Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Comment, Communication Strategy, Context, Creativity, Culture, Emotion, Empathy, Environment, Marketing, Relevance, Resonance, Respect
Hello. I’m back again.
And I think I’m back for a few weeks now … you must be so happy.
Cue: Evil laugh.
OK, let’s get on with it shall we?
So one of the things I’ve loved about getting healthier, is walking around my neighbourhood.
Going down random streets.
Seeing at new shops.
Just getting a better sense and connection to the place I currently call home.
And on my travels, I came across this.
I have to say, I love it.
People may see it as an old piece of paper stuck on their window, but I don’t see it like that.
I see pride.
Pride in where they come from.
Pride in what Pita created.
Pride in Pita’s craft and skills.
Pride in what Bob – and Charlie – continue to do.
Pride in how they approach their work.
Pride in their community.
Pride in their longevity.
Pride in their role.
I have no idea how long that piece of paper has been up – and given how faded it is, it would suggest a while – but at a time where so many people and companies are ‘bigging themselves up’ based on the most superficial of reasons, it’s lovely to see someone honour their experience in service of their community, rather than adopt the attitude that people should be grateful they exist and acknowledge them.
Given all the talk our industry spouts about communities, fandom and membership … this may be one of the key areas many forget to highlight or recognise. Possibly because in their desperation to look like a ‘Linkedin leader’, they spend their time ‘codifying’ how they think communities operate, rather than recognise the emotional conditions that explain why it does.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Brand, Brand Suicide, Brilliant Marketing Ideas In History, Comment, Communication Strategy, Confidence, Context, Crap Marketing Ideas From History!, Creativity, Culture, Devious Strategy, Differentiation, Effectiveness, Entertainment, Happiness, Innovation, Luxury, Mischief, Packaging, Planning, Professionalism, Relevance, Resonance, Strategy
This is the last post for a week because I’m off again.
I know … I know … it’s getting ridiculous, but consider my jet-lag, your mental health.
Talking of mental health … I’ve not had a drop of alcohol for 38 years.
THIRTY EIGHT.
But despite that, I do find myself buying it on occasion … mainly when those occasions are an extremely rare dinner invite and/or a desire to show gratitude towards someone in particular.
And when that happens, I remind myself how easily influenced I can be.
Because as we saw in 2007, my biggest motivator is the packaging rather than the quality of the product.
Well, I say that, but it has to be a brand I’ve at least heard of – a brand I associate with some sort of quality – but fundamentally, it’s all about the packaging.
Recently I wanted to get something for our old neighbour in LA.
It was his birthday … he’s an amazing human … and he invited me to his dinner. [I was in town, so it wasn’t some totally empty gesture]
So I rushed to a bottle shop and was immediately hit with a wealth of choices and options and so what did I end up choosing?
This.
Yep, a bottle of Veuve in a pseudo orange SMEG fridge.
Frankly it looked ridiculous … hell, it is ridiculous … but it’s also my kind of ridiculous, despite even my low-class tastes thought that for 2 brands that are supposedly ‘premium’, the way they combined looked cheap and tragic.
But unsuprisingly, my inner Dolly ‘it-costs-a-lot-of-money-to-look-this-cheap’ Parton, took over and I handed over my cash and walked out full of smugness and slight humiliation.
Now I don’t know the background to this collab.
I don’t know the process they took to get here,
And while on one level it makes some-sort-of-sense, it also is completely and utterly bonkers … and that’s why I love it.
Because in a world of sensible, it’s nice to see ridiculous win.
Yes, I appreciate Apple’s ‘ceremony of purchase’ packaging strategy is next level … but in terms of what I call, ‘social luxury’, the use of ridiculous packaging – as seen in the fragrance industry – is arguably, the most sensible thing they can do.
For all the processes, models and eco-systems being pushed by so many people right now, it’s interesting how few actively encourage searching for the weird edges. Ironically, they build approaches where the aim is to filter these out before they even have a chance to see what they can do. Which is why as much as the we laugh at the superficiality of fragrance companies and some alcohol brands, they can teach us more about standing out than all these models that seem obsessed with making sure we all ‘fit in’.
So who are the stupid ones now eh?
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, China, Chinese Culture, Wieden+Kennedy, Youth
I want to write about something I’ve been thinking a lot about recently.
I turn 54 this year and if truth be told, the life I have is more than I ever could have imagined.
While I’ve worked hard for it, I also accept that I’ve had more than my share of luck.
Right place, right time.
