Comment, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Emotion, Empathy, EvilGenius, Experience, Imagination, Innovation, Insight, Metallica, Planners, Planning, Point Of View, Relevance, Resonance, The Kennedys
One of the things that has always bugged me about planners is that some think they’re the only ones who are curious enough to see the World in interesting ways.
I’ve written about how much bollocks it is – not to mention how much it pisses me off – but in this world of social, it feels we are seeing more and more of the interesting points of view coming from outside the discipline than in it.
More than that, it feels we’re even seeing more and more of the interesting ideas coming from outside the industry than in it too.
From Rihanna creating make-up foundation that is suited to African American skin as well as white through to meme creators – such as Unchisenpai – questioning what is considered cheating in a world of global competition.
[Though their observation on how we came up with the word ‘boob’ is genius]
Now I appreciate that some of this is less to do with the talent in the industry and more the limitations placed on us by clients – though how that came about is another discussion for another day – but in an industry that is seemingly talking to itself more and more [see: planner twitter] the rule to creative inspiration remains the same:
Look for those who are doing or thinking interesting things rather than those who just know interesting things.
The things I’ve learnt from my time with China, Metallica and The Kennedys have been monumental in terms of seeing what creativity truly is, what it can do and what it can be.
It’s also helped me have a deeper understanding of how to nurture it, protect it, encourage it and liberate it.
This is not meant as a diss to adland.
I love the industry and accept it has been amazing to me.
I’ve learnt – and continue to learn – so much from the many amazingly talented and generous people who work, or have worked, within it. I detest how much the industry has been undermined and undervalued by so many when – given the freedom to do what it does best – it is capable of achieving equally incredible things.
This is simply a reminder that some of the most interesting expressions of creativity – and commerciality – exist outside of our bubble and if we continue to close ourselves off to it, or think we’re superior to it, then we’re literally limiting ourselves in terms of seeing and understanding what creativity can help us create, build and change.