Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Apple, Attitude & Aptitude, Australia, Authenticity, Charinee, China, Chinese Culture, Colenso, Comment, Confidence, Context, Creativity, Culture, Distinction, Diversity, Education, Emotion, Equality, HHCL, Insight, Management, Marketing, Perspective, Planners, Planning, Point Of View, Relationships, Relevance, Resonance, Respect, Shanghai, Uncommon, Uncorporated, WeigelCampbell, Wieden+Kennedy
A career is a funny thing.
I mean literally, as a concept – it’s quite bizarre.
The idea of working in one industry and hoping to move up a fictional ladder and somehow hope that by the time you’re pushed off it – and we’ll all be pushed off it at some time – you’ve built up enough reputation or cash to keep you going through till the bitter end.
Hahahaha … Mr Positive eh!?
Anyway, by hook or by crook I’ve somehow managed to have what I’d call a career.
Admittedly, I fell into it – but overall, I’ve had a pretty good one.
I’ve worked at some amazing places.
I’ve got to live literally all around the World.
I’ve met people who have literally changed my life.
I’ve been part of work that still excites me years later.
And somehow, I’m still doing all those things, which is insane.
But as wonderful as all that is, one thing I am particularly proud of is how many of my old team mates are now at some of the most highly regarded creative companies in the World doing all manner of interesting things.
Of course, I had little to do with it – it’s all their talent – but the bit that makes me proud is that they are forging their own careers based on their own ideas and their own opinions and their own voice.
About 2005, I realised how lucky I had been with previous bosses.
All of them encouraged me to find my own voice rather than duplicate someone else’s … and while that often got me in trouble, they never strayed from their path of encouraging independent thought.
Now I appreciate a lot of companies say this, but this wasn’t some PR bullshit they could spout in a magazine, they lived it – openly and actively welcoming, encouraging and igniting debate.
And they never ‘pulled rank’.
It was always a discussion of equals – which was one of the most empowering and liberating professional feelings I ever had.
It showed trust. It showed respect. It showed value.
And even though I’m an old fuck who has done OK in my career, I still get that same feeling when I am working with others who embrace the same value.
As much as rockstars and billionaires may have a reputation for demanding diva’s, I can honestly say the ones I’ve been working with have been amazing in welcoming opinion. They may not always like what is said, but they always value why it has.
And that’s why, when I saw a shift in planning from rigour to replication … challenge to complicity … and individuality to impotency [driven by the global financial crisis of 2008] I realised the best thing I could do is encourage my team to be independent in thought, voice and behaviour.
I should point out this was not selfless. By having great creative and cultural thinkers in my team, they would help make even better work and that would have a positive effect on me too.
I know, what a prick eh.
And of course, I acknowledge not every planner was following the replication path. Nor was every agency. But it was definitely happening and arguably, this is why Australian planners have risen in position more than those from other nations [ie: Tobey head of planning at Uncommon, Paula global head of Nike planning at Wieden, Andy head of planning at Wieden Portland, Rodi, head of strategy at Apple South East Asia and Aisea MD at Anomaly LA to name but 5] because – as much as the Aussie government may like to say they suffered – the country was largely unaffected, which meant training continued, standards continued, creativity continued.
So while there was a bunch of other values we continually encouraged and practiced, the desire to develop independent thinking, openness and debate were a real focus of mine and have continued to be.
Whether I was successful is up to the people who had the awkwardness of dealing with me, but I distinctly remembering being in a meeting at Wieden in Shanghai after Sue, Leon and Charinee had just challenged a bunch of things we had just talked to the agency about.
One of the global team was there and said, “they’re very outspoken”.
And while normally that could be read as a diss, it wasn’t … it was more of a surprise because many people in China – especially the young – tend to keep very quiet, especially in front of people who are at a more senior level to them and this mob had gone to town.
To which I replied, “I know. It’s a wonderful headache to have”.
And it was.
And it is.
Which is why I will continue to believe the best thing any head of planning can do is encourage independent thought and respect for debate and rigour … because while it can creates moments where it’s a right pain in the arse, the alternative is far more disagreeable.
Have a great weekend.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Apathy, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Colenso, Comment, Communication Strategy, Confidence, Creative Brief, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Differentiation, Distinction, Emotion, Empathy, Innovation, Insight, Management, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Metallica, New Zealand, Point Of View, Positioning, Relationships, Relevance, Resonance, Respect, Uncommon, Wieden+Kennedy
I was talking to a couple of mates recently.
Both of them are a couple of incredibly talented, highly regarded, multi-award winning creatives and they were asking me what it was like working in NZ.
As we were chatting we came to a revelation about what was causing the decline in advertising standards.
This is a topic that has been debated a lot over the years with a myriad of possible causes. But with the experience I have seen in NZ – plus the experience I have working directly with a number of famous bands and billionaires – we realised there was actually an underlying cause that trumped all other considerations.
It’s not digital.
It’s not consultants.
It’s not holding companies.
It’s not eco-systems or playbooks.
It’s not the wild inflation of strategists.
It’s not cost.
