DON’T SAY, JUST DO.

Tonight, I got a pep talk.

Before I was down, eating my words.

I was down because I felt I was not doing enough at my agency.

Not doing enough to be hired or even extended.

Worst of all I was saying it to my creative partner,

affecting everyone around me.

And I am sorry to those who I affected,

whoever read this post, for it’s the last time I say I was doing bad.

Someone (for confidential purposes) took me aside and said….

“When you keep saying you’re doing bad, it only eats you inside,

you fulfill what you are saying.”

“Just do what you are saying.”

“Stay later at work, do that personal project you where raving about.”

“Just go out and do it.”

After that pep talk I had a release of life,

not to moan, but to act on my problems.

Yes, it might sound simple, but how long can you not say, no I can’t be bothered,

no, it’s too much effort, no I can do it another time.

It rings in your ear, and you don’t do nothing about it,

you settle in your ways, you accept the agency ways.

NO, keep alert, stay focus, if you have an idea, do it,

whatever the situation, whatever happens,

just know you went out and did it.

Wasn’t it W+K, one of the most creative agencies in this business,

breath the idea of testing it, and embracing failure.

I took that ideal recently,

I was doing a talk for OMBLIVE4, in front of 200 people.

Me and my former tutor and friend Tony Cullingham,

talked about the theme I wanted to talk about “LESS COMMENTS, MORE IDEAS”.

Tony told me to make a real idea of it,

instead of ranting about the subject,

live up to the theme, and ask the audience to throw you brands to answer with ideas.

I was scared, seeing how many people where there to watch, find mistakes.

They could have said anything, I might have not answered it…

No, the idea was there, it was better than what I was going to say, and I did it.

It wasn’t the success I was expecting,

but a least I had the guts, and went out what me and Tony planned.

I have never been the guy to walk away from the chance of testing my head.

All I was proud about, was I did it.

There are no doubts when you do it,

and even better if you keep working on it,

building that idea up as a creative denies any thoughts you have on not being active.

It shows you are training, getting better.

Like in boxing, there are those who mouth off, say who they are going to beat!

Only a few have backed it, Muhammad Ali,

an inspiration and someone who did what he said he was going to do!

He said he was going to beat Sonny Liston,

a man who destroyed former heavyweight champion of the world (Floyd Patterson) twice,

within 1 round.

Sonny Liston didn’t answer the bell for the 7^th round, Ali won.

Muhammad Ali said he was going to beat George Foreman.

Big George had knocked out the man who gave Ali his first defeat (Joe Frazier).

Ali out smarted him in the famous rope-a-dope, and won.

For the other fights Ali didn’t win, he still came in the ring with the confidence that he was going to do it, whatever the consequences.

That boldness is inspirational, and in a sense, you have to give Tyson Fury (recent heavyweight champion) a thumbs up.

I shall cut this entry short,

talk less, do more.

Peace out!

COMPARING THE CREATIVE TO THE BOXER. (PART 2)

PREPARATION

Before any fight you train, you study your opponent, watch videos of his fights, 

jog in the early hours of the morning, 

take on sparring partner after sparring partner, 

stay on a strict diet to make the weight for the fight, 

and never lose focus, training far from human contact, far from a social life.

Just you, your mind and your body.

You see the famous Rocky training montages, 

that is a perfect example of a fighter preparing, 

the different methods, training routines.

Specially the catching the chicken scene, Micky, an old-fashioned trainer, 

setting Rocky an old-fashioned task to work on his pace.

Tony once said to me, that a fit body makes for a fit mind, 

he would tell our class to stay away from the pub, 

not to drink during the working week, not to indulge in food too much, 

being hungover or simply having food baby would defiantly affect us coming up with ideas.

It would explain why Tony jogged, kept active, ate healthy, 

it would simply keep his mind going to come up with ideas for scripts,

or just to keep at the pace of the class helping with ideas etc.

But preparation isn’t just about warming up the mind, keeping it fit, 

it is also preparing for a certain client, 

understanding a brand, 

so when you have to answer the brief you will have a great insight/truth, 

an attack plan to deliver a great idea to win the client over, and get some live work out.

In boxing, you train a certain way for a fight/fighter, 

whether it be to increase your pace to counter a fast opponent, 

or your power to take the wind out of a defensive type, so they open for a clean shot.

