Northern Planner

Why strategy is like cycling

Greg Lemond is the only official American winner of the Tour de France (we'll leave out the discussions about a certain Texan). 

He won it three times, even more impressive considering wins two and three came after being being shot by his brother in a hunting accident.

He rubbed many up the wrong way because he could not help but be honest and, to some, over earnest.

But whatever you think I think of thst, I love this very honest quote about what it's like to a pro cyclist.

"It doesn't hurt any less, you just go faster"

This gives comfort to an increasingly creaky boned forty something like me.

Knowing that they may go a hell of a lot faster, but they feel the same agony as I do climbing a steep hill.

It means something else though, which is worth bearing in mind if you do strategy work.

Not only can you not avoid putting the work in, if it doesn't make you suffer sometimes, you're not doing it right.

I don't mean the ridiculous presenteeism culture or sweatshop mentality.

Certainly not the bullying.

(like the false belief that doping has been eradicated in cycling, don't believe for a second that the very real dark side of agency life isn't still there because in many places it still is)

I mean the pain of doing the work really well. 

Don't believe the case studies, it's not easy. There are few ta dah moments, it's mostly banging your head against a brick wall until something emerges. 

The simultaneous fear and love of the blank page.

The knowledge there is a simple idea idea forming but you just can't articulate is yet.

The exhaustion from going over every single piece of information again and again, knowing there is no connection, but it will come.

Strategy directors go through as much pain as juniors, they just hide it better.

Even worse, their instincts and experience are greater.

It becomes seductively to fall in love with your first thought and articulate the shit out of it.

Or recycle a small library of great strategies again and again. 

Many agencies you will know of frequently recommend the painfully obvious but dressed up with clever words and amazing storytelling

Like creative ideas that hide behind the Mac, refusing the exposure of the rough scamp.

Too much strategy hides behind data and cultural reference, avoiding the glare of the simple 'get' 'to' buy'. 

Or 'issue' 'insight' 'idea'.

Working at Pixar is painful. Their best films emerge from constant improvement at the most detailed level.

One of the most creative companies in the world simply works harder on their movies and leaves nothing.

Just as the best sculptors chip away at a stone block for the work to eventually reveal itself.

Hard work and perseverance may be uncool, but they are the only sure ways to excellence. 

It's tempting when you have the option of short-cuts or re-purposing work you did before to just do that.

But it's not like taking EPO or steroids, it doesn't make you better. 

Unfortunately for strategy people, there is no equivalent of doping in our job.

It if it isn't painful to some degree, you're not doing the job as well as you could or should.

What Game of Thrones teaches us about Dogma and not marketing to yourself

I was chatting to some friends this (actually face to face to face, yay!! Even though it was under a canopy and the rain was pouring down, it was ace).

The discussion roamed far and wide, but there was a spirited difference of opinion on Game of Thrones. A minority thought the whole thing was an overrated waste of time, while a real outlier thought the ending was actually quite good (if you haven't watched it, the common view is that the final series was something of an anti-climax). 

It got me thinking, there are plenty of things in popular culture you're expected to love, things that are beyond criticism. There are others you're supposed to hate. 

Take Mrs Browns Boys. Most people I know think it's hateful, but there is a reason the BBC gives it primetime. The so called mass market loves it.

Actually, most people couldn't give a monkeys about Game of Thrones. 

What does this mean for the job?

 

First, know your audience and avoid doing strategy for yourself. 

Do everything to understand what the people you are trying to influence take to the hearts and enjoy, it's not likely to be the same as you. 

Marketing is really a battle for popularity, don't forget that. 

Take time to read weird reference to generate originality and a fresh perspective, but spend even more time watching, reading and experiencing the real day to day of their lives.

They think life is more interesting than brands, so genuinely start with what they find interesting and work back. 

 

Second, be wary of the 'you must like this and hate this' rules in your own job. 

Just as millions of people like U2, Mrs Browns Boys and Venom (panned by the critics), don't be pressured to parrot Byron Sharpe.

Question Mental Availability, it's only part of the story.

Question the relentless 'short-term is evil, long-term is the one true God' agenda. 

Successful digital clients are questioning the focus on digital performance and moving back to brand building, you should too.

But then again, be wary of the 'emotional brand is good, rational persuasion bad' dogma.

Be even more a wary of those who say people want to buy from a brand with a social purpose, but they will be right some of the time. 

 

In other words, it's good to respect the experience and practises of people in the industry, but the reality is, most ways of doing things work some of the time, but not all of the time. 

No one likes to admit that the job is artful dance of doing what will work and what you are expected to do. 

I didn't say it was easy.

And that person who thought Game of Thrones ended well was me!!

 

 

My thing - plan for moments not campaigns

I was looking at some old IPA diplomas for something or other. 

I like many if these, they have so much value to spark thinking and it's obvious the writers have worked very, very hard. 

That said,  I'm naturally nervous of encouraging planners to naval gaze, as the result is often clever rather than practical. 

I'm all for challenging the received wisdom though, as I firmly believe much of the laudable work done by the IPA and Byron Sharpe is in danger of making the data fit the usual beliefs.

Especially the IPA Data bank work, built from a very small sample, relatively speaking, yet taken as gospel.

It did make me ask myself what I thought and what I would say if I had to write one. It might go something like this. Written with brutal simplicity:

I BELIEVE BRANDS SHOULD FOCUS ON CREATING MOMENTS, NOT CAMPAIGNS

We have long known that people remember very little about their own lives, spending most of their days on autopilot, so the brain isn't overloaded. We also know they don't even recall all of the experiences they want to concentrate on - we tend to remember the beginning, the end and the highs and lows in the middle. So it follows that the slavish obsession with 'campaigns' and 'long term ideas' may not the best approach to building brands after all, because people in the real world don't live like that. 

What's more, in world that's making too much stuff, where no person can consume all the content on their 'must watch' lists, let alone bother with the advertising getting in the way, brands will increasingly have to work with the brain and how it makes memories, not against it. 

LIFE COMES DOWN TO A FEW MOMENTS AND SO DO BRANDS

It doesn't matter what the event, life-stage or experiences, most of what we experience get's processed deep into the subconscious. Humans remember beginnings (it's the first day at work is so critical), endings (why film companies focus group closing scenes),  turning points (turning 30, New Year, the transition from Spring into Summer, Darth Vader telling Luke he is his father), low points (it's why you remember the driver that cut you up but nothing else about your drive) high points and magic moments that elevate the ordinary (Wiggle an online retailer puts free Haribo in every delivery, an average hotel in the US has popsicle silver service for kids by the pool and gets stellar reviews). 

It follows that brands will come down to a few moments too. Yet we love to plan for the long term and, when it comes to media, worry about flighting and longevity v reach, when maybe we should worry more about impact and attention.

What if we planned for moments rather than campaigns?

Instead of worrying about the bits in the middle that people forget, what if we only planned for great beginnings, great endings and moments that elevate the ordinary? What if we worked with the flow of life rather than against it? 

THE ANSWER TO SHORT-TERM V LONG TERM IS THE WRONG DISCUSSION 

Maybe the endless discussion on long-term brand building v short term activation misses the point. Business lives in quarters, people live in moments. 

That way we'd make our clients happy and annoy consumers a lot less!

What if we asked what the short term problem is and then solve it in a way that cannot be missed? That doesn't mean inconsistency by the way. Google Pointilism and you'll find a method of panting dot by dot. No two dots are the same, but they make up a consistent, inspirational picture. 

Think of a book, all the chapters are different, yet each one drives the narrative forward. 

This has an advantage for brands living in a time where culture is faster than ever before, where nothing seems to be certain. Those that embrace the marketing at the real speed of culture and the half-life of modern attention spans, can leave the cumbersome, slower competition moving at a glacial pace in the rear view mirror.

There are pioneers. In the UK, few know what Brewdog is going to do next, yet their string of tactics adds up to a very commercially successful whole. Paddy Power kickstarted unprecedented growth through a series of stunts that gave a voice to what sports fans were really thinking.

Amazon destroyed competitors by always doing what they wouldn't, couldn't or didn't dare. Paralysing them with their unpredictability.

Arguably, Donald Trump became President by rejecting relentless triangulation and just firing salvos at Twitter faster than more traditional candidates could respond (unfortunately). 

Back to brands. This kind of thinking has worked for the creative itself.  Snickers is for the when 'you're not you when you're hungry', we thanked Crunchie it's Friday, Guinness used to be about waiting for the pint to settle, with Orangina, you Shake the Bottle to Wake the Drink. 

THEREFORE BRANDS SHOULD PLAN TO BE GREAT SOME OF THE TIME, NOT ALL OF THE TIME

So in conclusion, because we only remember a few moments in any experience, a better way of planning how to build your brands should focus on the moments that matter. How people buy, how they consume it and, most importantly, moments in real life where you can work with beginnings, endings and moments that elevate the ordinary. 

In other words, short term tactics and specific rituals that work with how the brain forms memory to build long term effect.

This approach naturally fuses the skills of data, PR, media and creative, but to be honest, it's just about remembering to be human. Who'd have thought that planning for real life would leave the competition second guessing?

It could be as simple as a Haribo packet in a delivery, owning a moment in the week, making the most boring moment of the month spectacular ...or a hair colour brand only trying to reach people on the first of the month (most women colour their hair at the start of the month, it's a transition and they feel flush!!). 

In other words, brands can win with smaller budgets and firepower, by simply planning to be extraordinary some of the time, instead of being average all of the time. 

 

 

Why the recent Account Planning Survey suggests agencies need to value planners again before it's too late

The Account Planning Group has done a fascinating survey on how planners are feeling right now. 

It's really worth a look to make up your own mind, but what struck me was the fact that nearly one 1 in 3 are less than sure they want to continue as a planner post-pandemic. 

I couldn't tell you if this is higher than this time last year, or if they want to remain a strategy type, just not in agencies, however this is still worrying. 

There will be many reasons why, we re-appraise everything in big turning points - we're living in the mother of turning points right now. 

Naturally, intelligent, curious people will wonder what else it out there at times like these. 

They'll also get some fresh perspective to decide, is it really worth it? The uncertainty that comes with your agency always being three phone calls away from oblivion. Avoiding burnout from the long hours the job sometimes demands. Keeping going when planners often don't feel valued and need to constantly justify their very existence in a way creatives, suits and others do not.

Agencies have always had open bars (phrase stolen from the survey) for planners to a certain degree.

Wearing what you like, being around colourful people, work that is genuinely interesting and varied. That felt more than worth it when most other jobs meant wearing suits, conforming to corporate rules and generally 'working for the man'. Agencies felt like a rare place where curious, thoughtful people who loved solving puzzles, yet also really enjoyed being creative could flourish. 

The trade off between the interestingness and the downsides will seem less attractive to many these days. 

The immediate context is that when you enjoy sparking off a team and being part of a great culture (although this isn't all agencies anyway, many with the grooviest clothes and best designed offices are the most conservative and, in many cases, more intimidating than the Devil Wears Prada), it's worth it. 

You don't get that from endless Zoom meetings. 

There are longer term issues at play here too though. 

In recent years, corporate life has become, well, less corporate and more progressive. More relaxed clothes, more relaxed culture, better work life balance, much better at mental health - better than agencies I'd wager. 

It has also remained relatively secure while agency life has felt more tenuous. After talking to a few planners who work in house, they also seem to feel more appreciated and able to do purer work, because they don't have to then sell it in, or post rationalise something a creative has had in there drawer for few years. 

No wonder there is a slow creep of client companies taking planning in house, no wonder planners are wondering, is all there is?

I loved Drive by Daniel Pink.

The clear theme is that modern employees want autonomy (sense of freedom in their role), mastery (the chance to get better at their discipline) and belonging (part of something bigger than them that they believe in).

If you run an agency, or a planning department, read the survey and ask yourself, do your people really get this?

Do they really feel valued or are they required to conform to that necessary evil cliche?

Do they get the freedom to push things, or are they trapped by proprietary process, constricted by micromanaging suits or even cowered by a rampant creative department?

Most importantly, do they feel they belong? Can they believe in your agency and the work it does? Does your culture really feel that good or is just a corporate sweatshop with better coffee and a few beanbags? 

Even more importantly, ask yourself do you care? These are curious people who want to feel stimulated and valued. If you don't value your planning team, it's increasingly likely they'll escape the open cage to somewhere that will - and it may be your clients. 

Planning is a fantastic job, done by fantastic people, I think its one of the best jobs in the world and more interesting than ever right now- I hope agencies try and hold on to the people that do it before it's too late. 

Right now, many companies known for performance marketing are betting on brand, there's the conflict between long and short term, the demand for creativity for way more than creative work. Every rule in the book is up for grabs now that COVID has shattered any semblance of the status quo, while for years before the pandemic, media was fragmenting, culture was getting faster and more porous and nothing seemed certain.

