Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Colenso, Communication Strategy, Complicity, Creativity, Culture, Dad, Egovertising
So after yesterday’s love-fest towards my wife, we’re going to take a change of tack.
Recently someone came out a while back to publicly slag some work Colenso had done.
I’m fine with that, but it was why they slagged it off that I took offence to.
Because rather than acknowledge their opinion was entirely subjective … rather than acknowledge their lack of understanding of the work we have done with the client over 15+ years … rather than acknowledge the incredible success it has achieved all over the world, they whined and bleated about why we were wrong and they was right like they were the bastard love child of Boris Johnson, Donald Trump and Laurence Fox despite [1] they were factually incorrect and [2] they’re opinion on creativity is one dimensional.
Oh they’ll claim otherwise, but that’s because they have positioned themselves as a business pioneer when really they’re an insurance salesman.
There’s nothing wrong with that – they’re very good at what they do and what they do is important – but they’re more about ensuring you don’t fail rather than get ahead.
But what really got me was the arrogant confidence they spoke about their idea while happily dismissing our work.
Now I shouldn’t be surprised because their whole schtick is to provoke for a reaction – they’re a bit like a shock jock these days, like many of his type – but while I should have just ignored it, I bit … offering them some clarity to go with their delusion.
And yet despite this, they didn’t respond.
No acknowledgement.
No reconsideration.
No apology.
Instead they replied to anyone who reinforced his echo-chamber of opinion which is classic entitled, ego-driven, gaslighting behaviour. Which shouldn’t be a surprise, given they’re fast becoming a caricature of themselves … however it did remind me of something my Dad used to tell the lawyers who worked for him.
“When people need to tell everyone how smart they are, they’re not that smart”.
This was his way of telling them one of the most powerful skills you can develop for your career, is self awareness.
The ability to look at an issue from all sides.
To be able to know what you’re not good at.
To be open to the new and different.
To acknowledge when you’re wrong.
Now that’s good advice for anyone, but given how many of Dad’s former staff are now leading lawyers/QC’s [though they’re now KC’s … which I find hard to remember given it wasn’t that in Dad’s day] in areas of human rights and press freedom – from The Guardian to the NYT – it seems he had a better understanding of what intelligence really is than many who base it simply on academic achievement.
Maybe this is the sort of thing that should be taught at business and marketing schools … so we stop seeing people [read: privileged, white men] continually ‘evolve’ into the beasts they say they were made to slay in their desperate attempt to stay in the spotlight.
On one level I get it.
The older you get, the less the spotlight shines on you.
Not because what you have to say is wrong or out-of-date, but because there’s new people coming up, with new ideas and new ways.
But to our populists of marketing practice, this is like kryptonite.
They want the spotlight.
They need the spotlight.
They live for the spotlight.
They’ll say or do whatever it takes to keep it on them.
Doesn’t matter if they contradict what they said before.
Doesn’t matter if they proclaim subjectivity as fact.
Doesn’t matter who they’re talking to or what about.
Doesn’t matter how inflated their ego or pedestal.
THEY. NEED. THE. FOCUS.
For them. And only them.
Hence we’re in this weird situation where the people who are supposedly at the peak of our discipline are happy to play in the trough.
Not all of course, but more than a couple.
Which not only doesn’t bode well for the future of the industry – especially the bright minds who have new ideas that may challenge or evolve traditional concepts – it reminds me of something else my Dad used to say …
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Birthday, Jill, Love, Paul
So this week is a week of important birthdays for me.
Mine.
Jill’s.
Paul’s.
However the good news for you, is that only my birthday falls on a day I write a post … so you will only have to endure one over-written post rather than the 3. Or as the old saying goes, ‘it’s my birthday, but you get the present’.
God … what a tragic start to this post.
Anyway … while I will leave you to spend the rest of the day desperately trying to get your huge gift to me in NZ in time, I will leave you with a post about love.
Not mine.
Not about someone I know.
But the sort of love that I think embodies what love is supposed to be about.
It’s about actors Jason Watkins and Clara Francis.
