Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Creative Brief, Creative Development, Creativity, Effectiveness, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Planning, Relevance, Resonance, Respect, Systems
Choices. Choices. Choices.
We’re surrounded by them.
Alternatives, options, added features … the choices are so endless that making any choice has become endless.
It’s why I spend so much time working out what the real problem is. Finding out what the real thing that that needs addressing … changing … challenging or owning.
Not just because that’s how the job is supposed to be done …
Not just because that’s how you make creativity, effective …
But because the more options we have, the more likely we are to see ‘Frankenstein-ing’ – where people want to take a little bit of one thing and shove it onto another, regardless of them being different ideas and by doing this, you literally dilute the potency of both ideas.
It’s the curse of people being blind, blinkered and seduced by features not focus.
Of abundance not sacrifice.
And that’s why I’m of the belief that the best way to make something great happen is not spend time creating endless options but instead, put all your energy into doing one thing fucking right and well. Or said another way, kick the shit out of needing ‘option B’.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Business, Collegues, Comment, Complicity, Corporate Evil, Creativity, Culture, Experience, Fulfillment, Management, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Perspective, Process, Professionalism, Reputation
A few weeks ago, my beloved Nottingham Forest imploded.
Despite having the best season we had experienced in decades, I woke up to the news that our manager, Nuno – the best and most successful one we’d had in decades, was potentially going to leave the club after just one game.
One.
A game that we had won and that I’d written about here.
Add to this that Nuno had very recently signed a new contract and the whole thing made no sense.
Until it did.
Because while details were still murky at the time, it appeared that a new, senior executive had joined the club and in a period of just 2 months, they had caused huge rifts with his decisions, stubbornness and ego.
Now I am not denying that the way our manager raised this issue – via an interview – had a lot of room for improvement, however the real issue was that a club bursting with optimism had burst in a matter of weeks because of one, senior, leader.
In many ways, this is not a story of football, but of modern corporate behaviour.
Let’s be honest, we’ve all seen it …
Where someone comes in and thinks they know how to do the job of everyone else better than everyone else – regardless of the fact they’ve never done those jobs or being as successful as those in the job.
And rather than start by listening, learning, discussing and collaborating … they immediately turn it into a ‘big swinging dick contest’ and before you know it, they’ve destroyed everything that made things special before they came.
People.
Culture.
Process.
Standards.
Everything.
But if that wasn’t bad enough, they then blame it on the people they went out of their way to undermine which they’ll then justify using words such as “efficiency”, “consistency”, “modernisation”, “uniformity”, business demands” and/or “unlocking the power of our collective strength”.
I should point out at this stage, this is not always the case.
But I should also point out, it is often the case … as demonstrated by the fact that despite the owner of Nottingham Forest publicly stating he supported Nuno and would be holding ‘clear the air talks’ shortly, he ended up ‘clearing Nuno’s desk’ and firing him.
So why does this keep happening – both in football and in companies?
Is it because companies like hiring psychopaths?
Is it because companies only care about the cash?
Is it because employees are idiots when not controlled?
While it would be tempting to say yes, we all know that’s not the case.
However there is a reason why I think happens more and more – and to that, I point to this brilliant piece by the original manager of Guns n’ Roses – Alan Niven.
Put simply, he highlights how too many companies hire senior leaders from other industries – believing their ‘business knowledge’ will help them achieve greater success. And while that sounds all well and good, they forget that while business may have some steadfast principals … every industry works very differently from one another and if you fail to realise how a specific industry truly operates – or you try to make it work how your previous industry operated – you find many end up tearing things down, rather than building them up.
Pretty much nails it.
And while he writes about the music industry, we don’t have to look too far to see this happening all around us.
Where people who have never made the work, decide and dictate how the work should be made.
Placing more importance on scale, conformity and cost-saving than creativity.
Believing the only thing that motivates is money, rather than acknowledging the importance of standards, craft and respect.
Of course every industry can improve.
Every industry has things they can tighten-up and evolve.
But if you’re not from the industry, you often see the bits you don’t understand as the bits that need to be addressed and then before you know it, you’re killing the very thing that drove and defined your value.
And everyone suffers … except the people who instigated all the change.