There has never been a better time for planners to add value, but first you have to value them.

 

 

Do your reps -what the brains of taxi drivers can teach planners and brands about putting the work in no matter how well you're doing

When I used to race at swimming, we were always neurotic about managing form, peaking for the big races, not overtraining, the usual.

What astounded me was the effect of holidays. Just a two weeks off and when you got back into the pool you were just rubbish.

It would take at least the time off to get back to where you were. 

It's why I have a love hate relationship with swimming now. I never want to lose the feeling of doing something well, being able to do something most can't, but it's just not possible to feel how it did when I was training 5 hours a day. 

This is why Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hours theory is only half the story. It may take that long to get to expert status, however, if you don't keep practising, your hard won superiority will disappear quite quickly. 

Not just the body, the mind. 

London taxi drivers have been found to have the part of their brain responsible for spacial awareness and navigation much bigger than average. When they retire though, it rapidly goes back to average. 

Just as a swimmer might lose big shoulders, their brains will forget how to swim without thinking and they lose their feel for the water. After just two weeks aways you feel like a balloon. 

Naturally, this means that strategy folks can't afford to sit back and relax once they become a director or whatever.

As soon as you don't write many briefs, you're once tight, inspiration pieces will become bloated and dull - or at least it will take you twice as long to get where you used to.

Looking at lots of information, cutting through the clutter and saying 'it's just about this' will become more of a headache and you'll be more likely to get lost down a rabbit hole of information overload. The complicated will remain complicated. 

Of course, you could decide to be a leader who just guides without getting their hands dirty, but the more you go stale, the less you'll move forward and you'll just be replaced. When so much talk around the job is the craft (maybe too much) those who are not craftspeople will get jettisoned. 

Its great to be modest and let others shine, but eventually you'll be outshone.

You should think about your clients this way. Brands are really habits people have adopted to make life simple. As soon as you switch off marketing, without that continuous presence in hearts and minds, the habit becomes weaker and eventually they'll buy something else that's easier or more exciting.

People need to buy to keep buying and you need to keep reminding them why. 

In other words, no matter if you're an athlete, a planner/strategist or brand, you can never afford not doing your reps. 

Why Obi Wan Kenobi (mostly) knew more about brands than most marketers

"In my experience there's no such thing as luck". Obi Wan Kenobi.

I'm no Jedi Master, but while I only agree with Obi Wan's statement up to a point (the fact I haven't won the lottery proves there are exceptions to his rule), his approach has something going for it. 

Take sport. The point is NOT knowing who will win, but you always know who has the biggest chance. 

I can tell you that when I used to compete at swimming, while there were many variables affecting who won on the day, like how I slept the night before, a bad start, cocking up a tumble turn,  and my confidence that day, luck had little to do with the result.

The same people tend to win more often. 

It came down to talent, naturally, but then the overriding factor was how much you had prepared. How much training had gone in, the quality and specifics of that training and how much you had timed to peak for that race. 

Luck, to be honest, was a minor player.

Of course, you'll be saying, what about sports with more variables?

It's less likely a golfer will win a tournament or a cyclist will win every race. Nevertheless, while the variables may have gone up for both sports, the pattern is the same. Some competitors tend to win, or at least place higher that others more often.

Ask Tiger Woods (about golf, not driving or relationships) or Chris Froome.

Allow for the variables and, once again, the real secret of success is talent and the right kind of training - the amount and specificity. 

One more variable in both kinds of sports though, is innovation and tech. The competitors and teams that continually try new approaches and new equipment, win even more often. 

When Team Sky first came on the cycling scene, everyone laughed at their fancy pants ideas, now everyone copies them. 

Swimmers smashed world records when they wore body suits, some were way ahead of the curve on this. 

So yes, hard work, specific preparation and willingness to innovate ahead of the curve. 

Put another way, great players make their own luck. 

 

So does a great business. 

 

Firstly, for a bet to pay off, you have to actually make it.This is where the innovation bit comes in. 

If you've read Why Most Things Fail (and you should) you'll see on the face of it, that most companies eventually fail, even titan FTSE 100 companies or whatever. Simply because economies are far too complex to predict, there are too many variables.

Because of bloody people.

Despite what many economists would like you to think, all markets are based on the the decisions of people and if there is one thing we know about humans, in the real world, not the theories and pen portraits, they don't decide on logic, they're horribly unpredictable and irrational.

Turns out the only chance you have is to constantly invest in staying ahead of the curve.

Trying stuff, creating behaviour rather than trying to predict it. 

Companies that constantly innovate survive longer. Not because all their bets pay off, but because some bets pay off big. 

The worse bet you can make is hope things stay the same, because nothing does. 

There is no reason that Blockbuster shouldn't have become Netflix, except they realised too late that people would download movies online, even before the next leap that the content makers and delivery platforms could be interchangeable. Arguably, Sky in the UK is way behind Netflix and Amazon on this. 

In fact, the fleet of foot can totally obliterate the big and powerful just by exploiting their cumbersome scale, infrastructure and culture. Barnes and Noble should have stopped Amazon in it's tracks, but culturally, couldn't get their heads around selling books online. Like most things, if you don't care about what you're doing, it won't work. 

Love him or hate him, Trump became President because his opponents simply could not predict what he would do next. While they were busy trying to respond to his latest Tweet conventionally, he was on to the next hand grenade. 

Just as, I believe, Adidas couldn't (and still can't) get their heads around Nike talking about the emotional truths of sport rather than just bland performance.

There's learnings in this for marketers when it comes to short term v long term.

First, think small no matter how big you are. 

Second, stop worrying about short term and long term!!

To be basic, remove reasons not to buy, constantly refresh memory structures (we've all read the book). 

We can do better though.

Just try lots of stuff, not just creative stuff, and see what sticks. The more you do what will confuse the competition the better. 

I don't mean making it up though, there's a way to keep the others guessing while creating sure things.

The source material is easy, it's real life. For some reason, people in agencies and even marketing departments forget to be human when they do the job. Life is more interesting, complex, inspiring, scary and uplifting than anything else. The very best of our work remembers this and embraces it.

When life itself is so uncertain, up for grabs and fast, I think there's never been more opportunity to keep the competition guessing by simply losing your tin ear for what is really going on in the lives of the people who really decide the fortunes of companies: the people who buy their stuff. 

But here's the rub. Coming back to long term training and input, always be building the brand.

The harder you work on this, no matter what, the better your luck will be. Perversely, even more when life is so fragmented. 

When life is this changeable, there has never been a better time to genuinely build a big consistent brand.

Life is more complex, people have more to think about than ever, so surely it's a golden opportunity to be a brand that remembers what it's for - to help people NOT to think.

Let everyone else just chase clicks or think ONLY in weeks or quarters.

Be one of the smart cookies that can make lots of little things add up to a lot.

Create lots of little acts that add up to a bigger story while the dinosaurs spend months researching creative and cool kids focus on stunts that have little shelf life beyond a fleeting headline. 

Just make sure you're addressing an actual business issues, not doing what is cool.

In other words, where are we now, where could we be, how do we get there and how did we do? It's the planning cycle, it's not new. It's just that rather than a cumbersome oil tanker turning around, it should feel like a Catherine Wheel.

Life Moves Pretty Fast (thanks Ferris). Keep up. I'm not sure brands can 'create culture' like they used to, but when culture us so fast, multi-faceted, porous and down right interesting, why would anyone feel they need to?

So, in in a world full of surprises these days, while I hope I've convinced you to think about creating surprises of your own.

However, there has also never been a better time to invest in the one constant you can - a brand with a big idea behind it. 

The trick these days is to find a big idea that helps create lots and lots of stuff, rather than the old school version where the brand police kept everything the same for years, usually only thinking about 30 second films. 

It's not easy, but those that can crack it will be very successful indeed. 

I think Obi Wan had point. But maybe he should have said there is such a thing as luck, but mostly the same people tend to get lucky. 

Put in the long term preparation, but never stop trying to push ahead and keeping an open mind on what's possible. Keep the others guessing. 

To misquote Princess Leia, 'the more you tighten your grip, the more growth will slip through your fingers'. 

 

Why brands should be more Marvel than DC, and more real life and craft than brand purpose

When out for a socially distanced walk, from a 'social distance'  you're able to observe the other atomised bubbles of people.

Their body language, facial expressions and, avoiding looking like a stalker, even a snippet of the conversation.

Naturally, you'll chance upon serious discussion about COVID. However, there will be more banter, gossip, idle chat, bickering or just shooting the breeze.

Because even in these times that suck your soul like a Harry Potter Dementor, the people living them are managing to find little ways to lift each other's spirits. In real life, everywhere we're trying to be cheerful where we can.

Yet in brand land, you can't move for serious minded brand purpose.

Forgetting that much of the popular culture around it is decidedly cheerful.

Advertising is becoming relentlessly serious and 'purpose', rather than good.

And don't get going on 'precision' rather than charm, surprise and delight, that's for another day.

It's been like this for a while. Brands deciding they want to save the world or stand up for human rights, even though their job is to fill you up at breakfast, or hoover the floor. 

Obviously, brands that reflect real culture sell more, but the operative word is real culture.

Nike can serious, do equality, be that race, gender or anything, because those issues are in sport. This IS the culture. Also, they have spent years building an authentic voice built on 'if you have a body, you're an athlete'. 

Axe can do stuff on male identity because the whole point of deodorant is confidence. Then again, look at what happens when Old Spice decides to have fun.

Just as Brewdog finds it easy to build traction just by NOT pretending to be the saviour of all men.

Still, I have a sneaky suspicion that the funny, well crafted beer campaigns of old would piss all over modern stuff. Partly because they were built on product truths and partly, they were all full of light hearted banter - the real culture of what beer is supposed to be about. I wonder if the people in beer marketing have ever actually been to a pub sometimes (current times excepted). 

In fact I know beer ads of old would work, Bud Light is essentially beer ads of old. 

So yes, peanut butter can now be source of strength to get you through a tough life because it's got protein in, when really it's wonderful comfort food (and a source of friction between crunchy and smooth camps). It can even be a way to save the planet if it's sustainably sourced. Apparently. 

Of course, well sustained food should be important, and many buyers choose this way. Not all though. 

And when every brand is has traceable ingredients, how will they be different then?

PG Tips tea bags can save the world because they're 100% recyclable. But I doubt it will shift as many units as Yorkshire Tea doing more ads with Sean Bean about properness, where you feel good about EVERYTHING they do, especially the taste.

I'm sure there is a house cleaning brand somewhere sponsoring giving ex-cons a second chance by wiping the bloody slate clean.

All because people take research at face value, or listen to the lies respondents tell because they think it's what they should say (or they lie to themselves, just we all believe this January really will be a fresh start, or we bought that sports car because of the turbo engine rather than the status we think it gives us). 

People do care about the environment more, thankfully all sorts of issues on equality, race, fairness and health are becoming important to more people. It's fair to say many like to know companies are playing their part in this.

But it's not WHY they buy all the time.

It can be for many kinds of people and many kinds of categories. But even with cars, yes, thank god, eco friendly machines are popular, but let's be honest, an electric powered Porsche is still a penis extension. An MPV is still a mess of sweet wrappers and squabbling kids. 

P&G could do the 'sponsor of Mums campaign' because, while vaguely sexist, loads of their products were used by global Mums - beauty, cleaning and babies (I over simplify but don't let fact ruin a well made point). 

Dove can do The Campaign for Real Beauty because it's grounded in real truths ABOUT the category.

I hope I'm making my point about reflecting the culture around what your selling, rather than pretending to be something you're not.

I think there's a bigger cultural point though. It's become fashionable to try and cut-through by tapping into issues and getting serious about real life. 

Which shows a tin ear for real culture to be honest. Because even in serious lockdown times, so much popular culture is an escape. In fact, Brainjuicer found people getting pissed off with 'we're all in this together' ads bringing reality crashing into moments when people were trying for forget about life for a while.

Great entertainment tends to resonate with what we feel and care about without talking about it direct.

Bond is a confused and man struggling with his place in the world these days, because that makes him relatable to 'nowadays'. He stills shags lots of women and drives ridiculous cars, even if he shows his bruises more.

Look at the mostly tanking DC superhero universe v the soaring Marvel world. DC is relentlessly dark, brooding and heavy. Marvel really makes you feel something, yet manages to be really funny, light and even laugh at itself.

It has strong female characters, LGBT heroes, Thor has obesity issues and drink issues. It's of it's time. 

But it remembers to have craft. They actually bother to create tight stories, great dialogue and develop characters with the relatable conflicts. In other words, it feels like real life even though it obviously isn't. 

It reflects our lives back at us, while helping us forget it. 

Now, cut back to so many of the clunky campaigns out there lazily getting into 'issues' because they think they're doing 'culture' and believe people when they say they buy good deeds more than good products.

