Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Black Lives Matter, Comment, Culture, Diversity, Emotion, Empathy, Equality, Management, Racism, Relationships, Relevance, Resonance, Social Media
Adland – and most companies for that matter – love to talk about their commitment to diversity and inclusion.
And while they tend to be most vocal about it when there is a global news story that highlights the racism and oppression People of Colour experience EVERY SINGLE DAY, I do believe it is something many companies care about.
The problem is, very few seem to be doing anything other than caring about it.
No change.
No new decisions.
No policy shifts.
Recently I saw a poster advertising a conference in Australia about Africa.
This was it …
Notice anything?
Yep … a conference in Australia about Africa without a single Person of Colour being represented. Not one.
A conference in Australia about MINING in Africa without a single Person of Colour being represented.
[Though someone who saw it suggested the conference organisers may try and suggest the blank speaker space could classify as a Person of Colour]
Now I appreciate mining is hardly the most ethical industry, but even then the lack of representation shocked me so I tweeted about it saying this was a perfect demonstration of how much companies still had to learn about D&I.
“Surely no one could disagree” I thought …
Oh yes they could.
Rather than just go, “that’s bollocks”, some people tried to defend it … accusing me of having no context.
My 2 favourite comments were this:
“Let’s not jump to conclusions. I personally feel after a 2-second Google they have their intentions in the right place – well apart from the plundering of natural resources, but that’s a different outrage post. If anything they are guilty of crappy comms and maybe BBDO in Oz (or Africa) might like to say G’day?
“As organisers of Africa Down Under (ADU), Paydirt Media acknowledges the comments on social media and the interpretations which may be drawn by the advertised preliminary line-up for the in-person element of this year’s ADU,” the organisers said in a Twitter thread.
“As the premier forum for Australia-Africa business relations, ADU has always strived to ensure its programme is truly reflective of the diversity of African mining. In 2019, the last event before the pandemic, the programme featured 24 African presenters and 15 female presenters. “Ongoing travel restrictions mean we will be unable to welcome our African-based colleagues in person this year but once the full programme – including virtual participants – is released we are confident balance will return.
“We look forward to announcing participants from the African continent – including Australian-based African diplomats – in the coming weeks.”
And then this one …
“Are these specific companies spouting anything about diversity and inclusion though?”
Right there is the typical corporate response to these things.
Protecting the company behind it.
Suggesting you are jumping to conclusions.
Saying that they’re good and this is a misunderstanding.
Yeah … yeah … if I’ve heard it all before, imagine how People of Colour must feel.
Which is why my responses were as follows:
“This is the sort of excuse churned out year after year to justify acts like this. A conference about Africa without a single Person of Colour as a speaker is not about difficulty, it’s about complicity, so maybe you’re looking at it from totally the wrong perspective.”
and for the second comment …
“Ahhhhh, so you’re saying companies that don’t talk about D&I don’t have to care about it which is why it’s fine to have an all white speaker group for a conference on Africa. Is that your point?”
I know people make mistakes … but this is not one of those, this is a deliberate act. There is no excuse for this. They can say they asked hundreds of People of Colour to be a part of the even and they said no – it still won’t wash. Because even if that was true, it would surely suggest there was something wrong with the whole premise of the conference if people from Africa didn’t want to be part of a conference in Africa.
“But maybe there aren’t many People of Colour working in the mining industry based in Australia, Rob?” I hear a prejudiced, white privileged individual ask.
And while I don’t know the answer to that, I do know if that’s the case, why are there so many bloody white people working in the African mining industry based in Australia?
It’s all bollocks.
And what is worse is the justification some people try and give this shit – with special focus on the organisers and their desperate attempt to look like they have tried really, really hard to make it more inclusive. Despite NOT ONE Person of Colour being included as a headline speaker.
As I wrote a while back about female leadership, change doesn’t even require white people/men to give up their seat … they could just make room for someone else to join them, but apparently even that is too much to ask.
We all are complicit..
We can all do more.
We all need to do more.
Hell, when white supermodels can use their privilege to create space for People of Colour to win [not just be seen, but win] the least we can do is exactly the same.
So to the people who will claim what I’m doing is promoting ‘woke cancel culture’, I would respond with this:
1. Yes I am.
2. Being referred to as woke is not bad as it means you have compassion for others.
3. You are the problem and you’d better be prepared for me to push back with the same energy you have adopted over years to maintain your privilege and power.
Anyone who defends this sort of shit is insane.
There is no excuse for it.
Ever.
Even having 5 People of Colour on that huge poster of faces would be too few, so to take the side of the organisers for NOT HAVING A SINGLE PERSON OF COLOUR is an act of prejudice.
You may not relate to being called that.
You may not accept being called that.
But your actions reveal it … because nothing says privilege than thinking your experience is everyone’s experience.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Childhood, Comment, Culture
Back in 1988, there was a charity concert in Sheffield called Sport Aid.
Like many charitable causes of the time, it was an attempt to recreate the phenomenon of Live Aid … even though none ever did.