You might not know them – or you may only know them from some of the roles they’ve had – but recently they were in The Guardian Newspaper talking about their relationship … their families … love, loss and the pain of broken hearts and enduring relationships.
Put simply, it was one of the most beautiful expressions of compassion, love and consideration I’ve ever read.
Ever. Read.
Not just towards each other, but also towards their family, Jason’s ex-wife and the daughter they lost through sepsis.
You are left in no doubt they are incredible people and an incredible family.
One bonded tightly together … appreciating who each other is, what each other brings [and needs] and how each person works.
It’s a beautiful, chaotic, engaged and alive type-of-love … one where you’re left in no doubt why it works and why they have been able to continue when the loss of a child often results in the breakdown of many relationships.
In essence it’s a celebration of humanity … and I include Jason’s ex-wife in this, because in their darkest hour, she rented a flat near them so she could support them. If that sounds strange, bizarrely, once you’ve read the article, it all seems to make perfect sense.
There’s so many parts I love.
How Jason describes Clara’s family.
How Clara would ‘accidentally-on-purpose’ bump into Jason at the supermarket.
The way they would always keep an ear out for how the other was doing, even when life had moved on.
But it’s the way Jason talks about Clara that really gets me. Especially the last part of his last paragraph where he says:
“Clara illuminates any room. Every year, her light becomes brighter.”
I’ve written before how Jill doesn’t like being the centre of attention – even as a blog post, hence there is no accompanying photo of her even though I would love to – but the way Jason talks about Clara is how I feel about Jill.
But it’s more than a light for me, it’s warmth.
A feeling of where I belong.
Where I am needed and wanted.
Where I need and want to be.
He says so much more than that and I loved and hated every word because it’s just so bloody perfect.
I often struggle to find the words to express what Jill means to me. What she has done for me. But he has done it.
And while it is about Clara, it is also perfect about Jill. Except I can’t say it to her because they’re his words, not mine.
So I hope one day she reads this.
She won’t be happy I’ve made this about her, but I hope she’ll see past that to feel the words.
Of course, I hope she also knows this through my actions, but it’s nice for my heart to feel able to properly speak.
We’ve been together 20 years now.
We’ve gone through a lot.
And while there has been times I’ve sadly let her down, she’s never done the same to me.
Through thick and thin, she’s been a rock.
A kind, compassionate, super-supportive, super-strength, super-human.
Whatever the future holds, it’s brighter for having her in it with me … which is surely the greatest gift anyone could ever have?
So to my darling Jill.
Thank you for everything you are.
I love your strength, your smarts, your bravery and your love.
I hope you have a beautiful birthday on the 15th and I’ll be doing everything I can to make it that way.
Big hugs and kisses to you my love and big thanks to Jason [and Clara] for the words my heart wanted to speak, but didn’t know how to say.
You can read the rest of them … and the story that affected me so much, here.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Business, Complicity, Corporate Evil, Crap Campaigns In History, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Egovertising, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Mediocrity, Perspective, Relationships, Relevance, Research, Resonance, Respect, Strategy, Stubborness, Trust, Truth
I love this clip from South Park about how they think Netflix works.
Sure, it’s taking the piss out of the streaming gods – suggesting their quality control is all over the place because they say yes to every pitch – but in some ways, I can’t help but feel it would be brilliant if more clients embraced this approach.
Now before you think I’m mad, there is a reason for this.
About 14,000 years ago, I wrote a post saying clients should say yes more often and agencies should say no. The main reason for this was I kept hearing companies suggest their agencies didn’t understand their business. That they were more interested in what they wanted to make rather than what their clients needed.
They’re wrong … because in my experience, agencies absolutely want to do the best things for their clients.
That they have different ways to achieve their clients needs and goals is a good thing.
More than that, it’s literally what they are all about.
But right now it seems more and more clients are trying to dictate and mandate work … when, with the upmost respect, many haven’t got the faintest idea what good work is, how to get it, and how to get their audience to be interested and motivated in what they’ve got to say.
Now to be fair, this is not entirely their fault.
