Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Anniversary, Attitude & Aptitude, Birthday, Comment, Communication Strategy, Creativity, Culture
Bloody hell, it’s the 1st September. Already.
This year has gone so quickly, which takes me back to this post I wrote about ‘the speed our kids grow up‘ and I am close to begrudging September before it’s even begun.
But hey, it’s Monday and no one needs more shit to deal with than that, so instead I’m going to swiftly move on before we all reach for the kitchen drawer and look for the sharpest knife.
Or maybe that’s just me.
So this post is about birthday cards.
No … it’s not April Fools, it really is.
I swear there have only been 2 sorts of birthday cards ever created: The sincere ones and the ‘sarcastic’ ones.
The former is an expression of how much someone means to you and the best wishes you have for their special day. The latter basically takes the piss about how fucking old you are.
That’s it.
A tried and tested formula through the ages.
Which is why I was pretty surprised when I saw this:
Sure, it’s funny.
Sure, it’s original.
But it’s also something else …
Validation.
Validation for the members of society who are saying the economy is bad while too many politicians try to claim it isn’t.
It may seem a small thing, but it’s also big … because the only reason the card industry would step away from their tried and tested birthday formula is when they see a big enough commercial reason to do it.
And it appears that the harshness of the economy is – apparently – a big enough reason.
So while I wouldn’t base all my argument on this fact, sometimes its the circumstantial evidence that is the most damning.
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One last thing:
Today is my 18th wedding anniversary and I GUARANTEE my wife has – consciously or subconsciously – forgotten about it.
So … as she never reads this blog, I will show her this post to prove I remembered and she didn’t, allowing me to ‘lord it’ over her in a rare moment of triumph and glee.
Oh who am I kidding, but it’s worth a try … it can’t be any more stupid than when we decided to have a ‘Diet Coke’ fountain at our wedding that turned into one giant, bubble of stupidity – as captured in the photo below, with my wonderful Mum peering over, ready to capture the idiocy with her camera.
Happy anniversary Jill. At least its important enough for one of us to remember ; )
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Awards, Birthday, Bonnie, Cannes, Cliches, Comment, Creativity, Culture, Jill, Otis, Paul, Paula, WARC
So, I’m back.
And I survived.
Better yet, the family … pooch … and my colleagues seemed relatively happy to see me, which is a massive win.
Plus the people with the birthdays, had good ones. Albeit maybe because I didn’t get to share it with them.
Anyway, Cannes was interesting.
I have a very weird relationship with it because while I love hearing great people talk … looking at some incredible work and seeing old friends, I do hate a lot of ‘the scene’.
The indulgence.
The egotism.
The excess.
That said, so much of that is now coming from people and companies who work in consultancies, tech, research or big multinationals – rather than ad agencies or companies who practice creativity in the truest sense of the word. Part of that is because they’re the only ones who can afford it … but it also reveals a chink in their ‘armor of confidence’. Evidence that for all their smarts, they’re desperate to feel admired, liked, wanted … without ever realizing their American Psycho approach to life attracts derision more than attraction.
At least for me.
I often wonder if all industry conference get-togethers create this sort of energy.
Do dentists/analysts/publishers [delete as appropriate] start to convince themselves they’re the Masters-Of-The-Universe when all packed tightly into one room?
As I said, Cannes is brilliant for the talks, the creativity and the ability to reconnect with old friends.
It’s nice to see a celebration of what we do when so often it faces a barrage of abuse from people who wouldn’t know creativity if it smashed them in the face.
But the vulgar displays of excess are less attractive to me.
As are the giant ads from tech/consultancy companies which are trying to position themselves as creative but end up demonstrating they’re the total opposite.
At least that’s slightly amusing, especially because you know it took them 6 months of board approval/design to make it happen.
But I digress …
I’m back.
I had a good time.
I’m thankful to WARC and Paula for making it happen.
I’m very happy to have seen some old friends after years.
But – unfortunately for you – I’m ready to write more blog bollocks.
Filed under: Advertising, Agency Culture, Aspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Auckland, Bassot, Career, China, Colenso, Colleagues, Comment, Contribution, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Effectiveness, Emotion, Empathy, England, Experience, Friendship, London, Management, Planners, Planning, R/GA, Wieden+Kennedy
I have always taken hiring people very seriously.
For me, it’s more than professional … it’s personal.
A sense of responsibility to help whoever comes on board discover who they can become, rather than just do the job that needs to be done.
Part of this is because – as I’ve written many times – I believe my role is to ensure than when they leave [as all people eventually do] they go to a job they never thought they could get.
Where they’re hired for who they are, not just what they do.
For what they’ve made, rather than just what they know.
For how they see the world, not just for how they do their job.
And how do I do that?
By helping create the conditions and the opportunities for them to be great.
That’s it.
My attitude is that the talent is already inside of them – otherwise they wouldn’t be hired in the first place – and my job is to help them see it, believe it and do things with it.
That said, talent is only half the equation … the other is character.
Who they are.
How they act.
How they interact.
As I’ve also written before, I believe in having a gang rather than a department.
A team full of different experiences, mindsets, backgrounds and ideas … but united through their values, standards and love of the work.