Anyway, due to Queen being rumoured to play, me, Paul and a guy called Chris decided we would catch the coach up to the city of steels so we could camp outside the stadium and ensure we were right at the front of the crowd for the concert.
Like many plans, it all went to shit.
It started off when we got off the bus and met a soldier who told us he has absconded from his army base and wanted to get away. He was obviously a bit spooked about the situation he found himself in but soon the conversation took on a menacing air and we felt very, very uncomfortable.
While I can’t remember all the facts about how we got rid of him, I’m pretty sure it involved going into a pub with him, buying him a drink and then – when he went to the loo – running for our lives.
Ahem.
Then there was the fact we got to the stadium and instead of finding thousands following our plan, we found no one. Not one.
Worse, it got so cold that at about 4am – after playing games of seeing how many times we could run back and forth across the road to keep ourselves warm – a passing police car forced a newsagent to open up so we could buy food and matches to get some heat.
And then, at around 8am – when we were feeling very confused that no one had joined us – we realised we were at the wrong fucking gate and all entrances were literally on the other side of the stadium.
By the time we got there, it was heaving and we discovered we were about as far from the front as we could possibly get. If that wasn’t enough of a disaster, we then discovered Queen were not going to play – nor were Def Leppard – but Five Star, Sister Sledge and Mica Paris.
No offence to all those artists, but it’s the equivalent of going to a concert to see the incredible blues guitarist Bo Diddley in concert only to learn you are actually seeing Bo Derek. And not in her prime.
In fact the whole thing was a certifiable disaster except for 3 things.
1. Paul yawned the biggest yawn ever seen in the history of mankind. Just as the BBC decided to zoom in on his face during their live broadcast. While Heaven 17 were playing on stage … resulting in the most passive aggressive ‘concert review’ ever written without words.
2. I got to hang out with the beautiful and wonderful Jenny Powell. She wasn’t well known then – and I didn’t know her at all – but she was epic and made the disaster of the day much better.
3. This.
Yes, that is what you think it is.
Proof that even desperation can’t counter the British need to queue for everything.
Regardless of the situation or the implication.
Which highlights two wonderful things to remember whenever you’re having an utterly horrific or just plain terrible day …
1. Someone, somewhere is having something far worse than you.
2. If you’re lucky, that someone having a worse day than you is actually in front of you because you will suddenly find your day is much better.
I know … I know … what a psychopathic bastard eh?
I must admit, I often wonder who that young man was?
What was thinking at the moment of explosion?
Does he still hear the laughter and jeers from the people behind him?
Has he ever worn light coloured trousers ever again?
The only thing I do know is that while my day at Sport Aid went from terrible to good, I’m pretty certain his opinion of the worst concert in the history of concerts goes the other way around.
And for that I thank him, because his humiliation was my jubilation.
Now that’s the true definition of human generosity.
Or bastardness.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Brand Suicide, Comment, Communication Strategy, Confidence, Corporate Evil, Creative Brief, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Differentiation, Distinction, Imagination, Innovation, Insight, Management, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Perspective, Relevance, Resonance, Talent
I still remember buying a movie soundtrack only to discover none of the songs had actually featured in the movie.
When I looked at the cover, I saw “songs inspired by the movie” … in other words, the film company couldn’t get the rights to release the actual music, so they got some two-bit band to write some nondescript music supposedly after watching the film.
It wasn’t as bad as those albums where they got a covers band to sing a well known song – rather than the actual artist – but it was close.
The reason I say this is that I’m seeing a bunch of ‘write-ups’ of ads that seem to adopt the same position.
“Inspired by”.
“Influenced”
“Reinterpreted”.
Now there’s nothing really wrong with this … it’s something that’s been done by all manner of industries for centuries … however while there’s a common belief that ‘genius steals’, the counter to this is ‘lazy borrows’.
I know … I know … I’m being deliberately assholey, but the beauty of our industry is when we allow creatives the freedom to create.
To allow their crazy minds to take us all to crazy intriguing places.
But instead … thanks to budgets, timelines, dictatorial research, corporate fear, layers of management – and countless other things – we don’t.
Which is why we see so many pieces of work that are replications of a film, a meme, a song, a TikTok idea … basically a version of an album of popular songs that haven’t been played by any of the original artists.
Our industry is capable of brilliant things.
But we’ve sold creativity down the river in a bid to make things easier for people who don’t even value the power of creativity.
Nothing smacks of madness as much as that.
Meanwhile, culture leads change of behaviour, attitudes and choices through its endless energy to explore and express.
So while being inspired is one thing, duplicating is another and when certain brands expect people to spend hundreds or thousands on their products, it blows my mind they want to under-invest in the way they actually present themselves in their communication.
Oh they won’t see it that way.
They’ll talk about the celebrity they hired to front the campaign.
Or the music they licensed.
But underneath it all, they’ll they’re taking shortcuts.
They’ll kid themselves it’s working with charts on optimisation or efficiencies … but the reality is they’re trying to work out how long they’ve got before it all falls apart, because the difference between leading and chasing is not about spend, it’s about attitude.