They don't half as much as they say, or Amazon would be out of business. 

So few bother to understand the real world around what they're selling, and then the real culture they're interrupting.

I'm saying there is massive commercial power in going back to actually selling products (or at least emotional benefits) rather than just values. 

Or, to be fashioned. Say something about the product in a way that cannot be missed.

Put another way, in when marketers are all going a bit DC, it's time to be more Marvel

The danger of shared agency values and the why people who think you are probably holding you back

There's a certain global FMCG powerhouse 'house of brands' company I've never worked for.

I used to share a flat with someone I did though and used to hang with him and his work colleagues a lot.

It was amazing how alike they were.

I don't mean the usual diversity stuff. They were a broad mix of ethnicity, nationality, gender and everything.

Yet when they go together it was a bit like a cult.

This was a good thing of course, it fostered a shared sense of belonging, there was a clear feeling of shared identity and being part of something.

Yet, somehow they were part of a hive mind that all worked and thought the same way. I sensed they would rarely be exposed to, certainly wouldn't welcome, fresh approaches or ideas that didn't fit some kind of format.

I experienced this at another global company, where you would only survive in meetings if you understood their particular brand of marketing speak. 

It held back a certain hair company that only liked to work with fashionista types. 

Don't think agencies are exempt from this. I've walked into many of the most lauded, creatively 'hot' organisations and experienced lots of people dressing and talking the same way.

It's the problem with company values.

In the wrong hands, companies can have a progressive hiring policy yet they flatten out the mental diversity.  

It's the mix of different ways of thinking and frames of reference that can be so potent for great work. 

Professor Daniel Levin of Rutgers Business School asked more than two hundred executives to reactivate contacts who were relatively dormant.

Some were then asked to to get two contacts to give advice on an ongoing project, while others were asked to get advice from more active contacts.

Overall, they found the most valuable, productive advice came from the dormant contacts.

Why? Because these are the people less likely to share our worldview or think and work like us.

It's so easy to give into the comfort of folks who agree with you, who are easy to work with.

But easy rarely leads to great. 

We need exposure to those likely to surprise us with a fresh approach our jolt our minds out of their comfort zones. 

That shows the power of a mentally diverse workforce, where people who think different are allowed to be themselves.

And encouraged to mix. 

It also shows the danger of hiring for diversity, but then losing out on all the potential from the positive friction, because you then  ask everyone to fit in, work in the same way and behave the same way. 

Cool agencies should look for uncool new hires, then try not to change them. 

Experienced agencies should look for people who don't know what they're doing, they'll offer a brilliantly fresh perspective. 

I love the myth that Weiden and Kennedy, arguably todays most successful independent network started out as a place for people who couldn't get a job anywhere else and worked in Oregon, as far away from the advertising hive mind as possible. 

Strategy and creative types should meet as many people unlike them as they can. Even find a partner that's hard to work with. 

Be careful of only following the profiles of the same industry people.

Read as many different blogs as you can, avoid strategy blogs like this one!!

This is why I like Ted for example, the sheer variety of talks will always teach you something new.

It's also why I avoid industry conferences.

Talking to yourselves is the first sign of madness. 

In other words, the more throw people together who have little in common, the more successful you're likely to be. 

 

Act now, but think long

I love the fact that Corona beer sales have gone up during the pandemic. I'm not sure there has been anything better to prove that much of what we do is about getting a brand front of mind - and it's really efficient to get there by aligning with what's happening in real life. 

In other words, surfing the wave of actual culture is commercial rocket fuel. That's what many PR and social media specialists will tell you. 

But I think that approach alone, is just another example of short term thinking. 

Of course, brands that talk to some sort of tension in real life do well. Life is more interesting than brands, people buy holes, not drills etc. 

However, if all you have is a collection of tactics that don't add up to something bigger, the effect of each one wears off really quick. 

It's no different to constant reliance on promotions. Both are addictive, both feel good in the short-term, both harm you in the longer term, because the biggest profit comes from building brand preference over a longer period.

Which means every single piece of activity needs to be building towards the same direction. Call it story, call is vision or even an ecosystem if you like. 

That's the trick with how things are these days. Life moves faster, you need to react to that and sometimes even provoke.

If you spend months naval gazing, you miss your moment. The nimble and fleet of foot can tie the big boys in knots by keeping everyone guessing.

It just all needs to add up to something.

Think about the great pieces of popular culture out there, what we're really up against.

You know what kind of telly to expect from HBO, there is a 'HBOness' to HBO output. It's the same for Channel 4 in the UK or any media brand. 

I love Curb Your Enthusiasm. 10 seasons in, it's still the story of a man with no filter. It started out dealing with what happens when someone doesn't have a purpose in life. Every season has dealt another theme, including political correctness and even racial tension. Endlessly surprising and inventive, but about one thing.

That's no different to when Paddy Power only did PR stunts. On the face of it inconsistent, but actually, the story of what happens when you give a voice what sports fans are really feeling.

Just as, arguably, Nike always tacks between different expressions of the point of view that 'if you have a body you're an athlete'. Or that nothing should come between people and the benefits of sport. They wrote the most amazing ads about equality in the 80s, they challenged snobbery in tennis and so on. 

When you resolve the tension between acting now and thinking long, you're onto something. 

The dance between consistency and surprise. 

It's not easy, but then again, things that are worth it rarely are.  

What dogs tell you about the dangers of researching like everyone else

I was told a good story about what happened when British planners first went to work in the US. I hope it's true.

Apparently, loads of TV ads suddenly had dogs in them, because the cunning expats knew it was a great way to smuggle creative through research. Show Americans creative with dogs in it and they'll love it. 

It says a lot about creative development research of course, but it also says something about what happens when everyone has the same starting point. 

When everyone uses dogs as their starting point to get work through, all the work has dogs in it, so all the work looks the same. 

That's the problem with doing research the same way as everyone else, or reading the same stuff. Even following the same process. 

All the work ends up in the same place. 

You can see it in the glut of activity out there which is all about a brand doing good in the world, because all the data seems to say people want to know they can trust a brand to be more transparent and share their values.

Not only is this very questionable. I don't see tax dodging, not a nice place to work Amazon losing market share right now. 

When everyone is at it, it loses its potency. 

I don't mean the few who have 'doing good' built into their DNA, I mean those who use it for marketing and nothing else.

Back when we really hated banks for causing the crash and you couldn't move for banking brands looking to build trust and be nice, Halifax saw that people might SAY they want banks to be good, but what really drove them was not wanting money to be a pain in the arse.

The do, not just the say. 

Perhaps, what life was really like, not what journalists wanted it to be like. 

It led to things like guides to asking friends for money back you've loaned them. A moment full of awkwardness and creative potency. It was fresh and human in a market of forced loveliness. 

All it took was dipping into what banking looks like in real life, rather than the news.

Sure, the 'doing good stuff' would have generated PR, but would it have sold? 

It's dead easy to look at the surface, to look a a 'trend'. The real gold tends to be in real life.

The more you live it, the more potent your work will be. 

 

Normal is Enough

There is immense pressure for people to be 'more' these days.

The vogue for side hustles, self-improvement, wellbeing as a project.

You saw it in subtle ways we felt we have to use the last lockdown productively.

It's bloody exhausting. 

You know what I did? I used lots and lots of little hacks and stuff to help myself and the people I care about retain a sense of normality.

I suspect I'm not alone. I can only imagine the piles of books unread, the Netflix lists not watched yet. The aborted Sourdough Starter kits. 

For years there's been pressure on planners to be interesting. In many cases, you won't get your first job unless you can show you've put something interesting out into the world. 

I liked some stuff ThinkBox did on how different people in marketing are to the people they are paid to influence and I suspect it's a real problem for strategy types.

Naturally curious, usually quite clever, but also under constant pressure to say and share interesting stuff. 

I understand there's a role get stimulus into the creative process, to help clients be part of culture rather than interrupt it etc. 

And yet. 

In my experience, the best creatives, or whoever executes don't need much stimulus for 'cool stuff'. What they need is a greater sense of what real life looks like for the people they're targeting.

Some of the very best (in the trade press at least) agencies I've worked with seemed to have a tin ear for what really moved people.

Look at soap operas. There is a reason the good ones last for years and years, they relate to all of use and how we're feeling. 

Planners were invented to bring the real lives of real people into the process. I think we've lost that. 

It's a commercial problem, because the data consistently shows that firing emotions build business effectiveness.

Don't be fooled by 'Fame' Of course, getting the brand famous matters, but famous for what?

Famous like Donald Trump? 

Its a work life balance problem too, because constantly having to be interesting is knackering.

I'm saying that we need more people who want to start with the fabric of everyday life.

Being normal is enough.

You are enough. 

 

What a painful ritual the week before the Christmas holiday taught me about planning and life

When I was a teenager I used to both dread and relish the week we're in now. I used to race at swimming and, the week before we had time off for Christmas, there was an evil tradition called 'Hell Week". 

It was exactly that, seven days of the hardest training our coaches thought we could endure, except even tougher. 

The reasoning behind it was sound. Firstly, it only takes two weeks for the bodies of trained athletes to lose a significant amount of the conditioning they may have built up, so it made some sense to put some pain in the bank before the Christmas break. 

More than that though, most of high level sport is won in the mind, your brain tells you the body is incapable of carrying on before you really have reached your limit. A week of going beyond what you thought you could do, while not sustainable for long, trained the mind to deal with more.

We all used to fear this week. Before, or since, I have never been that tired, never willingly gone through that much physical pain. A killer session before school, another one after. The ache in my arms and shoulders, always a constant companion, genuine hurt that would only go away with more training.

I also used to love it though. I liked to win of course, but I was much more interested in finding out what I was capable of. 'Hell Week' was the week of truth, nowhere to hide. You learned what how far you could go without giving in.

Those weeks didn't just put short term fitness in the bank, they taught me some things that help today.

If you're like me, not the most talented planner, the capacity for hard work doesn't half help. I've seen those for whom great thinking comes easily ultimately fail because when things gets tough, they're not used to having to fight. When you're used to having to battle for everything, you end up doing better work, because you leave no stone unturned. 

That annual ritual also taught valuable lessons for dealing with crisis. Let's be honest, there is lots of pressure in agency life, lots of setbacks and lots moments when you're really up against it. Those weeks taught me that as long as you endure, things will get better eventually, nothing is forever.

Yet, the real learning is that self-reliance can only get you so far. I would never have got through those weeks without the team around me. 

My swim team was incredibly close, yet these shared weeks of real hardship knit us together even more. We encouraged each other, never judged anyone who caved in, we just helped them pick themselves up and go again next time. 

None of us could have done it without each other.

So today, I'm not afraid to ask for help, not afraid to show weakness and only too willing to help others when they day job has some challenges. I also use a crisis to bond teams closer together, so they get through the moment, yet also emerge stronger for it. 

Bollocks to the stupid British stiff upper lip, real strength is admitting you're vulnerable. 

These lessons have helped in life too.

It's been an interesting year.

It would be easy to say that those weeks of learning resilience has made me capable of dealing with anything.

That would be untrue.

There is more than one kind of strength and the macho bollocks, or the British Reserve are probably the weakest.

I've learned that even the toughest times end eventually if you can just find a way to hold on.

More importantly, I know there is no shame in asking for help, that failing isn't failure, giving up is failure. 

Eventually, not now, but at some point, I"ll know the feeling of pride and self-worth from having survived. Able to smile fondly, standing on the edge of the whole you crawled out of, smiling fondly at the bloody claw prints that marked the journey up the walls. Yet profoundly grateful for the footprints next to you, of the people who reached out to pull you up, and the fact you could swallow your stupid pride to let them. 

 

 

Want to a better planner or strategist? Spend more time with yourself

Before I was old enough to do swim races, I was dragged along most weekends to watch my older sisters do it. Whole Saturdays sat by a pool, sometimes Sunday's too. 

I became professional at packing a bag to keep myself occupied. Books, Star Wars comics, pad and pencils for endless drawings. I was a quiet little boy, happy with his own company when forced. Sometimes I would just sit and daydream. 

Nevertheless, I still got bored. Not just on these endless weekends. 

The younger ones among you may not believe this, but once upon a time there was no internet, only 3 television channels, no mobile phones. 

Even with all the playing, the endless Star Wars role-plays, the books devoured, the cavalier risks taken on building sites on our BMX bikes, all the tennis, myself and my friends were bored.

I can remember impatiently waiting for the A-Team to come on every Friday. For the Sunday reveal of who was number one in the music charts.

Even in my twenties, we still got bored. Train journeys without mobiles or laptops meant lots of reading, it also entailed staring out the window. 

We don't get bored these days. We rarely have to deal with the discomfort of not being stimulated. 

When was the last time you were alone without your phone? 