It doesn’t help many agencies have sold creativity so far down the river, that the only thing they care about is the head hours they can sell. It doesn’t help many companies only enable their people to say ‘no’, rather than ‘yes’. And it doesn’t help company procurement departments have an outsized influence on the approach and people their agency gets to work with – which directly impacts the work that gets produced – which is why you can see how this often turns into a complete shit show.
But that still doesn’t explain why some clients think they know more about creativity than their agency.
Which is why I think the ‘for profit’ research agencies they surround themselves with have to shoulder some of the blame. Part of that is because supporting what the client thinks and wants is in their personal interests. And part of that is because many of them make the mistake of judging work by clarity of message rather than enjoyment of content.
To emphasise this last point, there’s a brilliant story about Spielberg when he was starting Dreamworks.
You see despite him and his partners being some of the most successful producers and directors of all time, their external investors wanted everything to go through focus groups to ensure everything was geared for success.
Spielberg said no.
He said he made films that were true to his vision, not other people’s.
In fact he was so insistent on this point that the whole deal was nearly off until Spielberg agreed to do it on the condition that any focus group was based around answering just one question and he had the right to decide what to do with the answer, once he’d got it.
They asked him what was the question.
“Were you entertained?”
That’s it.
One question.
One simple question … but arguably the most pertinent question.
Just to be clear, I am not saying research isn’t important.
It is. It’s vital.
In fact I love research. I love what it can uncover and reveal and help you understand.
But it shouldn’t be seen as the ultimate judge and jury.
It shouldn’t be about definitive answers.
The funny thing is I often find company research people understand this very well. They have incredible knowledge while also being very self aware. An openness to explore and consider. Where the most blinkered and stubborn thinking happens is when working with external organisations who harbour ambitions to be strategic partners. Where their goal is to control rather than inform.
Not of course, not everyone is like that. There’s many amazing companies out there … but there’s also a bunch whose commercial interests end up accelerating the disconnection of brands with truth and potential rather than enabling it.
But I digress.
The point of this post – and that South Park clip – is in the quest to not make any mistake or risk upsetting anyone – often their own board of directors – companies end up creating work that says nothing and does little. Meanwhile, with Netflix actively looking for the next big, they’re saying yes rather than no … and while that leads to a lot of stuff that may not perform, their commitment to pushing and exploring means they also have a lot of epic. Which has created a lot of longterm value.
Or said another way, Netflix see the commercial value of trust, creativity and exploration.
And while I know the two can’t really be compared, I’m going there … not just to reinforce the point that self-awareness is commercial intelligence, but because if brands want people to love them, it might be good if they did stuff for them, not about themselves. And it might be good if more agencies got back to valuing creativity rather than just saying they do.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Airports, Art, Attitude & Aptitude, Australia, Authenticity, Childhood, Comment, Content, Context, Creative Brief, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Empathy, Fake Attitude, Humanity, Imagination, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Mediocrity, Point Of View, Provocative, Qantas, Relevance, Reputation, Resonance, Respect
Many years ago – 2009 to be precise – I wrote a take down of Qantas, the Australian Airline.
It wasn’t about their experience or service which – back then – were pretty good, certainly much better than they are today. No, it was about the lyrics to their ‘iconic’ song, ‘Still Call Australia Home‘.
Now I appreciate I’m a Brit.
I appreciate that, at the time, I had an agency called Cynic, so was full of piss and vinegar.
I even appreciate – as my Aussie wife reinforced to me in no uncertain terms – that the song and Qantas’ advertising was pretty special for Aussies so maybe I should shut the fuck up.
And that is good advice. Except 15 years later, I’ve decided to come back with a comeback.
You see recently I saw an ad for another Australian icon …
The difference being this one is worthy of that label annnnnnd – even more significantly – they’ve made a piece of advertising that ignites all the emotion, pride and Australian spirit that Qantas would possibly sacrifice their ‘never had a crash’ reputation, to achieve.
[Please note, this is simply to emphasise the point. I get it’s not a great turn of phrase. And I obviously don’t mean it. So if you prefer, simply replace it with: “… that Qantas would allow themselves to be embroiled in even more financial scandal, to achieve”. Better? Oh god … there’s no pleasing some people is there!]
