Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Brand Suicide, Comment, Communication Strategy, Creativity, Culture, Customer Service, Distinction, Emotion, Empathy, Loyalty, Management, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Relationships, Relevance, Resonance, Respect
Just like HR is often about protecting management from their people rather than the other way around, the same can be said for customer service.
Of course, no one says that, but there’s far too many examples of companies stating the importance of their customers, and then using their customer service department to completely undermine them.
As I’ve written before, real customer service is demonstrated when things are bad, not good.
Let’s be honest, when a company can spot a sale, the full charm-offensive is on display.But when things go bad … oh, that’s when the truth is often revealed.
The irony is that this is the exact moment you can create a level of loyalty that can last a lifetime.
I’ve talked about the time VW came good after my brand new Golf GTI had the gearbox collapse and the turbo blow up … and I’ve found another example of a brand making something bad, a little bit better simply because they looked at things from their customers perspective and acted accordingly.
Isn’t that amazing?
Considerate. Compassionate. Personal. Helpful. Generous.
At the worst of times, a company has found a way to not just solve a problem – but help relieve some of the pain, that wasn’t even of their own making.
If a pet food company can do that – with their relatively low priced product – then any company should be able to. But many don’t. Not because their staff don’t want to, but their bosses won’t let them.
Years ago I worked with a consultant called Geoff Burch.
He was a beautiful maniac.
What made him great was he challenged management to live up to their responsibilities – both to their companies reputation and their employees ability to be successful.
We were working on an Italian car brand together and at the client briefing, the CEO said the call centre staff were offering too many benefits to appease dissatisfied customers.
Geoff asked why they were dissatisfied and the response was their were reliability problems.
Quick as a flash, he replied:
“Maybe you need to realise your responsibility to your employees is more than just a desk, a roof and a paycheck, but making a product that is fit for purpose. I can’t help a company who wants to blame others for the faults they have created and protect”
It was incredible.
And while there was a very awkward atmosphere in the room after that outburst, the CEO – after what seemed like a lifetime – acknowledged he was right.
To be fair, it helped that Geoff had an incredible reputation, but he wasn’t saying anything truly revolutionary, he was simply saying ‘reputation is based on what you do, not what you say’.
And while that should be plainly obvious, it’s amazing how few companies still don’t get that. The companies who think making a few dollars more today is more valuable than a lost customer tomorrow.
Seriously, the way some companies operate, it’s like a bloody ponzi scheme.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting you should ‘spend your way’ into customers hearts.
This is simply about valuing your customers perspective rather than purely seeing the World through your own.
Which is, unsurprisingly, the true definition of customer service.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Comment, Communication Strategy, Creative Brief, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Distinction, Emotion, Empathy, Innovation, Management, Marketing, Mischief, Perspective, Planners, Planning, Point Of View, Positioning, Relevance, Research, Resonance, Rick Rubin, RulesOfRubin
I like quotes.
Always have.
I like them because they often frame something in a way that sets my brain on another track.
It’s why I enjoyed the Rules Of Rubin series I did a while back. And while that was for a specific work-related reason, I came out of it with far more than I imagined.
Recently I had another one of those quotes, not by Rubin but by Paracelsus … a Swiss physician who was a pioneer in many areas of the medical revolution’ during the Renaissance.
It’s that one at the top of this post.
Yes, I know what it is saying is obvious.
Let’s be honest, the phrase ‘everything in moderation’ has been around for decades, but there’s something about this that just has more bite.
Maybe it’s the use of the word poison.
Maybe it’s the way it doesn’t define any specific thing as bad.
Maybe it’s the way it doesn’t feel condescending or judgemental.
But it set my mind whirring far more than using words like ‘moderation’ and I would imagine it would do the same to any creative having to work with such a brief.
Quotes have a wonderful way of doing that.
They’re far more valuable to provoke different ways of thinking than filling in a creative brief with the answer you want the creatives to execute rather than giving them the problem you want their brains to explore and resolve.
