Filed under: Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Brand, Brand Suicide, Confidence, Content, Context, Corporate Evil, Cunning, Home
We’ve all been there.
Being promised the world.
Amazing service.
The involvement of the most senior members of the team.
Promises matched by effort.
So you agree and then …
Damp squid.
A cavalcade of unimpressive under-delivery.
From feeling important to feeling an irritant.
Now sometimes that is met with a ‘corrective’ intervention. A chance to get everyone back on track. Though they’re rarely as explosive as the time the account director at Saatchi & Saatchi called in the executives of their newly won Black & Decker business and told them:
“Your account has been in this agency for only a few weeks and it’s already a joke account here. And I’ll tell you why. It’s because you’re acting like a bunch of cunts.”
For the record, that’s apparently a word-for-word articulation of the conversation as captured in the wonderful Chutzpah & Chutzpah. While one of the clients supposedly fell off the end of the armless sofa they were sitting on, apparently the showdown did the trick and Black & Decker went on to become a very successful, award-winning client for them.
Now ad folk and estate agents often run a tight race for who is the least trustworthy …
To be honest, I’ve not met many who were like that, however in terms of false promises and social manipulation, this has to be one of the very best/worst I’ve seen.
Here’s the estate agent pitch …
Sounds good, doesn’t it.
You’re interested. In fact, screw the interest … you’ll just buy it.
It sounds exactly what you want and you know you have to be quick these days.
And the estate agent is so kind and helpful.
Running around getting you all the information you need for the bank.
Brilliant.
Everything is going so well.
As ‘moving in’ day approaches, your excitement rises.
The removal people carefully pack up your house into their lorry and you all drive towards your well presented, detached bungalow near the local golf course.
Then you pull in and you see this.
What. The. Absolute. Fuck.
OK, at least they didn’t say ‘close to ammenities’ in their ad but still …
That motherfucker estate agent.
Also known as a pitch vs reality moment.
[For the record, that house did sell … and for hundreds of thousands of quid. Cancer included]
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Colenso, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Innovation, New Zealand, Pollution, Purpose, Relevance, Resonance
I don’t normally write about work I’m involved in, but today I’m going to make an exception because it’s slightly bonkers.
One of our clients is a company called FFI.
They make a product called Green Hydrogen.
Put simply, it’s the only energy source that can maintain the World’s energy requirements without killing the planet because it is carbon neutral.
Nada. Zilch. Nothing.
And while the fossil fuel companies will claim they have similar products – like blue or grey hydrogen – they don’t, because the reality is green hydrogen is called ‘green’ for a reason and that reason is its main ingredient is nature and so it’s impact is also good for nature.
I know … sounds too good to be true doesn’t it?
In fact, when we were pitching for it, I wrote a slide that said “this sounds the sort of wizardry you’d expect from Harry Potter”.
And it is. Except it’s real, not magic … even though it feels like it should be.
Anyway, without going into too much detail, one of the things we want to do is ensure youth culture know about it … know there’s something that can actually given them and their planet a future despite the fossil fuel companies trying to burn it all for their own profit.
I know … it may sound weird to do that … but there’s very good reasons for it, especially when we have a generation who have seen the power they have with their united voice and focus.
From legitimising non-binary attitudes to undermining presidential campaigns to shorting hedge funds to forcing national demonstrations against the NRA to name a few.
But the question was how can we do this?
How can a major, corporate company connect to culture in a way where it’s not try hard and still allows the science to be celebrated?
The answer …
Work with a scientist who lives and breathes in their world.
Which is why we are working with the brilliant Rick Sanchez, from Rick and Morty, to help spread the word, educate the world and push for change.
And while this won’t happen overnight … I’m very excited to see how our brilliantly bonkers partnership will help move us there. After all, there’s plenty of examples that show if you want to change established attitudes and behaviour – then there are occasion where doing something ridiculous is the most sensible thing you can do.
It all starts from here …
Today would be Freddie Mercury’s 76th birthday.
How bizarre.
Except it shouldn’t be because Brian May and Roger Taylor are similar ages and they’re still playing.
Though recently I saw a photo of Brian May coming off stage from their last concert of this current tour and he was in tears … and you sense there’s a chance that’s it. That he knows, even though it hasn’t been said.
I can’t imagine what that must feel like.
I mean, the idea of me no longer being able to do whatever it is I do freaks me out, so to be a global rockstar who knows they can’t keep performing as they have been – even though the fanbase is there – must be a whole other level of confrontation.
But if they are bowing out, doing it on a high is the only way to go and they would be doing it if they announce it now.
Which also means I’m extra thrilled I was able to see them in London.
With my best friend Paul.
Which, for me, would be the perfect sign-off.
But the thing that’s interesting is that when you think of Freddie, you don’t think of the old man version of him. You don’t see the ‘grand damme’ looking anything other than he was in 1986 … fit, flamboyant and fantastic.
Yellow jacket.
Big moustache.
Prancing around the stage like a highly-sexed panther.
Yes, I know he died 31 years ago and that was the last ‘high profile’ image of him. But given 50% of the band are still touring, the idea we still see Freddie in his prime – rather than comparing him to his band mates – is interesting.
That said, that 1986 image is not my favourite version of him.
Queen had ‘evolved’ from rock stars to entertainers by then and I have to be honest and say I prefer when they are in full blitzkrieg rock n’ roll stars.
Which is why I wish Freddie a happy birthday and leave you with a concert they did in 1981.
Even if you hate the band you will be unable to dismiss the power of their performance. This is them at their peak … literally years before they created musical immortality with Live Aid.
Don’t get me wrong, I will always love them, but I miss this version of them most.
Happy birthday Fred.
It’s Fathers Day in NZ this Sunday.
A day where we are supposed to be loved and spoiled.
Or at least acknowledged.
That said, I at least tried to buy my Dad some thoughtful stuff.
Or at least personal.
Like a Ms Piggy from The Muppets doll … or a Rolls Royce pencil sharpener.
And while they sound naff, my Dad LOVED both Ms Piggy and Rolls Royce’s exemplified by two things.
1. He kept them his whole life and we placed them in his coffin when he died.
2. I chose to remember my Dad with a tattoo of Ms Piggy.
And while I accept with hindsight, they hardly scream ‘respectful Dad gift’, it’s still waaaaay better than this …
Yep, that’s real.
Which means either someone at the supermarket either wasn’t thinking or they just want to exploit Father’s Day for profit in whatever way they can.
So to all Dad’s out there – past, future, present – I hope you have an amazing day.
And to those who get a gift of Stayfree Ultrathin pads … remember, it’s the thought that counts.
Allegedly.
Today there is no proper post because I’m away celebrating my 15th wedding anniversary.
Fifteen years of bloody amazing, awesome, adventure.
Of course, that’s my perspective … Jill’s may well be different.
Which is why I’m spoiling her today because let’s be honest, murderers get less punishment than she’s had to endure.
In all honesty I can’t believe 15 years has gone so fast.
But then I can’t believe this blog was around when it happened.
In fact, years before that.
So much has happened in those 15 years … from countries to cats to kids to jobs.
Not to mention a shit-ton of gadgets.
And all of it … well, most of it … has been epic.
See you tomorrow.
[That is if anyone reads this blog anymore as I can’t tell without the abusive comments]