A Quick Thought...

They say practice makes perfect.
You know what else makes perfect?
Long, laborious processes.
There’s a deal to be struck here.
You can get something 100% right, but take your time in delivering it.
Or you can be quick off the mark, first to respond and know that you’ll be 80% right.
I know which one I’d always choose.
How about you?
Be quick, the clock’s ticking.

What Does Your Brand Stand For?

Recently I was asked to talk to a Future Leaders Academy event for Weber Shandwick.
I decided to put them, slightly unfairly, on the spot by asking each of them what was unique about their personal brand.
Some responded instantly, others took their time.
All of them realised that the point was about the power of the personal brand.
All the leaders and senior figures in our lives stand for something unique, even if it’s not necessarily something that we like.
Your true value to a company isn’t just doing your job, that’s what you get paid for.
If you are thinking “If I do what I’m told, I’ll always be valuable.”
Then you are mistaken.
That viewpoint only commoditises what you do and there is not real value in that, because in reality, all you’re doing is filling a hole.
The key to getting ahead is finding the thing (or things) you can bring to the business that no-one else can.
That’s what’s irreplaceable, that is where you create value for the company and yourself.
So what’s your brand?

Hunting The Big Beasts #4

Regular readers will know I like to doff my virtual cap at some of the big players in our business.
This is the first time I’ve looked outside of Jack Morton.
This time I’d like to look at a key figure in one of our IPG sister agencies.
Bob Heussner, Senior Vice President of Games Marketing for Octagon.
In the eight or so months that I’ve been working with Bob I’ve been blown away by his cool, considered and gracious approach that somehow elevates all those around him.
With a unique ability to understand client needs and find innovative ways to satisfy them.
Bob is charmingly non-confrontational in the way he develops ever-evolving and mutually beneficial relationships.
More importantly, I look at Bob as something of an unofficial mentor.
And the funny thing is, I’m not alone.
Every time I meet people in other IPG agencies and Bob’s name comes up, I keep hearing how other people look at Bob as a mentor figure.
It’s because he somehow manages to keep doing his thing brilliantly, whilst still finding the time and energy to show new ways to those around him.
So I’d like to say thanks to Bob, on behalf all of the people who consider him a mentor.
Even those who haven’t realised it yet.

It’s Never Over Until...

I’m a firm believer in never giving up until you’re certain it’s all over.
The pitch presentation isn’t always the finish line.
Sometimes it’s just a pit stop on the journey.
And a bad pitch doesn’t have to mean that it’s all over.
I’ve been in the industry long enough to have heard countless stories about disastrous pitches, where the agency refused to take ‘no’ for an answer.
They returned to the office, not with their tail between their legs, but with a fire in their belly.
So they stay up all night, bash out some great new concepts and have an honest conversation with the prospective client.
They said “We know we dropped the ball but we want this more than anyone else.”
And the following day, they go in there and prove it.
And they win.
It’s like classic mythology – what feels like a disastrous ending, isn’t an ending at all.
It’s a phase known in storytelling circles as ‘The Ordeal’* and it’s the life-or-death moment where the hero realises what’s needed to ensure victory.
The phase immediately after?
That would be ‘The Reward’.
So go on, be the hero.

*see Christopher Vogler’s The Writer’s Journey

I’ll Be....Passionate

My old friend John Daly, who died last year, spent more than 25 years at the head of Hemdale Films.
In that time he made over 100 films and won an incredible 13 Oscars.
Tommy, The Last Emperor, El Salvador and Platoon amongst them.
With the film industry’s legendary multi-million dollar pitching I was sure John would be able to give me an insight to improve my own “craft “.
I asked him how he knew what to invest in?
How did he know which films would be hits?
His answer was simple, “No-one knows a hit from a miss I always invest in the same thing.”
He then told me a story.
Way back in the early eighties, he sat through a presentation by a young writer-director called James Cameron.
He had a vision of an unstoppable cyborg, tasked with killing the mother of a resistance leader who was yet to be born.
Cameron knew not just the Terminator’s back-story but that of all his characters, he knew their complete life story, also what happened next, and he understood the technology he needed to realise his vision.
He’d created a world that he inhabited - it was his passion..
As John told me, when it comes to investment, you should always back the guy with the passion.
His view was when you’re passionate about something, you’ll find a way to make it successful.
You’ll also find that it becomes contagious – it takes over the pitch, infuses the story you’re telling, and convinces the client.
Passion can’t be faked.
So if you feel it, share it.

