Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Communication Strategy, Confidence, Content, Context, Creativity, Culture, Love, Queen, Social Commentary
So good news, this might be the last post for 2 weeks.
TWO.
Though don’t get too excited because it might only be one.
Either way, you have lucked in as it’s definitely the last post of the week because today I’m in Paris and then on Wednesday, I’m off to Lisbon so I can speak at a conference.
Hahahahahahahaha.
I must admit, I still find it hysterical that people want to hear me talk about anything. Especially given all my ‘material’ is available for absolutely nothing on this blog.
Well, if ‘loss of brain cells’ is absolutely nothing.
And yet I do enjoy talking at conferences …
I like the process of trying to think of something interesting to talk about for the audience.
Working out the best way to get the message across without falling into the deadly presentation paralysis.
Then adding the stories that will either make the audience semi-like me, think I’m a cheeky bastard or just plain hate me.
I say all this but I bet the only reason I do get invited is to be the court jester to the audience – and given the wonderful Mr Weigel will also be at the same conference – I’m even more sure of this fact.
But what it means is I’m away till Monday so with that I want to leave you with a delightful story I’ve just heard about.
In the early 80’s, Queen worked with a German producer called Mack.
He was quite revolutionary for the band – helping change their sound and way of recording – which meant they were one of the few artists who went into the 80’s stronger than when they were in the 70’s, culminating in some of their biggest ever hits.
Another One Bites The Dust.
Crazy Little Thing Called Love.
Under Pressure.
Radio Gaga.
I Want To Break Free.
Unsurprisingly, Mack got very close to the band and asked Freddie Mercury to be his eldest sons godfather. And it’s to this background I read this story from Mack about what happened on his sons birthday.
Have a read, see you Monday and here’s a link to the video being talked about below.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Creativity, Culture, London, Management, Martin Weigel, R/GA
That’s quite the post title isn’t it?
Well it’s for a simple reasons because a year ago today, I joined them.
Poor fools.
What’s worse for them is that I don’t intend on going anywhere – which means I’m going to be here longer than the last gig I had.
There’s a bunch of reasons for that …
I am learning.
I am being challenged.
I am doing things I find interesting and exciting.
I am doing things I have literally never done before.
From the future of reading to the future of fashion to the future of the future. Kinda.
I am dealing with people who see the World completely differently.
I am working with a bunch of wonderful people from a huge range of disciplines.
I am – as usual – working with an incredibly brilliant gang of talented planners.
[They can be a bunch of dicks, but nothing the threat of lunch with me can’t sort out]
But even more than all those wonderful things is one stands out the most …
Everyone has been nothing but kind and generous to me and ‘my ways’.
From messing with the planning approach to adding some chaos to the creative process to letting me give a talk at Cannes with Martin Weigel for our little hobby company, every single person – from the very, very top – has been incredibly supportive.
Now I know that being yourself shouldn’t be a big thing, but after some recent experiences – and hearing so many terrible stories on Corporate Gaslighting – I realise it’s not something everyone gets to enjoy and so to be supported and encouraged despite my “unorthodox, immature and annoying ways”* means I am incredible grateful to everyone for giving me the space and environment to be who I am.
So despite putting me on planes so often I can only presume they’re trying to give me DVT, I want to say thank you R/GA … I just really, really hope you don’t fire me this afternoon because not only will Jill, Otis, Rosie and our bank manager [rightfully] beat the crap out of me, this post will have been a massive waste of corporate toadiness.
Till next year …
____________________________________________________________________
* A genuine quote from Mr Nice Guy, George Byrant from many years ago.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, America, Attitude & Aptitude, Audio Visual, Authenticity, Childhood, Comment, Communication Strategy, Content, Creativity, Culture, Daddyhood, Emotion, Empathy, Equality, Experience, Fatherhood, Honesty, Human Goodness, Innocence, Jill, Love, My Fatherhood, Otis, Parents, Prejudice, Relevance, Resonance
One of the things that is a beautiful nightmare for parents is watching the speed of their children grow up.
At each stage of their development, you think they have reached ‘peak perfect’ and you want them to stay that way forever … but you can deal with their growth because they bring an even more delightful element into their behaviour and, as a byproduct, your relationship.
It’s utterly, utterly magical.
That said, it still doesn’t stop the fact it all happens in the blink of an eye, so while you want to always encourage their development, you just wish it would slow down a little.
The reason I say this is that I recently read about a graphic designer was so appalled at the cover of a young girls magazine, that they decided to release what they thought it should be.
Now I must admit, my first impression to this story was that the graphic designer was probably a self-righteous individual who wanted kids to grow up in the same conditions as they did.
That was until I saw this …
The original cover of the magazine is on the left, their version is on the right.