Because the way their remuneration is structured, even when they lose, they win.
Experience matters.
Not just in terms of the roles you’ve had, but how you gained them.
Because while outside perspectives are powerful and beneficial, when there’s more people with that context than there those who have the knowledge and understanding of how everything actually works … then you find that many of their strategies end up driving a companies demise rather than their future.
Or as my mentor Lee Hill said:
“The greatest lesson I’ve learned is that when it comes to industry practice, logic is personal rarely universal”.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Corporate Evil, Creativity, Education, Government, Marketing, Marketing Fail, New Zealand
After the recent emotional rollercoaster of posts – with the wonderful Fergus coming and the brilliant Martin going – let’s get back to some cynical musings, as the name of this blog supposedly ‘promises’. Or something …
So I was going for my daily walk when I passed a school in a posh part of Auckland.
By the gates, I saw this ad …
Now on one hand, I was quite impressed by the smarts of the real estate agents.
Putting an ad for a pricey home by the gates of the school pick-up zone is clever thinking.
As rich parents wait for their lucky kids, they have a captive audience to try and flog them another symbol of success.
But it’s also pretty appalling.
Not by the school – because even though it’s located in one of Auckland’s richest locations, its state run so likely needs the money like every other state school – but by the real estate agents.
Now I appreciate this may be a an ‘added benefit’ of them already donating money to the school. Plus, I acknowledge if they think the parents of the kids there can afford a piece of land – like the one on Waiheke Island – then maybe the school should be asking parents to contribute more to the education of their kids. But the fact Martin and Charles at Kellands Real Estate obviously negotiated this shows they don’t really care about the education of the kids, just the wallets of their parents.
I get this is how business operates these days.
I get it’s a very competitive market.
But just because you can, doesn’t always mean you should.
But this is how we operate … where everyone and everything is seen as a commodity waiting to be exploited by someone for personal gain.
No where demonstrates this as much as Linkedin with its endless unrequested ‘messages’ from strangers offering services that have nothing to do with what you do … but you kind-of expect that now, whereas this school ad caught me off guard.
Of course, the real people we should be aiming our anger at are the governments who continually under-invest in state education.
Conveniently forgetting that a smart nation is a strong nation … though some will claim that’s a very conscious reason why politicians do it.
Education and health are two of the most important things a nation can do for its people … that it’s become a pawn in the battle of politics is everything wrong with politics.
Which reminds me of the time someone said, “Democratic governments should be scared of its people. Ensuring they never forget who they represent and serve. When is the other way round, that’s when a nation has a problem”
While a real estate ad at a school in Auckland is something – in the big scheme of things – very small, in many ways it reveals, we have a problem.
Not an end-of-the World problem.
Not a call for revolution kind of a problem.
But a problem … because the focus is far more making a few people rich today, rather than helping an entire nation be better off tomorrow.
God, that’s waaaaaaaay too political for this blog. And on a Tuesday, no less.
I can assure you that tomorrow, things will be back to their bollocks best. Sorry.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Auckland, Authenticity, Brand, Brand Suicide, Comment, Context, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Design, Distinction, Diversity, England, London, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Mediocrity, Reputation, Resonance
One of the things I have loved about living in so many countries is that I’ve been able to see and experience different ways of living.
I don’t just mean from an economic perspective, but in terms of what a country or city values and how it expresses and encourages that through its architecture, planning, facilities and people.
However, over the decades – as economies have grown – more and more of the individual spirit and character of cities has been replaced with identikit skylines, resulting not just in everything looking familiar, but feeling it as well.
Now I appreciate for some, this is a great thing … the creation and demonstration of social progress and achievement. However when everything increasingly ends up looking, feeling and acting the same – regardless of geography – not only is the magic of discovery being traded for the convenience of familiarity, the soul and history of every individual city is being erased and whitewashed over.
I say this because recently, as I was walking around Auckland, I saw this:
The bit that got me most was that first line …
‘All these upgrades are turning our city grey’.
And they’re right.
Don’t get me wrong, Auckland is a beautiful city and a great place to live … but what is being classified as ‘improvements’ is ironically having the exact opposite effect.