Because of that, it is important that anyone who joins has the character to add to the identity of the team rather than just duplicate it.
Or said another way: they need to be someone people enjoy being in a room with, even when we’re discussing, debating and arguing.
Which we do, a lot.
I suppose this is why I feel such a genuine sense of gratitude when someone agrees to be part of our team.
For me, it’s a big demonstration of faith in me/us and I don’t take lightly … which is why the only thing that beats it is when someone agrees to join me for a second time – even though I then worry about their sanity.
What is this all about?
Well, it’s a very convoluted way to write about Martin Bassot.
Back in 2017, I worked with Martin at R/GA London.
In fact, he was the very first person there to tell me to “fuck off”.
I should point out he didn’t say it aggressively, more a response to some cheeky-shit thing I probably did/said, but the moment he said it, I was in ‘HR appropriate’ love.
I know that makes me sound slightly unhinged, but it meant he was comfortable enough with me that we could debate freely and never let it get personal … and that’s a big thing for me.
But it only got better … because over the following months, I got to see someone with real talent and character … someone who could make a real difference to the ideas and craft, which is why I was both proud and sad when he told me he was off to join my ‘other family’, W+K London.
Zoom forward a few years and I’m in New Zealand at Colenso and rang him up.
“Hey …” I said, “… you know how you talked about always wanting to live overseas, how about coming to NZ?”
There was a pause before he replied, “I was thinking somewhere more like Amsterdam”
But he still came.
Uprooted his – and his partners life – to come to the other side of the World.
For me.
Well, not FOR me, but also not excluding me.
And he has been brilliant. Even better than I knew he would be … and I knew he’d be great.
He developed into a really great number 2 for me … helping lead some really great work, develop some really great people in the team and help achieve some really great results for the clients we work with.
I use the past tense because after 2½ years, he is going home. Again.
I was tempted to use the same post I wrote about him last time he left me, but he deserves more than that. Probably. At a push.
In all seriousness – and without wishing to sound an old, old bastard – I am very proud of him.
What he’s done.
How he’s done it.
And most importantly, who he is.
He’s left an indelible mark on the team, the agency and the work.
And in the time he’s been here, we’ve hopefully done the same for him because he leaves with memories, experience, fans, work, Cannes Grand Prix’s, LBB Immortal Awards and Agency of the Year titles and a lot of empty crisp packets.
And I mean, A LOT of empty crisp packets.
So all in all, it’s not a bad set of achievements for little over two years.
Back when I pitched the idea of NZ to him, I said “Come for an adventure and go back better and more experienced than you’d be if you stayed in London”.
I think it’s fair to say we both did what we hoped and promised each other.
And while I’m obviously sad he’s going, I’m very excited about his next adventure.
The agency who has hired him – and there were many who wanted to – are very lucky, but they’re also very smart … because they saw him for who he is today rather than who he was 2+ years ago. What that means is they not only took the time to properly understand who he is and what he can – and wants – to do, they shaped the role to enable it rather than just hire him and then ask him to fit in with what they have.
For someone who will always deeply care about Martin, it makes me very happy that is the environment he’s heading into.
Doesn’t mean it will be easy.
Doesn’t mean he won’t have to work fucking hard.
But it does mean he’s been set up to win not just to fit in.
I suppose the best compliment I can give Martin is this.
Despite working together twice before, I really hope I get to work with him again.
Even if next time, it’s far more likely I’ll be working for him rather than the other way around.
But even then it would be a pleasure.
So thank you Martin, for everything.
At the end of the day, the best thing you can hope you can do in a job is make a difference and you did that and some. [Though I must admit, one of the things I’ll remember most about your time here is the lunch we had in some weird Chinese restaurant in the middle of Canada, as we listened to Forest beat Palace in the last minute. That and Colenzob-do, of course]
So know you’re going to be missed, respected and always adored.
And with that, it just leaves me to say, fuck off Martin.
Said with love. Always and forever.
[There’s no more posts for over a week, not just because I need to get over Martin’s departure, but it’s a holiday and then I’m off to China … so see you in a week and please pray with me that Martin’s plane home gets delayed for about 12 more months, haha.]
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Ambition, America, Amsterdam, Asia, Attitude & Aptitude, Auckland, Australia, Bands, Billionaire, Birkenhead, Bonnie, Campaign Magazine, Canada, Career, China, Colenso, Colleagues, Comment, Context, Corporate Evil, Creativity, Culture, Dog, Dream Small, Easter, Empathy, England, Experience, Family, Fashion, Fatherhood, Hong Kong, Japan, Jill, LaLaLand, London, Management, Martin Weigel, Metallica, Michael Jordan, Miley, Mr Ji, Mum, Mum & Dad, Music, My Fatherhood, New Zealand, Nike, Otis, Paul, Paula, R/GA, Relationships, Rockstar Games, Rosie, Shanghai, Singapore, Sunshine, Sydney, The Kennedys, The Kennedys Shanghai, UK, Virgin Atlantic, WeigelCampbell, Wieden+Kennedy
I have written before that apart from my friend Paul, I owe almost everything in my life to the fact I left the UK and went on an adventure.