I’m going to ignore their cover – because you can read how it came about and the story behind their idea, here – however the magazine they redesigned is a real magazine and, according to their own website, supposedly stands for:
Girls’ Life (GL) magazine was founded in August 1994 (yes, we’re ancient, we know) by Karen Bokram. Since then, GL has grown from a 23-year-old’s pipe dream project to a best-selling and award-winning platform for tween and teen girls.
Tweens and teens.
An incredibly impressionable age.
Now look at that cover.
Look at those story headlines.
Now I appreciate I am an old, white male … but they seem to place huge subliminal pressure and expectations on young women.
Wake Up Pretty.
Dream Hair.
Fashion you need to own.
Boyfriends.
If young women want to explore any of those things, then that is wonderful, but I wonder how much of it is because they are being made to feel that way rather than being something they are naturally interested in. Of course, there is something wonderful about learning to develop and grow … but this seems less about personal growth and more about playing to stereotypes – and advertising dollars – so that they can then be judged by broader society.
Of course parents have a big role to play in managing the environment their children play in, but at a time where the World is finally waking up to fighting the prejudice, oppression and stereotypes women have had to face for centuries, it becomes increasingly difficult to achieve this when the World they are surrounded by continues to push an agenda of compliance … especially when they’re titles supposedly designed for the betterment of young women.
Of course this is not limited to content for young women, young boys also have stereotypes of behaviour and aspiration shoved down their throats that are unrealistic and add incredible pressure to their development.
I get children will always grow up too fast for parents, but it is scary how even that isn’t fast enough for media outlets.
What makes it worse is so many of them say their ‘purpose‘ is to inspire brilliance in their readership.
Girls Life specifically say their role is ‘dedicated to informing, inspiring and entertaining girls around the globe—and that includes everything from starting your business (we LOVE spotlighting smart, successful teens) to putting up with periods to styling a personal look you’ll love’.
Which is why I look at the Graphic Designer who screwed with their cover and say ‘well done’ … because I now realise what they did was not act like a judgmental parent, but simply show Girls Life how their cover should look if they are serious about what they claim they represent.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Comment, Communication Strategy, Confidence, Creativity, Culture, Emotion, Empathy, Management, Marketing Fail, Potential Darwin Awards, Standards, Talent
One of the things I do when I first get a brief is try to see the creative opportunity.
Where we can make the biggest and most interesting difference.
Changing something.
Pushing something.
Destroying something.
However the reality is that in many briefs, this isn’t always clear – mainly because so many are written from quite a transactional perspective, designed for an agency to ‘answer it’, rather than use it as a springboard for bigger, more powerful and more sustainable impact.
And that’s why the best thing you can do is ask questions.
Explore.
Prod.
Challenge.
Not just in terms of who authored the brief, but the people who are responsible for what comes out of it.
There are some people who think this approach has the potential of alienating clients, but in my experience it has quite the opposite effect. People in power regard this as a demonstration of someone who gives a shit … someone who wants to help them achieve the best outcome in ways that can best serve their business. Ideas they may simply never have seen or considered before.
And that’s exactly why I do it because if I didn’t, I wouldn’t know the level of the clients ambition … their desire for change and impact … and without that you can’t possibly see the creative opportunity you have in front of you and you may go down a path that leads to nowhere because you have made assumptions that simply aren’t true.
Don’t get me wrong, we all need new business to survive – let alone thrive – but my point of view is that if people aren’t excited or clear on what we are looking to do, then it either leads to a painful journey with painful work at the end of it or just mistrust and quite frankly, I haven’t got time for either of those in my life.
So what’s all this got to do with the title of this post?
Because I recently read an article on the famous Woodstock festival and was reminded – from a comment by Tommy James from the band, Tommy James and The Shondells – how dangerous ‘assumption’ can be.
And who is Tommy James from Tommy James and The Shondells?
Well, this might tell you why you haven’t heard of him or them …
Don’t assume the person communicating with you has total clarity on their situation.
Don’t assume the people around you have total clarity on the situation.
Just don’t assume.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Craft, Creativity, Culture, Design, Egovertising, Innovation, Insight, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Relevance, Resonance
I recently read an article on Linkedin about an agency launching a ‘world first’.
Was it something to save humanity?
Nope.
Was it something to help business?
Nope.
Was it something designed to get the agency some PR even though it had no intrinsic value to culture?
Absolutely.
All that aside, I do get the quest for ‘first’ from agencies perspective … they want to look like they’re relevant, creative, interesting and valuable … but the great irony is that all this stuff does the absolute opposite.
So to dear old adland, I ask you this …
Could you please start being as proud about craft as you are about doing something ‘first’.
Craft makes a huge amount of difference.
It turns potential into possible.
It changes how people look at you and what they can do with you.
It creates division between you and your competitors.
Craft might not always get the PR headlines, but it makes people care – and given the alternative is World Firsts like that fucking Peggy Peg from a few years ago – that is a much better position to be in for all of our futures.