Filed under: Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Audio Visual, Authenticity, Business, Comment, Communication Strategy, Confidence, Content, Context, Creative Brief, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Emotion, Empathy, Experience, Fulfillment, Innovation, Insight, Management, Marketing, Planners, Planners Making A Complete Tit Of Themselves And Bless, Planning, Point Of View, Positioning, Relationships, Relevance, Resonance, Standards
Problems.
We love them.
The bigger and badder the better.
Of course you have to be sure you have the right problem.
And then you have to remember that as much as some people may want to claim it, business – and life, for that matter – can not be approached like one big engineering problem.
Well, it can, but the solutions are – at best – short term and – at worst – ignored for being utterly bland, boring and emotionless.
But that’s not what this post is about.
You see, in our quest to solve big problems, we like to show our solutions by overwhelming the client with our brilliance.
Brilliance of our considerations.
Brilliance of our proof points.
Brilliance of our brains.
I get it …
You not only want to lead the client through your thinking so they ‘get it’, but because you’re proud of what you’ve done.
But there’s 3 things wrong with this approach …
The first is – as my Dad used to say – if you’re desperate to show how intelligent you are, then you’re not that smart.
This has never been more true in the creative industry where the reality is the work should be doing the proving, not you.
And secondly, this ‘demonstration of intelligence’ approach more often than not, results in presentations that are hundreds of pages long.
Literally hundreds.
Slide after slide that takes people on an extremely long journey on how difficult the problem is you have to solve and how complex and detailed the path to your solution has been.
It is, at best, a strategy where the goal is to beat the recipient into submission.
And why am I saying all this?
Well recently, I caught up with someone who told me 3 things I absolutely love.
Three things that should change the way companies approach problems and communicate their solutions.
Now full disclosure …
The person who said this is not some random individual.
In fact I’ve known and worked with them for a long, long time.
But more than that, he is – and has been for 2 decades – at the top of his game.
The business leaders, business leader.
An individual with an incredible history of success through pragmatic decision making and investment in innovation.
I asked him if I could mention his name but he said he preferred if I didn’t. Not because he wants to be mysterious, but because he’s humble … which is another reason he doesn’t work in adland, ha.
That said, he has personally shaped the way I present …
Semi-structured, singular stories rather than a mass of slides.
Strong visuals rather than pages of information.
Clarity rather than confusion.
Spoken through the nuanced, authentic lens of culture rather than superficial generalisations of convenience.
Communicating as an informed outsider rather than a blinkered insider.
The language of people not corporates.
Provocative rather than comfortable.
Inspiring the possibilities of creativity rather than creating structures to stop it.
Now I appreciate not everyone appreciates my style – and that’s fine – however, it has led to a lot of success for me and now, I realise why.
You see what this individual said to me was this:
1. Make sure your presentation is focused on the opportunity not the problem.
2. Remember, solutions need to be simpler than the problem.
3. If you can’t sum your solution up in a sentence, you have either an ego problem or a problem with your solution.
That’s it.
Sounds obvious doesn’t it.
But how many of us are doing it?
How many of us are writing presentations that celebrate the complexity of the problem rather than the power of the opportunity?
How many of us are talk about our approach to executing the solution rather than what the solution actually is?
How many of us talk about solutions as a range of elements tasks rather than one overarching idea?
I would like to think I’ve been following those 3 steps for years, but even now – I read them and go through old approaches and see where I could have done things differently.
More concise.
Cleaner … at least in the articulation of the solution and how I got there.
One of the best bits of advice I ever got was ‘talk to a friend outside the industry about your idea. If they don’t get it, you might need to re think about it.’
This is not about dumbing down.
Or being simplistic and basic.
It’s about really thinking about what you’re doing and how you’re expressing it.
Because as Ronald Reagan said, “if you’re explaining, you’re losing”.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, China, Chinese Culture, Comment, Confidence, Context, Creative Brief, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Emotion, Empathy, Insight, Marketing, Nike, Planners, Relevance, Resonance, Wieden+Kennedy
Jordan.
Basketball. Baseball. Movies. CEO. Icon.
As careers go, that’s pretty impressive.
But what is even more impressive is his competitiveness.
When I was working on his brand, we heard so many stories about this.
His relentless quest to succeed.
His insane focus and drive.
Of course, a lot of these tales have now become folklore as they became the backbone to many of his – and his brands – most famous ads … with ‘Failure’ probably being one of the most well known of them all.
And while it would be easy to brush all this off as marketing hype, the reality is they all represent Jordan at his core – his ability to reframe better than almost anyone – because he can one see one thing … the power in competitiveness.
Note this is different to winning.
Winning may be the goal, but how you get there is by being competitive.
This means you never take anything for granted.
This means you practice with the same intensity as if you’re in a game.
This means you don’t give an inch, regardless who the competition are.
This means you commit to being your best before your feet even hit the court.