Without that, I would not have met my wife … would not have had my son … would not have had my pets … would not be working with rock stars … would not have had all the life experiences and adventures I’ve been fortunate to enjoy and almost certainly would not have the career I currently enjoy.
That’s pretty huge when you think about it and while there’s a whole list of people I need to thank for making it all possible, one of them is an old boss.
Who was a prick.
I had a rather complex relationship with this individual.
Because while they were pompous, petty, condescending and rude, they were also smart, knowledgable and experienced.
On top of that, they gave me a shot on a couple of projects that they probably shouldn’t have. I should point out that wasn’t because they necessarily believed in me – it was more there was no one else to do it – but I appreciated it all the same.
Anyway, when I decided to leave – to go explore opportunities in another country – they were pretty pissed off with me.
While I’d love to say it was because they didn’t want me to go, the reality was they were frustrated I was leaving after they’d agreed to give me a payrise.
That this ‘rise’ was still below market rate and they’d fucked me around for literally 2 years, seemed to have completely slipped their mind … which is maybe why on the day I left, they thought it would be ‘funny’ to write the following comment in my leaving card.
“You’ll be back. Come crawling”.
I remember watching him going around telling people what he had written, laughing hilariously at his own ‘joke’ and while I didn’t take it too much to heart – because everyone knew he was a bit of a prick – it still hurt.
Little did I know then, how those 5 little words would play such an pivotal role in how my career would turn out.
You see, when I ended up in this other country, I initially found it very difficult.
Not just because I didn’t have friends, contacts or a job … but because my Dad was very ill back in the UK.
In all honesty, the temptation to go back was huge but there were 2 reasons I stuck it out.
1. I wanted to show my gratitude to my parents for supporting and encouraging me to go, despite them going through a terribly tough time because of my Dad’s major stroke.
2. Those 5 little words.
While I’d like to think the former was the biggest motivator, I fear it may have been the latter.
That’s pretty pathetic isn’t it … especially as I could have gone back without having to go back to that old job.
But I wasn’t going to let him have the satisfaction directly or indirectly.
And so I persevered.
Pushed, prodded, walked the streets, did shitty, temporary roles … anything that kept me from gaving to go back with my tail betweeen my legs.
And it everntually worked out.
Not because of any talent I did or did not have, but because of my perseverence.
And willingness to take any bullshit salary … hahaha.
But for me, getting a break was my main objective … because while I knew I was not the smartest strategst, I knew my work ethic meant I could out-work most.
Now don’t get me wrong, I appreciate that is a toxic trait – but it is my trait – and back then, it was a way for me to prove my worth to agencies/clients who didn’t have to give me a chance or keep me on board.
Of course, over the years, my motivation for continuing to explore the possibilities of the World and my career have evolved.
These days it is far more about wanting to feel I’d be making my parents proud than it is me reacting to 5 little words from a toxic, little manager.
But I also have to acknowledge that without that persons toxic motivation, it is unlikely I would be in the situtation I currently enjoy.
So thank you AC … you were a strange little man, but for all the fucked up shit you did – and there was plenty – you did one thing right, even if it was wrong.
And while I doubt you even remember me – let alone care what I’ve done – it doesn’t matter.
Because I didn’t come back and didn’t come crawling and so for that, I won, so there.
It’s Easter long-weekend that then leads into a big week for me/Colenso – from us hosting Fergus and his OnStrategy podcast to me saying goodbye [for the second time] to someone who is very special to me … so have a great weekend, overeat Chocolate and Hot Cross Buns and I’ll see you Tuesday.
Till then, this is for you AC.
With thanks.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Brand Suicide, Business, Comment, Complicity, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture
At a time where our industry seems to value – and talk about – capabilities more than creativity, I can’t help remember something a wily, old client of mine in China once said to me:
“Just because you have the best piano doesn’t mean you can play the finest music”.
The reason why this is especially pertinent is that – as someone who is older than the planet and has worked pretty much all over it – the one thing I’ve learned is the very best clients don’t get seduced by hype, headlines, PR releases, agency models and processes, panel invites, network configurations, the promises and claims of ‘the power of the network brought together under one roof’ … they believe the work does the best talking.
Given we – as an industry – have always talked about the importance of communicating benefits rather than features, this shouldn’t be a surprise and yet, it’s happening more and more often. There’s a bunch of possible reasons for why this is happening, but I can’t help but feel some of the main ones are we’ve forgotten who we are, what we do, and what is valuable about what we create – which has manifested in us making choices and decisions that make us feel smart, but – as Lucille Ball once said – not very clever.
Of course, there’s a lot of clients – and agencies – who don’t care, or don’t have the talent, experience or knowledge to recognise what quality, craft or even a sustainable, distinctive, differentiated brand even means or looks like … which is why we will continue to see a bunch of them burn down their own house down while proclaiming to have the best chefs in town.
Sad.
Especially given the people running these orgs tend to be the ones with the loudest voices saying they ‘understand business’.
Though to be fair they do, it’s just that it’s the ‘demolition business’.
As the old adage goes, ‘anything is easy if you haven’t got to do it’.
And too many people in positions of authority don’t. And never have.