Meeting people I should never have met.
Having some disproportionally believe in me.
Mates who went on to become important in their job.
Basically, a bunch of stuff you can’t really plan for … though if I have any skill, it’s been to be able to run with it and invest in it rather than stop.
Which basically translates to working hard, staying in touch, always being interested in stuff and constantly looking or thinking for new ways to help them win better – even when they don’t want it – hahaha.
It’s a work ethic that frankly was driven by survival and ambition.
Survival … because I knew I couldn’t win on brains – especially having not gone to university – but I could compete on effort. And ambition … because I knew I wanted to see what was possible, even though I didn’t have a plan and didn’t have any idea what ‘the goal’ could be, would be or should be.
I say all this because recently I got asked what advice I would give to someone starting out who doesn’t know what to do and I realised I didn’t really have an answer. Part of it is because my context is about as different as it could be for someone starting out … but also because I wouldn’t want to give advice, I’d like to listen why they feel they don’t know what to do.
But that said, I think their attitude is kind-of brilliant.
Of course I appreciate they don’t feel that way – quite the opposite – but that’s more because of what society and social media has done to make them feel that if they don’t have a plan, then they’re lost … and not only is that shit, I think being open to stuff is the best way to approach life.
That’s not just because we no longer will have one career for our whole lives, but because if you’re open to everything, then anything can happen.
Frankly that last point is one of the driving forces behind everything I’ve done and hope to do … and while I appreciate there’s privilege in that approach and attitude, it is also about openness and comfort with a degree of uncomfortableness.
But I get it is scary.
It’s hard to think of things you may lose … but as I’ve said many times, the other way to look at it is in terms of what you will gain, and literally everything in my life – bar my relationship with Paul – is because of this.
That doesn’t mean it’s for everyone, but it might be for more people than who actually do it – but don’t because they are paralysed in this grip of feeling they should have certainty for their life when the real power is to embrace the lack of it.
I say all this because I was recently on a podcast about this subject called Work Without Borders.
It was a real thrill for me because it was founded by an old Wieden Shanghai colleague – Flora – and her friend, Calvin, which meant I got to talk about very special times in China and beyond.
Listening back to it, I realise how fortunate I have been.
From having parents and family who backed me and encouraged me, to companies being willing to take a chance on me … which is why I hope anyone who listens to it doesn’t think I am suggesting they should be like me, but to be be open to whatever the fuck speaks to them.
And while I appreciate some may be in situations where they have responsibilities that directly influences what they can/can’t do – which means what happens may be different to what they hoped it would be – I believe they will still end up with experiences and lessons they wouldn’t get if they simply followed what everyone had blindly – or meticulously – done before.
You may ask how I can say that … and it’s relatively simple.
Because what companies called ‘the great resignation’ was actually ‘the great reset‘.
Where millions realised the path they had been made to feel was the only path they could follow, was taking them to the exact same place as everyone else.
A place of conformity and pressure rather than curiosity and possibility.
And while there are no guarantees in life, fulfilment is born from openness, not closed mindedness which is why I will always love this quote by Peter Ustinov:
“People who reach the top of the tree are those who haven’t got the qualifications to detain them at the bottom”.
How good is that? God I love it.
Which is why if you’re worried because you don’t have a plan – remember this.
Some people have advantages.
Some people have a plan.
Some people have luck.
But we’re all making it up. Every single one of us.
So while clarity can be a powerful beast, not having it doesn’t also mean it’s bad.
In fact, if you embrace it, you may just find it can take you to even more amazing places.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Context, Craft, Creative Brief, Creative Development, Creativity, Cynic
Once upon a time – when we had cynic – we were approached by a car company to work on a secret project for them.
Or so they said.
As we spent more time together, we discovered what they wanted was to see if we could help them stand out from the competition when their cars were literally rebadged cars from another manufacturer [under licence] and there was almost no distinctive feature whatsoever.
Originally, we thought that was an interesting situation in itself, but the more ideas we presented, the more we realised, ‘what they wanted’ … and ‘what they were willing to do’, were very different indeed.
So one day, exasperated, we showed them a campaign that looked just like every other campaign, except we removed every element of background. For all intents and purposes, it was the car driving around a white space. And while that sounds weird – and shit – it actually had this hypnotic effect.
Familiar and new.
Clinical and intimate.
Boring and interesting.
It was strangely bizarre, and while the client never made it – in fact we told them we didn’t want to play with them, shortly after this – that work still messes with my mind for the feelings it gave me.
