Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, America, Attitude & Aptitude, Audio Visual, Authenticity, Business, Comment, Confidence, Content, Context, Craft, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Diversity, Empathy, Entertainment, Equality, Experience, Film, Finance, Friendship, Happiness, History, Loyalty, Management, Music, Relevance, Resonance
Yes, this post really is about the movie The Blues Brothers.
The one where paroled convict Jake — and his blood brother Elwood – set out on a mission from God to save the Catholic orphanage in which they were raised, from foreclosure.
Where to achieve their goal, they not only have to reunite their R&B band and organise a concert so they can try to earn the $5,000 needed to pay the orphanage’s tax bill … but also have to navigate around a homicidal mystery woman, a bunch of Neo-Nazis, an entire police department hellbent on stopping them and a Country & Western band.
And yes, I am really saying we should be like them.
However this is not because I am advocating violence against authority [ahem], or even a return to the true definition of rhythm and blues [versus the sanitised version being flogged by record companies left, right and centre] but because of how Dan Aykroyd – the writer and actor of the movie – ensured the creative value of the artists appearing in the film was rewarded rather than exploited.
Music has a long history of exploiting artists.
Where their talent is used to fund the lifestyles of everyone other than themselves.
It’s been going on for decades and affected everyone – including those who got to ‘the top’ like The Beatles and Elvis Presley [there’s also a great book on how badly Bros got ripped off, which is worth checking out] … however no group of musicians has been as badly affected as black artists.
From not being paid to not being played … black artists has consistently been exploited and abused by white music industry leaders, from record companies to MTV.
To give you an idea of it, here’s a clip of David Bowie challenging MTV about their lack of black artists on the channel …
Bowie, as usual, was right.
Recently I watched a documentary where legendary musician, Herbie Hancock, talked about his iconic Rockit video and how they purposefully created something that didn’t really show his face to ensure MTV would play it in heavy rotation.
THIS IS NOT A LONG TIME AGO!!!
And while you may think the music business is now dominated with black artists, the reality is they are still getting screwed by organisations who want to profit from their talent.
Which leads me back to the Blues Brothers.
You see this movie was dominated by African American musicians – and while many studios would try and underpay them by saying the worldwide exposure they’d gain is commercially valuable to them, Dan Aykroyd did something else.
That’s right, he let them keep their publishing rights.
Which means every time a song or the movie was played, the artists behind the music would get paid.
Not the studio.
Not the writer.
Not the networks.
But the artists.
What’s sick is that 40 years later, this act by Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi is still rare.
Since then, we have consistently seen people of colour have their creativity exploited and profited from by others.
Whether that is through acts of cultural appropriation to corporate intimidation to down right theft.
Frankly, nothing highlights this more than the plight of Dapper Dan and his store in Harlem during the 80’s and 90’s. Here was an individual who created fashion that changed and impacted culture on an almost unprecedented scale … and yet he faced a constant barrage of abuse, exploitation and theft from organisations who appreciated his talent but just didn’t want to pay for it or acknowledge it.
Given black culture is the driving force of almost all youth culture around the World, it is disgusting how little of the money it helps generate ends up in the pockets of the black community … which is why I suggest another way companies can demonstrate their diversity and inclusion ambitions is to follow the approach of the Blues Brothers.
Included.
Represented.
Acknowledged.
Respected.
Paid.
Enabled.
Empowered.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Cars, Comment, Craft, Creativity, Culture, Fulfillment, Insight, Management, Resonance, Service, Standards, Technology
So I have an Audi.
I know … I know … what a wanker.
Well as we all know, German cars are well known for their quality of engineering, but recently I saw something that showed me it’s not just engineering where they pay attention to detail.
Have a look at this …
Can you see?
It’s the colour of the screws.
Where most cars have 4 yellow screws in each corner of the rear number plate, Audi have used 2 – one black, one yellow – placed in the middle of the number plate and designed to make sure they perfectly match with the area they’re screwing into.
Black to match the colour of the letter of the registration number.
Yellow to match the background of the rear registration number.
It’s an incredibly small thing, but if they care about that, you can be sure they care about every detail in the car.
Which helps reinforce why German manufacturing is so highly revered.
Or said another way, why craft is proved by the small things, not just the big.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Authenticity, Comment, Confidence, Content, Context, Creative Brief, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Emotion, Empathy, Home, Honesty, Insight, Mischief, Planners, Point Of View, Pretentious Rubbish, R/GA, Relevance, Research, Resonance
When I was at R/GA, I hired this brilliant planner called Joel.
It was weird how we met because it all started at a Google Firestarter meeting I was talking at.
At the end of my presentation, it was opened up to the audience for questions.
I couldn’t see who was asking anything as the lights from the stage were shining straight into my eyes. Anyway, there was one question that shone out from the rest of the questions of the night – basically challenging the London bubble of planning – and while I didn’t know who asked it, I wanted to find who did to say I liked it.
Alas I never found out who did.
A few days later, I got a message on LinkedIn from the person who asked the question.
His name was Joel.
I invited him for a coffee later that week and suddenly the person who asked the best question of the night was asking the best questions of the day.
But what made them extra good was he wasn’t doing it to show off or stand out, he was doing it because he was interested in the topics and interested to hear my perspective.
We talked about his background, his ambitions and then he did the one thing that almost guaranteed I wanted to hire him.
He called comprehensive school, ‘big school’.
BIG SCHOOL.
I hadn’t heard that since I was a kid in Nottingham and immediately I loved Joel for it. Because for all the time he had spent in London, he had not lost his Bradford realness … and then it became clear why he asked the question about the London bubble, why he was asking questions why culture rarely reflected how marketing department express it and why was the ad industry more interested in convenience than authenticity.
