Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Business, Colenso, Comment, Confidence, Corporate Gaslighting, Creativity, Culture, Distinction, Emotion, Empathy, Equality, Honesty, Management, Marketing, New Zealand, Point Of View, Relevance, Resonance
This is Angela.
Her official title is the Managing Director of Colenso.
But actually she’s the boss.
Not just because of how she is sitting, but because of how she operates.
Leading without dictating.
Encouraging without patronising.
Liberating without restricting.
The great, great thing about Angela is that for all the experience and success she’s gained, she is open and hungry to let the energy, ambition and values of youth to keep shaping and changing where we are going.
Angela’s strength is she wants everyone to win.
She opens the door to opportunities for talent to run in and do their thing rather than closing it behind her so she can have all the power.
But then female leadership has always seen winning differently to a lot of men.
Progress for all rather than power for one.
And before certain men start spouting their sexist shit at me like they did when I wrote about how more female leadership will give the industry a real chance to grow, I appreciate not all male leaders are like this.
But a hell of a lot are.
And – if you look at Corporate Gaslighting and/or read Zoe Scaman’s brilliant, brave but totally unsurprising Mad Men and Furious Women – many of them are doing stuff … and are being allowed to get away with stuff, often by companies that talk about their commitment to their staffs wellbeing and mental health … that is a fuckload worse.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Brand, Brand Suicide, China, Chinese Culture, Comment, Communication Strategy, Confidence, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Emotion, Empathy, Insight, Marketing, Nike, olympics, Resonance, Shanghai, Sport, Wieden+Kennedy
I have now had time to get over the Euro finals.
While my Italian/English heritage meant I was going to ‘win’ regardless of the result – and while the result, at least to me, was probably fair – I was gutted for the England team.
Ironically, the disgusting behaviour of the fans after the match – fired up by the equally disgusting behaviour of the British government – kind-of made me happy they lost.
It’s at these moments teams – or brands – can fall away and so what happens next becomes unbelievably important.
It reminded me of 2008 when Chinese hurdler – and gold medal contender – Liu Xiang, broke China’s hearts by injuring himself during the race.
Remember, this was the year the Olympics was held in Beijing and in many ways, it was the governments ‘coming out’ party to the rest of the World. A chance to showcase the nations abilities, talent, skills and sophistication. A declaration a new superpower was here.
While that might have been news to the rest of the World, for the people of China, they had known this for a long time which is why when Liu Xiang faltered through injury, people – like in the UK – started to turn on him.
While he did not face the disgusting and disgraceful racist abuse certain members of the England team have encountered, he did face claims that by pulling out mid-race, he had not tried hard enough, had embarrassed China and sold the people false hope.
Because Liu Xiang was a NIKE athlete, overnight W+K Shanghai created an ad that aimed to reframe the loss for the people across China.
To shift emotions from anger to pride, love, support.
The next morning, this ad ran in most of the papers …
It is still widely acknowledged as one of the pivotal pieces of communication.
Not just by the industry.
Not just by NIKE.
Not even by Liu Xiang.
But by people across China who woke up to that ad the next morning.
Turning anger to sympathy.
Turning abuse to respect.
Turning sport into culture.
I say all this because on the day England finished runners-up in the Euro’s, the English FA released – what I consider – the modern version of our Liu Xiang ad.
I hope it works for England and their players.
But mainly the players.
Because they did bring something home …
Every one of them.
Pride. Unity. Hope.
Until those racist fucks robbed it off them … off the rest of us.
And while the media may like to suggest those responsible are a small minority of hooligans, the reality is it’s not a small minority and hooligans are not some cartoon villain.
In fact the problem is these pricks live amongst all of us. They are invisible because they look, live and work like so many of us. They’re fathers. Sons. Brothers. Uncles.
They’re also racist scum.
Exemplified by their hate towards the 3 England players who missed their penalties.
These 3 brilliant and inspiring men are young.
Hell, Bukayo Saka is 19.
NINETEEN.
At that age I couldn’t even ask out a woman who worked on the till at Asda, West Bridgford … so anyone who gives him shit when he’s playing for the England national football team, in the final of the Euro’s, at the most intense and pressured moment of the entire tournament, with billions watching can just fuck off.
Winning FIFA 2014 on Playstation doesn’t make you a winner, it makes you a fantasist.
And to them I am glad football didn’t come home.
I just wish football could take them far away from it.
Filed under: Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Brand, Comment, Consultants, Creativity, Culture, Customer Service, Emotion, Empathy, Loyalty, Management, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Relationships, Relevance, Resonance
I hear so much about brand experience these days.
How the focus is to ‘remove the friction of purchase for the customer’.
That they genuinely believe this means they’re being valuable to their audiences.
And while that is rather misguided – given it is done to ultimately be in their own interests – if brands genuinely want to do right by their customers, then all they have to do is something their customers find valuable.
I’ve written a ton about this over the years.