It’s this approach that led us – when I was at Wieden Shanghai – to making a film in China to help kids see competitiveness as a good thing.
You see in China, while everyone knows the sheer amount of people there means you have to be competitive to stand any chance of getting ahead, culturally it is not seen as a good thing to openly talk about your ambitions.
Not because it’s a communist country – though there is a bit of that – but because it’s a country that likes to talk about harmony.
The ability to be balanced and together.
This meant kids were conflicted between acting with grace while feeling the pressure to be get ahead and we saw this tension as the perfect opportunity for Jordan – a man and a brand, built on performance – to help kids see the beauty in being competitive.
Not at the expense of destroying others, but the commitment to always be your best … never resting, never being satisfied, never losing the hunger to win.
And while some may think that is pretty one dimensional … I prefer to see it as believing in your ability to make a difference.
That with hard work, you can be noticed.
You may not win everything.
Hell, you may not win anything.
And the only guarantee is you will face challenges and hardship.
But with commitment, you can – at the very least – make it difficult for the ones who think their victory is inevitable.
And that in itself, is often the best victory of them all.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Comment, Creativity, Culture, Education, Emotion, Empathy, Experience, Focus Groups, Innovation, Internet, Management, Relevance, Resonance, Technology
As many of you know, I love technology.
I also am a huge advocate of talking to people.
Really talking … spending time with them, listening to them, understanding them.
And that’s why I am so happy that I’ve been able to bring both together through a project we’ve being doing at R/GA in London and Tokyo for the last 7 months called Human Technology.
No, I don’t mean the old Nokia saying, I mean literally meeting at the intersection of human curiosity and technological capability.
Over a long period of late nights and long weeks, a group of brilliant colleagues have been developing a new way to talk to people – a way that will allow us to conduct multiple interviews at the same time – enabling, for the first time, to get scalability on the nuance of conversation that I value so highly.
Now I know what you are thinking … this sounds awfully like a focus group and you absolutely, totally, passionately hate focus groups.
And you’d be right … there is a similarity between them.
But the beauty of this is that we are addressing the specific thing I don’t like about the way focus groups are approached.
You see the real issue I have is that focus groups are …. well, focused.
They don’t allow you to understand context … they don’t really care about having an appreciation of the audiences backgrounds or motivations, they just want to get to the answers they need answering.
So it is far less about understanding and far more about efficiency, which means you lose all nuance and authenticity, which is the difference between making work that is resonant with culture and relevant.
OK, it’s not perfect, there has definitely been more than a few occasions where things went a bit weird – similar to the AI Christmas Card experiment we did last year – but I’m over the moon to introduce you to Hans.
Look at him.
LOOK AT HIM.
He’s good isn’t he.
I admit it has taken a very, very long time to get here.
There has been a lot of mistakes, disasters, frustrations and questioning … but Hans [which stands for Human Android Nuanced Screener] is something we are all super excited about.
It’s all very well saying you want to create a new method for revealing insight and nuance, but it’s a very different matter getting there … and that’s why I’m so proud of the team as we’ve had to explore every single detail to get here.
From how we wanted the AI to behave, to what movements the robotics needed to have to feel as ‘human’ as possible … to his look, feel and sound … all in the quest to replicate the energy and aura of a none-threatening, but constantly interested person.
While there is still stuff to go, I think we’re doing pretty well, as the videos below show in terms of how we went from developing realistic hand movement robotics to building a model that allows for realistic human interactions.
[Excuse the terrible music, we’ve done these as part of film detailing the various stages of the project with one of our partners, Mert Arduino]
Creating The Hand
Creating More Human Interactions
The Different Faces Of Hans
Now the sad truth is we won’t be able to finish this to the level we want on our own.
For all the talent in the building and the network … time, technology and cost are all a hindrance to seeing this through to how we envision it can end up, which is why we are going to open this up to the creative technologists around the World, in the hope they want to be part of this project and see where they can help it go to.
Of course, few will do this without some sort of benefit, which is why I’m so happy to announce that anyone who takes part will have an ownership % so that if the technology takes off, they will directly profit from it.
We will soon be announcing how to get involved – as well as issue all blueprints and coding that we have already created to allow people to quickly add to the project rather than do things that have already been create – or we would if this wasn’t April 1st and a total load of bollocks.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Audio Visual, Authenticity, Brilliant Marketing Ideas In History, China, Chinese Culture, Comment, Communication Strategy, Creativity, Culture, Emotion, Entertainment, Innovation, Insight, Legend, Marketing, R/GA, Unexpected Relevance
Another day, another post about my love of China.
So a few months ago I was there for the opening of a clients latest venture.
You should all check it out because it’s a luxury fashion mall THAT LOOKS LIKE MARS!
Literally.
It was specifically designed to feel like you are on a space station on another planet.
It features everything from luna modules to robot sheep to video screens that look like skylights that show you in outer space.
It is utterly mad and yet truly amazing.