We’re in danger of only valuing literal thinking rather than lateral … and that’s what I love about quotes. They challenge how you think … make you take some leaps, look in some new corners, explore what you think is possible … but never adding pressure on what or where you go with them.
I have always had a hard time writing briefs.
I place so much pressure on myself to get to something intriguing and interesting that I end up writing 7 or 8 different versions – all with different possibilities – so I and the team – can have a real chat about where our energy is at.
I think my record is something like 14 odd for Spotify.
And that’s before we even start on all the other briefs that come from it.
I still do that, but what’s helped my sanity is starting with a bunch of quotes or poems or song lyrics. Stuff related to the issue without being obviously directly about it.
It’s such a great time saver to open discussion.
Like the brief before the brief.
The opportunity to work out what excites you about a possibility without getting too lost in the detail of the possibility. At least initially.
So next time you’re stuck on where you should go, don’t start filling in the brief boxes in the hope the answer will present itself [it never does] … fill up the walls with stuff that opens things up before you start closing things down.
Because the best briefs are not a flow of logic, but a story of adventure.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Brand, Comment, Confidence, Content, Context, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Distinction, Emotion, Empathy, Imagination, Innocence, Innovation, Insight, Management, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Planners, Planning, Prejudice, Relevance, Resonance, Respect, Standards, Wieden+Kennedy
Once upon a time, Dan Wieden was giving a presentation to a bunch of executives from one of Wieden’s big, global clients.
Dan was talking about the power of failing and asked if anyone in the audience had ever been fired from their job.
Nothing.
Not one person raised their hands.
Dan surveyed the scene for a moment before leaning into the microphone and saying:
“Cowards!”
There was a nervous ripple in the audience before some people laughed … but Dan wasn’t saying it to be nasty – or to be funny – he was saying it because he truly believes in the mantra of ‘fail harder’ and the positive impact it can have for both creativity and commerce.
Fail harder is not about seeing how bad you can do something.
Fail harder is about …
+ the quest to push yourself.
+ the desire to challenge limits.
+ the goal to provoke change through complete openness.
And while many people get the concept of it … even agree with it … not everyone can bring themselves to participate in it.
Now that’s totally fine until you start criticising or judge others who are doing it.
Especially if the only reason you’re criticising or judging them is because they’re doing something you didn’t do.
Then that’s a dick move. An insecure, dick move.
I say this because lately there seems to be a lot of people doing exactly that … especially on twitter and especially in the planning/marketing groups.
Judging … dismissing and insulting people who are trying different stuff.
Not because they think it’s wrong.
Not because they think it isn’t valid.
Not even because they don’t think it’s clever.
But because they’re cowards.
Sure, some will have valid reasons for it.
Family.
Mortgage.
Others relying on them.
But what is disappointing is – like the people in that conference – many of these people throwing shade are seasoned, senior individuals.
People who have the experience to push boundaries.
People who have the smarts to challenge the status quo.
People who have the knowledge to be more than capable.
People who have the voice to champion change.
And while it is absolutely their prerogative to not do it, sending our snide comments or subtweets about those who are, is pretty pathetic.
Ridiculing the way someone talks about their colleagues.
Questioning the ability to be taken seriously by clients.
Looking down on what they’re trying to do and what they’ve done.
Hell, some of these people have actually started their own company, so you’d expect them to be a cheerleader for the new … but instead it seems they see them as a more interesting competitive threat, so keep throwing out their barbs.
Oh they probably think they’re being so clever.
That the people can’t see what they’re doing.
But it’s so transparent you could grow plants in it.
However here is where it all goes wrong …
Because not only are many of these people pioneering a great business out of what they’re doing … everyone can see these insults are simply a way to distract thems from the fact they didn’t do what someone else has had the courage to try. That someone is trying to create their own story rather than simply follow someone else’s.
Personally, I think that is an incredible thing to do.
And thank fuck we have people willing to do that.
Not just because the old way isn’t working that well, but because the definition of ‘Fail Harder’ is the realisation that even if you fail in your attempt to do something audacious, you’re already further ahead than those who simply have followed the path of ‘achieving safely’.
