I’ve written quite a lot about AI – specifically, how the worrying elements of it are less about the tech and more about the people behind it.
But that doesn’t take away it has incredible applications and possibilities – that is, if companies stop using it simply to optimize their profits by reducing headcount, despite the fact they continually bang on about how ‘their staff are their greatest asset’.
That said, this post isn’t going to head into a rant – don’t get me wrong, it could … but it’s Tuesday and we all could do with a bit of calm.
So with that, look at this …
That’s my beloved Rosie, fast asleep with my beloved Bonnie.
Except Rosie has sadly passed and Bonnie wasn’t even alive when that happened.
And yet, AI helped make it true.
Sure, the image could have also been created with photoshop – but I’m crap with that, whereas this just required me to upload some photos and express my dream and ‘voila’ … something I wish could have happened [even though it wouldn’t, even if they were both alive and well] did.
Kinda.
I love it.
And while I know the image isn’t really real, my emotions are …
It blows my mind how we – as an industry – don’t talk about that very much.
Instead we bang on about efficiencies, technologies, images … manifested in recreating what has gone before in an attempt to show how smart we are, without realizing it really shows we’re a bit stupid.
Yes, AI will change many industries.
Yes, AI will allow many efficiencies.
But it also allows us to make impossible, more accessible.
Not simply in terms of what we can see or do … but also, what we can feel.
Filed under: Comment
… is it ‘you look like Gary V’ bad?
No, I didn’t think so, so consider yourself far more fortunate than me.
I will be spending the rest of the day looking up the finest South Korean plastic surgeons.
Or – for a cheaper alternative – where the nearest kebab and doughnut shop is located, because I sure as shit didn’t look anything like Mr Nepo Baby when I was ‘big boned’.
And yes, I realise today is the beginning of the last month of 2025.
A countdown to the end of a weird year and the hope for the next one.
One I hope will be free from the health issues I’ve faced this past year.
But Forest lost and I look like Gary V in this pic … so what is there to be positive about???
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Apathy, Aspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Brand Suicide, Collaboration, Colleagues, Comment, Communication Strategy, Community, Consultants, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Politics, Professionalism, Respect
I saw the below image recently and it got me thinking about how it is a perfect representation of how most – but not all – ‘multi-agency’ relationships really work.
As I said, it’s not always the case, but it increasingly feels ‘the norm’, often influenced by a procurement process that places more importance on ‘who will do the most for the least’ rather than who is best equipped to lead.
Just for the record, I’m all for collaboration.
Done properly, it is a powerful way to achieve incredible things in collapsed time.
However to stand a chance of achieving this needs a lot of careful thought and pre-planning.
For a start, you need to ensure the people in the room all have similar standards, experience and seniority or you end up only being as good as the least experienced person in attendance.
Or the loudest voice.
Too often there is a view that all you have to do is shove different organisations inside a room and tell them to get on with it.
And while companies do want the best for their clients … they all have their own agendas, definitions, remuneration structures and egos and to expect that to all be put aside because you want them to work together is naive.
It’s why curation, transparency and clarity on the ultimate goal are vital in enabling a strong outcome … but the problem is too often, collaboration is used because of timing pressures rather than seizing opportunity, which is why so much of what comes out of it feels like the worst of ‘committee thinking’.
When it works, everyone wins.
When it doesn’t, everyone – at best – stands still.
Of course, with companies increasingly turning to AI to ‘optimise’ every element of their business, the future of collaboration will be through bots rather than people. And while that may be music-to-the-ears of leaders who view employees as an frustrating expense … the result of this will be even more ‘lowest-common-denominator thinking’ because in the World of AI, everything is a summary of something else – whereas with well-run human collaboration, it doesn’t conform to where we’ve been, it builds to where we can go.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Ambition, Aspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Brand, Brand Suicide, Career, Communication Strategy, Craft, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Delusion, Distinction, Egovertising, Influencers, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Perspective, Planners, Planners Making A Complete Tit Of Themselves And Bless, Planning, Point Of View, Popularity, Process, Provocative, Relevance, Reputation, Resonance, Respect, Standards, Strategy, Success
I’ve been lucky enough to work with some of the most talented advertising people in the whole business. Not in terms of popularity. Not in terms of ‘thought leadership’. But in terms of making the work. Consistently.
