Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Brand, Brand Suicide, Comment, Marketing, Marketing Fail
A long time ago, I was incredibly fortunate to meet an old psychology professor who had been told in a Michael Moore documentary.
He told me he’s started teaching in the 60’s and saw his role – and universities – to ignite ideas, debates, thoughts that could change the World.
He was deeply disturbed how over the years, that diversity and energy had been boiled out to be a production line for people who simply aspired to a high paying, white collar job.
I say this because I wonder what he’d think if he saw this …
Seriously, what the hell?
How did no one think this was bad?
How did a university think this was appropriate?
A place of supposedly advanced learning and possibilities now actively promoting the sort of bullshit that is Donald Trump’s wet dream.
Well, there’s good news and bad news.
The good news is the University of Adelaide did not do this.
It’s real … it’s just as sexist … but the association with the University is because of the way the photo was cropped, because they had nothing to do with it.
That’s a relief isn’t it?!
We don’t want our universities perpetuating that sort of bollocks.
However the bad news is the the organisation behind the ad – Renewal SA – are a government agency.
That’s right, the people who are supposedly acting in our interests made this.
Made it and approved it.
I appreciate they may claim that was not the intention of the image … but come on, even Stevie Wonder [Sorry Mr Wonder] could see this is shit and the last place that should be promoting this sort of imagery is a part the government, whose job is to supposedly look after the livelihoods and future of the people they represent.
What on earth were they thinking?
The simple answer is, they weren’t … and that’s one of the reasons this shit keeps happening, with the other being ‘maintenance of control’ and toxic masculinity.
More than that, when I posted the picture on another platform – highlighting that it was NOT from the University of Adelaide, the picture just made it look that way – people kept saying how wrong it was a university was doing this, which meant they just looked at the picture and ignored the words.
A bit like old readers of Playboy. Probably.
I get my words are very ignorable, but it was literally connected to the picture. If they can ignore that – or choose to – what the hell are they doing when/if they read a newspaper?
If only I had the comments section on, I’d be able to look forward to the anonymous comments from men [and it would definitely be men] saying I was virtue signaling or being woke or I’m dismissing the achievements of the male in the ad and am basically being sexist towards him.
That sounds mad doesn’t it … but on the other platform – that does accept comments – I received without irony.
“Now it’s wrong for any man to be knowledgeable and share his knowledge of anything? This is why we are entering the “weak men create hard times” phase.”
Interestingly, they deleted it soon after posting which means they not only knew it was wrong – which makes their action even more pathetic – it serves as a valuable reminder these pricks operate at all levels of society and hide their misogyny in the shadows, rather than place it on an advertising billboard.
I received a lot of messages relating to my post of last Friday.
Most – but not all – were very kind and compassionate.
Some were from people having a hard time who asked if they could chat.
I cannot tell you how happy that makes me.
Not because I want anyone to feel that way, but because it means the post maybe helped them realise they’re not the only one going through it. That feeling of ‘isolation in situation’ can play havoc with you. I saw it when I started Corporate Gaslighting … except in many of those situations, companies were actively trying to make employees feel they were to blame, as they knew the shame would keep them quiet and they could carry on pretending all is fine.
A bit like when companies make a ton of people redundant then say:
“We’re doing well and are perfectly positioned to help clients thrive”
Or some other transparent bollocks.
Of course I also got some assholes comments …
A couple of [anonymous] emails claiming I was attention seeking or virtue signalling or just being a prick. It reminded me why I [potentially temporarily] closed the comments down on here …
Anyway, I want to leave you with a bit of management I read recently that I loved.
It’s from the football manager Sean Dyche.
Sean has a ‘no nonsense’ reputation.
He also is known for having worked miracles for Burnley.
But I recently read how he handled a situation when he was manager of Watford.
In 2012, striker Troy Deeney found out his father was gravely ill with cancer.
