Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Cars, Creativity, Culture, Emotion, Empathy, Resonance, Respect
Once upon a time, I got called ‘too emotional’ by a senior member of an agency I worked for.
It came about because we had just witnessed a client of ours, basically destroy 2 years of work we’d done – even though he had been on the journey with us all the way, including a huge offsite meeting 2 weeks prior with all his reports. But when we were presenting to his boss – and he was very vocal about some issues he had with our work – we watched our client basically turn on us to protect themselves.
That’s when my ‘too emotional’ side decided to came out and play because in front of everyone, I said:
“I find the response very confusing given you were all behind it when we went through it a fortnight ago”.
Cue evil stares, and a mass of pointed fingers and excuses.
Or said another way, a huge clusterfuck of awkwardness permeated the air.
Now of course I knew my comment wasn’t going to go down well … but neither was their attitude and behaviour.
They’d been part of this work.
They’d been advocates of it.
And yet the moment it required them to step up and defend it, they stepped away …
While we did end up losing that account, it wasn’t because of that moment. It probably didn’t help … but other things happened that resulted in us parting ways. And all being happy/relieved for the fact.
That said, I was kind-of nervous for what was going to happen to me post-meeting.
I didn’t give a fuck the client was upset – frankly, they’d done it to themselves – however I was a bit concerned about what was going to happen to me with my bosses.
Which leads to the ‘too emotional’ comment.
Amazingly, the senior member of the agency wasn’t mad at what I’d done – in fact I think he was quite proud I stood up for the work and the agency – however they were not too impressed in how I’d done it.
On one level I understand and was grateful they had been able to separate how I did it, with why I did it … however, saying it had happened because I was ‘too emotional’ was a shit way to refer to it.
OK, so they were the sort of person who considered eating a packet of crisps too loudly as an act of hysteria … but what they inadvertently were telling me was that regardless of situation, I should be emotionless in my response. Or as the Brits say it, ‘maintain a stiff upper lip’ come rain or shine.
Now this person was good to me and still is, and we’ve talked about it over the years … but it bothers me that ’emotion’ is still viewed as a negative in business. That giving a fuck is an act of weakness.
Well what about the people who obviously don’t care about doing the right thing?
Who don’t care about respecting the people who have put their blood, sweat and tears into trying to do something to benefit everyone … brilliantly?
Why are those people not challenged or questioned about their lack of emotion … about their lack of will or fight … about their inability to respect and value the person who cares deeply about what they are doing?
I get there are good and bad ways to express yourself, but it is kinda bullshit that any expression of emotion is often viewed as someone lacking control when it is actually someone showing they give a shit.
Of course, the people who are often the recipient of this sort of comment are women … a way for certain men to try and assert control of a situation by undermining the other persons validity or professionalism. Hell, even Hillary Clinton experienced this.
My view has always been that as long as it’s not personal … as long as it relates to the issue … as long as it is objective rather than subjective … as long as it is expressed with respect rather than red-mist recklessness, emotion is not a weapon but a gift. A way to unite, connect, engage, drive and define ideas, possibilities and concepts.
Emotion is never a weakness, it’s a power and I’d rather deal with someone who cares enough to show it than a fucking robot.
As Andrew McCarthy said in the utterly terrible 1992 movie, Only You …
“If you want boringly consistent, go marry a beige Volvo”.
Seems there’s a lot of car fuckers in business these days.
OK. I feel much better now. Thank you.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Cannes, Context, Craft, Creativity, Culture, Distinction, Emotion, Fashion
There were a lot of stylish people at Cannes.
There were also a lot of try-hard people at Cannes.
But of all the folks I saw over the days I was there, one stood out.
Not just for how they looked, but for the statement they made:
About Cannes …
About the people at Cannes …
About the attitude and behaviour of the industry at large.
I don’t know who you are.
I don’t know what you do.
But if it were up to me, you’d be walking away with a Grand Prix Lion for owning a look I’ll never forget – which, where our industry is concerned – is what we once were brilliant at creating before we sold out the value of creativity in favor of making cash off process and being complicit to a set of rules developed by people who [1] have never actually made the stuff we’re brilliant at and [2] claim the rules for effective marketing are things like emotion, distinction and consistency as if that hasn’t been the case for 200 fucking years.
I suspect, that’s the emotional baggage she’s carrying with her.
It’s the same emotional baggage anyone who cares and creates work is dealing with as we watch certain individuals get wild applause from the broad industry despite the fact they continually demonstrate they either don’t know their history or are choosing to rebadge it so they can flog it off as a ‘proprietary systems for success’ despite the fact all their blatantly bloody obvious lessons have come off the back of the hard work the creative industry has been creating and making for decades.
Seriously, we’re in full-on, corporate Emperor’s New Clothes territory these days … and while there’s a lot of fools being taken in by it, we’re the biggest idiots for having let it happen and then standing by as they do it.
Happy fucking Monday. I’m up for a fight this week … Hahaha.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, AI, Attitude & Aptitude, Communication Strategy, Crap Campaigns In History, Creativity, Culture, Emotion, Empathy, Humanity, London, Technology
While I was in London, I saw this:
What the actual fuck?
The worst thing is I can imagine they’ll get lots of enquiries … probably from companies who are very vocal on saying ‘their staff are their greatest asset’.
But as we know, the companies that shout the loudest about their people are often the ones who are the worst offenders of them. Like some supercharged gaslighting trick, except everyone knows what they’re doing.
The bit I find confusing though is who do these companies think will be their future customers if they are shedding jobs in favor of AI?