I think this matters. Don't get me wrong, the past was not better. Shops closed on a Wednesday afternoon, popular culture was a bit racist and a lot sexist, the food was a lot worse, Margaret Thatcher ran the country. 

But being bored is a lost art, especially if you want to survive in an agency as a planning type. 

Because it's about confidence. 

Not the bollocks charisma and pretending to be someone you're not.

Having the foundations to withstand the knockbacks, the 'difficult characters', the stress, the uncertainty. 

Being able to put your best work in front of others and have it torn to shreds. 

It's also the secret to being good in meetings and presenting. 

Being yourself, not putting on a show, simply creating belief in others because you belief in yourself and what you're doing. 

The confidence to not be a dick, to be wrong sometimes, to listen to others. To not have to fucking win all the time.

Strategy people don't have to be right, they don't have to be the cleverest (don't forget, no one likes a smart-arse). 

They need to liberate the best in others. It takes self-confidence to sacrifice yourself to make others look good. 

The sure way to improve your confidence is to know who are and be happy with it. 

You need to be able to like yourself, your positives and your very real flaws. 

You need to spend time with yourself to get to this point. 

You have to get bored. 

So you can hear your mind, so you can truly know who you are. 

How you do it is up to you.

Running, gardening, knitting, baking or just sitting down for 20 minutes a day doing nothing. 

Spending time on your own, without distraction is the key.

I can also say that, in tough years like this (and mine has certainly be less than straightforward).

The more solid your foundations, the less likely the storm will blow you away. 

 

 

Gleaming detail

I may have mentioned I've had quite a year. 

If I knew you well enough and I were to tell you the full story, the focus would be three moments.

Ordinary moments or even objects that reveal far more because of their context. 

The moment myself and my two children, on our first holiday as a three, not four, ran into ocean, the cold cleansing our cares and worry away for a bit as it took our breathe away. The same as every year, but with a person missing. 

Doing repeat, steep, uphill repeats on my bike for an hour. Starting with mind broken and body intact. Gradually flipping this with every repeat until it was the body broken and the mind restored. The same as many days for me, but now the context was my mind and what it has been going through,  not the transient pain in my legs or burning lungs. . 

A Christmas tree bought alone.

These moments or images are, according to Bobette Buster, the Gleaming Detail. 

Moments and images of absolute clarity that reveal the absolute essence of a story. 

It's the bicycles in front of the moon in ET.

It's how the first thing women liberated from Belsen did was put lipstick on.

It's 'Luke I am Your Father'. 

It's Rocky running up the steps in Philadelphia. 

So what will be Gleaming Detail in your next presentation? Your next creative briefing? The ideas you're helping build?

 

Side before self, the way of the strategist

Let remind you, if you're a strategy type, you're job is to liberate the skills of everyone else.

The worst thing anyone client say in feedback is 'we really like the strategy, but the work didn't live up to it'. 

Yet it happens a lot.

Of course, you are tempted to bask in the glory of 'your bit' having really gone well.

Or at least dodging blame for the failure.

When actually you have failed the most.

You've let everyone down.

Because either your team didn't understand your thinking or it wasn't possible to execute it.

Even worse, you decided to you wanted to make yourself look good in a meeting rather than let everyone else look good.

There are cases, I know, when the people you are briefing just won't work from your thinking.

Maybe they have a fixed idea of what will work, maybe they are prima donnas.

All of these things are not just possible, I'm afraid they are highly likely.

But the worst thing you can do is write up the original thinking rewardless

Clients do not buy strategy, the but the ideas it generates.

So either change your thinking, or change people's minds.

There is no point strategising in isolation.

 

Even when it's all groovy and folks are building off your thinking, it's easy to look like two teams, not one. 

Whatever kind agency you are in, there's a moment where you hand over some sort of one page brief to everyone. 

Many places, especially in the pitch process will  expect you to turn the strategy into slides straight away.

To get ahead, to save time.

Assuming the people that then actually turn the thinking into action won't move it on.

When of course, at least if your place is any good, that's exactly what happens.

The work should be much, much, better than the strategy and take it to new places.

However, in many cases, the brief will look a little 'first page' next to the work it generates.

That's sort of the point.

So insist on waiting for the first review, or even better, the moment you have work to move on.

Then you can write your bit of a cohesive, compelling story, rather than just writing your own.

Be a midfielder. Why the best strategy for strategists is to generous.

One of the best pieces of advice I was ever given for the job was so simple.

No one needs you in the room.

So surrender your ego and be generous. 

This was in a time when 'the people in the room' were  account handlers and creatives, not much more.

They could get on quite happily without planning types.

Creatives thought they could do the strategy anyway, sometimes they were right.

Accounts handlers could advise the client, write briefs and evaluate creative perfectly well. 

Planners were at best an necessary evil. You had to make people want you there. 

Now, you have even more folks who can crack on quite happily without you.

Data folks, experience designers, UX specialists, SEO strategists...all these people in room or wanting to be there.

That's why planning types need to a radiator not a drain.

You can't be drain on everyone's energy, making everything more complex, with more barriers  and hoops to jump through.

You need to radiate energy, make everyone's life easier, be a joy to work with. 

In fact, I'll go further. Don't do anything to make yourself look good, make everyone else look good.

Seriously, make other people look good and you will do well. 

 

If you're starting out, trust me on the following realities.

You're not as good as you think you are yet. 

Most of what you've been taught, or read in books is at best a generalisation or at worst, plain wrong. 

Your attitude and approach will need a LOT of fine tuning. 

There's an easy to way to work on this, attach yourself to people who are already successful. 

As they move forward, so will you and you'll absorb all their knowledge and experience. 

It's not the route to quick glory but it is the route to long lasting success. 

While you put everything into serving them, you suck up all they can teach you. 

I'm not talking about brown nosing, I am talking about pouring all your energy into the success of others. 

This will be a lesson well learned no matter where you are in life as a strategy practitioner.

Because your job is to make everyone else look good.

Insight that can help clients discover new paths to growth.

Ways to unlock the creativity in your peers.

Helping the Clint team reinforce a good relationship. 

Forgive the football metaphor, but you're midfielder. You set up others to score.

Psychologists have long known that the best way to get someone to do what you want is to do them a favour first. 

So scratch their backs first. 

Think of it this way.

Who do you think others want around?

In an agency environment not without egos.

Someone who will compete for credit to attention?

Or someone they believe will help them get where THEY want to be.

 

Do don't be

I had a boss once who didn't do much of value. He read quoted whatever book he read. 

It was easier to feel good about being part of the latest fashionable (but unproven) may of thinking, than actually doing good stuff.

It was easier to feed the ego than craft good work. 

It was easy to recognise because I'd beeb there too in a much smaller way. 

Many, many years ago I had a bit of a wobble. I forgot myself.

It was back in the golden age of planner blogs.

There was a big community, I was part of it and amazingly one or two people liked what I wrote.

I got invited to the odd conference, even to speak.

I was offered jobs by people I'd never met. 

And for a little while it went to my head. The validation from BEING someone meant I focused less on DOING something. 

I became a little entitled. Not much mind, I'm not really that kind of person, I'm the kind who always fears getting found out.

Still.

It was seductively easy to be frustrated when my thinking was questioned, just because a few hundred people liked some post.

It was tempting to just copy a clever post from someone else, rather than putting the work into my own thinking. 

It was so easy to not bother with genuine insight because insights were out of fashion (they were trust me on this). 

Or feel validated by spending Friday morning in a cafe with loads of clever planners, rather than actually working. 

I nearly became a strategic smart arse. 

Thankfully I caught myself, but this was a lesson well learned. 

We all face this kind of choice at some point.

Do you want to be BE something or do you want to DO something.

Are you going to EARN or are you going to PRETEND.

There is so much bullshit in the industry, with so many talking heads ready to share un-earned wisdom, it's really easy to fake it.

Quote a few books, write a few opinion pieces, follow some proprietary process that looks good on paper.

Be the rock star singing songs someone else wrote. 

Let your ego deceive you. 

Of course, if you are more bothered about who you are in life than what you might accomplish, this is fine.

But once you give in a little to your ego, it begins to eat you alive. You begin to BELIEVE you are not pretending.

That's when you're fucked.

Because if you're not compelled to do the very best work and move things forward, you'll be replaced.

Either by someone who talks a better game or someone who can actually do the job. 

Perversely, if you forget about striving for recognition an do things worth recognising, you get the plaudits anyway.

You just know you earned them.

A little fear goes a very long way.

Ego is an eventual dead end. 

Why there are no iron laws of strategy

I get a sports massage sometimes. I cycle a lot, my legs end up in bits.

When someone gets their hands on my legs and makes it hurt, my legs feel so much better after.

Yet I have no idea why.

They used to think it helped blood flow. That's at best questionable based on what we now know.

They used to think it helped get rid of lactic acid. They now think lactic acid build up might be a good thing.

Probably, it's all psychological, but next year they'll change their mind.

In other words, it sort of works but no one really knows why. 

It's like looking at the rules of how marketing and brands work.

For example, in tracking, we seize on data showing that people who have seen a campaign also bought.  

Without checking if people already buy so naturally notice the brand's marketing. 

The received wisdom that 'trust' is the new barometer for brand health.

When Amazon is doing better than ever.

The shrill for TV as still the most effective medium (probably is).

Because so many companies that make up the data put all their effort into TV.

Then there's the endearing arguments over how brands should work.

Publicity, Disruption, the fake war between emotion and function. 

People are complex, markets are complex, life is complex.

So there really are not many rules that work.

Just as a football team that doesn't adapt their tactics for playing against different teams won't win as often. 

Apart from (in my opinion) make sure people remember and recognise you, remove reasons not to buy you, biggest barriers first.

So strategy isn't a science, it really isn't.

The same methodology used over and again will create different results. 

For the same client, let alone different ones.

Don't believe me? Look at any agency client list and case studies.

Rarely will you see case studies for all clients for every year.

Because they only show the stuff that worked. Not the huge proportion that did not. 

So, what iron law can you apply?

You can't.

There isn't the silver bullet to everything being perfect and working.

Your job is to make things less likely to go wrong. 

 

 

The rules of creative reviews (from a planner's point of view)

There are only two questions. Is it on brief? Is it any good?

So make sure there actually was a bloody brief and everyone knows what it was

The first job of a planner type is to feedback if its on brief, how and why

The second is to help discuss how it can be pulled back onto brief - or if the work shows the way to a better strategy

So start with a mindset of what could be, not what is, especially with regards to a brief that's only the start, not the final word

If its any good or not is everyone else's problem

Always try and speak last, because your first response will be wrong, we all resist new stuff, give yourself time to think

Don't be taken in by sparkling Mac work or a great line. Is there as idea that can be expressed in a sentence?

Be kind, 99% if creative work ends up in the bin

But don't accept creative types acting like children

Don't accept suits saying 'it will never work' to the 'the client won't buy it'. Get the best work then work out how to sell it

In fact don't work our how to sell it, if it's really doing to fulfil client objectives it should sell itself

Don't give false hope. If a route needs to die, kill it

If route needs to be saved, save it

Keep it fun, these should be the most fun meetings you have, otherwise why are you in this business?

Never ever give feedback before you're ready, once you speak, you're ego will demand you stick to your guns

Which also means, change your mind, during the meeting or after. It's not weak, it takes courage to admit you were wrong

Don't have them too late when the work it too far down the line, or too early when nothing is formed. Reviews are like Goldilocks

Try and have informal chats before, try and build the kind relationship where this is possible (making coffee helps)

Review as often as you can- think marginal gains not of massive leaps forward. If Pixar benefits from daily crit sessions so will you

Did I say speak last? People can't wait to speak, let them deliver bad news instead of you

Did I say make sure everyone knows the brief? Without a shared criteria to evaluate the work, it all becomes opinion

Listen more than speak, listen fucking hard. It's hard to listen while you preach

This isn't about you winning, its about the best work coming out, then everyone wins

 

 

 

 

How to end, and why it should actually come first

Life really come's down to a few moments. 

We really don't remember most of it.

if you drove somewhere and didn't remember the journey, you'll know what I mean.

We remember the Start, the Good, the Bad and the End. 

It's a good way to think about any meeting or any piece of communication. 

Start brilliantly. 

Throw in flagship moments along the way.

End amazingly.

You don't have to be amazing all the time, just some of the time. 

Arguably, we remember the end the most, so in a presentation, don't just fade out.

End with a thunderclap.

You can finish with a great call to action. We can do this if...

You can end with a choice. Do you want the quarter to be like this or this?

Lessons learned. The moral of this story is...

The answer. Start the presentation with a big question. You end with the big answer. 

Rhetorical question. So do you want to stay as you are?

Whatever you do, make it memorable. 

Make it the thing everything is built around.

In other words, start with the end. 

 

Oscillate Wildly

It's the name of a Smiths track but it's also a way to persuade others about strategy. 

If what you've done is any good, it will resolve a simple tension.

