Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Brand Suicide, Business, Comment, Complicity, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture
At a time where our industry seems to value – and talk about – capabilities more than creativity, I can’t help remember something a wily, old client of mine in China once said to me:
“Just because you have the best piano doesn’t mean you can play the finest music”.
The reason why this is especially pertinent is that – as someone who is older than the planet and has worked pretty much all over it – the one thing I’ve learned is the very best clients don’t get seduced by hype, headlines, PR releases, agency models and processes, panel invites, network configurations, the promises and claims of ‘the power of the network brought together under one roof’ … they believe the work does the best talking.
Given we – as an industry – have always talked about the importance of communicating benefits rather than features, this shouldn’t be a surprise and yet, it’s happening more and more often. There’s a bunch of possible reasons for why this is happening, but I can’t help but feel some of the main ones are we’ve forgotten who we are, what we do, and what is valuable about what we create – which has manifested in us making choices and decisions that make us feel smart, but – as Lucille Ball once said – not very clever.
Of course, there’s a lot of clients – and agencies – who don’t care, or don’t have the talent, experience or knowledge to recognise what quality, craft or even a sustainable, distinctive, differentiated brand even means or looks like … which is why we will continue to see a bunch of them burn down their own house down while proclaiming to have the best chefs in town.
Sad.
Especially given the people running these orgs tend to be the ones with the loudest voices saying they ‘understand business’.
Though to be fair they do, it’s just that it’s the ‘demolition business’.
As the old adage goes, ‘anything is easy if you haven’t got to do it’.
And too many people in positions of authority don’t. And never have.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Corporate Evil, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Technology
It would be Freddie Mercury’s 79th birthday today.
SEVENTY NINE.
But that’s not as amazing as the fact he has been gone 34 years and yet is still a force in modern culture and society.
For all the experts in ‘brand management’, there’s few who could claim to have increased the success and profitability of their brand despite it being ‘off the shelves’ for over 3 decades.
Which leads to the point of this post – and the choice of the photo above.
You see recently I saw this comment by author and video game enthusiast, Joanna Maciejewska.
I have to say I loved it.
I loved the sentiment of what she was saying.
The problem – as we all know – is too many company execs don’t properly respect the commercial value of art, writing or original thinking and so place it in the same bracket as laundry and dishes. Viewing it as something that can be outsourced to whoever can supply it at the lowest cost as the difference in standards is – in their view – negligible.
This is ironic on 2 counts.
1. Many of the companies who adopt this view are the ones who also claim to be ‘premium’.
2. Many of these execs actions, choices and behaviours are as predictable as doing the laundry and dishes.
I should point out – as I have many times in the past – this is not anti-AI.
It’s incredible. I love it and use it in a whole myriad of ways … and let’s be honest, the technology is still in its infancy and so there’s so many more amazing things to come.
However, the reason so many companies are wildly embracing it is because they see it as offering them new ways to optimise their profits rather new ways to liberate their possibilities.
Which is why I am increasingly of the belief AI doesn’t change what companies do, it reveals who they really are.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Ambition, Aspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Career, Collaboration, Colleagues, Context, Corporate Evil, Corporate Gaslighting, Craft, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Distinction, Effectiveness, Emotion, Empathy, Fulfillment, Loyalty, Luck, Management, Mediocrity, Only In Adland, Perspective, Planners, Professionalism, Relationships, Relevance, Reputation, Resonance, Respect, Ridiculous, Strategy, Success
We live in a time where the idea of ‘having a career’ is becoming more and more resigned to history.
Not purely because of technology, but also corporate culture.
Where everything is for sale in the quest for profits and bonuses.
Values.
Reputation.
Distinction.
Differentiation.
Companies will kill any baby and sacred cow in a bid to look like they have a plan – even if that plan is becoming more and more short-term, next-quarter focused.
Meanwhile, they still splutter out the platitudes of ‘our people are our best asset’ while continually reducing roles, outsourcing training, lowering salaries and demanding complicity from whoever is left.
It’s the classic story of ‘biting your nose to spite your face’ and what is tragic is we all end up losing.
Employees.
Shareholders.
Clients.
Customers.
Society as a whole.
Hell, at some point we may all be living in a world of parity products that no one can afford because no one has an income that lets them buy anything.
Worse, it feels people at the top of many of these companies know this and so their whole approach to life is ‘make as much as I can then get out before it all falls down’.
Am I being bleak as fuck? Yep.
Do I really think it will end up this way? Quite possibly.
Not soon, but eventually … hell even Elon Musk has accepted a future where society needs ‘universal credit’ to survive and you can be sure-as-fuck his version of that is giving people just enough to stay afloat rather than challenge or thrive.
Which is why the concept of a career is potentially going to be consigned to the dustbin … or at least what a career used to be.
Because rather than meaning you have worked in one industry for your entire life – slowly working your way up the hierarchy – soon, it will evolve to being about using your skills across different industries and companies … finding the optimum moment to jump to gain the maximum value from your skills. I mean, it’s already happening that way but soon it will probably be the only way.
And while this will be the new definition of ‘career’, there will be one thing that remains the same and it’s this:
You won’t be able to say you’ve had a career, if you’ve not had to deal with loss and disappointment.
Loss and disappointment are rarely talked about in terms of career.
There’s this unspoken narrative that your evolution is always a perfect, singular, straight rising line. No detours. No backward steps. No mistakes or leaps. No bad choices and no changing of minds.
And frankly, that is utter bullshit.
