Filed under: Advertising, Age, Aspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Career, Cliches, Emotion, Empathy, Mum, Mum & Dad, My Childhood, Prejudice, Pride
I’m back … well, at least in terms of this blog.
And while last week was a detour from what it was supposed to be, it ended up being very important given the rollercoaster I experienced with my health and some other stuff. But the good news is the help and support I received from so many has helped set me up for a slightly batshit crazy week [in a good way] the week after next – before a truly once-in-a-lifetime stupid week in early 2026 which – which for an impatient-as-fuck only child, is about as big a compliment as I can give.
Yes, I get that’s a big call, but how can it not be when it involves a true global legend/icon/god/hero [delete where appropriate, except they’re all of them]!!!
I should point out my excitement is not because of their fame … but because of the things they do that make a real difference and impact to millions around the World, in ways so many brands often talk about with their ‘brand purpose’ but rarely ever do anything with. Mainly because most of them see ‘purpose’ as a marketing gimmick/wrapper rather than an instrument for fundamental and actual change.
It’s why Paula and I talked about what brands and advertising can learn from artists at Cannes this year … but it seems we would rather blindly follow frameworks, models and rebadged established principals being peddled by certain people/organizations [despite having never made products or work that have driven commercially valuable societal change] than learn from the artists who continually out-play, out-think, out-last, out-innovate and out-influence the marketing industry with their endless resources.
And we wonder why we are failing?
Thanks for making me angry, it will help fight off the jet lag, ha.
Anyway, I appreciate the title of this post may sound heavy – especially for a Monday morning – but given aging is something every single one of us is going to face at some point, it felt worth writing. Even more so, given I didn’t really write it … I’m just publishing the words of a 95 year old actress that really resonated with me.
Not just because I’m old … not just because despite being 55, I’m still ambitious and have things I want to do and achieve … not just because I’m still working at the sharp end of an industry that loves killing people over 40 … but because it reminds me so much of my Mum’s attitude to life.
Wanting to keep growing and participating in life – regardless of her age.
Not in an attempt to ‘be young’, but with a desire to stay connected to what is going on around her. To be able to contribute, understand, explore and learn.
I’ve written a lot about this in the past.
How she decided to learn Russian, aged 60.
How she would go to shows by new artists – be it in film, music or comedy.
How she would take an active interest in hearing counter perspectives so she had a rounded view.
Basically – as she instilled in me – to be interested in what other people are interested in.
So she wouldn’t feel disconnected.
So she wouldn’t be disconnected.
So she could be engaged and active.
In many ways, Mum was driven by a desire to not play to the elderly person stereotype. Not because she wanted to be young, but because she didn’t want others to define the life she wanted to experience and live. The older I get the more I realise what an amazing role-model she was for me. To me. And while I don’t have her brains or talent, I definitely have her independence to follow the path I believe in or am excited by … rather than what many others would like me to follow.
Which leads me to the article I want to post.
It’s by the actress Patricia Routledge – better known as Mrs Bucket [pronounced, according to her, ‘Bouquet’] from the 90’s TV show, ‘Keeping Up Appearances’.
She wrote it a month before her 95th birthday [FYI: she sadly died, aged 96½, on Oct 3rd] and its a brilliant piece for anyone who is worried that if they haven’t ‘made it’ by a certain age – the chances of it are over. It’s also a great reminder that so much of the good things in life owe as much to luck as they do to talent.
Given it’s a Monday – a day where insecurities and struggles often come to the forefront – I hope this makes you look ahead with a little more optimism, energy and hope than you may otherwise have imagined. While it is all excellent, there are a couple of points that I think are some of the best ways to look at life that I’ve ever read. Which is why with all the challenges and fears we face, embrace, invite and are faced with … we could all do with being ‘more Bucket’. Enjoy.
I’ll be turning 95 this Monday. In my younger years, I was often filled with worry — worry I wasn’t quite good enough, that no one would cast me again, that I wouldn’t live up to my mother’s hopes. But these days begin in peace, and end in gratitude.
My life didn’t quite take shape until my forties. I had worked steadily — on provincial stages, in radio plays, in West End productions — but I often felt adrift, as though I was searching for a home within myself that I hadn’t quite found.