Anyway, if you’re wondering what I’m talking about, it’s this from the Sydney Opera House for their 50th anniversary.
[Though while it’s being shared a lot at the moment, it actually came out about 8 months ago]
I love it.
I love it so much it made a cynical Brit emotional.
Sure, I have an Aussie wife … a ½ Aussie son … Australian residency and was even a member of the audience in a couple of the historic scenes they show in the film … but I’ve never, ever felt that way about a Qantas ad.
Not once.
Hell, I don’t even like Tim Minchin – the guy who leads every thing in the ad – and yet I still felt connected to the spot.
Part of it could be because The Opera House was to me, a symbol of Australia, decades before I moved there.
I still remember how overawed and overwhelmed I was when I first saw it for real. This incredible place whose image had been burned into my mind from years of seeing it on TV shows, in magazine articles or just everyday imagery.
But it’s more than that, it’s what the place signifies.
The story that underpins the whole film.
A true story.
One where the quest to do something different triumphs over the demands to control and conform. An ode to the majesty of imagination and art rather than the adherence of tradition and regulation.
It all feels – ignoring the fact the Opera House was designed by the Dane, Jørn Utzon – much closer to the ‘Aussie spirit’ than anything Qantas has ever done.
A salute to those who wish to push and challenge rather than seek the comfort of being back ‘where they’re comfortable’.
Now I appreciate that maybe that spirit is more confined to the past than the present.
One look at how the vote for ‘The Voice’ turned out reveals comfort, convenience and control are the words of the day.
But that aside, it’s a very special film.
Helped by the fact the Opera House is a very special place.
Not just for Australia, but for anyone who hopes for something a bit more.
A bit more personal.
A bit more emotional.
A bit more wonderful.
And if you need any more reason why you should love the Opera House far, far more than Qantas … let me tell you, even the Opera House’s cheapest seats offer more leg room than pretty much anything you’ll get on that airline.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Brand, Campaign Magazine, Colenso, Colleagues, Context, Creativity, Culture, Design, Environment, Wieden+Kennedy
Yes I’m back.
No, I can’t tell you what I did.
Or who for.
Or even where I went.
And I won’t ask if you missed me because I wouldn’t hear a response.
Not because I don’t allow comments anymore, but because no one reads this blog anymore.
If they ever did anyway, given any visitor was here to either insult me or read the insults.
Anyway … let’s get on with it, shall we?
Every home has a room that’s a bit of a disaster.
The one that doubles up as a storeroom.
The one that you never got round to unpacking.
The one that just seems more trouble than it’s worth.
The same happens in offices.
The meeting room no one really likes.
The meeting room that feels claustrophobic.
The meeting room that no one uses for client meetings because it’s a bit shit.
But in an open plan office world, meeting rooms are at a premium … so those ‘happiness sucking spaces’ often end up being used as a last resort, even though it is literally the last place you want to be.
We have one of those spaces.
A room that makes dentist waiting rooms feel exciting.
It’s called ‘the attic’ … because, quite frankly, it’s out of the way and uninviting.
But recently we had a client video call in that room and we’ve never felt more self-conscious, so we finally decided to change it.
However rather than try and change the feel of that miserable space, we chose to own it.
Welcome to the most boring room in Colenso. Literally.
I know … I know … you may be thinking, ‘why would you do such a thing when you could have changed everything’?
And I get that, but there’s 2 reasons …
First, as Eminem taught us in the movie 8 Mile, when you own your truth, no one can own you.
Second, the great irony of being self-aware – even when it’s about something dour – is that you can end up being more interesting than those places you know are trying their hardest to be interesting.
That’s not dissing the importance of physical space because it’s real and it’s important.It can play a huge role in influencing and shaping how people engage, interact and explore shit.
But at the heart of great working environments is that they have been shaped by the culture of the org rather than a byproduct of it.
As I said years ago in Campaign …
And so while this might be the most boring room in Colenso – and it is – by owning that fact, it’s weirdly become a place we’re OK with being in rather than trying our hardest to avoid.
God humans are weird aren’t we!?
But not as weird as that room.