From Timpson dry-cleaning suits/dresses for free if you have a job interview to the Co-op ensuring their food delivery staff make time to talk to lonely householders and almost everything in-between … but nothing made an impact on me like the experience I had with Texas Instruments.
Brand experience isn’t something you simply outsource to an ecosystem.
Sure, that can help improve overall efficiency or engagement … but in terms of offering an experience that helps people actually connect to the brand, then the brand has to do something that actually connects to the customer.
Something personal.
Something valuable. [To the customer, not just to themselves]
Something that demonstrates going out of normal practice.
Something like this.
Now I know what you’re thinking.
“But brands can’t do this sort of thing on an ongoing basis”.
And you’re probably right.
This sort of thing costs money.
But there’s two sides to this.
1. As H&M have shown with their free suit hire campaign, the return of acts like this can be significant both in terms of driving affinity and awareness.
2. If everything you do is based on the perceived ‘value exchange’ you’re making between brand and customer [which is always bollocks, because brands always over-estimate how much their actions are worth in the eyes of the people they’re dealing with] then you don’t really care about your audience, you only care up to a set amount of money and/or time.
Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate there are many aspects brands need to manage to keep their business going. But like companies who claim their staff are their greatest asset before treating them like shit, brands better know that they can’t say they care about their customers when they evaluate them purely by a financial transactional value.
It doesn’t mean you have to go crazy, but it does mean you have to actually give a shit about what they value not just what you want them to value.
Which is why I love the Marvel example so much.
Because they did it.
More than that, they did it and didn’t make a huge song and dance out of it.
No wonder they’re the home of the superhero.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Comment, Confidence, Consultants, Content, Creativity, Culture, Digital, Fake Attitude, Innovation, Management, Perspective, Planners, Point Of View, Professionalism, Relevance, Resonance, Respect
I used to think it took a lot of hard work to be simple.
A lot of thinking.
Evaluating.
Sharpening.
Changing.
But maybe I was wrong because I literally cannot imagine how much time it took to create this:
It’s a masterclass in nonsensical.
A blueprint for showing a company who doesn’t know what they actually do.
A celebration of the buzzword bingo bullshit that permeates so many organisations.
Basically, imposters talking to imposters with words they’ve so bastardised the meaning of, that you’d be hard pressed to recognise their original definition if you were left alone with them in a bar overnight with only a dictionary for company.
The verbal equivalent of Mickey Rourke.
Or Lara Flynn Boyle.
Hence now …
Innovation means ‘we’ve made something average a little bit better’.
Revolution means ‘we’ve never done this before though others have’.
Experience means ‘we offer our customers boring and average’.
Transformation means ‘we’ve caught up to everyone else’.
[hence ‘digital transformation’ is simply code for, ‘not being left so far behind’ as opposed – as many in the industry also like to position it – as reinventing the whole category]
And while adland is the cause of a lot of this bullshit, the consultancies – or worse, the wannabe-consultancies – are taking it to a whole new level. Continually creating nonsensical language and definitions in an attempt to feel intellectually superior to those around them. Believing this sort of language acts as a sort-of ‘code’ that helps identify other delusionists, wannabe’s and/or victims … so they can revel and reward themselves with their Emperors New Clothes bullshit.
Until they can’t.
What is particularly amusing is these companies still celebrate the old adage of ‘quality over quantity’ … even though they show up with a level of excessive vulgarity that would put Donald Trump to shame.
Talking in plain English – or plain any language – is not a bad thing.
If anything, it is the most powerful.
Not just because it is easier to communicate and relate to.
Nor because it shows you can identify the core problem that needs addressing.
But because it captures something my old man used to say to all his young lawyers:
“If you want to show how intelligent you are, you’re not that intelligent”.
Filed under: Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Colenso, Comment, Creativity, Culture
So I’ve been at Colenso for a few months now and I think things are going OK.
Sure, there’s some stuff I – and we – need to sort out, but I’m enjoying it and as far as I can tell, they’re tolerating me with the sort of laid-back attitude, New Zealand is famous for.
That said, there is one guy who has made an extra-big impression on me.
His name is Daine.
He’s a good person who – like everyone here – wants to do great work.
But when you meet him for the first time, there’s one thing you notice about him above all other things …
He’s also 6 foot 8.
SIX FOOT BLOODY EIGHT.
Now of course he has probably had people commenting on this his whole life, which is why I chose not to.
Instead I decided to show him.
Over the past few months, I’ve been capturing his height in a range of ways … from calling him Mr Giraffe, to littering my instagram feed with photos that capture his head-in-the-cloud tallness, like the one at the top of this post.
I know, kind eh?!
Amazingly, he hasn’t punched me in the face [yet] but I cannot tell you how proud I was of him when, having decided to annoy him further by sending him a Facebook ‘friend’ request – I immediately received the following as a text message.
Daine. you might belong in the animal kingdom, but I’m glad you’re in my zoo.
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PS: To any HR or lawyers reading this. Breaaaaaathe … I can assure you Daine gives as good as he gets. Well, he gives less than he gets, but it’s not for lack of trying.