Who is going to have the money and why the fuck do they think those who do, will spend it with them when there is a distinct lack of customer care, craft or consideration?
AI has incredible possibilities, but the scary thing is most companies like it because they see it as being able to do the same things they’ve always done, just cheaper or faster.
That’s it.
What these companies fail to realise is that if their products and operations can be replicated this easily, then they may not be that good in the first place.
I’m seeing this everywhere – especially in advertising.
Agencies and clients banging on about how they have used AI to create an ‘ad’ that would have cost millions before – without once stopping to realise that not only is it something we have seen millions of times before, but while the ad may be visually rich, it is also fucking shit.
Sure, it’s early days … but that so many people are focusing on the optimization of the technology rather than the possibilities of it is tragically sad. But then – as I’ve talked about a bunch in the past – I have always been more alarmed by the people behind the tech than the tech itself.
Maybe this is why my client – the biggest investor in luxury and street culture fashion on earth – believes the future of luxury will be built around personal service. Not the illusion of personal service … but the engagement and interaction with real humans.
Highly trained, highly experienced, specialists.
That doesn’t mean they don’t see the value and power of AI … they do. It’s just they recognize that you can’t claim value when you’re doing everything you can, on the cheap. And yet so many brands forget that … mistaking a premium price for a premium product. Until they find out by the actions, choices and behaviours of the people.
Technology is amazing and nothing is possibly more amazing than AI.
It has the power to liberate opportunities we’ve never imagined.
It can enable and facilitate whole new ways of working and creating.
It will provide an outlet for people who have been overlooked for decades.
This is all incredible and important stuff.
But if companies increasingly see it as a way to cut costs to drive short-term gains … then frankly, not only do they deserve all they will get, they need to realise they are the embodiment of Artificial Intelligence.
So to the people behind Artisan … go fuck yourself.
Said with love. Human love.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Community, Context, Creativity, Culture, Emotion, Empathy, Happiness, Harmony, Humanity, Inclusion, Japan, Love, Perspective, Resonance, Respect
Over the years, my wife has told me all she wants me to do is listen to her when she faces challenges, rather than try and fix them for her.
I suspect she is not the only woman who has had this conversation with a man.
And while she knows the reason we do it is out of love, she finds it annoying-as-fuck.
Fortunately we’ve been together so long that its finally got in my thick skull, hence I now listen rather than automatically run to ‘fix’ mode.
The point of this is that I think a lot of advertising needs to adopt this trait.
Too often we think we can solve everything.
Marketing.
Politics.
Poverty.
World hunger.
You name it, our ego believes it can solve it.
But there’s something quite magical in embracing problems rather than trying to solve – or go around them.
Sure, we’re paid to help clients move forward … but that doesn’t always have to be from tackling issues head-on … sometimes, it comes from realizing some problems don’t – or can’t – be solved.
Recently I read something that embodies this perfectly.
A ‘solution’ that doesn’t fix the issue, but deals with it with dignity and grace.
It’s not unique, I’ve seen things like this before and have written about some in the past … but where they tended to be addressing issues in a private environment – such as care homes and parks in the Netherlands – this is something where the public are actively encouraged to be part of the solution.
Except it’s more than that.
Because they benefit as well.
In connection. In understanding and – at a time where there seems to be less of it about – in humanity.
It’s not just magical and beautiful, it’s important. For everyone.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Chaos, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Emotion, Entertainment, Fear, Individuality, Music
We’ve all been there.
At school, work or home … where you realise what you have done is not what you thought you had been asked to do.
And when that happens, your mind switches off from everything around you to intensely focus on all the possible scenarios of what is going to happen next.
The shouting.
The insulting.
The feelings of stupidity.
The need to find time to fix something you haven’t allocated any additional time to fix.
Basically, it becomes a catastrophization-fest.
Now of course, more often than not, the disaster you imagine doesn’t eventuate.
That might be because you’re able to make your case for the work you did … or you’re able to adapt your work on the fly, to meet the expectations of the meeting you’re in or you just come clean and discover that – in most cases – people are reasonable and just ask you to sort it out as soon as you can.
But even though most of us will have gone through this situation countless times, the feeling of trepidation when you sense you may have messed up, never goes away.
I say this because I recently saw a video that captures this experience at a magnitude that – fortunately – few, if any, of us, will ever experience.
Pianist Maria João Pires stepped in as a last-minute substitute for the conductor, Stephen Hough.
Because of the timing of the concert, there was no rehearsal time, but having talked to the conductor over the phone, she felt confident as the piece – Mozart’s Concerto in A major [K.488] was something she had performed at a concert previously.
Except she hadn’t.
Because as the orchestra struck up the introduction to the piece – in front of a paying audience at a full concert hall – Maria discovered the piece she was expected to play was in D minor [K.466] … not only a fundamental difference to what she knew but also how to play.
The video just shows the utter panic she experiences, amplified by the fact there was a room full of people all staring at her, waiting for the moment where she begins.
And you know what, she pulls it off.
Because after the feelings of trauma, drama and death that no doubt went through her entire being, she realized she had nothing she could do except trust her talent.
Which she did.
Flawlessly.
Even though the appreciative audience will never realise just what she did for them.
Which is my way of saying as bad as things can sometimes feel – as long as you’re not in your situation because of laziness – there’s 4 things to remember:
1. Believe in your talent.
2. Remember you’re not in as bad a situation as Maria.
3. Whatever situation you’re in, it’s not the end of the World … it just temporarily feels that way.
4. The most powerful moments of creativity are often born out of adversity.
Check it out below …