Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Colenso, Comment, Communication Strategy, Confidence, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Differentiation, Emotion, Empathy, HHCL, Innovation, Insight, Love, Loyalty, Management, Marketing, Metallica, New Zealand, Perspective, Planners, Planning, Point Of View, Relevance, Resonance, Respect, Technology, Uncommon, Uncorporated, Wieden+Kennedy
So this is it.
First day at school. Again.
In another new country. Again.
It’s always a weird feeling starting a new job. A mixture of excitement and nerves.
Excitement for the possibilities that lie ahead and nerves that you don’t really know what the hell actually lies ahead.
Most of this is because you are not you when you begin a new job.
You’re in this weird place where you want to throw yourself in the mix as quickly as possible – both to start feeling settled and to show your value to your new colleagues – while at the same time, knowing you have to learn a whole new set of people, protocols and situations while navigating the judging eyes that are going to follow you around for weeks.
But I have to say I am particularly excited about this.
I’ve loved Colenso from afar for a long time.
And as I wrote a while back, I almost joined them 6 years ago and always regretted it didn’t work out [simply because my head was not in the right place after Mum died] … so to be given this chance again is something else.
But the main thing is how they have acted towards me before I joined.
Lots of companies talk a good game when they’re trying to hire you and then – the moment it’s all signed and sealed – turn into demanding, inconsiderate pricks.
While it has only happened to me once, it fucks with your mind.
You doubt your judgement.
You question your decisions.
It’s pretty debilitating.
And yet, while it has been almost 8 months since we agreed to get married, Colenso have been amazing in how they have dealt with me.
One of the big things is how steadfast they’ve been not involving me in stuff till I’m here.
Of course they checked in … but they never gave me work to do, because they didn’t want our first experience working together to be one where I’m the only person on Zoom and 13 hours behind the rest of the team.
And while I would not have minded, I totally get why they wanted that to be the way.
That said, I did want to use the time to get to know the team and I basically had to beg to get that to happen.
Of course it’s not the best way to build any sort of understanding, rapport and relationship with people – so rather than talk about work, we tended to chat about what’s happening in our lives and how we feel about it – which took away any formality and allowed us to start revealing the different sides of each other.
And while I can’t wait to get to know them properly from here on in, I’m happy we have got to a stage where they feel comfortable enough to already call me a range of ‘choice’ names … which means I’ve just saved a week on my typical timings, ha.
While the past 13 months have been a very special time for me both personally [spending so much time with my wonderful family in our new home] and professionally [working with amazing people doing work I never dreamed I would be a part of] I am utterly thrilled to be starting here today.
Don’t get me wrong, I know it won’t all be rainbows and unicorns.
I’m old enough to know there will be plenty of times full of pain, drama, arguing and asshole challenges … but when you work for a place that only has its eye on the work they create, it means everything works out in the end.
For all the tension, scars, arguments and bloody hard fucking work it takes for creativity to be at its sharpest and most dangerous – at least a lot of the time, but not all of the time – once you’ve got it there and let it out into the world, it’s amazing how all the tension, scars and arguing fade away.
Better yet, it’s replaced with excitement, energy and possibility.
OK, and nerves, but even that is in an excited way.
Now I accept this might all sound like bullshit, but it isn’t
I lived it at HHCL, Cynic and Wieden.
It’s why it’s the founding principal behind Uncorporated.
It’s why places like Uncommon, are attracting the biggest names rather than chasing them.
And it’s why a small agency on the other side of the World has consistently played against the very best in the World.
The key word here is consistently.
Not one offs.
Not once upon a time, a long time ago.
I mean doing it day in and day out.
Finding new ways to do old things.
Looking for opportunities where creativity can change outcomes.
Embracing technology to expand the possibilities of creativity rather than just efficiency.
Staying on the path even when you could take short-cuts or potentially crash and burn.
Because in an industry that is increasingly defining success outside of the work they make and the cultural impact it creates, it’s those who let the creativity do the talking who create and attract the most interesting futures.
Not just for themselves. But for clients and culture alike.
So thank you to everyone who helped me get to this place in my career.
Thank you to everyone who has helped me actually get to New Zealand.
And thank you to Colenso for your stupidity in giving me this opportunity.
I will be eternally grateful, even if my new planning gang won’t be.
Right, time for the oldest ‘new boy’ to go cause some chaos.
Have a great day, I know I will.
Filed under: Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Brand Suicide, Colenso, Comment, Consultants, Context, Creative Brief, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Differentiation, Distinction, Emotion, Empathy, Experience, Happiness, Honesty, Innovation, Insight, Management, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Metallica, Perspective, Planners, Planning, Point Of View, Politics, Premium, Professionalism, Relationships, Relevance, Resonance, Respect, Rick Rubin, RulesOfRubin, Standards, Uncommon, WeigelCampbell, Wieden+Kennedy
So I know I said last week was the last of the Rules By Rubin … but then I did also say there may be some more in the future.
Well consider this the future.
Shit isn’t it?
Don’t worry, it’s just for today and tomorrow then we go back to normal.
So just as shit. Sorry.
Anyway this is about the state of the creative industry.
Whereas once, it was filled with companies all wanting to create wonderful things to put into the world – regardless of their individual discipline or expertise – the emergence of consultancies has led to the industry now falling into 2 groups
Those who can’t help finding ways to put creativity out into the world in interesting ways and those who seemingly do all they can to never put anything out whatsoever.
While I sort-of understand the theory why agencies would like the idea of being like a consultancy, what I’ve found especially bizarre is that in doing that, they’re seemingly happy to dismiss making any actual creativity at all.
At first I was really confused how they thought they’d stay in business.
I mean, there are as many competitors as there are in adland.
Their entire model is designed around making actual creative work.
The lack of C-Suite engagement is more individual than entire industry.
Then I thought maybe I was completely wrong.
That they did want to make work.
After all, why else would their excellent strategists continually write 100 page decks filled with charts, ecosystems, frameworks and playbooks to every single client meeting?
Surely that is a sign of a company actually wanting to make something.
But then on closer inspection, I saw a lot of those decks had no creativity mentioned in them whatsoever.
And the conversation around audience was simplistic, generalist and utterly contrived.
In essence, they talked a hell of a lot but actually said very little.
“What the hell was going on?” I would ask myself.
And then on a cold night one Wednesday, I worked it out.
Those planners aren’t writing strategic decks, they’re creating remuneration landfill.
Thank fuck for the others.
The ones who know who they are.
The ones who push rather than pander.
The ones who create opportunities not wait for them.
The ones who run to the edge rather than run on the spot.
The ones who finish interesting things to start making more interesting things.