Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Brilliant Marketing Ideas In History, Creativity, Cunning, Education, Experience, Innovation, Insight, Marketing, Planners, Planning
Yes it’s a national holiday in America and yes, I said there would be no post today … but the thought of you not having your daily dose of my blog joy broke my heart so I am doing this for you.
I know, I should be knighted.
Ahem.
Anyway, the wonderful Mark Sareff has written a book.
I’ve written about Mark before because apart from being whip smart, he’s also one of the nicest people on the planet.
[Though I appreciate being being one of my friends and mentors may undermine that declaration a bit]
Anyway, while Mark may not be the best known names in planning, he is – in my opinion – the best planner in the industry and so anything by him is going to be interesting and useful and that is exactly what his book is.
It’s full of fantastic strategy nuggets of awesomeness based on real-world experiences.
It’s fun and quick to read and best of all, it’s free so if you are at all interested in smart thinking without the intellectual bullshit, then download it here … it just may be the first useful thing I’ve ever done for anyone on here.
Right, back to my holiday.
Filed under: Comment
Today – and Monday – is a national holiday in America, and while there won’t be a post at the start of next week, I couldn’t let today pass without writing something.
Why?
Well, because 10 years ago today, I married Jill.
It has been the best 10 years of my life.
I can’t really put into words all the things I feel about her.
Or all the things she has done for me.
Put simply, she is the kindest, most considerate, most caring, talented, beautiful person I know.
The fact she was willing to leave her life to go on an adventure with a man she hardly knew within weeks of meeting him, blows my mind.
Especially when that man is me and I was going through a particularly strange time in my life.
But that’s exactly what she did and she has continued to stick with me despite the fact I’ve dragged her to live in a whole bunch of different countries, made her watch countless episodes of Come Dine With Me and good-naturedly taken the piss out of her early morning, half asleep mutterings via the Jillysim blog … not to mention a whole host of other things in-between.
And yet even after all that, I continue feel the love she has for me every day.
Every single day.
Not just in the big things, but the small.
I remember when we first started going out I found it hard to accept someone actually wanted to take away any sadness or hardship I felt, but here she was, actively looking for ways to take away the bad so I could feel the good.
But that sums up Jill perfectly.
Her emotional generosity knows no bounds.
Whether that’s how she found ways to let my Mum feel part of Otis’ birth or the daily adventures she creates for our precious son … everything she does is to ensure the people she cares for, feel cared for.
Now I know that makes her sound perfect, but trust me, she’s not.
OK, so she’s close, but she has flaws … however apart from the fact this is supposed to be a love letter, our 7 years in China helped Jill find – and release – her badass side, so to prevent being karate chopped in the throat, I’ll get back to the schmaltz.
When I look back at the last 10 years of my life, I am incredibly fortunate to be able to say it has been pretty amazing and so much of that is down to Jill.
She makes me feel more secure, settled and loved than at any point in my life.
She ensures our dark days are less bleak and our brightest, more bright.
She has helped us do things I would have otherwise never of thought to do or never of thought we could do.
In short, she I would not be able to do the things I do without her.
I am eternally grateful for her terrible taste in men and I hope I never take what she does for me – and our family – for granted because she is 1 in 7 billion and I hope I make her feel as loved and cared for as she does for me.
Thank you for everything my love.
Happy 10th anniversary, our best days are still ahead of us.
Rx
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Birkenstocks, Comment, Creative Development, Marketing Fail
So yesterday I wrote about my new birkenstock t-shirt … and I bet you were thrilled with it. Ahem. Well today I’m keeping with the birkies theme, but I’m adding a bit of Hollywood glamour to it.
No, seriously.
You see I was recently reading a copy of Empire Magazine – the film monthly – when there was an article on the classic 90’s romp, Con Air.
For those of you who need a reminder what it’s about, have a look at this.
Did you watch it?
They don’t make movies like that anymore do they.
Sure, it’s bollocks, but it’s absolutely amazing bollocks.
Hmmmmm, that doesn’t look so good written down, does it. Oops.
“So where’s the birkenstock reference”, I hear no one cry.
Well, in the article, they talk about how John Cusack – one of the movies stars – was a bit of a dick on set.
Apparently he didn’t really want to do the movie but – having resigned himself to having to do it – he decided to throw his star power around.
This is how he did it …
Have you read it?
Have you?
Really?
Well if you have, you’ll know that he insisted on his character wearing Birkenstocks.
Yes, bloody birkies!
Apparently his rationale was …
“I want to be the very first action hero who wears Birkenstocks. Charlton Heston wore sandals and he kicked ass. I wanna do the same”.
Amazing eh?
But even more amazing than that is that we now can understand why John Cusack’s career went the same way as MH370.
Which also explains why I ended up in advertising which, a friend of mine recently called, The MH370 of careers.
… is by wearing my new t-shirt from my friends at RedBubble.
Trust me, if you think you’re offended by it, you should see how my colleagues feel.
Sure, it’s not as good as the politician, Denis Healey’s “like being savaged by a dead sheep”, but it’s pretty good.