Soon after, he got involved in a violent fight near a Birmingham nightclub and was detained by police.
At court, he was asked what he wanted to do and he plead guilty – saying “there was not a thought in my mind of contesting it. I knew what I’d done”.
Deeney was sentenced to 10 months in prison.
It was here Dyche showed his attitude to management:
Now some may say this is wrong.
That Troy needed to pay for his wrong.
And I get that. I also get that the managers opinion – no doubt helped by the fact Deeney was a successful and important footballer – was he had paid for his wrong by going to prison.
For the record, Troy did turn his life around and has become an impassioned champion for communities and groups often overlooked or dismissed by society sand government. His book is a phenomenal read. He owns all his wrongs. At no point does he try to mitigate any of it. Given his early homelife, he could. But he doesn’t.
But all that aside, what I love about Dyche’s comment is the acceptance that people learn at different paces and in different ways. That every person has different challenges to overcome and the role of management is to not just drive standards or success … but to recognise the needs of the individual and educate them on how they can be better. In essence, give them the chance to be better, rather than write them off because they did something you wouldn’t, regardless of context or circumstance.
Dyche may have lost his job in football, but he could teach business a lot about management.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Brand, Business, Comment, Context, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Distinction, Emotion, Empathy, Fashion, Honesty, Management, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Perspective, Relevance, Resonance
So the cosmetic empire, Revlon, has gone bankrupt.
It’s a brand I remember from my youth with their big ads featuring big stars selling big statements.
But like Woolworths of old [how’s that for a linkage] they thought that was enough.
They thought they were enough.
But tastes change.
Evolve.
Hell, in just the past few years we’ve seen all manner of movements in the cosmetics space … from the nude look to the pastel and playful, both leveraged by brands like Maybelline and Glossier.
And then there’s Fenty …
Who came in and offered a foundation that had varieties specifically for African American skin as well as white – which shouldn’t be a surprise until you realise that until then, all major cosmetic companies excluded African American skin and expected them to use a foundation designed for white customers.
Seriously, what the fuck.
Of course, the success of Fenty saw many of the big players try to follow suit … but when actively you’ve ignored millions for 60+ years, you’re not going to convince them you suddenly care.
Which comes back to Revlon.
Who forgot the way you build a brand is not by communicating yourself over and over again, but doing things that earn loyalty.
Or at least prove you are working for it.
So many companies forget that. Either spending millions on what they want to say or ‘innovating’ with things that are what they want people to care about, rather than the things people care about.
It’s amazing how many brands fall for this.
But then, ego has that effect on people.
Causing them to place boundaries and blinkers around the comments that scream what people want you to do better at. What they want you to change.
But instead, companies choose to maximise short-term opportunities, rather than build things for the future. I get it … it costs a lot and there’s the argument it risks a lot.
Except it doesn’t cost or risk anything near what happens if you don’t do it.
And playing catch up never works because when you finally follow suit, you find out the others have already moved on.
Even the companies that promise ‘disruption’ never really go all in.
Often just focusing on one element the establishment do wrong rather than reimagining how they could completely evolve an entire category.
Function over benefits.
Product over brand.
That said, there are some out there who do it right.
Not just in the ‘cool’ categories, but in things like finance, health and paint.
Yes, paint!!!
Doing things where it shows they are truly watching and listening to culture.
Not just in what they want, but what is affecting who they are.
Once upon a time this was the norm. Now it’s all about promoting the condiments rather than focusing on the steak.
And while that can work in the short-term … giving you a few PR headlines you can leverage in the press … the brands who count succeed because they perpetually evolve culture – or evolve with the leading edge of it – rather than just keep them where they already are.
Today is Brian May’s birthday.
He will be 75.
SEVENTY FIVE!!!
And he’s still playing massive concerts around the World.
But unlike last year where he had a whole post dedicated to him, this year I’m going to write about surprises.
OK, it’s hardly something dramatic, but it certainly shocked me.