A place that is like no other I’ve seen anywhere else in the World.
But then, without wanting to sound a corporate toadie, the client is like no other I’ve met anywhere in the World … even when I was living in China, which tends to have a lot of brilliantly ambitious folks than anywhere else I’ve lived.
I have to do a post about him soon because not only is his influence on the fashion world almost unparalleled – and I am comparing him to people like Anna Wintour in that statement, let alone the heads of Gucci, Prada and countless others – but in the time I’ve worked with him, he has taught me to look at strategy in a completely new way.
Given I’ve literally been working in this discipline for more years than you care to mention, that’s pretty amazing … so I am sure you would find him pretty fascinating too.
Anyway, as part of the project, I was interviewed about what we have been doing for him and how we have worked together.
I talked about how much I love China and how much of an honour it is for me and us to be able to go there and help with a once-in-a-lifetime project. This may sound like I was a total crawler, but the fact is it’s all genuine.
We have been allowed to influence and shape at the highest level – strategically and creatively – and that’s been amazing, especially when there have been times you’ve disagreed with some of the things they wanted to do.
That’s hard for companies to hear at the best of time, but when it’s the billionaire founder of an international fashion group, that’s a whole other level of sensitivity and yet he has been nothing but open to us because he knows we’re not doing it for any other reason than wanting him to win better.
And when you’re talking about creating Mars on earth, ‘winning better’ is going to be crazy fun, whatever way you look at it.
But back to the interview.
So off we head to China for the opening.
It was packed with press and celebrities.
Billionaires mingled with paupers – errrrm, me – fashionistas rubbed shoulders with fashion disasters – errrrm, me again – so imagine their surprise when the start of the official opening included this …
Yep … that’s me.
Yep … that’s my interview.
Yep … no one understood why I was there or what I was saying.
I’d love to say I was all cool, calm and collected, but I – along with my colleagues – were pissing themselves laughing.
It was madness and awesome all at the same time.
I didn’t know whether it was like a remake of the classic 1984 Apple ad. or my attempt to be the leader of a Birkenstock cult … but it was like nothing I had experienced in my life.
Which is another reason I love this project and miss China.
Because when you are working with someone who believes anything is possible – and has the drive to make it happen – the journey is equally as much fun as the destination and I feel massively fortunate to be on it.
Even if there are people all around the World asking themselves …
“Who the fuck was that old guy in the camo Nike hoodie?”
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Brand Suicide, Business, Comment, Communication Strategy, Creativity, Culture, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Perspective, Resonance
When I was a kid, the top shelf of the newsagent was what I imagined Las Vegas was like.
Naughtiness.
Adult stuff.
Things no one should mention.
What am I talking about?
‘Men’s’ magazines.
I’m not talking Playboy … but the very English, very low-rent versions that were all – weirdly – either named after Ford cars or luxury London streets.
Fiesta.
Escort.
Mayfair.
Park Lane.
In the early days, the covers were on display for everyone to see.
EVERYONE!!!
Young boys would walk into newsagents and stare at them while trying desperately to not look like they were.
For most people, that was as close as you would get to them because buying one – or even looking through one – was out of the question.
What if someone saw you?
What if someone you knew saw you?
Of course someone must have been buying them because they were produced for decades.
I know for a fact that ‘one-eyed’ – the newsagent opposite the Nottingham main police station – was a magnet for the pervs and the teens, because it was small enough and out of the way enough to get away with it, but I always wondered how many of these would be bought at major players like WH Smiths.
Over time, the covers got covered up.
Not just to protect the innocent, but to try and stop the objectification of women.
Of course, given The Sun still had ‘page 3’ and claimed to be a ‘family newspaper’ this meant it had absolutely zero impact … and even today you can see those attitudes are still alive and well in all walks of life thanks to so many companies – including those specific to women evolve and grow – having a vested interest in making women feel, or be seen, as offering only looks to the World.
Anyway, the reason I say all this is that I recently walked into a WH Smiths to buy Otis a magazine and was pleasantly surprised – and a bit shocked – to see the top shelf was just that, a top shelf.
No doubt part of this is because porn – or erotica, or whatever title you want to give it – is so readily accessible that you don’t need ‘specialist magazines’ anymore as opposed to society having a healthier, more balanced attitude towards women [or sex] but it was weird to see nothing but genuinely ‘family friendly’ titles on there.
What was funny was one of those titles was something I was interested in buying for Jill, but the context from my past meant it was almost impossible for me to grab it.
That’s right, a ‘word puzzle’ magazine was loaded with baggage from what the top shelf once meant to me and I wonder if that is something that reflects my individual weirdness or something bigger … where being placed on the top shelf of WH Smiths may be best for visibility but worst for purchase.
And before you think I’m a total nutter, remember the brilliant – but slightly mad – Clotaire Rapaille believes your first exposure to brands and experiences frames and defines the way you look at them forever.