Between where you are and where you could be. 

Much of the the work is defining those two things.

Then how to narrow the gap.

Which means how you present your work could well focus on these two things and only these things. 

To get from here to there, we need to do this..

We want to get here, what is getting in way is....

It's the basis of Luther King's I have a Dream.

Or Obama's Yes We Can.

Or even Vote Leave endlessly repeating take back from control.

I have a dream that one day these things will happen, rather than a world where these things happen.

We want these things which don't happen now, can we do them? Yes we can.

If you want to stop these things in your life happening you need to take back control.

It works for brands and stuff.

Imagine a world where everyone feels able to participate in sport no matter who they are.

Imagine a world where washing powder harms the environment.

Imagine a world where the label doesn't have to say 'may contain nuts'.

Imagine a world where computers are a joy to use.

What if by the end of the year people thought of our biscuits as an everyday treat rather than an occasional luxury?

The trick is then not set up the problem then talk about the solution.

Keep oscillating between them.

The contrast keeps it interesting.

It keeps is consistent.

Because you're only talking about one thing.

Pure strategy.

How to get from where you are to where you want to be.

The magic is how. 

 

Finding your voice and avoiding fancy dress

The sprinter, Michael Johnson, was maybe the best in history over his distance.

His running style looked very wrong, but he didn't change it, it worked for him.

 

John McEnroe's service action was very, very unorthodox.

It happened by accident while he stretched his back to deal with an injury.

At times, it was virtually unplayable. 

 

Wrong is sometimes right.

No actually, that's bollocks.

People will tell you what you do or how you are is wrong. 

Yet if it's you, truly you, it can lead to greatness.

 

It's the same with most things in work and life.

Your voice isn't wrong just because it's unique. 

Where did your voice go though? Did someone take it?

 

It was there once, really it was. 

When you were little and said what you thought, asked questions without fear and played for hours on end. 

It may have been taken by a well meaning parent or teacher who wanted you to be like them, not like you.

It could have been someone at work who wanted to keep you in your place.

It could have been a whole place that made you do everything their way, or destroyed your confidence day by day. 

 

You might spend everyday now,  trying to be someone else's idea of who you should be.

You might make yourself really small because that's what you were made to feel.

You may feel too big and loud and try to tone yourself down.

But the only size that really fits is your size.

 

This matters if you have to present a lot.

If you have persuade others about ideas. 

These days, most of us do. 

Because great presenters really are not made, they are born.

I don't mean the charisma buffoons that say nothing but make it feel 'inspirational'. 

I mean that people respond to people, they respond to people genuinely caring.

They respond to authenticity. 

But most of us keep our selves hidden.

Many of us are hidden from our own selves.

Like Eleanor Rigby, we keep our faces in tge jar by the door. 

 

People smell belief, even more than confidence. 

So great presentations boil down to two things:

Belief in you

Belief in your idea

But you can still get quite far in life by pretending to be something you're not.

Or channelling what others think is right or good. 

Eventually you find it's not only easier to be yourself, it's actually far more successful.

Believe me I've tried both.

I also know it's better to find 'you' as soon as possible, rather than a crisis to force you into it. 

 

Put simply, if you want people to listen to you, listen to yourself. 

 

Now you can say, hang on, this is only presentations.

You're right its not. 

The bests talks and meetings are not about slick powerpoint.

They are about you and what you want to say. 

It's about you. 

 

It's true that when you assume the traits of others, over time they can become your traits.

This is good, this helps, as long this is genuinely who you want to be.

Look at it another way though.

If we all slip on the same mental uniform, we'll all work the same way and end up with the same results.

So when it comes to work, and everyday life, keep fancy dress for parties. 

 

Much of our education system.

Our work places.

Our very British stiff upper lip and emotional illiteracy.

It builds average, sameness, compliance.

It teaches us not to make a fuss.

It doesn't like self expression. 

No wonder we stow away who we really are. 

 

Great companies make us feel something not just buy something..and sell more.

Same goes for presentations.

Nothing is more infectious than enthusiasm and belief. 

 

So, yes, I'm live in the real world, I know you have to conform a lot not get fired.

I know much of your work needs to be ticked.

But never lose that sense of you.

As you get older and more experienced, you still won't have a clue what you are doing, sorry about that.

But you will have more and more freedom to let yourself out.

In meantime, for every project you do, find a way to make it excite you.

Then find a way through peer review.

 

The best scientific break throughs still need layers and layers of compliance and peer review.

That doesn't make them any less important or wonderful.

Different needs do

In was okay in school, many are not. 

For most of high school I had swimming, which wasn't really cool.

But gave me some sort of double life, which was cool to me at least.

But I loved learning, I was into most of the subjects that were taught.

That made me a bit of a nerd. 

It's a strange thing about the UK, but being actively passionate about something is, well, nerdy.

More than that, we hate people who are earnest, who lay themselves bare.

We prefer irony, facetiousness and never saying what we really mean. 

I can tell you this is hard as a teenager.

It's confusing enough without having to hide what you love.

But being different to your peers at that age is terrifying. 

In many ways, it's terrifying as a grown up. 

It's why I'm determined to be honest and show how I feel.

If one person feels more able to as a result, its worth it. 

But the challenge is huge.

Reality TV and YouTubers reinforce the idea you can get rich by doing absolutely nothing of real value. 

If you work in agency, there can be a 'type' that does well. 

The owning the room, handwavey, super-confident type.

There's also the strategy type who follows the rules to the letter, especially the propriety process.

No ever got fired for following the process. 

But look at Musk (love or hate him) look at Jobs, look at Dyson.

These are geeks who had the confidence to passionately think different.

But also the will to do. 

We need to make heroes of people who are prepared to act, rather than sit on their hands.

Not just talk a good game, prove their point.

See it through. 

Dyson wasn't the only one who thought of a bagless vacuum.

He was the only one who had the will to get it to market. 

Jobs was the only one who could be bothered to make an MP3 player that was actually a joy to use.

He didn't invent mobile music, he just tried harder at making it good. 

How many times have you thought, "Is it just me?"

How many times did you keep it to yourself?

How many great ideas have you worked on that died because everyone lost the will to stick with it?

Conventional wisdom is one enemy of course.

Apathy is even bigger. 

I don't think we're short of people with knew ideas.

We're short of people given the space to do something about them.

Or with the will to do it themselves anyway.

Different is okay, but it's useless without do. 

Brands are not ideas. They are experiences.

Brand babblers do my head in.

It may sound a bit rich, someone who gets paid to build brands saying this.

Except I don't paid to build brands.

I get paid to help people sell things.

The answer to that is rarely brand stuff. It's dealing with barriers to selling more. 

People don't think about brands that much.

People with brand in their job titles do. 

The brand babblers do my head because they think brands are intangible things that exist in the customers' minds.

They are not.

They are extremely tangible.

Our impressions of people and organisations are made of our most common experiences with them. 

Just like you probably only know me through a series of badly written blog posts.

But the people I work with know me for great tea, too much dry humour and too much lycra.

We all know that our opinion is really governed by experience. 

Amazing food can de destroyed by a crap waiter.

The joy of buying a new bike destroyed by a shop who treats you like an inferior species.

The 5 star hotel experienced ruined by a room that isn't clean.

The e-commerce site that is hateful to navigate.

Your relationship with a client can be obliterated by putting your most junior person on it, after promising the earth.

The most creative thing you ever got signed off can be hateful if its a nightmare to get made. Or if everything is always late. 

It doesn't matter who you are, if you hire people who don't care, they will show it to your customers. 

All the effort put into everything else gets crushed.

So when you recruit someone ask this.

Do they care about what you do?

Even tougher, will they have any reason to?

The first is OK, just don't hire them.

The second is a catastrophe. Fire yourself. 

Make people feel stuff and they'll buy stuff

For me, the really great companies make you feel something, not just buy something. 

Mostly because they have something they want to do.

Usually they want to change something. 

As people, we want to be part of something, we want to belong. 

So we want to part of that change. 

This is where so many challenger type companies tend to go wrong because they criticise the world as it is. 

The best organisations feel human, because they tell us how it could be. 

They strip away the layers or corporate bullshit and lay themselves bare.

Life isn't perfect, especially at the moment.

So celebrating and documenting the real struggle in company's journey.

Or genuinely being part of theirs.

Stands out and gets related to.

Computing that works for creative people, not corporations. 

A beauty brand that wants to stop the beauty industry making you feel bad.

A diesel engine for people people who hate diesels.

A car company for successful people with a work ethic as high as theirs. 

An premium insurance company for people who know you only get out what you put in. 

A strong deodorant that wants to give you a break from having to look strong all the time. 

Just as the greatest heroes in our greatest stories are flawed, their journey is a much about overcoming themselves as any bad guy.  

You could call it a purpose, but that term has been mangled by the PR folks into CSR bollocks. 

Don't believe the self-serving 'trust' data either, it's much simpler. 

In jaded world, we're all a bit numb, we all want things that make us feel more.

No amount of programmatic precision will help with this.

Nor will knowing what a company makes is really good.

In a busy world, brands that make us feel something, sell more.

Because they are in tune with the rhythms of our real lives.

We can't say why they're different, we just feel different about them (hi Byron Sharpe). 

This isn't love, we don't love brands, we love our friends, family, maybe Star Wars.

It's simply getting noticed.

Getting brought without thinking.

The rational facts justify the emotional decision we've already made. 

Because people may block out marketing, they don't block out life.

And when so much if life is pre-programmed these days, feeling something is really powerful.

 

 

Tired is stupid, but balance pays back

When I was working at an agency in Manchester over 10 years ago, I had a marathon month.

(This was an agency that habitually did 12 hours a day anyway. Thankfully things are a little less brutal these days)

Pitching for a supermarket, it mattered. 

Working on one of those demanding showpiece clients everyone wants to work on, that only looks good on the outside.

A series of workshops, the ones that demand hours of prep, dressing the room, timed to perfection, all me. 

It was too much, it was exhausting, I got little help. I was simply told to feel lucky to work there. 

It was the agency where a director said they loved recessions because you could squeeze more out of your people.

You get the picture. 

There was one day I got in at 7am (after a hour's commute) to frantically make sense of a pitch brief.

I finished after midnight sticking reference onto boards for a workshop the day after. 

In at 6 the next day to finish it off. 

When it all ended, I called in sick with man-flu, but it was exhaustion. I was running on fumes. 

Simply crumbled like a Jacobs Cracker. 

Did I do my best work? Are you kidding? I was lucky to simply get everything done.

My boss was more bothered I had an Excel plan for each workshop with each minute accounted for.

The creative director was more interested in the workshop boards looking symmetrical.

The boss also cared more for a brief having a disruptive bit than actually translating business opportunity into creative opportunity.

Things we're, obviously out of balance and I'm glad for everyone this is less common than it used to be.

I'm also determined no one who works with me ever has to go through what I did.

Yet even now it's common to hear senior people talking about 'earning your spurs'. 

Not through excellence. Through sheer brutal hard work. 

What the fuck is that about?

Yes, creativity is not a just a process, it's not predictable and things can get out of control.

Yes, there are late nights sometimes. 

Yes, adrenaline is cheap and hiring more people is expensive. 

But when you decide to look after your team, you are looking after your business. 

You have to make sure the insane times don't become the everyday. 

A culture where people can have hobbies makes the people more interesting. 

And the work.

95% of marketing is crap because it's done by people who only care about marketing. 

A culture where people take holidays and even lunch breaks keeps them fresh. They work less, but they work better. 

A culture than encourages actual fun, rather than away days to make up for the lack of it, makes people do their best work everyday.

I business that looks after its people makes those people want to look after the business.

It means you can trust more people to do their best work while you do yours. 

That means you are less alone.

It's lonely at the top, but with a little more balance at least you're a little less isolated. 

Your team are more creative, more committed and more fun to be around. 

It's too hard not to be fun. 

They have everything. They have nothing.

They everything. You don't stand a Chance

More experienced people. More track record. More money. More tools. 

The famous propriety process. The entertainment budget. 

They never run out paper. Their printers all work. Their coffee budget is bigger than your IT budget. 

Who would be insane enough to take them on?

 

They have everything. They don't stand a chance

More rules. More internal politics. More politics. More shareholders to answer to. More meetings. More committees. More people to kill ideas because they need to have something to say.

More pissed off staff than you. More energy sucked out by outdated ways of working and models. More people wondering why they got out of bed.

More 'that will never work' More 'it's just the way it is'. More 'because I say it is'. 

Every meeting a graveyard of humour, ready to strangle anything vaguely interesting or different.

 

 

There has never been a better time to attack the status quo, because quite frankly we're all in uncharted waters. The best people to succeed in world of uncertainty are the people who don't get paid to keep things as they are. 

So don't give a monkeys about what they have. You have everything. Something you care about. The fire in your belly.