It was this …
What the hell?
Look how deep those post boxes go?
I always thought they were just cemented into the pavement but now I think about it, that would have been a stupid thing to do.
But bloody hell. No wonder you couldn’t shift them.
I remember as a kid, there was a post box at the top of our road. When Mum wanted a letter posting, I’d ask her to count how long it took me to run to it, post it, and come back again.
I was unsurprisingly … much, MUCH healthier back then. But that postbox became almost a symbol of my development.
A measuring stick for my abilities.
It seems so long ago, and yet I can remember it so vividly.
From running out the door, jumping through – not around – the garden and trying to cross the road to the postbox without hopefully hitting a car coming down the road.
Good memories. In fact so good it’s made me a little homesick.
By homesick, I mean family-sick.
Which is quite a tangent from a post that is simply about how bloody deep postboxes go.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Apathy, Attitude & Aptitude, Brand, Comment, Confidence, Creativity, Culture, New Zealand, Youth
The cost of living is insane everywhere.
Petrol.
Heating.
Food.
The prices are going up faster than we can blink.
And while there is definitely the suspicion some industries are using this as an excuse to elevate their profits – I’m looking at you fossil fuel and supermarket industries – the reality is for many people, life is becoming more about survival than living.
Here in NZ, the conversation often relates back to the price of food.
Part of the reason for that is because the dairy industry is so influential and economically important.
But right now, you can’t turn on a talkback radio show without hearing people complain about the price of cheese … milk … or vegetables.
Sure, it’s not as bad as it is in the UK at the moment – where supermarkets are putting ‘anti-theft’ devices on cheese, but it’s not far off.
Just recently I heard a 10 minute segment about the price of cauliflowers.
Apparently they’re $12 each in some places and one person interviewed said:
“There’s no cauliflower in the world worth $12”
It’s fair to say it’s a sentence I’ve never heard in my life.
But while the cauliflower conversation may raise a smile … what it indicates is nothing but.
More and more people will struggle.
Will be taken advantage of.
Will wonder if they can cope.
While I hold real concern for a number of groups, one I’m particularly concerned for is youth.
As I wrote yesterday – and all the photos in this post are from our book, Dream Small – many kids in NZ already feel oppressed by the lack of opportunity and the pressure of complicity they face … but now, their situation could be even more tested.
Less possibilities.
More expectations.
Even less consideration.
Even more demands and judgement.
Given NZ already has one of the worst youth suicide rates – per capita – in the world, what could this do to the mental health and wellbeing of the young?
What is this going to do to the dreams they have?
I get it’s hard.
I get there will be many more communities that will require help.
But for all the companies that go on about how proud they are to be from New Zealand, maybe this is the moment they prove it by what they do rather than what they say.
Last year I judged the Effies and read a bunch of entries from supermarkets.
They talked about how their ‘strategy’ had helped them overcome the huge barrier of covid.
All of them … every last one … claimed covid had been a barrier to growth rather than their fast track.
It was an insult to my intelligence.
I would love it if this year, I read submissions from NZ brands who talked about how they used this time to enable a generation. That they recognised the countries future was dependent on the young feeling they could bring their wild hopes, ideas and energy to the fore. That instead of being told to dream small, they were supported to dream big. So the country can evolve and develop so if situations like this happen again, then the nation will be in a better position because it will be stronger thanks to the brains and ideas the young have brought.
I don’t even really care how they do it.
More pay.
Government funded flights for their OE.
A youth venture fund that kids can call upon to help with their ideas.
Tax breaks for youth focused, foreign brands to come into the country.
Fighting against Tall Poppy – or any of the other issues that hold youth back through fear.
And while I know there are a few brands doing it – some of my clients for a start – I doubt I’ll be reading many papers that celebrate that shift, because too many of these ‘proud Kiwi brands’ are more focused on perpetuating and controlling the stereotype than liberating the people who are forced to live by it.