Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Cannes, Colenso, Creativity, Culture, Paula, WARC
I was talking to a friend of mine recently about the ad industry and the challenges it faces.
Specifically about how we are now bathed in for-profit processes and research methodologies that promise us access to ‘risk free success’ and yet we continue to struggle.
Why?
Well of course there are a lot of reasons for it.
+ Costs.
+ Technology.
+ Restructuring.
+ Holding companies.
+ Tech company power.
+ Procurement departments.
+ The rise of social influencers.
+ A lack of ongoing, formal training.
+ Underinvestment in hiring/keeping talent.
+ Too much one-size-fits-all outsourced training.
+ The lack of influence marketing has within organisations.
+ The devaluation of experience in favour of social popularity.
+ A lack of understanding about how creativity works at a client level.
+ The gullibility of organisations that think there is a ‘risk-free success’ model.
But on top of that, there was another thing we touched on – how the amalgamation of all these issues is increasingly robbing the joy out of what we do.
Yes, I appreciate our job is about helping clients achieve their commercial goals so you may ask, “who cares if you enjoy what you’re doing”, but here’s the thing, joy creates commercial and creative possibilities.
I don’t mean that simply in terms of effort, I mean in terms of what comes out at the other end.
The stuff that people feel even if they can’t explain why.
Like this.
Or this.
Or even this this.
Now I should be clear that when I say ‘joy’, I don’t mean happy-clappy-hippy-shit … I mean a sense of fulfilment of doing something really well.
Not because you followed a ‘for profit’ dot-to-dot methodology by someone who has never actually made the work, but because of your vision and ambition that was shaped, crafted and influenced through the blood, sweat, tears, belief and laughter of what you – and other talented souls – made together.
And it was at this point I realized I’d made a terrible mistake with the presentation Paula and I did at Cannes for WARC.
Because while those 150+ slides [as seen above] claimed to be about ‘The Secrets Of Strategy From Artists Who Only Live Creatively’ … it wasn’t.
It was a talk on how to be creatively fulfilled …
Maybe we all need to talk a little more about that.
Not just because fulfillment can keep – and attract – the best talent to stay in the business for longer … not just because it actively drives and encourages commercial success for the clients we work for … but because for all the brilliant things AI can do, it can’t compete with the infectious, limitless, power and potential of fulfillment.
Because it will never understand it, let alone be able to do it.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, AI, Attitude & Aptitude, Communication Strategy, Crap Campaigns In History, Creativity, Culture, Emotion, Empathy, Humanity, London, Technology
While I was in London, I saw this:
What the actual fuck?
The worst thing is I can imagine they’ll get lots of enquiries … probably from companies who are very vocal on saying ‘their staff are their greatest asset’.
But as we know, the companies that shout the loudest about their people are often the ones who are the worst offenders of them. Like some supercharged gaslighting trick, except everyone knows what they’re doing.
The bit I find confusing though is who do these companies think will be their future customers if they are shedding jobs in favor of AI?
Who is going to have the money and why the fuck do they think those who do, will spend it with them when there is a distinct lack of customer care, craft or consideration?
AI has incredible possibilities, but the scary thing is most companies like it because they see it as being able to do the same things they’ve always done, just cheaper or faster.
That’s it.
What these companies fail to realise is that if their products and operations can be replicated this easily, then they may not be that good in the first place.
I’m seeing this everywhere – especially in advertising.
Agencies and clients banging on about how they have used AI to create an ‘ad’ that would have cost millions before – without once stopping to realise that not only is it something we have seen millions of times before, but while the ad may be visually rich, it is also fucking shit.
Sure, it’s early days … but that so many people are focusing on the optimization of the technology rather than the possibilities of it is tragically sad. But then – as I’ve talked about a bunch in the past – I have always been more alarmed by the people behind the tech than the tech itself.
Maybe this is why my client – the biggest investor in luxury and street culture fashion on earth – believes the future of luxury will be built around personal service. Not the illusion of personal service … but the engagement and interaction with real humans.
Highly trained, highly experienced, specialists.
That doesn’t mean they don’t see the value and power of AI … they do. It’s just they recognize that you can’t claim value when you’re doing everything you can, on the cheap. And yet so many brands forget that … mistaking a premium price for a premium product. Until they find out by the actions, choices and behaviours of the people.
Technology is amazing and nothing is possibly more amazing than AI.
It has the power to liberate opportunities we’ve never imagined.