Something you want to change. 

Not all passion is the same

There have been times on my ride home from work, when I just feel like hammering the peddles. Usually after the odd rough day, or odd really good day, I just want to go all out.

And it feels good at first, you feel superhuman, the adrenalin firing the urge to just go.

But adrenalin is myth your brain teaches your body. It doesn't make you into a superhero, it briefly masks the fact you're mortal. So when the initial zeal begins to fade, like the moment the curtain is drawn to reveal the true Wizard of Oz, the real you is revealed again. 

In my case, a 46 year old man with 46 year old legs. I blow up and crawl the rest of the way home. This is why interval training is the smart strategy. 

It's the same with a new relationship that fizzles out after the first jolt of excitement. 

Or a project you start at a million miles an hour not stopping to think, tearing away at your first instincts.

Or the job you take because you hate the current one too much to think straight. 

Because there are two kinds of passion. 

There is kind that's Fire. All heart, the head doesn't get a look in. Like a supernova, it burns really brightly and then fades just as quick. 

Then there is Ice version, it's cool, calm, considered. It lasts a hell of lot longer because both the brain and the emotions are collaborating. Emotions don't call all the shots, you don't do anything too dumb, but the head doesn't rule either, so you don't end up bored. This is much more effective and at getting results, and when you apply it to yourself, you are more likely to find a love that lasts and lasts. 

To succeed, I think you need to learn the trick of understanding and learning the art of Icy Passion. 

Making sure both head and heart are involved in making decisions. You won't last if you do not deeply care, yet without guidance by the head, you'll either burn out or simply commit to the wrong thing. 

It's tough to control your emotions when you're inspired, but nothing worthwhile is ever easy is it?

I miss you

I'm 46, I help run a business and I'm a parent. Society at large kind of expects me to be strong and look like a know what I'm doing.

No one really knows what they're doing of course, they just get better at dealing with it. 

The strong thing though, I think more of us should be able to take a break from having to man-up all the time and admit when they need a hand, or are just having a bad day. 

The British stiff upper lip is bullshit. It should be okay to vulnerable and talk about how you feel.

So I'm just going to say it. I spend a lot of time alone these days and this is mostly okay, in fact mostly really good, but every now and then, this year, I get lonely. 

Much of this is because in 2021, despite spending much of my life fighting the clock, my timing has been terrible. 

Years of daily struggles in a cold pool, doing repetitions against the merciless timer. The slower you go, the less rest to get before the next rep.

Weeks and months mapped out, building form to coincide with the big races of the year.

Then a career in agencies fighting deadlines, doing your best work within increasingly less time. 

I should be a master of timing, yet the fact remains that in the year of lockdown I became single after years of marriage

Of course, helping run a business in a global crisis is a challenge and I'm happy to confess it's scary at times. I wish more would, I know I'm not alone in that sense.

I am in others. 

Now I share the kids, I don't see then everyday.

Now I'm one, not part of a two, I am alone so for large amounts of the week, and have been during various restrictions on seeing other people. 

For a while, you couldn't really see anyone face to face, then, thankfully, we could actually see real people.

But the most of the usual interactions we have taken for granted were largely removed.

And for those of us who are alone in middle age, many of our friends don't have the time even in normal circumstances. 

Yes, single people in their forties are alone. A lot. 

Don't get me wrong, I'm an introvert. I'm good at being solitude.

I can happily spend hours on a bicycle with nothing but the hum of the the wheel hubs, the ache in my legs and my own thoughts.

I can swim in lake, or a pool and get lost in the ache in my shoulders and buzz of doing what I think I was really made to do. 

I can still get lost in my work, when I'm on a roll and a brief starts writing itself.

There's the never ending book pile, the untouched playlists. 

I can potter over cooking for myself, eating what the hell I like. 

But I still love being around people. I'm lucky to have the kind of close, good friends, who ignored zoom fatigue, for virtual chats when we were properly locked down. 

I sat in people's gardens and eventually their houses.

I have a couple of couple of 'husbands' in my village who are always there. 

I have close family, even I we live far apart. 

I know I'm lucky. Many people are less fortunate. 

I'm also choosing to crack on with living without compromise and discover all sorts of stuff about me, who I am, what I'm capable of and what I want. Little really gets me down, I'm moving forward, struggling at times, making mistakes but enjoying the battle. 

In fact, to be more specific, its LITTLE that does sometimes cast a shadow.

It's small, mostly rare moments that, in a world of mostly great, suddenly make you feel less alone but doing great - more a little lonely. 

It can be a full day of working from home and realising that apart from the morning agency WIP call, you haven't said a word out loud. 

It can be a watching something on telly that makes you laugh out loud and realise you're laughing alone. 

It can be wandering around a supermarket watching a couple argue and simultaneously feeling thankful you're not arguing over a shopping list and wishing you had someone to bicker with.

It's uncool to admit to be flailing sometimes, but the British Reserve is just crap. I for one, want to be less British and more human. 

The most recent little thing, was wonderful yet laced with sorrow.

It was little boy, after a brilliant day together, who came in for a spontaneous cuddle and whispered, "I miss you Daddy". 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can't alter time, so alter your habits

In normal times, when I'm working in the office, it's 5 mile bike ride home. 

It's nothing in terms of time or distance next what a proper training ride should be.

Conventional wisdom says you need at least an hour to bother at all.

But who needs convention wisdom? 

The science shows that for some, HIIT training for 7 minutes is as beneficial as two hours conventional exercise for others.

Thankfully for me, my body seems to made for HIIT stuff.

The ride is mostly up-hill, no traffic light stops.

I've worked out I can do a minute at absolute full beans, agony inducing pace and gearing.

20 seconds easy.

Repeat until the hill ends, try not to cry. 

When I broke my wrist and did no exercise, apart from this little commute for 5 weeks.

I found I came back only a little less fitter than before the accident. 

There are only 24 hours in the day, you can't change that.

What you can change is how smart you are with that time.

Think about that next time you're power-pointing at 12am. 

Are you really doing your best work?

Find good distractions

We live in a world that hates us switching off.

You're phone is designed to suck you in with the little beeps and notifications.

Youtube is specifically designed to keep you there for as long as possible, they have pre-roll inventory to fill.

Then there's work. Slack (FFS), email, zoom calls. 

To do your best work, you need focus.

Just as life needs focus too.

Cut through the spiel of mindfulness, it's only really about being present in your own life.

Actually tasting your food.

Talking to your children without your nose in your phone, or worrying about work.

We all find it hard to switch off right now of course, there is too much to worry about. 

One way to do is to find something else to obsess over. 

Take up a sport, a new hobby, it can fishing, tiddleywinks, baking whatever. 

No one has the time, but ask another question, how can you make the time? What really matters?

Because while you obsess over your hobby you are present, you're in the moment, you're alive.

You're likely to be in the flow state from time to time.

Which is one the most mentally beneficial things you can do.

It's a drug that's good for you and it's free. 

And while the mind is switched off, the sub-conscious gets to work on everything else while you're not looking. 

Sometimes the best way to solve problems is purposely avoid them.

Fun pays back. 

Who knew? 

Average dies faster than ever before

I may have mentioned I love Prince. Like most people, I joined the ride on the Little Red Corvette, when 1999 came out.

Or to be precise, when it was re-released. That's right, the first attempt was a complete failure.

Even before that, Prince's overnight success was a long time in the making.

With a series of albums that made of him a cult favourite, without ever breaking through.

Until he got on MTV and made the record that began to cut-through. 

The record company gave him a lot of time to bed in.

The Shawshank Redemption bombed at the box office, yet was erm, redeemed, with the DVD release. 

Just as the first series of Blackadder was middling, it wasn't until series 2 that it found it's feet.

Just as Parks and Recreation didn't become truly wonderful until a couple of years in.

Few have that luxury any more.

Movies are killed in their opening weekend.

Bands, new and old, are dropped at the first sign of failure.

Because we live in a busy world that makes too much stuff for anyone to hope to consume. 

Yet we all still have exactly the same amount of time. 

So average sinks to the bottom like a stone.

The only hope of standing out is to be outstanding.

Its still possible to get shared and talked about, but the cost of entry is to be in the 5% of stuff that's worth bothering with.

Precision marketing matters of course, it cuts out waste.

But getting in front people does not guarantee success. I know, I've used dating websites. 

Average Instagram doesn't get shared.

Boring Tweets don't get re-tweeted.

Average video doesn't get liked and shared. 

Average ads get forgotten at best, annoy at worst. 

Our culture takes no prisoners now. 

It's ruthless in sorting the good and bad.

No actually, in sorting the excellent from the sea of average.

Good enough is no longer good enough. 

So it's great that excellent doesn't cost more than average, it just takes more work and care. 

In fact, the lukewarm stuff costs more.

You should know that 'Fame' campaigns pay back more by now.

But flip it.

Putting effort in to something that doesn't pay back as hard as it could, that less people see than they might have, is dumb.

And wasting valuable money. 

In other words, spend more time on making things you can't wait to publish, that people actually wish existed.

It will pays back more.

And in a world where the cost of entry is to simply stand-out in a hailstorm of dross.

You can't afford to be lukewarm. 

 

Choose your enemies carefuly

It's confusing doing the job at the moment, there are more people claiming to be strategists than ever. So many ways of working, so many tools.

If you're like me, you're sort of making it up as you go along anyway.

You fear the blank page too.

A simple start that immediately cuts through the clutter really helps. A killer question.

Here's one of mine.

Who is the enemy?

Doesn't have to be a company, I think these days it really shouldn't be, real people don't think about brands that way.

What enemy can you fight on their behalf? Or with them?

Crap design.

Not enough time.

Complacency.

Perfectionism.

Bad service.

Ideas that don't respect the people they will be exposed to (one of mine).

Needless sophistry (mine too).

This can drive everything if you can get it right, if you pick an enemy well.

It can really drive the people in your client company too.

The companies we're bothered about today started out with no more cash than others.

They just had more energy. 

From wanting to change things. 

They knew full well what their enemy was.

Define this and it becomes more interesting and hell of a lot easier.

You might find your own place in the world if you ask this of yourself and the kind of work you want to do.

It was the Joker who made The Dark Knight.

In many ways Darth Vader IS Stars Wars.

Choose your enemies wisely. 

Drawing three circles to find a 'ness'

It will take a lot for me ever choose Nike over Adidas. I know they're not different, they just feel it.

Most of this is because I was teenager in a middle class tennis club, resenting the stuffy rules.

When Nike came along with stuff like this that was it.

 

I know teenage rebellion through tennis is pretty lame, but that's what got me hooked.

Well, not hooked, deep in my make-up, Nike feels different. I choose it without thinking. Like everyone else. 

That's the thing about brands, we can't articulate why we buy, there's just a a 'ness' about them that helps us buy them without thinking.

There is a Nike-ness.

A Brewdog-ness.

An Audi-ness (or there was, what the hell are they doing!!). 

An Apple-ness. 

That 'ness' isn't about just about tone of voice etc, not even about point on view, although it helps. They just tap into something that  people are feeling.

 

Here's how to think about it. 

Without the usual fluff from the brand consultants. Keep it simple stupid!!!

Draw three circles. 

On one, what is the brand really good at?

On the next, what really drives it? What does it care about? What is its enthusiasm?

Then finally, what is the zeitgeist? Not one of the crap trends from the usual companies, the ones that put two names together,  'The Prosumer', 'Fremium'. What have you spotted that no one else has? What are people feeling that no one is helping with? I mean a shift that will stay shifted. 

Un-resolved tensions. 

The intersection between all three is where a brand can really come alive, get noticed and be remembered. The intersection between what they are good at, what drives the business and how they can be more relevant than everyone else.

Take Nike tennis:

Really good at? Tennis apparel that looks worlds apart from the usual stuffy tennis whites

Enthusiasm? If you have a body you're an athlete

Zeitgeist? The tennis establishment is stuck in the past and hates anyone upsetting their precious rules, so there's a young generation who love to play but feel alienated

By the way, this becomes even more interesting when you try and apply it to you and what you want to do or how you want to work.

There are lots of good strategy people, but how do you be the most wanted?

Just saying. 

 

Why what's in-between my legs tell us something about experience, muscle memory and constantly doing

A few years ago I got my leg banged up playing 5 a side.

I was in intensive training for something swimming related at the time, so I couldn't just stop the pool visits.

So I had to do session after session with a pull float between my legs.

Six weeks later, when the float was discarded, I found I couldn't swim without. My stroke was totally destroyed.

My muscle memory had temporarily forgotten what it had known for years and years.

What made it worse was that now I was thinking about every stroke.

And the more I thought, the worse it got, until a coach finally sorted me out again.

Just like when people who choke in high level sport.

Suddenly finding the ability to not think about what they're doing taken away.

Because that's what years of experience really is, the ability to not think about what you're doing. 

