Filed under: 2026, A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, AI, Creative Brief, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Focus Groups, Research, Technology
One thing I’ve always hated is the arrogance some companies/agencies have towards their customers.
Blindly believing they are so important and clever, that society will do whatever they want them to do.
Maybe that’s why so many of the methodologies companies/agencies adopt to ‘understand audiences’ does not involve directly engaging with them … and even when it does, it’s done in such a false environment, that what they get out of it are viewpoints from a vacuum rather than real life. [More of that in tomorrow’s post]
It’s only getting worse with the advent of AI … where we’re already seeing research companies using bots to interview audiences. That’s right – under the guise of ‘scale’ – they ditching trained moderators and increasingly using tech to understand the needs, motivations, fears, routines of people.
Hello dystopia!
But this is not about that … this is about the rise of AI driven ads.
Now I have no issue with that, when AI is to liberate possibility rather than drive efficiency.
Colenso have 2 famous pieces of work that openly – and publicly – embraced AI:
Our Cannes Grand-Prix winning Adoptable work for Pedigree.
And our work for our Grand-Effie winning client, Skinny.
But what I’m talking about are the rise in AI generated ‘customer endorsement ads’.
I’m seeing soooooo many of these right now … especially in the health and fitness space … where a particularly healthy, attractive and fit individual talks directly to camera about the impact a particular food/routine/supplement has had on them, WHEN THEY OBVIOUSLY DON’T REALLY EXIST.
To be fair, there is always a super on screen that explains the people in the ad are ‘AI generated’ – not that you needed it, as you can tell from how they look, speak and move – but are they doing this because they think people will blindly believe the words of a ‘human’ who has code rather than DNA, or because they just want to do things on the cheap?
Maybe it’s both …
Maybe it will work – after all, there’s people out there that think Andrew Tate is a decent human.
But why would anyone believe a company who needs to use AI generate ‘humans’ to show how good their product is?
As I’ve written many times before, I think AI is incredible.
I use it, experiment with it and explore it all the time.
And while I am a novice compared to many – while acknowledging many of the people in our industry who claim to be AI experts on Linkedin, are the same people who claimed to be experts on the Metaverse when that was ‘a thing’ – I know it has potential and power to make powerful differences to society in a myriad of amazing ways.
I also acknowledge we’ve only just started to see what it can be and become, so what I am about to say is only going to get better – or worse, depending on your perspective.
However, there is increasingly going to be a backlash against any brand or company who are seen to be embracing it to exploit rather than enable … to drive efficiency, rather possibility … to gain profits rather than deliver benefits.
And while that may take some time … both to gather steam and for companies to notice/care … it will happen and that’s when they will finally realise ‘customers have always been smart, you’ve just not done stuff that made them care about you’.
One of Colenso’s beliefs is ‘truth over harmony’.
By that, it means nothing shows respect like being transparent.
That doesn’t mean you have to be an asshole, but it does mean if you know something that could/will make a tangible difference to whatever outcome you are all [supposedly] working towards – but choose not to say anything in an attempt to either keep the peace or keep things simple for you – then you’re the asshole.
This belief feeds directly into how we tell clients about how Colenso behave in relationships:
We like to challenge and we liked to be challenged.
Again, it’s not because we want to be pricks … but because we want our work to make a real difference to their ambitions.
And why am I saying this?
Well, while I could say no one embodies this attitude and approach more than kids … or how even with the best intentions, truth can sometimes be interpreted by the receiver as an insult, the reality is I just wrote it so I could post this tweet that made me laugh out loud.
Happy Monday. Or at least may it be happier than Unniemara’s.
Filed under: 2026, A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Ambition, Aspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Audio Visual, Authenticity, Bands, Cannes, Comment, Communication Strategy, Community, Complicity, Content, Context, Corporate Evil, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Differentiation, Diversity, Effectiveness, Egovertising, Emotion, Empathy, Entertainment, Friendship, Influencers, Interviews, Management, Marketing, Music, Perspective, Planners, Planning, Point Of View, Relationships, Relevance, Resonance
Following on from Wednesday’s post …
One of the great pleasures that walking has given me is listening to podcasts.
To be honest, prior to walking I never really enjoyed them.
Sure, part of that was because the podcasts available in the early days were – generally – fucking terrible, but more than that … I just have always enjoyed the act of reading.
Still do.
But the beauty of a podcast is it lets me take my mind off the pain/boredom of walking and instead, let’s me lose myself in the joy of the story. And because I have an addictive personality, it means I rarely stop walking until I’ve heard the end of whatever the hell I’m listening too. Podcasts have literally ensured I’ve walked hundreds of kilometers further than I would otherwise have walked.