At 50, I accepted a television role that many would later associate me with — Hyacinth Bucket, of Keeping Up Appearances. I thought it would be a small part in a little series. I never imagined it would take me into people’s living rooms and hearts around the world. And truthfully, that role taught me to accept my own quirks. It healed something in me.
At 60, I began learning Italian — not for work, but so I could sing opera in its native language. I also learned how to live alone without feeling lonely. I read poetry aloud each evening, not to perfect my diction, but to quiet my soul.
At 70, I returned to the Shakespearean stage — something I once believed I had aged out of. But this time, I had nothing to prove. I stood on those boards with stillness, and audiences felt that. I was no longer performing. I was simply being.
At 80, I took up watercolor painting. I painted flowers from my garden, old hats from my youth, and faces I remembered from the London Underground. Each painting was a quiet memory made visible.
Now, at 95, I write letters by hand. I’m learning to bake rye bread. I still breathe deeply every morning. I still adore laughter — though I no longer try to make anyone laugh. I love the quiet more than ever.
I’m writing this to tell you something simple:
Growing older is not the closing act. It can be the most exquisite chapter — if you let yourself bloom again.
Let these years ahead be your treasure years.
You don’t need to be famous. You don’t need to be flawless.
You only need to show up — fully — for the life that is still yours.
With love and gentleness, Patricia Routledge.”
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How amazing is that?
Which is why if anyone needs a reminder of how to actually live life – rather than just go through it – then I think these two sentences sum it up best for me:
“Growing older is not the closing act. It can be the most exquisite chapter — if you let yourself bloom again.”
And …
“You only need to show up — fully — for the life that is still yours.”
Thank you Patricia. I am pretty certain there are a hell of a lot of people who needed to hear that or be reminded of it. Especially on a Monday morning.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Aspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Complicity, Corporate Gaslighting, Creativity
I once got a job that paid me more money than I ever could possibly have imagined I’d earn.
More money than my parents ever earned – quite possibly in their entire lifetime – which was pretty horrific given they were not just smarter and better people than I’ll ever be, but did jobs that were more meaningful than advertising will ever be.
But within days of starting, I knew the money I earned wasn’t enough.
Not enough for what they expected from me.
By that I don’t mean workload.
Nor do I mean pressure.
But complicity.
When I landed the job, I had assumed the cash was to compensate for my experience.
I was wrong.
Sure, my experience got me their attention … but what the cash was really for was my blind adherence to the rules of what had gone before.
Or said another way: Ask no questions. Provide no challenges. Have no opinions.
Which was a problem given I am a person who always has questions and opinions.
Not to be an asshole – at least most of the time – but to better understand the decisions people were making or thinking of making.
Don’t get me wrong, the people at this company were smart. They were also generally good people. But the way they ran the company was based on very different values and rules that I shared or believed.
That’s on me for not really delving into it in the interview process … but in my defense, I was truly ‘me’ in the interview process whereas they were, errrrm, less so. But they soon realized the error of their ways when they discovered that while they obviously had loved the idea of me, they pretty much hated the reality of me.
And yet their way of dealing with it was to double-down on control. It’s why I used a photo of the movie The Firm at the top of this post because there were many a day where I honestly thought I was living the advertising version of it.
But if truth be told, I knew even then there were some major red flags even in the interview process – and while I raised them – the money and the situation I was in, tipped my hand in their favour.
It was a lesson that ended up being very costly to me – at least emotionally – but it also was very useful and important, reinforcing the economic value of creative fulfillment.
Now I appreciate I’m hardly on struggle street and am perfectly aware of my good fortune, but in an industry – or maybe a world – where they suggest the only way to deem success is to continually earn more and more cash, the fact is that compared to the salary I was earning then, I’m literally miles and miles and miles away from it and yet I’m also light years ahead in terms of the happiness, creative fulfillment and strategic curiosity I get to enjoy every fucking day.
It’s not all their fault … but a lot it.
And I can’t deny some good did came out of the whole thing …
I got a new life experience of living in yet another country to add to my list of places I’ve lived plus I got the pleasure of meeting and working with some incredibly talented, good humans who are very much still part of my life today. But eve with that, I do look back at the overall experience less positively, ‘topped off’ by the way they tried to fuck with my future when I told them I didn’t want to keep working with them.