That's why someone told me it would take seven years learning to be a planner, before I could hope to find my own voice.

Do the basics without thinking, then you can start to experiment and mess around.

This is why the groovy case studies with 'something new to tell the industry' can be so dangerous. 

The brain is a muscle too and you need to build up that muscle memory to 'do' without thinking about it. 

And when you stop 'doing' your powers fade pretty quickly.

Like a Great White Shark, the moment you stop moving, you're pretty much fucked. 

Patience

In my twenties I once got to play tennis against someone who used to have a junior world ranking. It was about 1,000 but nevertheless they were good. 

To my eternal pride, in the first set I managed to win a couple of games. Largely thanks to being supremely fit at the time. 

At once point it was actually two all. 

Then she just wiped the floor with me.

Being exposed to pure talent like that can be intimidating.

Just like when I sometimes cycle with people who actually race and, when we climb up long steep hills I'm hanging on for dear life, heart hammering against my ribcage, legs full of molten lava.

And the bastards are actually chatting. 

But I know myself, as a pretty good swimmer once, when you stop training, the supremacy disappears pretty quick. Just as ex-cycling pros become ordinary extraordinarily quick.

Because talent only gets you so far.

Talent helps, but mostly you just have to work at something. 

And keep at it.

Especially when you are young. When you need to learn your craft. 

These are the investment years. It's hard. You put more in than you get out. 

It's not easy. It takes patience. 

You have self-doubt whispering in one ear.

Blind optimism in the other.

Some days doubt is up.

Others optimism is in the ascendancy.

More often than not its a score drawer.

That's why you need absolute passion and love in your heart for what you do, or at least where you want to be. 

That's what carries you through when optimism is too knackered.

Talent helps, but in these years, sucking up all the know-how matters more.

Ready to breathe it all out in your later years.

Put another way, natural ability matters, but the real talent is the ability to work and work at something until you are its master.

 

21 things I've learned over 21 years in agencies

Some things I've learned after living agency life for the same amount it takes to come of age.  

1. It's OK to disagree, in fact, the magic rarely comes without some sort of positive friction. Just don't fight over it. 

2. A fun place to work should not be confused with an easy place. Great work is never easy or anyone could do it. 

3. So only hire people with the one thing you can't teach them, genuine passion and drive. If they love what they do, work won't feel like work.

4. Everything you do will be watered down so make it better than it has to be. 

5. So make sure it's water tight, because you'll have to fight like mad to defend it. Make sure the battle is worth fighting.

6. Surround yourself with people who are able to tell you no. Your ego is your worst enemy. 

7. Surround yourself with people who can do what you can't. No one can do it all. 

8. Don't be a dick.

9. Be prepared to allow for difficult people but never let it become self indulgence.

10. Creativity really isn't just a department.

11. Look for the briefs no one cares about, this is where you can really try new stuff.

12. Never try to be cool, only try to be great.

13. Nice people win eventually. You have to be patient though.

14. Just because we can make stuff quicker these days, that doesn't mean it will be any good.

15. I'm old enough to know I'm not young enough to know everything (thanks Oscar Wilde) but if your young, crack on, old folks try to keep things as they are, not as they might be. 

16. If you don't do the basics well, nothing else really matters. 

17. People buy things, data points don't buy things. Don't confuse tools with the thing you're building. 

18. The more you build an instinct for how people really feel about things, the better you'll do. Few are capable or, or caring about the emotional truth around a thing. 

19. Strong teams always do better than teams of strong individuals.

20. Don't slow down, go faster, don't compromise - challenge others to keep up. 

21. It's only a job, love it but don't let it consume you

Elaborate

I read a study of what kind of creativity drives effectiveness in marketing stuff. 

Apparently, it's elaboration. 

Not originality or artistic value. Simply adding unexpected detail, or adding to a simple concept to make it more intricate of complicated. 

This shouldn't be new, it's only promoting the product in a way that can't be missed. It should be obvious.

Sometimes it might be the old BMP approach of pushing the news or benefit as far as you can.

A small car so tough King Kong stubs his toe on it. In this case, insert the fact into popular culture in a surprising way. 

On the other hand, this is simply communicating that there is a sale on.

It's also getting into the simple truth that the fashion forward will do anything to rush and get the best deals on prized 'pieces'. 

Then there is the emotional truth that few dare to embrace, fashion has a dark side, which the uninitiated don't get, but true fashionistas embrace...and love the fact others do not understand. 

 

Moving away from classic BMP ads, we come to good old Nike.

 

This ad is purely about great cushioning preventing injuries.

It's also about the painful truth that success in sport is 99% failure.

I share this a lot because I really love it, sorry. 

Some of the best, most creative, most revered work doesn't avoid the product bit, you know, the thing you're selling. 

Like a diesel engine that doesn't make a racket and is nice to drive.

 

Which is elaborated on with a true story about how it was made, with a surprising but true human trait that hate is force for good because it changes things. 

This is some of the stuff the cool PR and content kids miss.

You can get all sorts of coverage and traction (if you're any good) but it won't bloody sell ultimately unless it expands on something relevant about the brand or the product.

The trick is finding the right message or desired 'take-out'. 

Then making it un-ignorable.

What's interesting with all the work above is that it works real life, not against it. 

Because the sweet spot for things that get into our head and hearts is familiar novelty.

Connecting the new with the easily recognised.

Work with life, not against it.

We all know King Kong.

Fashionistas will instantly recognise themselves in the Harvey Nichols work (and love how it baffles everyone else).

We have all sat on our hands until we got too cross not to act. Even if it wasn't for engineering excellence.

Anyone who has watched sport responds to the heroic failures as much as the winners.

Yet many creative director still get sniffy when asked to feature the product benefit. 

That's a failure of creativity to avoid this, not a victory.

 

 

 

 

It's fine to say no

I was a hopeless account handler. 

When too much time around too many people sucks your energy, when you don't love organising, you love doing, this was inevitable.

It just took some time to realise what I was actually good at and what I enjoyed doing.

More importantly, I could be realistic about what I hated.

What felt good rather than what looked good. 

Netflix understands we are at war between what we think we should be enjoying and what we enjoy.

They base less and less activity on our watch lists and more on what we actually watch. 

Because our watch lists are our idea of ourselves, things we think Friends would admire. When we're all actually watching endless repeats of Friends. 

The more time you spend on things you enjoy, the more you actually enjoy them.

This matters for work. 

To do your best, you have to choose what you'll be bad at. 

Not just the things you have no talent for, the things you won't make any effort on, so you can put more into what matters.

You can't do everything. 

One of those things for me is Slack. It takes twenty two minutes for the mind to recover from distraction, so I largely switch Slack off and make the most of the focus.

I spend little time on something that's expected, more on doing better work.

Yes, I miss important messages, it comes at a cost, but like all good investments, it tends to pay back.

And if people really want me, they can phone. 

The busy fool doesn't lack energy, but focus. 

Seriously, multi-tasking is a fallacy. It's great for feeling and looking busy, but it's a Trojan horse for average work.

Just as lots of interests are great, you can try lots of stuff on for size and find what you love.

But doing less things well is the recipe for feeling alive.

Multi-tasking means lukewarm. 

 

Why you should avoid comparing your blooper reel to everyone else's director's cut

 

When I was a little boy I used to love playing by myself on the beach on holiday. A lot of this was to do with being happy with my own company but not all.

I was painfully shy and found it hard to go up to other children. Of course, eventually someone would come up to me, but not always.

It's a genuine surprise to many people I meet, when I tell them I'm shy and introverted, yet that tongue tied little boy is still very much a part of who I am.

It's just that years of making myself talk to people and, well, being comfortable in my own skin means it's less apparent.

No one is fixed, we can go beyond who we are.

What is happening on the outside isn't always what's going on underneath. 

I'm not being in-authentic, it's just that I'm so much more than a planner, able to reveal different aspects of who I am in different situations.
In work my passion and commitment simply overrides the urge to hide by myself in a corner.

It's good having these insecurities and embracing them though. It means I'm a rarely too sure of myself not to listen.

In the past the fear of being judged made me close myself off or be over defensive. It’s a relief to understand that vulnerability is a strength, not a weakness. 

If more people in the world (especially the nauseating macho men) would try not to WIN all the time I suspect it would be a much better place.

Those that have to be right all the time rarely are.

Anyway.

Don't believe that senior people where you work know what they're doing. They're just better at hiding they're just as confused as you are.

Just as it's not helpful to compare yourself to Instagramers, showing a heavily edited version of their lives.

In fact, all the people you look up to may have earned the respect, but they're still human beings like you and me. 

They stress, cry, have their hearts broken, fail, feel lost unhappy and unsure of themselves.

Yet we compare our whole, un-edited stories to the people who have left most of who they really are, in public at least, on the cutting room floor. 

Of course that's going to leave us feel wanting. 

It's more encouraging and real to know they are just as useless as you and I.  They've found a way to overcome their own personal barriers and demons to get to where they are today. 

Usually, to great at something at the expense of being good at anything else. 

So I think it pays to be inspired less by perfect stories.

Instead, looking for truer stories of people who have found a sweet spot between what they love and the few things they're not hopeless at, to do something special.

This goes for marketing case studies too.

Great work emerges like a screaming baby from a chaotic mess.

I wish this wasn't true, but just you rarely see anyone going for a wee in most films, most case studies never show no the late nights, moments of doubt and crisis.

Fewer admit they just got lucky.

No one talks about the pitch failures, which far outweigh the wins. 

Some days are better than others

There are some days when the the stars align and exactly the same ritual for making tea produces a beverage that just hits the spot. For no good reason.

There are some days when I ride my bike and it feels like I have someone else's legs. Sometimes the legs of a pro, sometimes the legs of my Mum.

There are some days when I get start swimming and I feel like a big useless balloon wading through treacle.

There are days when I stare at a screen and by brain won't work.

There are days when thoughts just pour out of me.

There are days when the introvert takes over and I'll do anything to avoid talking to people.

There are days when I love energy from being around others.

Some days it all makes sense.

Some days its just chaos.

Some days you're the hammer.

Some days you're the nail. 

The good days are easy, the trick is get through the others. 

 

Creativity loves constraint

You wouldn't want to have been my boss in my twenties. I had a problem with authority. 

I still have a healthy disregard for arbitrary rules that have no reason for being, just as I have a suspicion of 'always done it this way'. 

In most cases, this is someone trying to keep things as they are because it suits them.

It's why I'm nervous of templates and proprietary process, it becomes the point rather the actual work itself.

Yet I've learned to value the constraint too. It's when you're boxed in that you tend to do your best work.

Creativity and ideas actually love shackles. Some of the most wonderful songs still conform to two versus, chorus and middle eight. Haikus have very limiting, unbreakable rules, yet produce some of the most beautiful things ever written.

Prince was at his best when his record company forced him to edit his work and it was the tension between Lennon and McArtney as much as the partnership that was the core of the Beatles.

So as long as you have a goal bigger than compliance in the first place, the strictures of a formal process, brief template or whatever liberate great work.

They force you to edit, distil hack all the fat from your work.

Like a caged tiger, your mind fights harder because of the limits.

Every hero needs an enemy, the better the enemy, the more profound the hero.

And if you're a quiet rebel like me, there is nothing more motivating than being told 'can't'.

So thank you budget restrictions.

Thank you 'that's not how we do it here'.

Thank you 'that will never work here'. 

Thank you status quo.

Thank you time servers.

Thank you 'the client will never do that'.

Thank you complacent creative directors.

The more you tighten you tighten your grip, the more potent the response you fear

 

 

 

Not having all the answers is great

I hate it when people introduce me and my team as the 'brains'. Especially because, in my case, I'm not very clever, I just see things differently. 

What can be worse than being presented as basically a smart arse?

I think that's why I dislike so many planners or strategists because they actually believe what people say about them. 

I'll cut to the chase.  I have a healthy disrespect of anyone who thinks they have all the answers. It smacks of complacency and failure to collaborate. 

It forces you to right rather than great, or unlock the great in others. 

And who has the answers really? Grown ups and leaders that's who. The ones who don't have the answers really, they've stopped asking questions and are beginning to fight to stop things changing. 

Not children who live in a wonderful world of playing and little responsibility.

Not juniors, just starting out in the job, who haven't learned the rules yet and, therefore, are limited by them. 

When you're a child, the play goes on for years, yet that question starts to rear its ugly head.

What do you want to be when you grow up? Naturally at first when you;re six years old or so, the question is a light one and the answer if blissfully innocent. A Jedi, a Princess an Avenger. 

But when you get to fourteen, the question becomes laden with finality.

Careers officers and subject choices, as if anyone really has a clue at that age about who they really are and what they really want to be. 

I for one was had no idea. I'm still not 100%. Why should I be? I've only lived half my life.

When I finished University I sort of fell into advertising based on an immature idea it would be cool and I could be Mr Charisma.

