Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Business, Colenso, Comment, Confidence, Corporate Gaslighting, Creativity, Culture, Distinction, Emotion, Empathy, Equality, Honesty, Management, Marketing, New Zealand, Point Of View, Relevance, Resonance
This is Angela.
Her official title is the Managing Director of Colenso.
But actually she’s the boss.
Not just because of how she is sitting, but because of how she operates.
Leading without dictating.
Encouraging without patronising.
Liberating without restricting.
The great, great thing about Angela is that for all the experience and success she’s gained, she is open and hungry to let the energy, ambition and values of youth to keep shaping and changing where we are going.
Angela’s strength is she wants everyone to win.
She opens the door to opportunities for talent to run in and do their thing rather than closing it behind her so she can have all the power.
But then female leadership has always seen winning differently to a lot of men.
Progress for all rather than power for one.
And before certain men start spouting their sexist shit at me like they did when I wrote about how more female leadership will give the industry a real chance to grow, I appreciate not all male leaders are like this.
But a hell of a lot are.
And – if you look at Corporate Gaslighting and/or read Zoe Scaman’s brilliant, brave but totally unsurprising Mad Men and Furious Women – many of them are doing stuff … and are being allowed to get away with stuff, often by companies that talk about their commitment to their staffs wellbeing and mental health … that is a fuckload worse.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Brand, Brand Suicide, China, Chinese Culture, Comment, Communication Strategy, Confidence, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Emotion, Empathy, Insight, Marketing, Nike, olympics, Resonance, Shanghai, Sport, Wieden+Kennedy
I have now had time to get over the Euro finals.
While my Italian/English heritage meant I was going to ‘win’ regardless of the result – and while the result, at least to me, was probably fair – I was gutted for the England team.
Ironically, the disgusting behaviour of the fans after the match – fired up by the equally disgusting behaviour of the British government – kind-of made me happy they lost.
It’s at these moments teams – or brands – can fall away and so what happens next becomes unbelievably important.
It reminded me of 2008 when Chinese hurdler – and gold medal contender – Liu Xiang, broke China’s hearts by injuring himself during the race.
Remember, this was the year the Olympics was held in Beijing and in many ways, it was the governments ‘coming out’ party to the rest of the World. A chance to showcase the nations abilities, talent, skills and sophistication. A declaration a new superpower was here.
While that might have been news to the rest of the World, for the people of China, they had known this for a long time which is why when Liu Xiang faltered through injury, people – like in the UK – started to turn on him.
While he did not face the disgusting and disgraceful racist abuse certain members of the England team have encountered, he did face claims that by pulling out mid-race, he had not tried hard enough, had embarrassed China and sold the people false hope.
Because Liu Xiang was a NIKE athlete, overnight W+K Shanghai created an ad that aimed to reframe the loss for the people across China.
To shift emotions from anger to pride, love, support.
The next morning, this ad ran in most of the papers …
It is still widely acknowledged as one of the pivotal pieces of communication.
Not just by the industry.
Not just by NIKE.
Not even by Liu Xiang.
But by people across China who woke up to that ad the next morning.
Turning anger to sympathy.
Turning abuse to respect.
Turning sport into culture.
I say all this because on the day England finished runners-up in the Euro’s, the English FA released – what I consider – the modern version of our Liu Xiang ad.
I hope it works for England and their players.
But mainly the players.
Because they did bring something home …
Every one of them.
Pride. Unity. Hope.
Until those racist fucks robbed it off them … off the rest of us.
And while the media may like to suggest those responsible are a small minority of hooligans, the reality is it’s not a small minority and hooligans are not some cartoon villain.
In fact the problem is these pricks live amongst all of us. They are invisible because they look, live and work like so many of us. They’re fathers. Sons. Brothers. Uncles.
They’re also racist scum.
Exemplified by their hate towards the 3 England players who missed their penalties.
These 3 brilliant and inspiring men are young.
Hell, Bukayo Saka is 19.
NINETEEN.
At that age I couldn’t even ask out a woman who worked on the till at Asda, West Bridgford … so anyone who gives him shit when he’s playing for the England national football team, in the final of the Euro’s, at the most intense and pressured moment of the entire tournament, with billions watching can just fuck off.
Winning FIFA 2014 on Playstation doesn’t make you a winner, it makes you a fantasist.