It’s not effectiveness.
It’s not in-house alternatives.
It’s not direct-to-consumers.
It’s not data.
It’s not rational messaging.
It’s the layers within companies.
The multitude of people everything has to go through and be approved by.
Might be on the client side.
Might be on the agency side.
Might be on both sides … but each layer is like a mini-focus group where ‘success’ is when the representative of that particular layer feels something can then be passed on to the next person in their group without it making them look foolish for their decision or choice.
And as the work passes each layer, the work gets diluted or chipped away until the ultimate decision maker gets to see something that is a pale shadow of what was originally intended.
An object that is a trophy to self preservation rather than potency and truth.
And as companies and agencies have grown in their complexity, the work has faced more layers and opinions. Doesn’t matter if you’re independent or part of the most networked agency/company in the history of networked agency/companies … the decline of creative standards is down to the number of organisational layers that now exists within companies.
And why has this happened?
Well, part of it is because of complexity, but the main part is because companies have got into this mad position where the only way they can grant a significant payrise is if the person is promoted.
So we’re in this mad situation where we have increased layers, headcount and complexity simply because we have viewed money as something commensurate with promotion rather than quality.
Now I appreciate you could argue promotion is a sign of quality – but I don’t think that’s right.
Being good at something doesn’t automatically mean you will be good at something more senior. Hell, there’s a lot of people who don’t even want to do something else. They just want to do what they love and they’re happy at.
I remember at Wieden where – for one mad minute – they thought I’d make a good MD.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
They didn’t come to their senses even when I told them I wasn’t even the MD of cynic … and that was a company I actually founded.
I didn’t want to be an MD.
I wasn’t interested in being an MD.
I just wanted to do what I loved and was good at.
And while they finally came to their senses [good call, Luhr, as usual] the reality is a lot of companies have a bunch of layers simply because they needed to promote someone to justify a payrise.
And before you know it, every task has to go through multitudes of layers … where most are designed to dull an idea rather than sharpen it.
While I don’t know this for a fact, I would guess the companies or agencies who are doing the most interesting work … the stuff that attracts culture rather than chases them down then beats them into submission … are the ones where they deal with the ultimate decision maker.
We get to do a lot of that in NZ.
I definitely get to do that with Metallica, Gentle Monster and the GTA team.
And the difference is huge.
Because while some of these clients are genuinely exceptional – especially when I’m talking to the founders of the organisations because that gives them a level of power and authority most other clients could never hope to get – I imagine a lot of the others are no different to the clients everyone who reads this blog deals with in London or New York or Tokyo everyday.
It’s just the big difference is instead of work having to appease the comments and judgement of 20 different people, it only has to agree with 4 … so the idea that gets made resembles the idea on the table to a much greater extent.
So next time you have a client that talks about wanting great work, don’t talk to them in terms of what processes, systems or people you can add to the mix, talk about what both parties need to take away.
Because if you want the work to be potent, kill the layers of filtration.
Filed under: Advertising, Agency Culture, Apathy, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Brand, Brand Suicide, Colenso, Comment, Communication Strategy, Confidence, Crap Campaigns In History, Crap Marketing Ideas From History!, Creative Brief, Creative Development, Creativity, Differentiation, Distinction, Emotion, Empathy, Equality, Experience, Fake Attitude, Focus Groups, Honesty, Imagination, Innovation, Insight, Management, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Only In Adland, Perspective, Planners, Planning, Point Of View, Relevance, Resonance, Stubborness, Uncommon, Wieden+Kennedy
So many ads today end up just being fancy sales brochures.
A nondescript, stylish image that either has some meaningless line thrust upon it or a literal lift of the proposition from the brief to become the headline.
Clients love it because they think there’s no wastage.
That there’s no ‘thinking’ that the audience has to do to ‘get the message’.
I remember years ago – when I was working on SONY – the client kept referencing Mr Bean.
No, I’m not joking.
They kept saying Mr Bean is understood by all. Loved by all. Communicates a message without saying a word. They were really trying to push this until I pointed out that while that’s the case, no one would spend thousands buying a TV made by Mr Bean.
Then Balls got made and undermined my argument for years. Hahahaha.
And while I hate looking backwards, I can’t help but think the past was far more interesting creatively than where we’re at today.
These days Audi talk about ‘Future is an attitude‘ when once they talked about Vorsprung Durch Technik.
We have Chivas Regal going on about ‘every taste is an experience’ when once they talked about ‘giving Dad an expensive belt‘.
Heineken now ‘open your world‘ when they once ‘refreshed the parts other beers can’t reach‘.
We have countless other brands who were once so powerful with their brand voice who have now become bland.
[Nothing sums it up like this Audi ad for the same car with pretty much the same line]
What really gets me, is we have the talent in the industry to change this.
We have the hunger as well.
But while there are exceptions – and I mean it in terms of agencies who consistently bring the work rather than the odd bit of work getting through – somewhere along the line, we seem to have chosen a path of complicity.