It's not cool, it's hard work and I had yet to fully realise I'm really quite shy and engage people through passion, raw enthusiasm and authenticity.

I do not own a room, the room devours me. 

Even when you find something you want to do, answering that question with a life ending finality isn't really credible. Not only is the jobs market increasingly built for adaptability, life and culture are more open than they ever were. 

You can see that uncertainty as a stress, or you can embrace the opportunity to not fully have the answers.  

I've been a failing suit, an advertising planner, a digital planner, a media planner, a PR planner, a brand planner, a design planner and now probably find myself doing a little but of all of the above. And I still feel there is more to come. You could say I'm spread too thin, but I would say it makes me versatile. 

And ready for the next adaptation that will almost certainly come. 

I do have a driving life's work which is about doing work that actually matters rather than ticking boxes, but it's even simpler really, the reality I want to spend my time and energy on the things I care. 

Sounds idealist of course, but why would you not want to live in an ideal world? 

We all need a sense of certainty in our lives, but that need for control with control you if you're not careful. 

It's why you need to be careful of most senior people, they exist to justify their existence and block change. 

I don't think experience is about 'experience'. Its about the liberation of realising you know fuck all. 

It's not just about Malcom Gladwell's 10,000 hours of practise (but don't think you can get out of learning by doing, all the information we can get at the click of a button isn't the same as actually putting it into action, just as a pile of books is useless unless you have actually read them).

It's about having the experience to know you don't have all the answers.

And constantly looking for better questions. 

 

Don't worry about being unique, be honest

I find it amazing you can become something just by teaching your brain to believe it enough, that's just insane.

Yet if you get into a habit of visualising yourself doing something in a certain way, it's more likely to happen.

Just spend a few minutes every morning, visualising being or doing what you want, then the body will catch up with the mind.

You're a not a fixed point, you're fluid. The limits you set on yourself are really habits.

This is not the same as pretending to be something you're not, though, that's not good. You can't fake experience or confidence.

Nor should you. 

I tried that in my twenties and, well, let's say it wasn't very successful. 

No let's be honest, I was a dick. 

You might be a massive soup of potential, but there is still a you and if you're like me, you're not a visionary, you're not particularly original or talented.

It doesn't matter though, because  being you is your superpower, as long as your willing to explore who 'you really is' and share that honestly. 

You're genes are only slightly different to everyone else, but the experiences that have shaped you are. What motivates you, moves you, makes your angry, this is unique to you.

Your outlook, your upbringing, your loves, your passions, the things that broke your heart, that made you cry, the things that made you feel alive. This who you are at least as much as the anything physical.

(My body has changed shape drastically in the last few years as I've done a little less swimming and lot more cycling. I'm skinnier, smaller shoulders, bigger legs. My DNA has't changed, the experiences I've put my body through have)

All this gets melted into a flowing lava of you, ready to flow out into whatever you're willing really pour yourself into. 

So the more you HONESTLY put yourself into the work, rather than setting out to do something unique, the more chance you have of doing something that will be original anyway.

Because no one else has lived your life. No one feels what you feel. 

The more you put of this into you work, the more it will resonate, because others will feel it too. 

Because people like people, they buy humanity.  

Being human in a pre-programmed world is your weapon.

Being honestly you is your superpower. 

 

Working fast

Read the usual book and guidelines and you'll get frameworks, process and the myth that if you do it this way, it will all be easy.

No one tells you HOW to work, how to get your mind in a place where answers come, that leap of imagination or connection.

And don't let anyone tell you that strategy isn't about connection or conjuring something out of thin air, because it is.

It's not just about issue, then market, then consumer, (but put culture and real life in here and you're already ahead) then brand then BINGO, core thought. 

It's about seeing something in all that no one else does. Sometimes a more creative act than the creatives. 

To make it harder, there is less and less time to do it.

You'll find your own way to do this, but here is what I do from time to time, apart from starting in a totally different way. 

First, read ALL the reference you can, try the product, talk to people while they buy it, use it. Do it quick, exhaust yourself.

Then immediately start writing a creative brief.

Allow no distractions, do not finish until you've done. 

Just start filling out the box you can answer first, then move onto the next.

Keep going.

You'll soon have a bad brief with little bits of gold, that doesn't hang together.  

Keep going, resolve the contradictions and disconnections until every box is making the same point, albeit in slightly different ways.

Once it makes sense, go back over each box, one by one, until what you write sings.

In other words, get in the Flow.

If you really push yourself, the subconscious that has been taking on board all this information will work for you. The strategy will emerge on the page as you turn crap into gold.

Once you have a page you would want to work on, stop.

Leave it a few hours, recover. Then do one more edit. Nine times out of ten, you'll have a great strategy.

Because freedom limits you. The act of having to put things into limited space and boxes boosts the creative mind.

It's why poetry and Haikus have strict rules and guideline, yet produce some of the most beautiful things human kind has ever produced.

Now all you have to do is find the further evidence you need for what you've written.

Post rationalisaton isn't a crime. Its an art. 

 

Finding the strength to hate the comfort zone

The older you get, the easier it is to settle into your comfort zone, because hopefully, the plan is working out.

Yet as soon as you stop moving forward in this industry, you're put out to pasture.

If this has taught us anything about plans, it's that life doesn't always play ball.

But leaving your comfort zone, and maybe the expectations of others, isn't easy. It takes sure footed commitment AND acceptance of uncertainty. 

Now, I have no idea what I'm doing, but I'm honest enough to admit this. When you understand we're all as confused as each other and how transient things really are, its quite liberating.

Here's what I've picked up:

1. Life is short, regrets are long. Our minds actually hate regret more than change 
2. Uncertainty is stressful, but it makes you feel alive
3. Steal from people you admire but the only role model you should have is you. 
4. Vulnerability is a strength
5. There is never enough time. Everyone has the same amount, not everyone uses it in the same way
6. Time is relative, you'll do more with big chunks of focus and little breaks than you will with lots of distractions and trying to work through fatigue. Tired is stupid
7. Timing is not everything. There is no overnight success, when luck happens, you need to be ready to make the most of it
8. Knowledge is nothing without action. Delegate brilliant but never stop learning to do the do better
9. Hustle, fight for everything. The world is getting tougher
10. Therefore, raise your standards and keep on doing it
11. The clock is ticking forwards, not back and gets faster. Can you hear it?
12. Hate Sitting on your hands more than failing
13. Before you can make believers out of others, make a believer of yourself. Enthusiasm always wins over precision
14. So pour all of yourself into your work
15. Which means love what you do and don't be lukewarm
16. Exercise make you stronger outside as well as inside
17. Boss stress. Your very best requires you to worry most and simultaneously care the least

Input differently. Output differently. Why you should make chaos your ally

I'll level with you, I hate starting new projects.

Even now, after all these years, there is that fear that the brief won't get cracked.

I like it now, it forces me to try harder and, since these days I've learned to channel stress into energy, it's a fuel.

Nevertheless, there is nothing scarier than a blank page. 

Years ago, someone told me to get over the initial paralysis by going about every project in a different way.

It frees the mind from the shackles of obvious and makes it easier to get to interesting. 

So that's what I do.
On top of constantly reading stuff that is nothing to do with marketing and everything to do with real life, you know the thing people actually care about, I always change it up. 

Sometimes that's as simple as trying to work to a different communications strategy framework or briefing format.

Sometimes I work to the seven plot concepts. 

Sometimes I actually try and write ads (bad ones) and then work out why I'm writing what I'm writing.

Sometimes I'll try and write the worst strategy and then work out how to make good.

It doesn't really matter. As long as you start with different, you'll end with different. 

When I used to train properly for sport, one of the golden rules was the avoidance of too much repetition. The more the  body gets used to doing the same thing, the less the training effect. 

So most training plans are built on continually dealing the body an unexpected blow it isn't expecting.

Planned shocks to the system.

It's the whole concept of interval training and more.

Long term training plans have variety built in to stop you plateauing. 

And what works for the body, works for the mind. To do your best work, you need to shock the brain out of autopilot.

This is the real problem with proprietary process, it may help the paymasters feel there is some predictability to great work, but the truth is, it gets in the way.

You know the drive to work that you never remember because the mind did it on autopilot? That's the kind of work you run the risk of doing. Just as forgettable as the commute.

That's why 95% of the marketing we expose people to is utter drivel and ignorable. It's all researched the same way, tested (God help us) the same way, made the same way with the same reference points.

We stay interesting by pushing ourselves out of the routine. Leaving what we know behind for a bit.

The challenge of course, is then making it all look like it came from the process so it gets approved. 

I won't tell if you won't. 

 

 

 

The worst of times can help us find the best of times

We don't like change, we're much more likely to do it when we have no choice. The point when the pain of staying as you are, is greater than the pain of making change happen. 

Turning points tend to box us into a corner when that choice is inevitable.

People don't like change. Corporations totally hate it. 

So these moment showing up in our lives might not always feel great at the time, but we need a find a way to not just endure them, but welcome them. Your world can suddenly open in ways you never expected. 

For you, but also where you work.

We're in a pretty big turning point right now. I hope you're surviving. If so, what are you going to do to make it count?

The best ideas people also do

Did you know your brain can process someone's facial expression in 33 milliseconds (and you don't even know you're doing it)?

Dead fast, but that velocity can also be a problem. 

If you pluck up the courage to say something of actual use in a meeting, the mind is frantically computing all the body language around you, fearing being judged, you can feel the confidence draining mid-sentence. 

It takes years to overcome this, but here's a tip to speed up the process. Imagine them all naked. Seriously, it was taught to me years ago and it works, you feel like the least vulnerable person in the room.  

For obvious reasons, this tactic works less well if you're nervous on a first date. I'll leave that there. 

Anyway. 

The brain has also evolved to hate change. If you have the impulse and don't match it with an action pronto, the brain sounds the alarm, slams on the brakes and slays the idea. 

The problem for most of us is not having ideas or wanting to change things, is not having them, it's acting on those sparks before the brain snuffs them out. 

In other words, the best ideas people are doers too. 

This becomes more important the more senior you get, you're more likely to get set in your ways, there's a reputation to protect, the ego gets bigger. 

That's right, the more experienced brain hates change the most because it has more to lose. 

The reason the action thing works so well is the brain loves to make you feel good about yourself. Anything you actually do, the brain does it's best to justify the action, to save you feeling bad, to save you unnecessary pain.

Its why people notice brands more once they're bought them.

It's why, when you finish a relationship, the times when you were happy end up on the editing floor if you're not careful, as the mind does it's best to make you feel better about being no longer together.

It's also why people stay in bad jobs or relationships too, the mind is quite to protect you from change and stay as you are. 

Actions really do speak louder than words.

So if you really want to ideas to become more than ideas, write them quickly down on Post-It notes, talk to someone you trust immediately, fire off an email. Any physical action.

In other worlds, don't just be a thinker, be a doer. Tell your mind you mean business, that you're prepared to do what is needed to get it done. 

When the mind is one your side, other people are easy, because it will fight like a honey badger to protect you once you've decided.

When you do, you commit.

What no one tells you about leadership

1. Its lonely, you cannot be just one of the team anymore. 
2. You need to surround yourself with quality - you can't do everything, have people who can do their thing better than you can. You don't have to be the best at anything, apart from bringing out the best in others. 
3. Your ego will be a problem. This one is really tough but essential.The stakes are higher, you'll feel like you can't afford to ever be wrong. Surround yourself with people prepared to tell you what you don't want to hear. However, you need to finally need to decide. No one said it would be easy. The balance between strength and arrogance is wafer thin. 
4. It's much, much less sexy than you think it is
5. You will doubt your abilities, but that doubt will keep you true. 
6. As long as you believe in what you're doing.
7. Which means you need a clear vision. The only question you MUST ask yourself everyday is, "Are we on track?"
8. You'll believe you're the only one going through this. Talk to people who have done this, or who are doing this. 
9. You will never know what to expect. Plan for the worst, hope for the best. 
10. Mistakes are impossible to avoid. Make them as quick as possible. Don't bet the house, make lots of small wagers instead. 
11. You will feel confused a lot of the time. Remember it's the struggle that makes us feel fulfilled, not the victory. 
12. You'll have to battle the need to compare yourself. Be the first of you rather than the second of someone else. 
13. You won't work from 9-5. 
14. There is no back up, the buck stops with you, it will take some getting used to. Yet you need to delegate. No one said this would be easy. 
15. There is no such thing as an overnight success. Luck does happen, yet you need to be prepared to make the most of that when it comes. 
16. Not everyone is cut out to be a leader. Ask yourself why you want it. If its the ego, remember what happened to Gordon Brown when he finally became PM. If it's the money, remember that once you earn over £50k in the UK (a dream for many I know) it doesn't really make you much happier. 
17. Did I say your ego will be a problem?