Mainly because on face value, it shouldn’t have made me feel anything.
But then, if it didn’t have that effect, then Andy and Rudi wouldn’t have come up with it.
I’ve thought about that campaign every now and then for literally years, and then I saw this:
Suddenly it all made sense.
Why that idea felt comfortable while also igniting confusion.
But a confusion that was addictive and infectious.
And all because what we’d done was create a campaign that was generally the same as every other car ad campaign, but with one distinct element removed … meaning it felt psychologically very different, which meant it felt very emotionally different.
Which is why this piece I saw recently from Nils also hit home.
I love this.
I admit, it’s something I’ve been a part of countless time, but it’s always felt part of a conversation of curiosity rather than part of a designated creative process.
So seeing it written down was really good and powerful.
And to me, this kind-of captures the difference between making advertising and creativity.
When we make advertising, too often we think of it as an entire package … where everything needs to communicate a singular message that has been designed to present the product or brand in the most favourable light. But when we think in terms of creativity, it’s more about igniting feelings and emotions – things that stick deep within and make you think.
And that’s what we did with that ad we presented to the crazy client … we made something that was creatively psychological rather than advertisingly logical … exemplified by the fact that while I’ve seen a lot of car ads in the past week, I can’t remember any of them. But I can remember how a car ad we put together 20+ years ago made me feel.
Sometimes, the worst ideas open the door to some of the best.
So be careful before you kill things … you might be destroying your chance to do something that you’ll never be able to shake.
Thank you Mario.
Thank you Nils.
And thank you Andy and Rudi, who caused this whole mindfuck for me, over 20 years ago.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Brand, Brand Suicide, Comment, Creativity, Effectiveness, Lego, Marketing Fail, Media
Today is a special day for me.
A special day because of a birthday and an anniversary.
Not mine, but people who are important to me …
I had written a long post to them that went on a tangent to talk about investing in your own relevance.
That however young you are today, you’ll become an old fuck one day.
But I couldn’t wrap it up so I have left it for another day … instead, I am writing a post about the importance of your relationships.
Have a look at this …
At first glance, what do you see?
A Lego ad campaign?
Yeah … me too.
But then, when you look again, there’s that weird-as-fuck headline.
“Super Sweet And Fake Tasting”
What the absolute fuck? Has Lego gone rogue and decided to make social commentary on their own product?
Well obviously they haven’t … it’s simply an alcohol ad that has been stuck on the end of those 3 posters that – because of the colours of the poster frames – looks like it’s all part of the same campaign.
Now on one hand it’s funny. But I wouldn’t be laughing if I was the Lego client.
Putting aside their choice of headline colour – with the B&W image – makes it look like a Sainsbury’s ad [albeit Sainsbury’s aren’t in NZ], I’d be VERY disappointed the media team and/or the billboard company did not see the problematic nature of this linkage.
I mean, it’s pretty obvious.
Lego … kids, wholesome, creative. Alcohol … errrrm, less so.
Look, I get we all make mistakes, but what this says to me is that no one asked – or cared to ask – the right questions.
The client.
The media agency.
The billboard company.
Fuck, the only one who gets off here is the creative company, because they’d be as pissed off as the client.
Of course I’m not really surprised this has happened because in the quest for the lowest price possible, there seems to be more focus on having a programatic, optimised and systemised system and process than actually giving a fuck about your brands contexts, craft and associations.
It blows my mind how few clients care about ‘placement’.
They’ll argue till they’re blue in the face over the size of their logo, but rarely go into depth about the placement and contexts of where they appear.
And yet many clients think media agencies are professional and creative are the children.
Now of course there’s some amazing media agencies out there … agencies who think in terms of communication rather than media.
But the market has become so fixated on price, they’re forgetting – or not valuing – one vital element about brand building.
It’s not just about who you are, it’s about the company that you keep.
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PS: If anyone from Lego reads this, this post is because I love you. And you know this because I told you that when you invited me to talk at your global conference thing. Plus you’ve been very good and kind to me – and Otis – over the years. But the fact is, despite this being an isolated incident, you deserve better than this. You should demand better than this. So hold people to standards, not just price points and please don’t ask for any of the freebies you’ve sent me to be returned. Please!!!
PS2: It’s Easter holiday tomorrow and Monday so there will be no blog posts till next Tuesday. In the meantime, I’ll be looking longingly at the Hot Cross Buns and Easter Eggs I won’t be eating and wishing April Fools was on a Tuesday, rather than a Monday. Have fun.