Not luck.
Not one-offs.
Not dependent on a particular client.
They’ve made work that has changed minds, categories and possibilities through their vision, talent and creativity.
And while they are all individuals, with their own perspectives and viewpoints – there is one thing that is pretty consistent across all of them.
They’re good people who are immensely talented rather than people who aspire to work in advertising. Or more specifically, live what they think is ‘the advertising lifestyle’.
And what the fuck do I mean by that?
Well, there’s many ways I could explain it but instead, let me show you something that a mate of mine sent me recently.
Now, before I go on, I should point out I don’t know this person and I don’t know if they’re just executing a brilliant pisstake of how some in the industry act. And if it is, then bravo – they’ve nailed the Andrew Tate of advertising schtick that some on Linkedin like to spout, perfectly.
However, if it’s not – and I worry, it may not be – then this kind of shit sums up everything wrong with our industry. All about attitude and fame than actually making stuff that is famous.
Now I appreciate this person may be young and felt this is how they were supposed to act – especially as those ’24 hours with …’ features tend to be a total exercise in ego and bravado. And it’s for that reason, I chose to remove all reference to who wrote it because let’s be honest, we’re all entitled to make huge mistakes.
However, as I have recently come across a bunch of people in the industry who I suspect would write something exactly like this – and be proud as fuck for it – I think this is the point where I remind everyone in the industry that the people we should be looking up to are not those with the name … the title … the pay packet … the popularity … but the ones who have actually made the fucking work.
Not by proxy.
Not by association.
But with their fingerprints.
And if that’s too much to ask, then let’s at least celebrate people like Sangsoo Chong, who wrote the best ’24 hours with …’ I’ve ever read. Not because it takes the piss … not because it’s glamorous and glitzy but because it’s the most brutally raw and honest description of how a lot of this business really works.
Sadly, what you are about to read, doesn’t capture any of that.
Hell, it doesn’t even capture anything to do with great ideas.
But then it shouldn’t really surprise me when too much of the industry seems to value ‘hot takes’ more than making cool work.
… guide dogs.
… white sticks.
… braille books.
… speech to text.
… permanent passenger seat.
… more looking like a shit pirate
… life of darkness.
At least for now … because while things aren’t completely sorted – there were a lot more ‘complications’ than anyone expected, and we still have to wait some weeks before we can see what the reality of the situation is – in terms of the actual procedure, my operation was a success.
As I said, it is still very early days.
And sure, I will be on medication for the rest of my life.
Plus there were some very, very scary moments along the way.
Including needing two emergency operations after the first op.
A full Grey’s Anatomy, ‘life in the balance’ season-end drama moment.
And yes, I will have to go in for regular check-ups for a fucking age.
Plus they still don’t know what caused it so it could all go to shit any day.
But in terms of dealing with the ‘burning oil rig’ pressure, it fucking worked … and I will be eternally grateful to the doctor, nurses, specialists and surgeons who made that possible.
As I said, right now my vision isn’t great, I can just see shapes and colours and I find typing really hard [you have no idea how big the letters on my screen have to be for me to be able to see, let alone type anything] … but given I had no vision before, it’s brilliant.
I’ll even be allowed to drive again! [Thanks to my other eye, not this one. Yet]
So with that and that fact some of the Metallica gang came to me when they were here last week – the end of the year is looking a fuck-of-a-lot brighter than it has for quite a while. Especially the last 6 weeks or so which were an absolute fucking perfect storm shitshow. Not just for the eye, but for seemingly every bit of karma I was due for the past 55 years – hahaha.
So I really want to say a big thank you to everyone who reached out, checked in and sent love.
Given I have been in isolation – both in terms of calls, emails and social media … it was nice to come back to love.
But most of all, I need to thank my surgeons and medical science … because contrary to what certain government administrations like to suggest, they’re amazing and it’s incredible and I don’t just owe my ability to still see the World around me, to it, I also owe my life.
And yet despite that, it still won’t improve my blog writing skills.
But it will allow me to keep writing my rubbish and I couldn’t be happier.
While I’ve had it much better than most, 2025 has been a pretty challenging year … this is a nice way to head into the end of it. All I need now is to win this years Fuck Off And Pie – which is next week – and it may even end up in credit.
Oh who am I kidding.
See you tomorrow. Literally and metaphorically.