But here’s the thing that has left me feeling good about this chapter in my life …
When I was going to resign, I told a friend of mine who was literally earning a single digit percentage of what I was earning.
He knew my salary and just couldn’t contemplate why I would give up my job when – in his mind – I had hit the jackpot.
And I get it … I really do … but I had learned that when a company pays you that much money, it’s not about talent, it’s about control.
Some can do it, I absofuckinglutely can’t.
And while I don’t begrudge those who stick things out for a bigger future, I have to say I now look back and feel very fucking proud that the things that keep me energized and excited are the work, the standards and the values rather than the cash. That doesn’t mean I don’t want my experience to not be financially compensated for, but it does mean the work I do has a value to me that transcends just money.
Of course I get this comes from a real position of privilege – one not many get to enjoy – but it is also a privilege that I can say has cost me to attain … which makes a nice change.
So the point is, money is important, fulfillment is equally important … and too often we ignore that, thinking that the more cash we have the more life we have and I hate to tell you, but that does not actually equate.
So be careful out there.
Money is obviously very important, but loving what you do can change your life just as much.
And with that, you’re free from me till Monday. So have a peaceful time – but hopefully not as peaceful as a particular person out there – who I am thinking of and proud as fuck of. Hopefully they know who they are. If they read this bloody blog, hahaha. See you next week.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Business, Clients, Collaboration, Colleagues, Comment, Content, Context, Creative Brief, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Effectiveness, Egovertising, Emotion, Empathy, Experience, Innovation, Management, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Mediocrity, Relationships, Relevance, Reputation, Resonance, Respect
Imagine you go to the doctor.
You tell them your problem.
They diagnose your issue and prescribe meds.
“No …”, you say, “… that’s not right, you need to give me this”.
The doctor listens patiently then explains why their diagnosis and prescription is right for you.
You – with no medical knowledge or expertise – disagrees, and threaten the doctor with a malpractice suit saying, “I know my body so I know what’s it needs”.
The doctor says their diagnosis is based on what you have told them and what their examination of your body has informed them.
You tell them they have to give you what you want, then – despite keeping the doctor busy with your issue – you refuse to pay the full fee because you say you did all the work and other doctors are offering their services for less fee.
After lots of intimidation from you, they agree to the lower fee and you walk out with your new prescription.
Except a week later you become more ill because the meds you were prescribed – that you demanded – were wrong.
So you go around telling everyone the doctor who treated you was terrible and everyone should take their business elsewhere.
Bullshit isn’t it.
And yet, everyday … many companies do exactly this.
Going to the doctor and prescribing their own medicine.
Using procurement to bully their way to get what they want without realizing what they need.
Don’t get me wrong, ad agencies have a lot of issues … there’s a lot they can do better at … but knowing how to use creativity to connect and engage humans is not one of them.
Which reminds me of the time I did a project for the Red Hot Chili Peppers and they – well, specifically Anthony Kiedis – tried to do the same thing to me.
Just over 5 years ago,. I was asked to do some work for them by their team.
I did the work and presented it and he hated it.
In fact, hate is not a big enough word to describe how much he loathed it.
And me.
Was it bad?
Nope … it was simply a truth that his ego refused to accept and one I stand by to this day.
Anyway,, I was told I could present a response to his ‘comments’ so a few days later, I simply presented this:
Yep … that’s all I presented back.
One slide.
.
To be honest, my memory of what I had written was slightly different so when I saw this on my Facebook memories – it was quite nice to see the original work again,
That said, I do remember showing it my wife prior to presenting to see what she thought … and she said, “Hmmmmn, are you sure that’s what you want to do?”
Now normally, I listen to what she says as she’s much smarter than me, but this time I was adamant I was going to present it as is because of how personal, arrogant and just plain fucking rude he had been to me.
And the result of that?
Bonkers basically. He threw some big insults at me then hung up the call.
The next day I was fired.
And while you can say that is not commercially astute, I still wear it as a badge of honour … because while the other guys in the band couldn’t have been nicer, Kiedis was – and remains – a dick. [Which he futher demonstrated to a Guardian journalist who also questioned him on some home truths he didn’t want to akcknowledge – hahaha]
I was signed to work with Muse a week later. I don’t think this was a coincidence.
