Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Cannes, Colenso, Collaboration, Colleagues, Confidence, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture
So before Paula and I were going to do our talk for WARC at Cannes, I had a major presentation with the founder of a global sports brand.
Being a busy billionaire – especially one based in a different timezone to the one I was in – I knew they wouldn’t really be able to move things around just to accommodate me, which is why 2 hours and 30 minutes before I was due to hit the stage, I along with Si … the CCO of Colenso … walked into the Speakers Room at Cannes, where WARC had kindly organized a room for us to do our call.
Except when we walked in, we found the room was actually a cordoned off part of the lounge – where people would have been able to hear every word – so it was most definitely not going to work for something both so important and sensitive.
I should point out this was not WARC’s fault in the slightest as not only did they not know the nature of the meeting – mainly because it was confidential – but because they’d also gone out of their way to try and help with limited notice. That said, the result of this was Si and I with 20 minutes to come up with a solution.
After desperately running around to see if any of the ‘meeting booths’ dotted around the venues were free [they weren’t] we decided the best course of action was to do the advertising equivalent of MacGyver.
Grabbing a few chairs, we found a quiet corridor at the back of the venue and, as you can see from the pic below, set ourselves up.
Praying no one would walk past or through, we were there bang on time and presented our little hearts out – looking for all the World like we were in a meeting room and absolutely not in a corridor with windows looking out onto the throngs of global ad people walking past while trying to ignore the fact we were sweating like pigs as it was boiling hot and there was absolutely no air-conditioning to be had.
And yet I kind of love this is what happened.
Not just because we were proud of the work we had done and were going to present.
Not just because we wanted to honor the teams of talented people who had turned an idea into a reality.
But because advertising is filled with these sorts of stories.
Stories of grit, instinct, spontaneity, audacity and ridiculousness.
It’s kind of the things that makes it special …
Sure, TV, media and events like Cannes likes to present the industry as a highly polished machine … but show me a piece of great work that hasn’t come from a journey that tests every emotion in every person involved?
But what I love even more is how Si and I laughed about the situation.
Before. During. After.
Don’t get me wrong, we take what we do very seriously – but rather than freak out, we understood that when push-came-to-shove, we’d find a way and we’d do it well.
Of course, a big reason for that was how much we believed in what we were going to show and discuss – not to mention the fact this was not our first rodeo with the trials and tribulations of reality – but being able to hatch a plan and crack a smile as we dealt with our unexpected shitshow, ensured the audience not only were able to focus on the work rather than any sign of panic, but would see a team who trusted, liked and worked for each other rather than were just coldly clinical and at the end of the day, that’s not just how you honour the work that so many people put so much into, it’s how you increase the odds of making great examples of it.
At a time where the industry loves to promote an endless array of ‘proprietary’ tools and processes, it’s worth remembering the thing that we should be concentrating on nurturing, protecting and honouring is the stuff that comes out of it.
The work.
Too many people seem to have forgotten that.
Probably because the people promoting the systems, have never made the work.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Colleagues, Comment, Creative Brief, Creative Development, Creativity, Planners, Planning
One of the most complex relationships in advertising is the one between planner and creative. I don’t mean it because they don’t like or respect each other … but sometimes there are situations where the relationship can feel like you are coming from different places.
Of course, the irony is you both want – or should want – the same thing.
To use creativity to solve a problem in the most powerful, magical, effective way.
But we work in an industry where – for all the ‘science’ – there are no dead certs.
Oh there’s people out there who claim there is … often people with a ‘for profit’ service to sell … but at the very best, their ‘methodology’ is increasing the odds of success rather than guaranteeing it.
But often, that approach ends up inhibiting the potential of the creativity.
Caps it.
Limits it.
Tames it.
And while I understand why people may do that, they are also forgetting the other thing they’re doing is robbing the potential of the work to be even better than the ‘insurance policy’ level of effectiveness they mandated/hope for.
It’s why I love this quote I read recently about a gardener.
Nice eh? It’s good advice too.
It’s basically a story containing many parts.
Trust.
Respect.
Honesty.
Care.
Transparency.
Simplicity.
Understanding.
It’s why I think one of the best bits of advice for any strategist working with a creative is knowing when to either get the fuck out the way or focus on getting stuff that could kill ideas too soon out the way.
The reality is, when you’ve spent time discussing, sharing, debating and thinking about what needs to be done, the skill is to not then try and add things to the seeds the creative has carefully planted in a bid to try and get things to grow faster, stronger or whatever the fuck you want it to do.