How could I not hire someone like that?
So I did.
And he never disappointed because apart from being culturally, creatively and strategically talented – with an obsessive focus on what life is really like for people, especially outside of London rather than the cliched, London bullshit a lot of marketing likes to portray – his greatest trait was he always wanted to learn.
Always.
Now don’t get me wrong, he wasn’t always the model student … he would push back, he would challenge, he would question … but what he doesn’t know is that was when I was the happiest working with him, because it meant he was believing his words rather than just following others.
And while we always have to be careful we don’t blindly think whatever we believe is the right answer, having confidence and conviction in your gut and your talent is an often underplayed, undervalued, under-encouraged skill in a strategist … which is why I was so happy to see when I left R/GA, Joel had a mug made with my face and my words on it.
Not because he missed my ugly face and lack of vocabulary, but to remind him to trust his smarts, his instincts and his authenticity … but never to be a prick about it.
If I was proud of him before. I am even prouder of him now.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Audio Visual, Authenticity, Comment, Confidence, Craft, Creativity, Culture, Design, Fulfillment, Honesty, Perspective, Presenting, Relationships
One of the things I find really interesting is how adland has got into the habit of providing clients with multiple options for every bit of work.
Oh I get it.
Apart from the fact there’s always more than one way to answer any brief, we want – or should I say, we need – clients to be happy.
Except it doesn’t always end up that way does it?
We make alternatives that aren’t as good as the idea we think they should buy.
Clients demand diluted versions of the work we don’t really like in the first place.
We end up getting fired because the campaign they pushed us to make didn’t work as well as they wanted.
Who are the bigger idiots?
The people who don’t buy what the experts put forward or the experts that offer alternatives they don’t really believe in?
Which is why every single person should read the story of Paul Rand – the designer who Steve Jobs turned to, to design the logo for his NeXT computer company.
Not just because it’s a brilliant story.
Not just because he didn’t even bother to turn up to the pitch, he just sent a brilliant 100 page book with his idea in it.
But because when Jobs was asked what it was like to work with Rand, he said …
“I asked him if he would come up with a few options, and he said … no, I will solve your problem for you and you will pay me.
You don’t have to use the solution. If you want options go talk to other people.’”
How good is that?
+ I will solve your problem for you.
+ You will pay me for my recommendation, whether you use it or not.
+ If you want options, go talk to other people.
While some may claim that makes Paul Rand arrogant or petulant, I would say it shows someone who knows the value of their experience … their talent and their craft.
More than that, I think it shows someone who really thinks about what idea is the right one for their client and then puts only that one in front of them.
Not countless options.
One.
A single idea that has gone through hundreds of possibilities to get to that single recommendation.
Something that has been created and crafted to answer the brief, rather than simply executed to satisfy the clients taste.
And while the article itself states the NeXT logo might not be a classic … the style, approach and attitude of the presentation certainly is.
Adland should take note.
Read it here.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Content, Craft, Creativity, Culture, Differentiation, Emotion, Empathy, Home, Insight, Marketing, Relevance, Resonance
To people outside of the UK, the title of this post might sound like a diss to NIKE.
But it’s not.
It’s part of a well known tagline by UK hardware giants, B&Q.
Originally the whole expression was ‘Don’t just do it, B&Q it’ however it’s recently had an evolution … which is my excuse for talking about their new ad campaign.
A campaign by – in my opinion – the best agency in the UK right now and one of the best in the World.
Uncommon.
I’ve written about how much I love them – and Nils in particular – and this campaign is another reason for that.
DIY often gets promoted by ‘salt of the earth men and women’ making, fixing or changing stuff.
Or ‘cheeky chappy’, blue-collar cliches … having a giggle as they saw some wood.
It’s all very practical, rational and very before/after.
But Uncommon have done something different.
For a start they are trying to bring more people into the DIY world rather than just appeal to the people already there. It’s smart, because with COVID, we’re having to rely more and more on our own abilities than those of a specialist.
But they’ve done something more than that.
They’ve tapped into the emotions of what DIY does for us.
Not in the terms of a new shelf or a better shed … but in terms of crafting the place we live and turning it into our home.
A place that reflects us not just shelters us.
The quirks, the tweaks, the creativity, the failures.
The stuff we will always remember when we see it.
The stuff that makes it OURS.
The stuff we built … literally and figuretavely.
And it’s this premise that Uncommon tapped into with the thought, “you don’t buy a life, you build one”.
It’s always been true, but in these times where we try to outsource everything for a generic perfection, it is even more pertinent.
Doesn’t matter what you make.
Doesn’t matter how good you are.
All that matters is you make something that makes it yours.
I love everything about this campaign.
The idea. The craft. The writing.
I love that they’ve evolved the line from ‘Don’t just do it’ to ‘You can do it’.
It’s the right thing to do.
Not just because it is more inclusive, emotional and personal … but because it has a positive, encouraging energy to it. Something that conveys confidence for whatever you’re going to do rather than judgement and doubt.
But one thing I like in particular is the poster campaign.
As I wrote previously, Uncommon are seemingly single-handedly bringing the beauty and value of posters back into the ad world.
The work they’ve done for B&Q is a perfect example of that.
Simple. Clear. And each expressing a different attribute of the brand idea.
No bought in stock shots with some throwaway, meaningless copy dropped on it …, oh no … they’re all individually and beautiful art directed to within an inch of their life.
This is what advertising can be. Should be.
This is how we build the industry again.
This is how we turn it into a home people want to live in again.