Without doubt the research techniques becoming more and more favoured by companies plays a part in this. As our clients who are more focused on not making a mistake than making an impact. But it cannot be ignored that agencies have a lack of desire to stand up for what they believe is right. Preferring to be complicit rather than respected.
Which may explain why so few of them believe it is worth investing in finding out what is really going on in culture – preferring instead, to either outsource it or just accept the viewpoint of whichever ‘paid for’ 3rd party the client has hired to do the work for them.
What brought this all up was seeing an old Honda ad from the late 70’s/early 80’s.
OK, so Honda have a long history of doing great work – especially from Wieden London – but it’s always been a brand that has run to its own rhythm with its own idiosyncrasies. But even they – these days – are falling into the trap of rubbing off the edges that defines who they are to become like everyone else.
This ad – like so many of the truly great early 80’s ads – came from Chiat/Day.
My god, what an agency they were.
Sadly I say ‘were’ because as much as they still have great people in there and pull off the occasional truly interesting bit of work, when you compare them to what they were like decades ago, there is no comparison.
Brave. Honest. Distinctive. Creative as hell.
Hell, even when they lost, they did it in a way where they would win.
Every single person in adland – especially at C-Suite level – should read this brilliant article by Cameron Day, son of Guy Day … one of the founders of Chiat.
‘How Big Till We Go Bad’ is a fantastic guide on how to build a truly great agency. And then destroy it.
Anyway, I digress.
The Honda ad I saw of theirs was this …
No, your eyes are not deceiving you.
Once upon a time, car manufacturers – or at least some of them – understood equality.
No cliches.
No pandering.
Just treating their audience as adults and equals.
It’s not really that hard is is, but if you compare it to what we see today, it feels we’ve regressed. [Read more about car ad devolution – with a few exceptions – here]
I do not want to look in the past.
I believe my best creative work is ahead of me.
Or at least the potential of it.
To paraphrase Death of a Salesman – or the equally brilliant Nils of Uncommon – we shouldn’t be interested in stories about the past or any crap of that kind because the woods are burning, you understand? There’s a big blaze going on all around.
But the problem is, people have to see the woods are burning and I worry a bunch of the fuckers think it’s a sunset. Then again, it will be … because if we don’t push forwards, it will be the sunset on our industry and that will be the ultimate insult, because the past should never be more exciting and interesting than the future.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Brand Suicide, Colenso, Confidence, Creative Brief, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Differentiation, Distinction, Egovertising, Emotion, Empathy, Experience, Fake Attitude, Honesty, Imagination, Innovation, Insight, Management, Marketing Fail, Packaging, Perspective, Planners, Planning, Positioning, Relevance, Resonance, Rick Rubin, RulesOfRubin, Standards, Uncommon, WeigelCampbell, Wieden+Kennedy
I don’t understand what some people are thinking.
We have got to a point where ‘the idea’ is seemingly regarded as a superficial bit of nonsense.
A wrapper for marketing.
Something as interchangeable as a phone cover.
For some utterly imbecilic reason, ‘the idea’ is now seen as optional – a potential distraction to purpose, eco-systems, frameworks and anything else designed to elevate an idea rather than be the idea.
No wonder our industry is in such a state.
Not only have we sold the value of creativity down the river, we now have a business model based on selling condiments rather than meals.
This post isn’t about dismissing the different and the new.
There’s value in a lot of them – despite the fact most of them aren’t new, just in possession of a new name.
This is actually about being stubborn with the priorities …
Because an idea isn’t wrapping, it’s the fucking present.
Have a good weekend … we have Monday off here, so see you Tuesday.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Colenso, Comment, Confidence, Consultants, Content, Context, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Emotion, Empathy, Fake Attitude, HHCL, Imagination, Immaturity, Love, Management, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Only In Adland, Planners, Relationships, Resonance, Respect, Uncommon, WeigelCampbell, Wieden+Kennedy
This is a plant in our office.
I have no idea who owns it.
I must admit I don’t even really like it.
But that sticker …
Oh I like that.
I like it a lot.
Sure, to some it may be stupid.
Or even disrespectful.
But to me, it shows a company where the people within it have a mischievously creative spirit. The sort who spot creative opportunities to do something people will notice, or relate to or just feel for a whole host of reasons.
In just a single word, they found a way to make anyone who sees that little sticker not just see a plant, but a hard-to-please, always demanding, never content, forever dissatisfied pain-in-the-ass plant diva.
In short, they gave a plant a personality.
In one word.
Yes I know I have a ‘history’ with dodgy stickers – and I also loved the time someone at Wieden Shanghai put the sticker ‘freedom’ next to the ground floor button in the lift [which was promptly taken down, probably by the same person who still goes mental when they discover another of my Wieden leaving stickers hidden somewhere in the building despite me having left years ago, hahahaha] … but I particularly love this one.
I love someone thought it was worth doing.
I don’t care they may have given it no thought whatsoever – in fact that makes me like it more – because it’s those little, pointless things that reveals the most important thing you could ever want to know about an agency.
Are you entering a place that has a culture of creativity or a business that sells efficiency processes under the label of creativity?