Maybe 50 years ago this was the case, but even then I doubt it..
Not just because humans don’t aspire to ‘evolve’ at a constant, universal rate.
Not just because companies don’t elevate their people at a constant, universal rate.
Not just because there are people – and leaders in companies – who are fucking assholes, who actively mess with plans, promises and aspirations.
But because of all those reasons.
Having a career is as much about resilience as it is about talent.
Hopefully you can do it without having to endure too much of the bullshit that so many people have shared on the Corporate Gaslighting site … but we will all face disappointment and loss.
And while we all have the right to feel sad, upset, bitter about it when we experience it, the reality is what you do next ultimately defines who you are.
I’ve personally had a pretty great career.
I’ve generally worked for and with some amazing companies, colleagues and clients.
But not all.
There have been mistakes … little ones, temporary ones, one or two missteps and a couple of great big, fat, bastard ones.
And while I acknowledge some were absolutely of my own making, some were definitely due to people and/or companies actively – and in one case, willingly – wanting to systematically undermine my confidence and ability to do my job.
And while it fucked me up for a while – which I wrote about here – I was able to get through it and past it, ensuring that while my trajectory may have had some bumps, every step still had some big wins.
Which to me is what a career really is about.
Not title, but growth.
I know others may have a different point of view but mine was forged years ago by something a friend said.
Once upon a time, I was talking to a mate about a leader we both knew. We were talking about the work they’d done – specifically one campaign – when my friend said:
“That was 9 years ago, what’s he done since?”
Now while he was being overly dismissive, he did have a point – because the work this leader was universally known for, was something they’d done in the past, not the present.
Sure it was amazing work. Sure it was still talked about. But the reality is they hadn’t done anything in the intervening years that came close to making that sort of impact … and it was at that point I realized what a real career was.
Always building your portfolio of work, rather than just resting on one thing you’ve done.
And that has been both how I define ‘success’ as well as what has driven my choices and actions ever since.
Whether I have achieved this is up to others to decide, but I’d say I’ve got a good case for saying I’m doing OK … especially because I’ve worked bloody hard to try and make it happen.
Sure it has manifested in a lot of different ways – from books to ads to new products to stage set design.
Sure it has been with a lot of different people, companies and clients in a lot of different ways.
Sure it has been in a lot of different countries and cultures.
But I am pretty proud that wherever I’ve worked, I can point to something that was pretty special – either to the subculture, the country, the client, the agency, the department or the industry.
Again, I appreciate others are the ultimate judge of whether I’ve pulled it off … but for me, I’ve always wanted a career of highs rather than titles which is why I’m proud I’ve been able to do it in a way where I can look at myself in the mirror and feel I have stayed true to who I am and what I believe as well as be in the fortunate position that – despite my age – I’ve been able to continue to evolve and grow, as demonstrated by the fact that over the past few years I’ve been able to enter a new chapter of my creative career with the work I do for a small number of very high-profile artists.
If truth be told, that came about by luck rather than talent … but I didn’t take it for granted, I ran at it. Not because I wanted to be able to say I work for Rockstars, but because I wanted to be able to do stuff I never could have imagined I’d do.
Creative highs, not professional titles.
Or as my parents always drilled into me, fulfillment over contentment.
Yes, I appreciate I have a pretty senior position … but as much as I love the job and helping teams of talented individuals create their own creative highs … the thing I love most is that I continue to face loss and disappointment, because at the end of the day you only experience that if you’re still doing what you love.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Anniversary, Attitude & Aptitude, Birthday, Comment, Communication Strategy, Creativity, Culture
Bloody hell, it’s the 1st September. Already.
This year has gone so quickly, which takes me back to this post I wrote about ‘the speed our kids grow up‘ and I am close to begrudging September before it’s even begun.
But hey, it’s Monday and no one needs more shit to deal with than that, so instead I’m going to swiftly move on before we all reach for the kitchen drawer and look for the sharpest knife.
Or maybe that’s just me.
So this post is about birthday cards.
No … it’s not April Fools, it really is.
I swear there have only been 2 sorts of birthday cards ever created: The sincere ones and the ‘sarcastic’ ones.
The former is an expression of how much someone means to you and the best wishes you have for their special day. The latter basically takes the piss about how fucking old you are.
That’s it.
A tried and tested formula through the ages.
Which is why I was pretty surprised when I saw this:
Sure, it’s funny.
Sure, it’s original.
But it’s also something else …
Validation.
Validation for the members of society who are saying the economy is bad while too many politicians try to claim it isn’t.
It may seem a small thing, but it’s also big … because the only reason the card industry would step away from their tried and tested birthday formula is when they see a big enough commercial reason to do it.
And it appears that the harshness of the economy is – apparently – a big enough reason.
So while I wouldn’t base all my argument on this fact, sometimes its the circumstantial evidence that is the most damning.
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One last thing:
Today is my 18th wedding anniversary and I GUARANTEE my wife has – consciously or subconsciously – forgotten about it.
So … as she never reads this blog, I will show her this post to prove I remembered and she didn’t, allowing me to ‘lord it’ over her in a rare moment of triumph and glee.
Oh who am I kidding, but it’s worth a try … it can’t be any more stupid than when we decided to have a ‘Diet Coke’ fountain at our wedding that turned into one giant, bubble of stupidity – as captured in the photo below, with my wonderful Mum peering over, ready to capture the idiocy with her camera.
Happy anniversary Jill. At least its important enough for one of us to remember ; )
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”.