There’s a few people I know who are victims of this.
They say it doesn’t bother them, but it obviously does.
Of course it does … it’s shit … especially when coming from people in the industry who are supposed to be ‘senior voices’.
So fuck those guys [and it is nearly always men]
Make them cry tears of regret, because regardless what happens next, you’ve already gone further them most of them could reach.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Creativity, Culture, Emotion, Empathy, Love, Resonance
For years people have tried to express what love is.
They’ve used song.
They’ve made films.
They’ve written books.
They’ve made art.
They’ve penned poems.
They’ve even created a day for it to be celebrated.
But none of them have captured it so beautifully and succinctly as a photograph I recently saw.
Love this.
Love it so much.
A moment alone, when you’re surrounded by hundreds.
At a time where creativity is being challenged and questioned by more and more companies, consultancies and corporations, this photo is a great reminder how creativity can solve the problems systems, structures and order can never reach.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, China, Colenso, Comment, Corporate Evil, Creativity, Culture, Distinction, Emotion, Empathy, Management, Nike, Otis, Perspective, Relevance, Resonance, Wieden+Kennedy
Lot’s of companies talk about doing good.
Sadly, of those who do, many have both eyes fixed on what’s in it for them.
A headline.
An award.
A chance to win favour with someone they want to connect with.
An opportunity to distract attention from all the bad stuff they’re doing.
Now there are some companies who mean it.
Who have a set of values that truly is reflected in a set of behaviours.
However, in my experience, I’ve found it’s often more to do with the character of an individual within the organisation rather than the organisation.
Not always, but often.
What I’ve found is the best way to identify the real motivation behind an act of generosity is to see how inconvenient it is for them to execute.
The more inconvenient, the more they care.
I’ve seen some amazing examples of people going out of their way …
There was the time Simon Pestridge – when he was CMO at NIKE – got me a signed Wayne Rooney, Manchester United shirt so I could give it to a random taxi driver I’d met in Atlanta. Or the time San – also from Nike – humoured me by getting me green M&M’s [my attempt at reliving the Van Halen ‘brown M&M trick‘] when they asked me to pull a global preso together at the last second.
That’s proof of people who give a shit about others.
But I’ve seen the other side.
The food brand who ‘donated’ $100 to a group collecting food for victims of an earthquake.
Or the travel company who gave schools a 3% discount for train tickets so city kids could see a beach.
Or the international conglomerate who talk about purpose and their desire to help humanity but continue to profit from cultural exploitation and acts of prejudice.
But where you would normally expect me to leave the post there – with a bad taste in your mouth – I’m not going to.
I know, who the fuck am I?
You see a while back I got asked by Coca-Cola if I’d give a presentation to their Asia-Pac marketing team.
I decided a while back, that I’m going to start ‘exploiting’ my so-called position by trying to do things that can positively change things for more people.
So I told them I’d do it if they agreed to hire a young woman [full-time or a long-term paid internship] who hadn’t gone to university and came from a more humble background.
Then – proving I’m still a selfish, blagging bastard – I said I’d also like some Coke Zero for me.
Amazingly … brilliantly … awesomely they agreed and were nothing but kind and open about making it happen – which also helps explain the photo at the top of this page showing Otis with an outdoor furniture set made of Coke Zero supplies.
They didn’t have to do it.
They could have just asked someone else to do the talk.
But they did … and while there are many things people could throw stones at them for, this was more than many and more valuable than most.
Which leaves me with this …
If you’re asked to do a presentation or a talk or even a panel for someone, maybe you could consider doing a similar thing to me.
Let’s face it, if they would do it for me, they’ll DEFINITELY do it for you.
And if they say no, then you’ll know exactly what you’re dealing with.
But maybe they’ll say yes.
Maybe it won’t be an internship, but it could be something else.
A partnership with a school.
An introduction to one of their partner companies.
Some mentorship.
A donation.
And while it might not change millions of lives, it could change one.
And that is most definitely better than none.
Just a thought.
Thank you Coca-Cola..