However for me to really love a podcast, it needs to be about true stories.
Don’t really care what – or who – the subject is about, it just has to be real.
Interestingly, the companies/individuals who do them best – or at least in terms of what I find ‘best’ – are the ones who have always told stories. Who know the craft of it. Who appreciate the importance of space and pace. Who see is as an expression of who they are, rather than simply the business they’re in.
Which is why I have recently been enjoying Rockonteurs with Gary Kemp and Guy Pearce.
Rockonteurs is a music podcast, hosted by ex-Spandau Ballet guitarist Gary Kemp and session bassist, Guy Pratt. Each episode hears them listening to different icons from the music industry. Not just in terms of artists and performers … but producers, promoters, songwriters and managers.
Now obviously I love music and a lot of the people they interview are individuals from my era … but that’s not why I like it or why you should listen to it.
The thing that stands out most of all is that regardless of decade, genre, country-of-origin, level of success … there is a camaraderie, respect and overall interest in what each person has done and how they approached it that is severely lacking in our industry today.
Right now, in our industry, it feels like everyone is desperate to be seen as ‘the ultimate one’.
The person with all the answers.
The person with all the knowledge.
The person who defines how everything should be done.
There’s not much humbleness in our industry these days – and what there is, comes across as contrived-as-fuck.
That doesn’t mean people shouldn’t be proud of what they believe or what they’ve done … but it does mean they shouldn’t speak with a condescending tone or a desire to belittle or destroy anyone who thinks differently to them.
But it’s happening all the time.
Sure, some of that is amplified by the Linkedin algorithm – not to mention the conference industry – that rewards this sort of bullshit … but everywhere you look you see and hear people making some pretty outrageous, self-serving, blinkered claims.
What makes it worse is that in many cases, the things they feel OK with publicly judging/criticising/labelling are things they’ve never actually made/done themselves … though my personal fave is when you hear them repackage well established approaches/rules/campaigns and then try to claim they have ‘invented’ something new.
Even more bizarre is how this behavior is as prevalent with ‘senior leaders’ as it is with people just starting out … who you can at least understand are trying to stand out from a crowd of sameness.
Just last year, I listened to a very, very well-known and successful leader tell a global audience they had identified ‘the secret to success’ … without once acknowledging everything they said was [1] literally information that was decades old, [2] it is how good agencies have always operated.
Now I appreciate they have millions of dollars of reasons why they have to speak with the authoritative tone of God, but that doesn’t make them right – regardless how smart they may be – but what makes it sad is they have no willingness or openness to acknowledge there are other ways, even if they prefer/believe in theirs most.
And maybe that’s why I really enjoy the Rockonteurs podcast … because there’s none of that.
OK, I appreciate all the guests who appear have achieved a certain level of success, so there’s less to prove. I also accept many of the guests are looking back on their career – rather than ahead – so there is less of a commercial demand being placed on them to ‘win people over’. And finally, I completely understand all the guests have a direct connection to one – or both – of the hosts, so they’re talking to a friendly audience.
[Though I have to say the hosts aren’t great – sometimes bordering on annoying – as they often interrupt their guests in a desperate bid to either show public association with them or remind them that they too were once famous. It’s a bit yuck to be honest.]
But that aside, for an industry that still overflows with fragile egos … the one thing that came through once I’d listened to a few of the interviews – especially the first season – was how united they all were in terms of what they value/d … even though most of them all had radically different styles, views and interpretations of what that is and how to get there.
Underpinning this was that regardless on the level of success each guest achieved, they had been successful.
Maybe in terms of popularity.
Maybe in terms of a single song/album/concert.
Maybe in terms of their influence in a particular genre/fan of music.
Maybe in terms of simply having a career, despite never having a breakthrough hit.
But they had pulled something off against the odds and for that, there was something to hear, something to learn and something to respect.
That doesn’t mean they are not competitive.
That doesn’t mean they like everything each other does/did.
But it does mean they appreciate how hard it takes to make something you feel proud of – even if you don’t like it or understand it – and maybe, just maybe, if our industry adopted this stance a bit more, we’d not only be a nicer place to work, we might end up being a place that makes a lot more interesting work.
Because as I’ve said before [or should I say, what Ferdinand Porsche said before]: It’s better to mean everything to someone than be anything to everyone.
Check out Rockonteurs wherever you get your podcast.
I promise, whatever music you’re into.
Whatever era you’re from or adore.
There’ll be something you’ll like. And learn.
________________________________________________________________________
Please note:
There’s a public holiday here on Monday – I know, I know – so see you on Tuesday.
You lucky, lucky people – hahaha.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Business, Corporate Evil, Corporate Gaslighting
On the Friday before Christmas, a friend of mine got made redundant.