The colour, character and contrasts of Auckland are being wiped out … traded out … and moved out … slowly turning the entire City into a comfortable and convenient prison cell. Except instead of this cell keeping people from getting out, it stops people from wanting to come in. Not because there aren’t things to do, but because they are the exact same things, with the exact same people as everyone else is experiencing.
It’s part of the reason I loved the London Underground on Friday evenings.
Because despite it being packed. Despite it being hot. Despite people not really making eye contact, let alone talking to you … it was like a brilliant zoo. Full of different animals hanging out in each others environments.
People going to the theatre.
People going home from work.
People going out for a big night.
People going to do a night shift.
People going on a first date.
People going for a last meal.
Locals … out-of-towners … tourists.
God I loved it … I loved the variety, the weirdness, the characters and chancers.
Or said another way, the pieces that not only give a place its soul and identity.
But also its individuality.
Brands … specifically those who outsource who they are to a ‘for profit’ marketing practice process, should take careful note. There’s a lot of you. Even though it’s increasingly difficult to tell you from one another given you all look, act and feel the exact same.
Filed under: Advertising, Agency Culture, Ambition, Aspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Cars, Comment, Communication Strategy, Confidence, Consultants, Context, Corporate Evil, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Effectiveness, Egovertising, Emotion, Empathy, Experience, Focus Groups, Grifting, Logic, Love, Luck, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Perspective, Planning, Point Of View, Process, Relevance, Research, Resonance, Respect, Standards, Status, Stupid
We’re surrounded by processes and systems.
Each and everyone proclaiming to be ‘the right way’ to do something.
A way that claims effectiveness … efficiency … accuracy and performance are all but guaranteed.
And while it is true that in many cases, they increase the odds of good things happening … that’s all they do.
Sure, many have a ton amount of data accompanying them to back things what they say … but as we all know about data, when used right [or wrong] you can make it say or prove anything you want it to.
The reality is our industry, pretty much all these systems are less a shortcut to wealth and prosperity, and more an insurance policy against failure and destruction.
Nothing wrong with that other that it does the opposite of what many claim and instead, champions conformity more than liberation. But then what do you expect when many of the people doing the spouting of systems and processes have a vested interest in everyone using those very systems and processes.
Again, I’m not suggesting you ignore all these things. As I said, many play an important role in developing products and brands … however when someone suggests they’re ‘the secret to success’ and must be embraced to the letter – then you need to think about whose success are they really talking about.
It’s why I bloody loved this interview with Marc Andreessen – the businessman, venture capitalist, and [former] software engineer. Specifically the bit about ‘why hyperlinks are blue’.
OK, so he tries to rationalize it at the end, but fundamentally what he says is: “blue is my favorite colour”.
That’s right … the colour of our hyperlinks were chosen.
By a human.
Because he liked that colour.
Kind of reminds me of the ‘wings’ on a Cadillac.
There was absolutely no functional reason for them to exist other than the fact the designers just thought it looked better with them.
That’s it.
And with that, they turned a car into an icon. And here lies a key lesson …
Sometimes, the things we like are simply because we like them.
There may be many alternatives.
There may be other possibilities.
But at the end of the day, some choose things for no other reason than it works for them.
And at a time where everything needs to be justified … rationalised … reviewed and tested … I think those people deserve credit for backing their belief, judgement, vision and preference.
It’s easy to do what a system tells you to do.
It’s easy to follow what others tell you is right.
But it takes confidence to embrace what you believe is the right thing to do. And while I acknowledge some will suggest this approach is an act of ego and arrogance … when you consider how many of these ‘dot-to-dot logic™ systems and ‘researched-to-within-an-inch-of-their-life’ campaigns/brands/products fail to perform [often because the impact or output they create is deemed secondary in importance to the adherence of every step of whatever system or logic process you have committed to using] you could argue the person who backs their judgement is no less an idiot than the person who outsources all their responsibility to someone else?
Whether we like it or not, sometimes the best things are a product of someone doing something they preferred.
They will justify it.
They will rationalize it.
But underpinning it all, is their acknowledgment that before they can think about satisfying others, they need to satisfy themselves … and frankly I find that a pretty honourable act.