And to them I am glad football didn’t come home.
I just wish football could take them far away from it.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Comment, Confidence, Consultants, Content, Creativity, Culture, Digital, Fake Attitude, Innovation, Management, Perspective, Planners, Point Of View, Professionalism, Relevance, Resonance, Respect
I used to think it took a lot of hard work to be simple.
A lot of thinking.
Evaluating.
Sharpening.
Changing.
But maybe I was wrong because I literally cannot imagine how much time it took to create this:
It’s a masterclass in nonsensical.
A blueprint for showing a company who doesn’t know what they actually do.
A celebration of the buzzword bingo bullshit that permeates so many organisations.
Basically, imposters talking to imposters with words they’ve so bastardised the meaning of, that you’d be hard pressed to recognise their original definition if you were left alone with them in a bar overnight with only a dictionary for company.
The verbal equivalent of Mickey Rourke.
Or Lara Flynn Boyle.
Hence now …
Innovation means ‘we’ve made something average a little bit better’.
Revolution means ‘we’ve never done this before though others have’.
Experience means ‘we offer our customers boring and average’.
Transformation means ‘we’ve caught up to everyone else’.
[hence ‘digital transformation’ is simply code for, ‘not being left so far behind’ as opposed – as many in the industry also like to position it – as reinventing the whole category]
And while adland is the cause of a lot of this bullshit, the consultancies – or worse, the wannabe-consultancies – are taking it to a whole new level. Continually creating nonsensical language and definitions in an attempt to feel intellectually superior to those around them. Believing this sort of language acts as a sort-of ‘code’ that helps identify other delusionists, wannabe’s and/or victims … so they can revel and reward themselves with their Emperors New Clothes bullshit.
Until they can’t.
What is particularly amusing is these companies still celebrate the old adage of ‘quality over quantity’ … even though they show up with a level of excessive vulgarity that would put Donald Trump to shame.
Talking in plain English – or plain any language – is not a bad thing.
If anything, it is the most powerful.
Not just because it is easier to communicate and relate to.
Nor because it shows you can identify the core problem that needs addressing.
But because it captures something my old man used to say to all his young lawyers:
“If you want to show how intelligent you are, you’re not that intelligent”.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Craft, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Devious Strategy, Finance, Money, Relevance, Resonance, Respect
The picture above is a well known internet image that reflects the value of using professionals.
It’s right.
But where it’s not entirely accurate is that in the real world, what’s happening more and more is that rather than ending up with an image of a horse drawn by a blind, drunk, 5 year old … clients are getting a beautifully image because the professional has been forced to lower his price to get the work.
It’s shit.
What’s worse is that many of these highly talented, exceptionally trained professionals have been made to forget their own value.
It doesn’t happen immediately, it’s often a slow, drawn out process – but the end point is the same, they treat their craft as a commodity. Not because it is, but because they’ve been made to think that way.
When I started working with Metallica, their management asked for my rates and costs.
I gave it to them.
They told me I was a fool and I needed to triple it.
Let me be clear, I thought it was a fair cost – I wasn’t knowingly lowballing myself – and yet here I was being told it wasn’t just low, it was THREE TIMES LOW.
I said I couldn’t do that, it was in-line with market rates and I felt it was fair … to which they asked me a question that changed the way I value what I do.
“Do you think your work and your experience is better than the market?
I knew if I said no, they’d ask why they were working with me, so of course I said yes.
I have to admit, I felt a bit weird saying it, but there were 3 reasons that pushed me to do it.
1. I really wanted to work with them.
2. It was obvious they thought I was worth that amount.
3. Without being arrogant, my experience is pretty huge.
Now the reality is my fee was still a fraction of what many people in the industry charge, but for them to do that when they could have just accepted my fee and said nothing – especially as they knew I wanted to work with them – is something I will forever be grateful for.
It also means I work harder for them, to both repay their faith and keep justifying my rate.
Clever sods.
Since this moment, my relationship with charging for what I do has literally done a full 180.
It’s why I was able to take on a procurement department when they tried to position me as ‘just another supplier’.
It’s why I enjoyed doing it.
It’s also why I was happy to do it in such a mischievous way.
For people who worked with me before – especially at cynic – this shift is amazing.
I was always George’s worst nightmare.
Agreeing to any price if the opportunity excited me.