A Policeman’s Lot Is Not A Happy One

This one goes out to all my homies in agency new business roles.
I just want to say “I understand.”
I know about the effort you put in, and all the things you go through.
You’re there on the front line, leading pitches, brokering talent, motivating colleagues, pushing and leading.
You’re a team player in the truest sense, and yet when the business is won, the best you can hope for is a name check for pulling a few case studies together.
Just keep doing what you do.
Adapt to every situation and play every role that the pitch calls for.
Keep pushing and keep winning.
You and I know how much you do.
So let it just be our little secret.

Standing Out From The Crowd

If there’s one thing that’s sure to fox a creative agency, it’s a straightforward brief.
No tricks, no hidden meaning, just a really simple A,B,C set of instructions.
The biggest challenge when tackling this kind of project, is deciding how to differentiate yourself creatively without coming across as pretentious and self-absorbed.
Surely, it must all come down to the big idea, since that’s what will ultimately win the job.
It’s not about how beautifully presented the idea is, or the reams of insightful strategic thinking that informed it.
It might be a moment in time, a gesture, a legacy, or a behaviour.
But whatever it is, it needs to be a simple, powerful and unpretentious hook.
If you don’t have a great idea to start with, you can misdirect your client with loads and bells and whistles.
But a beautifully wrapped gift box is still just empty packaging once you get past all the ribbons and bows.

Who Dares Wins

Ask anyone who’s ever raised a championship cup over their head and they’ll tell you there’s no feeling quite like victory.
Sure, it’s the polite thing to say it’s not the winning but the taking part that counts, but who really wants to be the perennial loser?
Participation only gets you so far.
But the real joy in winning is facing an opponent who’s better than you are.
And coming out on top.
There’s really no challenge in beating someone who’s not as good as you and your team.
Besides, how much does that kind of victory really count?
It’s much more fun to prove to yourself, and everyone else, that you’ve got what it takes to beat someone who has an advantage over you.
That might be a bigger budget, a more experienced team or a wider global footprint.
On the other hand, they might just be the incumbent.
The challenge may be greater in tackling a ‘superior’ opponent, but we should all thrive on thinking around the problem.
That’s takes real creativity.

Now For The Science Bit

Seth Godin wrote on his blog about the two distinct approaches to marketing.
Arguing that there are scientists and artists within the discipline.
He also argued that marketers need to be clear about which side they take.
It’s something I’ve always believed, having found myself caught in the middle far too many times.
At Jack Morton we do take a take a scientific approach to our work.
Producing events on the scale we do, living up to our flawless faultless delivery reputation, we have to; calculating budgets, planning resources and managing production like a military manoeuvre.
So we more than any marketing discipline are a total mix of “artists” and “scientists”
We do have to keep an eye out to ensure that our creative work is always outstanding; we should all aspire to be artists.
They’re the people who inspire and challenge, imagine and invent,
Here it helps enormously that those dreamers can also run a production schedule, manage a client budget and roll up their sleeves and get the job done.

Come On, Come On Let's Go

We’ve all done it.
We’re sat in the car at a red light behind someone else, fingers drumming impatiently on the steering wheel and foot gingerly tapping the accelerator in anticipation of the lights changing. Finally, after what seems like an eternity, red becomes red and amber and we’re good to go.
Then...nothing.
The car in front sits there.
The light’s now green and no-one’s moving.
The driver ahead wasn’t paying attention and now you’re sitting there going nowhere fast.
Life is full of opportunities, all we have to do is take them.
So I’m always amazed at how many people miss theirs simply because they give up waiting and take their eye off the ball.
Unfortunately, it often means there are a bunch of people waiting behind them who all miss their opportunity too.

Frankie Says RELAX!