It can enable and facilitate whole new ways of working and creating.
It will provide an outlet for people who have been overlooked for decades.
This is all incredible and important stuff.
But if companies increasingly see it as a way to cut costs to drive short-term gains … then frankly, not only do they deserve all they will get, they need to realise they are the embodiment of Artificial Intelligence.
So to the people behind Artisan … go fuck yourself.
Said with love. Human love.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Complicity, Confidence, Corporate Evil, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Process, Systems
I recently saw this quote from Rick Rubin:
While he is referring to band dynamics, what he is really talking about are the conditions needed to create something special.
The reason I say this is there’s not enough talk about this.
What I see being continually pushed is a focus on processes, systems, models and tools – and while they are very important, they are far more about delivering consistency or amplification of something special rather than the actual creation of it.
Because that tends to come much earlier in the piece.
Something born from humans rather than systems.
Because the most powerful path to creating something special comes from working with people you trust.
Not necessarily like, but trust.
People with taste, ability and a willingness to hold each other to account to standards while also taking shared responsibility for helping achieve and deliver it.
It’s as true in organisations as it is in bands.
And yet many companies to ignore this because they don’t want to ask themselves the tough questions … face the hard truths … so they create an environment of co-dependency, where no one questions each other because they don’t want to be questioned themselves.
It’s a slow walk towards mediocrity … and yet that is often preferable because consistency is more valued than possibility.
That’s not entirely the leaderships fault, because that’s also what shareholders want, so we end up in this crazy situation where
‘good enough’ is preferable to trying to create something truly good.
On one level I get it.
Truly good is hard.
It can cost a fortune.
And after all that work, you still may not make it happen.
However, while there are no guarantees what you make will be truly special … the one thing I know is the more you create an environment where talented people are with others they trust, the more likely you are to create something even a ‘proprietary process’ never will.
And if we don’t aspire to that, what’s the point of doing anything?
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Awards, Birthday, Bonnie, Cannes, Cliches, Comment, Creativity, Culture, Jill, Otis, Paul, Paula, WARC
So, I’m back.
And I survived.
Better yet, the family … pooch … and my colleagues seemed relatively happy to see me, which is a massive win.
Plus the people with the birthdays, had good ones. Albeit maybe because I didn’t get to share it with them.
Anyway, Cannes was interesting.
I have a very weird relationship with it because while I love hearing great people talk … looking at some incredible work and seeing old friends, I do hate a lot of ‘the scene’.
The indulgence.
The egotism.
The excess.
That said, so much of that is now coming from people and companies who work in consultancies, tech, research or big multinationals – rather than ad agencies or companies who practice creativity in the truest sense of the word. Part of that is because they’re the only ones who can afford it … but it also reveals a chink in their ‘armor of confidence’. Evidence that for all their smarts, they’re desperate to feel admired, liked, wanted … without ever realizing their American Psycho approach to life attracts derision more than attraction.
At least for me.
I often wonder if all industry conference get-togethers create this sort of energy.
Do dentists/analysts/publishers [delete as appropriate] start to convince themselves they’re the Masters-Of-The-Universe when all packed tightly into one room?
As I said, Cannes is brilliant for the talks, the creativity and the ability to reconnect with old friends.
It’s nice to see a celebration of what we do when so often it faces a barrage of abuse from people who wouldn’t know creativity if it smashed them in the face.
But the vulgar displays of excess are less attractive to me.
As are the giant ads from tech/consultancy companies which are trying to position themselves as creative but end up demonstrating they’re the total opposite.
At least that’s slightly amusing, especially because you know it took them 6 months of board approval/design to make it happen.
But I digress …
I’m back.
I had a good time.
I’m thankful to WARC and Paula for making it happen.
I’m very happy to have seen some old friends after years.
But – unfortunately for you – I’m ready to write more blog bollocks.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Augustine, Colenso, Creative Development, Creativity, New Zealand, Planners, Planning, Reputation, Respect, Strategy
The Colenso strat team are kinda like busses.
None leave for years, and then 2 leave within a month.
Add then Lizzie goes off on maternity leave soon … so that makes 3.
Christ almighty … that’s more than the total number of strategists who have left in the 4 years I’ve been here.
But like Martin before her, Augustine is going for all the right reasons. In fact, I had told her in her last review that if she didn’t leave this year – I’d fire her.
And before anyone thinks that’s a toxic thing to say, I need you to know I adore Augustine … utterly, bloody love her … and the threat of firing her was an act of love rather than an act of bastard evil.