Or said another way …
You either make music or you’re just a cover band.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Colenso, Comment, Culture, New Zealand
I appreciate the title of this post is scarily Oprahesque, but hang in there.
When you get to my age, you can feel all the surprises of life have passed you by.
OK, thanks to Otis I get to experience a bit of it through him, but generally – there’s a feeling all the weird and wonderful has gone.
Well how wrong I am.
A few weeks ago, I went to some black tie event in Auckland.
Given I don’t own a black tie and even if I did, I couldn’t have worn it because my stuff [at the time of writing this] still hasn’t arrived from the UK – I went in exactly what I would wear anyway … a jeans and a hoodie.
Little did I know that this event would prove to be one I’d remember forever.
As I walked into the venue [where security asked if I was at the right place – hahaha] I was met by a mass of beautiful people in beautiful clothes … as witnessed by the photo at the top of this post.
And as you can see from this photo, it was utterly packed …
At some point in the evening, I felt a tap on my shoulder.
I turned around to hear a man say he had to talk to the person not in the black tie.
He wasn’t saying it to be nasty, it was a genuine sense of curiosity.
But that didn’t matter, because there was something far more interesting to me.
IT WAS NOEL FUCKING EDMONDS.
I know.
I fucking know.
If you gave me a trillion guesses of who I might meet in a business conference in Auckland, New Zealand … I still wouldn’t have said Noel bloody Edmonds.
I didn’t even know he lived in NZ.
But he does.
And he was at this event.
And he wanted to say hello to the weirdo in the Anti Social Social Club hoodie.
What’s hilarious was he was genuinely shocked when I knew who he was.
Not as shocked as I was that he has literally not changed.
As I told him, I used to watch him on Swap Shop as a kid and here he was, 60 odd years later looking exactly the same.
It was one of the most bizarre and random events of my life … and I include the time the singer Pink told me she liked my Def Leppard Christmas jumper in LA.
But wait … there’s more.
Because if meeting Noel Edmonds wasn’t enough, I then got to meet NZ PM, Jacinda Arden.
OK, maybe it was less of a surprise to see her at a NZ business award thing … but I can tell you she was surprised when I ignored all protocol and just did what every other person in the room wanted to do but didn’t – which was go up to her, interrupt her conversation and tell her she’s ace and could she be PM of the UK.
Amazingly her security didn’t arrest me.
They didn’t even stop me.
Instead, she held my hand and gave me a hug. A HUG!!!!
Seriously, as evenings go, this was definitely a bit bonkers.
But wait … there’s more.
No … seriously. There is.
Because then they announced one of the winners and it was James Cameron.
Terminator, Titanic and Avatar James Cameron.
OK, I knew he owned a place in NZ, but I didn’t realise he lived here.
I certainly never expected him to be where I was.
And while Noel and Jacinda were bloody lovely, Cameron came across as a bit of a twat who lacked all self awareness [which is probably what ex-wife, Linda Hamilton would also say] … but that aside, to be in a place on the other side of the world … in a pandemic … and randomly meet a UK childhood TV star, one of Hollywood’s most successful film directors and the best PM in the whole wide World reminded me of a lesson that’s kinda been the foundation of pretty much all I’ve ever done …
When you’re open to everything, anything can happen.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Emotion, Empathy, Management, Respect, Talent
I have always believed that bad news can be delivered in ways that don’t create bad feelings.
I know … that probably sounds mad coming from me, especially given I was once described as someone who could start a fight in an empty house … but it’s true.
In fact, I believe there’s a way where you can deliver bad news that makes the recipient feel even more positively about you.
I remember when I lived in Sydney and bought a brand new VW Golf GTI.
Within 6 weeks, the turbo blew and the gear box collapsed.
In a carpark.
At the entrance.
Stopping all the cars behind me from being able to get in and forcing my car to be dragged out backwards [while stuck in first gear] because the tow-truck couldn’t get in front of it.
Obviously I wasn’t pleased about this, especially when the dealership said they would not lend me a car while mine was being repaired.
Pissed off, I sent as many variations of what I thought the global CEO of VW’s email would be, explaining that while I appreciate it wasn’t their policy to lend cars to customers, it wasn’t my policy to buy a new car that collapses in 6 weeks.
Within 48 hours, I was told my car had been fixed as VW had flown in a new gear box from Germany.
While I should not have had to deal with that situation, the [eventual] approach meant I felt an even greater loyalty to the brand than I may otherwise of had. Though this was before they admitted to emission scandals and gassing animals for ‘research’.
Now I appreciate there may be times where you want to deliver bad news in a way that leaves bad feelings … but the ability to use each challenging situation as an opportunity to build a better relationship is generally always there, which is why I love how comedian Steve Martin dealt with fan mail.
I’ve written about the opportunity of rejection before but I do feel it’s something we could all do with practicing more. Especially as our industry is so small that you can be sure any person, or agency, you reject will likely come back into your life.
Which is why one of the most valuable things to remember at points of rejection is it’s never ‘just business’, it’s always personal.