Hard to believe (for anyone who knows me) but I recently went away on a short break.
Sitting at the airport waiting to board my flight, I was amazed at all the business people sitting with their families.
They all looked a little uncomfortable in their civilian clothes, like they hadn’t quite shaken off work mode.
Hushed conversations trying to chase down deals before their BlackBerry was switched off for the last time, usually disguised as “Just going for a wander round the shops.”
What a difference it made when I saw the same frazzled executives coming off the return flight.
Their feet in flip-flops, trousers rolled up.
Laughing and joking with their kids hanging off their arms.
A smiling, relaxed partner..
The mobile phone buried in the hand luggage, out of sight and definitely out of mind.
In the space of a week, they’d gone from nowhere to ‘now here’ (TM)
Now, doesn’t joy like that deserve more than a once-a-year outing?

(TM Mike Myers The Love Guru).

Ka Mate, Ka Mate, Ka Ora, Ka Ora

I always love to see the Haka
The Maori ritual performed by the All Blacks before an international rugby match.
It’s a fantastic statement of arrival and intent.
It shows complete focus, coordination and team spirit.
A willingness to do whatever it takes to win.
And it has the added bonus of scaring the crap out of the opponents.
Now I’m not suggesting that you start stamping and chanting before your next pitch, but there’s huge value in developing a version (ideally quieter) that will work for you and your team.
The energy, commitment and determination are already there, they just need to be harnessed

Art Or Commerce?

As you are all probably aware Narcissus in Greek mythology was a hero who was renowned for his beauty.
He was also exceptionally cruel, in that he disdains those who love him.
As divine punishment he falls in love with a reflection in a pool, not realizing it was his own, and perishes there, not being able to leave the beauty of his own reflection.
We agency folk are great at what we do.
In fact we're proud to have some very talented people working at all levels in all agencies and I understand it's easy, when you look as good as we do, to become entranced by our own beauty... by our art.
By all means create wonderful ideas that will enthral and beguile audiences.
But beware of the point when reality, or the reality of the brief at least, feels like an intrusion into your vision.
Because that's the point where you start looking for reasons to ignore what is being asked for.
You need to stop looking in the pool.
We are here to sell stuff.
To create solutions for the client, brand or company that does one of two things.
Increase the pleasure or decrease the pain.
That’s it, it’s simple.
In the world of the agency the real beauty is in the results

Oscar Wilde

I'm surprised I've got this far in my blog, without once referencing the man with a pithy bon mot for every occasion; Oscar Wilde.
So here’s one of my favourites.
Oscar observed the difference between an optimist and a pessimist.
One sees the doughnut and the other sees the hole.
Funny, clever, insightful.
Don’t you wish you’d thought of that?
What we can agree on is that the world economy is in a bad place and as we start forecasting for 2010 its going to get even tougher.
It’s going to take pretty much every fibre of positive action we can muster to get ourselves through it.
So all you guys out there who like their glass half empty, your job is to try and bring some realism rather than negativity.
Make sure you're seeing the whole.

Rome Wasn’t Built In A Day

Given that Jack Morton has been around for over 70 years now, we’ve been able to develop a really good sense of self.
We know our strengths and we understand our heritage.
The years we’ve taken becoming the business we are today was time well spent.
Relationships work the same way.
The longer the courtship the better the marriage.
Shotgun weddings have a tendency not to last.
So when the opportunity to work with a client comes along, don’t feel the need to rush them down the aisle.
Get to know them, understand their likes and dislikes.
Because the relationship will be that much stronger for the time you put into it.

Who's A Clever Boy Then?

Who's heard of the 1958 film Teacher's Pet?
No-one?
Ok, that's not much of a surprise.
Despite staring Clark Gable and Doris Day it was never really destined to be a long-term classic.
But it’s worth remembering, or at least looking up, for one stroke of genius.
The producers smartly cast 50 influential Hollywood reporters as, well, reporters.
Some of them even had speaking roles.
Shockingly, the film got rave reviews when it was released.
Who saw that coming?
The key is to engage and involve your key stakeholders.
Sure, it might be a little painful, and may take slightly longer, but you’ll be amazed at the difference it makes to the end result.