In my experience, the best creative/planner relationships are based on trust and transparency. That’s not built by time together, that’s built by time in the field together.
Letting seeds grow, and doing all you can to not let them be cropped or killed too soon.
You may not always get the work you want, but if you remove the barriers rather than add more shit – you stand a much better chance of having a garden rather than a wasteland.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, America, Anniversary, Context, Culture, History, Politics, Prejudice, Racism
So even though Trump has basically banned DE&I, I feel it is important that today – given its July 4 – is a day where I point out that while lots of Americans are going crazy celebrating their freedom from the Brits, it’s a day that is only relevant to part of America, not all.
As if anyone needs reminding … Independence Day is a white American celebration, and given the way the current administration are behaving to anyone who is not white – regardless of their heritage, parentage or passport – it’s not something that should be celebrated as a universal, national holiday. If they want that, then it should be June 19.
You can find out why here … but I just can’t understand how a nation can celebrate freedom when they know only some were free. Worse, a nation who loves to promote its Christian values and yet operates – and votes for – the most un-Christian behaviors you could get.
What bothers me most is the US – despite its current issues – is a pretty awesome country.
I also appreciate the role the day has in their national calendar, however given it prides itself on being ‘the land of the free’, it would be wonderful if they lived up to that label rather than down to a stained tradition.
Have a good weekend.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Complicity, Confidence, Corporate Evil, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Process, Systems
I recently saw this quote from Rick Rubin:
While he is referring to band dynamics, what he is really talking about are the conditions needed to create something special.
The reason I say this is there’s not enough talk about this.
What I see being continually pushed is a focus on processes, systems, models and tools – and while they are very important, they are far more about delivering consistency or amplification of something special rather than the actual creation of it.
Because that tends to come much earlier in the piece.
Something born from humans rather than systems.
Because the most powerful path to creating something special comes from working with people you trust.
Not necessarily like, but trust.
People with taste, ability and a willingness to hold each other to account to standards while also taking shared responsibility for helping achieve and deliver it.
It’s as true in organisations as it is in bands.
And yet many companies to ignore this because they don’t want to ask themselves the tough questions … face the hard truths … so they create an environment of co-dependency, where no one questions each other because they don’t want to be questioned themselves.
It’s a slow walk towards mediocrity … and yet that is often preferable because consistency is more valued than possibility.
That’s not entirely the leaderships fault, because that’s also what shareholders want, so we end up in this crazy situation where
‘good enough’ is preferable to trying to create something truly good.
On one level I get it.
Truly good is hard.
It can cost a fortune.
And after all that work, you still may not make it happen.
However, while there are no guarantees what you make will be truly special … the one thing I know is the more you create an environment where talented people are with others they trust, the more likely you are to create something even a ‘proprietary process’ never will.
And if we don’t aspire to that, what’s the point of doing anything?
I saw this post recently about the importance of having someone believe in you.
Ultimately, it’s about the impact that can have on what you do, how you do it and what you go and achieve.
Amazing eh?
But it’s important to know how it works.
Because it’s certainly not by having people pander to you. In fact, in my experience, it’s the opposite.
But it’s never expressed with distain or abuse… it’s always through questions designed to better understand what you want to do.
Or make you think about where you want to go.
Not because they disagree with you – they always remember this is about your choices, not theirs – it’s just because they wish to witness whatever they see in you, go as far as it can go.
I’ve been very fortunate to experience this.
Not just with my parents, but with different people over the years.
Lesley. Lee. Simon. Mark, Rupert. Charlie. Paula. To name but a few.
For me, that is what real mentorship is …
Wanting the best for you rather than telling you what to do.
But what I particularly liked about this clip is that it reminded me of Bazza – who, in his early teens – wrote to Kofi Annan, Bill Clinton, Steve Jobs and Nelson Mandela. [I think that’s who it was, I may have added/missed one. Baz?]
And over a period of years, he somehow got to meet every one of them.
Then asked them for a reference.
Which they gave him.
Not because he was a cheeky bastard, but because they saw something in him that they believed in.
A desire to do something good with whatever they thought was special about him.
And while ‘good’ is personal rather than – as many think – universal, the role of their encouragement is to increase the odds in your favour a little.
It’s a generous gift.
Of course, what happens next is up to you and luck.
But for all the ‘thought leadership’ being shoved down our throats, maybe the most valuable thing we can do is let someone know we believe in them.
In who they are so they can see, where they can go.