You see Augustine is a pretty rare talent …
She joined us during COVID without the faintest fucking idea what advertising was, let alone strategy. And yet despite that, in just 4 years, she has built a portfolio of work that could put much more experienced strategists to shame.
She’s helped Colenso win major new clients across NZ, Australia and America. She’s led our cultural studies, reports and books – from Dream Small and Dream Bigger in NZ to X-Ray in Australia. She’s authored award-winning Effie’s, Spikes and (hopefully, at time of writing) APG papers. She’s presented to the CEO’s and CMO’s of some of the biggest companies in Asia-Pac and – most importantly of all – she’s helped create some of Colenso’s most loved work of the last few years; from the FFI collab with Rick & Morty through to the pioneering Killabyte gaming festival idea.
And if that wasn’t enough to make people hate her with jealousy, she’s done it while being compassionate, collaborative and bloody good human to boot.
What an asshole!
But for all the talent she has, her potential can only stand a chance of being fully realized if it’s fully tested – and that’s why she’s not just leaving Colenso, but New Zealand.
Obviously, I’m sad to see her go – pretty devastated in fact – but I also am thrilled, proud and excited for her.
She’s been talking about this for a long time.
We’ve spent the last few years preparing her for this moment.
And while she still has things to learn – don’t we all?! – her talent and portfolio of work means she has a fantastic foundation to really go and embrace what’s out there.
To test herself.
To prove herself.
To grow herself.
Of course, moving overseas is a big thing. And the market is arguably more challenging than ever before. But even with those challenges, I wouldn’t ever bet against her in terms of achieving something she can feel proud of.
I’m not saying it will be easy, but in addition to her talent and her body of work, she has 4 things that give her an edge.
Her work ethic.
Her hunger to learn.
Her desire to keep getting better.
Her ability to survive working with me – and trust me, I’ve put her through heaps.
Last point aside, those first 3 attributes are things our industry doesn’t talk enough about.
Worse, we often classify them as ‘toxic traits’.
But the reality is, if you want to get better, it’s more than just turning up – you have to want it, work for it and keep practicing it.
That’s true in all aspects of life but what I love about Augustine is that her drive isn’t because she has a blind ambition to move further and faster up the career ladder, it’s because she gains real satisfaction from simply knowing she is continually getting better at what she does.
Not because she wants to ‘optimize’ her approach, but because she wants to develop and express the full force of her own strategic voice.
It’s one of the main reasons why I wanted her to leave us – because the more she is exposed to different challenges, different people and different creative approaches, the more she will discover who she is and who she can become.
That’s really important to me because – as I’ve written many times – I’ve always believed a bosses role is to help their people recognise their talent, nurture it and prove it so when they leave [as we all do at some point] they’re in a position to seize or explore opportunities that they either felt were not available to them or didn’t even know existed.
But this move is far more than just about career growth, but life … as demonstrated by the fact she is moving to Paris rather than one of the ‘usual suspect’ markets.
This is not because she is being ‘un-strategic’ but because she wants to connect more deeply to her French heritage.
Don’t get me wrong, Augustine is most definitely a Kiwi … however she has French family and feels a real affinity for the French culture and wants to embrace, immerse and explore all of it.
That doesn’t mean she will be there forever – could be, but who knows – but it does means this is more than an ‘overseas adventure’ but the beginning of a whole new chapter of life and if that isn’t worth celebrating and championing, I don’t know what is.
However, my loss is Europe’s gain because Augustine is going to be available for freelance, because while she will be based in France, her brain can work for any timezone, category or culture.
I’m not just saying that, I’ve seen it and experienced it – mainly because I forced her to live it – but the bonus is everyone out there now has the opportunity to work with someone they’ll not only adore as a strategist, but as a human.
I love building teams.
I love the debates, the conversations and the creativity.
In many ways they always teach me more than I ever teach them.
Which is why I think the payoff for that is that – at some point – they all break my heart by buggering off.
Except the pain is soothed by the pride of what they do and what they create, which is why I want to sign off this post to Augustine with this.
Augustine:
Thank you for all you did for us and gave to us. [Except Covid]
Thank you for your smarts, patience, bants and reluctance to report me to HR.
Believe in your smarts.
Believe in your words.
Be humble with your talent, but go burn the fucking house down in all you do.
Au revoir.
Rx
You can reach her here.