So while I am not advocating being an asshole to clients. I would also encourage clients who think they know everything about industries they’ve never worked in, to not be an asshole to those who have studied, worked and achieved the very things they are being engaged for in the first place. It’s why it’s worth remembering, even the best in the world have producers, coaches and mentors … because while the spotlight tends to shine on individuals, it’s the people in the shadows who make it better than they imagined.
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As an aside, the reason I am using that photo at the top of this post is very deliberate.
A few months ago a person I’m very close to suddenly suggested I shared ‘resemblances’ to the old TV character, House. I laughed but found myself casually mentioning it to a few other people who know me well who – much to my surprise – all enthusiastically agreed.
“Sarcastic” and “a bit of a prick” were a couple of the things uttered quite a lot.
And then, in a twist of fate that would suit any Hollywood story, I found myself in the US working with the original writer/runner of the show – the brilliant David Shore. At the end of our time together, I sheepishly told him what certain friends and colleagues had said and asked if he saw any shared traits from our time together.
He paused as if to gather his thoughts and then said what you read below.
[The redaction relates to the person we’re both working for who brought us together]
For what it’s worth, I think he’s being overly generous … but his last sentence nailed me … which means I’m less TV character and more greenhouse. ‘Transparent’. Damnit, ha.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Content, Context, Craft, Finance, Management, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Technology
One thing I find increasingly interesting is the focus on speed rather than quality.
Oh no one really talks about it directly, instead they use terms like MVP to make it sound like a much more strategic decision … but the fact of the matter is everyone is in a race and the prize goes to whoever starts first, let alone finishes first.
Nothing is this more true than in the modern era of gold rush, known as ‘AI’.
Everywhere you look there’s a new company that has popped up with claims they are the next big thing … reinforced with a market evaluation in the billions, despite the fact they haven’t made a profit and they haven’t even got a significant user base yet.
But that’s the thing with tech and investment … all the rules that we are told to abide by, go right out the window when there’s the belief you can make a quick fortune on the wave of topicality and hype.
I’ve talked about it before, but the book Disrupted by Dan Lyons is a brilliant expose on the flaws and hypocrisy of both the tech and investment community … both of whom love to present themselves as The Masters Of The Universe, but are more similar to Jocks crossed with Scientologists and sheep.
The reason I say this is because I recently read a brilliant article by the Economist Luis Garicano on what he calls ‘the O ring’. No, he’s not talking about some orgasm inducing sex aid, it is an economic theory with a name inspired by the Challenger Space Shuttle disaster that states it does not matter how sophisticated or advanced any new idea/system/technology may be, it’s only as good as its weakest link.
Often we forget this in the quest for fast fame, wealth, success or competitive advantage … however given every single one of us who has used AI will have encountered a flaw with what it produced for you at some point or other, should we really be blindly running ahead thinking those ‘little issues’ will forever remain ‘little flaws?’.
Again, don’t get me wrong, I think AI is incredible.
I also appreciate it is still new technology so what it can already do is amazing.
But …
As the father of a friend of mine [Hello Judd] once said:
“If you haven’t got the time to do it right at the beginning, when will you?”
Filed under: Advertising, Agency Culture, Colenso, Colleagues, Comment, Nottingham Forest
As I said on Friday, there’s not many posts this week.
In fact there’s only 2 … so that should start your Monday off positively. So let’s get on with it shall we?
So recently at Colenso towers, there were murmerings that I had declared war on our CEO, the brilliant Angela Watson.
Apparently I had used my instagram to call her all manner of names.
Useless.
Stubborn.
Overrated.
A Z-Grade Leader.
And it is true I said all these things about ‘Ange’.
But the thing they failed to understand is Ange is also the name of the new boss at Nottingham Forest … Ange Postecoglou … and that is the person who was getting all my ire, not our imperious CEO who I love [most of the time, haha]
Apparently there was all sorts of WhatsApp messages being passed around the office – which CEO Ange, found hilarious as she knows I bloody adore her – but it all goes to show, communication is as much about context as it is what is said.
Which – let’s be honest – doesn’t paint me in the most positive light as regards how my colleagues see me. But then, they did say I was the most likely of the exec team to be a serial killer and survive a prison sentence, hahaha.