After 17 years of service.
17 years of highly productive, highly respected service.
What makes it even more disgraceful is he was basically told ‘accept our offer, or we’ll make things difficult for you’.
Of course they didn’t say it like that, they hid behind the carefully constructed ambiguity that is imbued in all redundancy narratives … but the message was clear: ‘don’t be a problem or we’ll be your problem’.
He has asked me not to name him or his company as he goes through the process, but what makes this all the more egregious is the company he worked for has a mission statement overflowing with the ‘transparency and integrity’ buzzwords and tropes that appear in nearly every corporate mission statement.
The ‘transparency and integrity’ buzzwords and tropes that are mentioned in every story sent to Corporate Gaslighting.
Why don’t all these companies just say what they actually believe: ‘to prioritise profit over people, in every opportunity, every time’ … we’d probably all respect that [and them] a hell of a lot more.
But no, instead it’s all ‘our staff are our greatest asset’, ‘we believe in doing the right thing’ and ‘we strive to always be a great place to work’.
So to companies who let people go over this period:
While I appreciate there is never a good time to do this sort of thing – and sometimes, there’s no other choice available but to do this sort of thing – there’s definitely a bad time to do this sort of thing and December 19th is one of those times … especially when you’ve announced you’ve made enormous profit over that year.
So while the industry my friend works in is different to the one I work in, I know there were many who went through a similar situation over the recent festive period … which is why I leave this post with 2 points:
1. If anyone who went through this needs someone to talk to – or just listen – I’m here. Just email and I’ll get back to you.
2. If companies want loyalty from their people, show some fucking loyalty to your people. It really isn’t that hard.
3. If you’re a shareholder who only cares about ever-increasing returns, don’t complain when this happens to you. Because it will.
It’s why nothing is more gaslighting than the justification that ‘it’s just business’, because it isn’t. It’s always – ALWAYS – personal.
That doesn’t mean a company can’t – or shouldn’t – act on commercial issues that need addressing. But it does mean they should consider why, how – and when – they do it.
As many of you know, over the past 2 years, I’ve got relatively fit.
Or said another way, I’ve lost 54kgs.
And while diet has played a huge part to play in this achievement, it’s exercise – specifically walking/running – that’s been the safety net in keeping it off.
I don’t mean that in terms of losing weight – though it has obviously had an impact – I mean it more in being able to consume more calories than my 1675 daily allowance, while still maintaining an overall calorie deficit.
I cannot tell you how much I appreciate that … because whereas the first year saw me being almost pathologically focused on not exceeding my calories, carbs or sugars allowance, now I can be a little looser, safe in the knowledge that exercise will keep things in overall balance, even when I scoff the occasional ‘calorific’ meal.
Anyway, at the beginning of the holidays I saw this thing called The Conqueror being advertised across social media.
Basically you select a virtual route from somewhere around the World and then – once you’ve paid them some cash – you get given a timeframe to complete ‘the walk’.
What makes it work is not just that every step you take in the real world gets translated onto the virtual map on your phone … nor is it that at every ‘checkpoint’, you get a postcard that details the history of wherever you have just reached or walked through … it’s not even that each time you hit a checkpoint, they will plant a real tree in your honour … it’s that once you achieve the route, they send you a real life medal.
And, as you can see from the pic above, they’re impressive.
Full Metal. Very Colorful. Properly Distinctive.
Sure, you’ve paid for them.
In fact, you’ve probably overpaid for them.
But they genuinely make you feel you’ve achieved something worthwhile.
And while I am sure there will be people who say it’s a stupid business – I have a different point of view.
Not just because what were the rules of business, are no longer limited to just those rules – which McKinsey are trying desperately to look like they understand given the incredible rise of companies who, based on the consultant models they’ve been flogging for fortunes for years, simply should not work, let alone thrive – but because The Conquerer has been developed to target how people actually behave, rather than how they’re supposed to.
Or said another way, they address the emotional need, not simply the functional benefits.
I know this sort of thing has been done before – hell, I did something like this for Nike back in 2011 – but apart from the fact the tech just wasn’t there back then, the inclusion of an actual medal that people would actually want to own, is a game changer. So much so that I believe they can truly make someone who doesn’t walk much, to walk more.
Which is fucking impressive when you think how much money sports brands have spent trying to get people to ‘just do it’.
But in my case, I do walk.
A lot.
Which is why – in just over a week of my holiday – I achieved this:
That’s right … while everyone else was scoffing down chocolates and turkey like they were going out of fashion, I was out walking 534.5 kilometers and picking up 4 fancy pants medals.
Which helps explains why I may have won, but I also was a fucking loser – hahaha.