Dennis The Menace

We all know a Dennis.
He’s the guy that you’ll find in every company, stalking the halls in a negative frame of mind, bringing down the people around him.
Sometimes you’ll find yourself questioning how he gets away with the kind of behaviour that would see other people dragged into the boss’ office.
Someone will say with a shrug and an ironic laugh, “it’s just the way he is.”
The problem is, Dennis can be good at what he does so the benefits of having him around outweigh the pain involved.
But what happens when the cost of Dennis’ toxic behaviour (in terms of its impact on the team around him) outweighs the value he brings?
What if that maverick behaviour rubs off on other people, who figure “well, it works for him...”
That’s when the problems really start to escalate.
Dennis spends his life in ‘his zone’ – it’s what makes him good at his job.
It’s also why he’s usually unaware of his impact on the people around him.
Someone needs to talk to him, explain what’s happening and give him the chance to turn things around.
Otherwise it’s a relay race where one of the team is hitting their mates over the head with the baton
And that’s no way to win.

Don’t Order The Soup

I started my career in catering, and trained as a chef.
Great cooking skills weren’t the only things I took away from that early phase of my working life.
I also made a simple rule for myself which, I never dreamed of breaking.
My Rule?
Never have the soup.
It’s simple really.
I always considered it as a waste of a choice.
But there I was this week, sitting in a restaurant and finding nothing that really grabbed me on the menu.
So I ordered the soup, and it turned out to be one of the most delicious things I’ve ever tasted.
As I finished the bowl, I found myself wondering how many other options I’d closed my mind to, based on ill-informed reservations and prejudices.
The wasted choice wasn’t picking the soup from the menu, it was all those times I’d missed out on something great because I thought I knew best.

PLU... People Like Us..

19th Century biologist Sir John Lubbock had a great job – he got ants drunk.
He wanted to study the effects of alcohol by testing it on insects, and I guess the ants responded the best.
Interestingly, he noticed that the sober ants would carry their drunken friends home, provided that they were from the same colony.
Strangers were cast aside (to sleep it off I imagine).
The lesson in all this, aside from ‘choose your drinking partners wisely’, is that we all strive to make connections with people like us.
A community isn’t something that can be invented or simply willed into being.
Communities happen naturally, when people find each other through a shared connection – that might be geographical, cultural or preference based.
The key for brands is not to control the community, but to find a way to become part of it.
And you have to be convincing, or you run the risk of being cast aside too.

Make It Memorable

My mate Scott Wilson, MD of Weber Shandwick’s Consumer Division, tells a great story about Antigua.
He was once in the fortunate position of having to promote the Caribbean paradise as a holiday destination, and was trying to find a hook. “We’ve got lots of beaches” they said.
But so what?
So Scott counted them, (OK I’m sure he didn’t actually count them but he found something out)
It turned out that Antigua had exactly 365 beaches.
And you know what that means – one for every day of the year.
Now, you can bet your flip-flops that everyone that read Scott headline, or hears that line about Antigua (including you) will never forget that little nugget about its abundant beachiness.
There’s always something – a hook, snippet or phrase – that you can leave people with.
It means that you’ll stay front-of-mind with them and give them a reason to recall your last meeting.
In fact, if it’s a good one, I can promise that they’ll even mention it the next time you speak.

Taking A Fall

Consider this post a special dedication for my son Fox.
As you’ll already know, he carries a tremendous amount of responsibility on his small shoulders as the lead in Billy Elliot: The Musical.
Every night he’s on stage, I stand outside the theatre and listen to the audience blow the roof off the building when Fox does his show-stopping signature song ‘Electricity’.
There’s a crescendo right at the end of the song when Fox adds an extra spin, runs up the wall and does a backward somersault.
It’s a spectacular move and the audience loves it. (Here it is )
But then on Saturday night, they didn’t seem to love it as much as usual.
It turns out, Fox missed his mark and didn’t do the flip.
He was inconsolable all the way home because he’s such a perfectionist.
So I explained to him that when your A-game is as good as his, you need the occasional fall from grace to put it all into perspective.
When excellence is your day-to-day reality, it stops feeling like excellence and starts to feel rather ordinary.
When a mistake is made, it’s a great chance to remind yourself just how great you usually are.
As I told Fox after the show, without the low you can’t judge the high.
Until you’ve felt the sting of defeat, you can’t possibly enjoy the significance of the victories.