It’s why I was banned from my own company when dealing with clients about money.
It’s why I still apologise to George for what I did.
Because I was not just undervaluing my talent, but everyone else’s too.
I know it’s hard, but the only way we will educate clients to pay what creative talent deserves – which, let’s not forget, it still a fraction of what they happily pay consultants who don’t ever do the work they recommend – is to give them the standard their budget actually should pay for.
For example the horse at the top of this page.
Because craft is not an expense but an investment.
An investment that doesn’t just lead to better work, but work that lets your client achieve more from it. Whether that’s charging a price premium or simple making more people more interested in what they do.
As Harrison Ford said, the most important thing we can learn is the value of value.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Comment, Creativity, Culture, New Zealand
I posted about the one thing that is doing NZ harm.
It’s reluctance to talk about suicide.
[The link is from 2017, just to highlight this is not a new thing]
The more it sits with me, the more it confuses me.
Let’s not forget – as I also wrote in that post – this is a government who have demonstrated the power of open discussion over issues such as COVID and terrorism.
And while this issue has been around for longer than the current government have been in power, I would have thought Jacinda – who is one of the most inspirational leaders of my life time – would be the first to recognise the current approach is actually working against them.
Anyway, whether popular or not, I decided I would bring up the issue with everyone I meet. To see what they think. To discuss how they can help. To encourage them to do things things that are directly for youth, rather than about them.
I am so happy the people I’ve spoken to already are open to helping in a range of ways.
This is important because there’s seems to be some strange views in terms of communication here that I feel is complicit to the problem rather than help defy it.
I say strange, but I get where it’s coming from.
For example …
“With a population of less than 5 million, you need to go mass with all communication to make anything stand a chance of getting a return on investment.”
It makes sense doesn’t it. Except it’s not true.
It’s a ‘throw as much stuff against a wall as you can’ strategy.
Maybe that explains why so much work doesn’t have a point of view, just wants to be noticed.
Though we are also seeing some adopt an alternative route – the same alternative route favoured by so many around the world … precision marketing.
The thing with this data-driven approach is that while it sounds amazing – the reality is, as we have seen around the world, there are some pretty inherent flaws in it. It will get better, but right now, it’s not quite precise enough and/or not personal enough and/or not emotive enough.
The irony is in a nation of less than 5 million, we should not only be able to reach everyone, but we should be able to do it in a way that is much more intimate and individual. And while I’ve only been here a short time, I’m not seeing much that does that … instead it’s far more super generalist messaging to super generalist audiences with – in many cases – super generalist benefits or offers.
ie: Price.
Add in the communication attitude that often feels like that goal is to ‘only target people with the cash right this second’ – rather than any play towards the future of your business – and it’s no surprise youth can feel isolated, ignored or limited in their choices.
Now I appreciate I sound like a prick.
A condescending, patronising, judgemental prick.
One of those British assholes who comes to a new country and says, “let me tell you everything about your country”.
The irony is this is the last thing I want to do.
I totally appreciate I am new here.
I completely respect I have so much to learn here.
And I absolutely acknowledge the country is doing pretty fucking well in so many other areas – areas the rest of the world are terrible at.
But I also have the benefit of experience and looking at things with fresh eyes and – as I said in my previous post – this is the first country I’ve lived in, since China, where I see a generation who feel they don’t see the ability to express who they are but have to live up to who others want them to be.
Not all, but a lot.
And regardless of the size, the implications of this on individuals – and the nation – are huge.
But as much as people leaving the country or simply accepting the status quo has huge economic impact on the direction on this wonderful country is heading, the loss of life is far, far worse. And it’s happening in – proportionately – huge numbers.
I know no one wants this to happen.
I know many of the public feel helpless in what to do.
But one thing we can all do – even before we lobby for the government to change their stance on talking about suicide in the media – is to recognise them and value their individual tastes, beliefs, habits, ideas and ambitions.
To rob them of that is to rob them of something fundamental.
It’s really important for me to leave this by saying how much I love this country.
It has already been incredibly kind, generous and compassionate to me and my family.
The actual intent of this post is not to point fingers, but to try and repay my faith in the country that has been so kind to me by trying to do something that gives back. Whether that is as an individual or as family or something more.
And while I may cop flack or be told I don’t know what I’m talking about – which may all be true – one thing I do know is not talking about the issue is not helping the issue.