Anthony Joshua had four sparring partners,

each one did 4 rounds and then they swapped. 

So, Joshua was sparring for 15/16 rounds in prep for a 12-round fight with Wladimir Klitschko. 

Because most of Klitschko’s fights had went the distance, 

with his clever boxing ability, to slowly pick off opponents with his jab.   

Joshua won the fight by knockout in the later rounds.

POWER

Mike Tyson was feared for his knockout power. 

Joshua is now carrying the torch with 19 win by way of knockout. 

Power, knockouts is what people pay to see in a fight, 

it’s what makes it exciting, 

whether fighter runs out of steam and is finally silenced by TKO (technical knockout). 

But it’s those flash knockouts that really make you stand up.

Tony told a team on this year’s course to be more Mike Tyson, was it to be bolder, 

or simply have more impact in their execution?

I feel power in advertising is summed up by the feeling of “I wish I came up with that”, 

that jealous feeling you have when you see a real great idea. 

That feeling is the knockout. 

Great ideas are powerful, they make an impression, you remember them, 

you talk about them to friends.

John Hegarty remembers when Ross Cramer and Charles Saatchi came up with the 'pregnant man'.

Hegarty thought he had won the brief for the Health Education Council,

with idea involving a pregnant school girl smoking a cigarette, 

but along came Ross & Saatchi with the pregnant man, 

and Hegarty felt completely disarmed, it was a knockout.

One great idea can be remembered for a lifetime, 

but some creatives strive to beat it with an even better idea, 

in fear that they are summed up by that idea for the rest of their life, like a one hit wonder.

Lennox Lewis had a series of great fights from beating Frank Bruno in a big British clash, 

to destroying the beast Mike Tyson in Vegas, 

he didn’t have one great fight, he had series of them at the top.

That’s why these sort of people are remembered, 

they made an impact, they made a statement, 

they entertained, they excited, they took your breath away.

COMPARING THE CREATIVE TO THE BOXER. (PART 1)

Last weekend I witness an epic clash between two great heavyweights.

Anthony Joshua of Great Britain got off the canvas in the 6th round,

to TKO (Technical Knockout) Wladimir Klitschko of Ukraine.

This was a unification fight for the heavyweight championship of the world,

in a record breaking attendance of 90,000 at Wembley Stadium!

It was truly intense, and amazing to watch!

Even my girlfriend, who wasn't even a fan of boxing, was on the end of her seat!

This epic fight inspired me to write a post about how a creative and a boxer,

stand in terms of heart, skill and entertainment etc.

This is something I have been meaning to write for a long time,

since I decided to pick a career in advertising,

I have been treating it as a sport, a boxing ring, fighting against the best creatives,

for the prizes and the recognition to get to the top!

This is why I enjoyed One Minute Briefs so much,

head to head against your opponent, to out think them in a minute,

while everyone watched in anticipation!

I can't think of it nothing less then my sport,

so I have decided to show this feeling in a comparison,

of the two professions.

So you can feel how I do about this career!


STYLE / TECHNIQUE

A boxers style could be determined by the gym they trained in,

who he was trained by, or simply down to his attitude.

Mike Tyson's peek-a-boo style, was designed and perfected by his trainer Cus D'Amato,

this technique was the reason Tyson knocked out nearly every opponent,

ducking and weaving, coming up with speed, landing a clean haymaker out of nowhere.

Tony Cullingham of Watford trains all his students in a certain way,

finding the insight and truth in the brand,

capitulating it into a idea/line with no more then 8 words to sum it up,

getting them to execute on the hardest but simplest medium, the poster.

You could say the Watford technique is an orthodox (traditional) approach,

compared to SCA (School of Communication Arts) which is unorthodox (untraditional).

However some fighters are already training themselves.

When Muhammad Ali discovered boxing, he was obsessed!

He would get his brother to throw stones directly at him,

dodging the stones with his head movement, improving his speed.

This obsession payed off, Muhammad Ali became known not just as the greatest,

but one of the fastest fighters who ever lived, in his prime you could hardly touch him!

There is quiet a lot of creatives in the industry that didn't even go to advertising school,

and trained themselves, taking everything they could at book critics,

and processing that into a more affective way of getting better ideas.

Muhammad Ali was a idol of mine, and before I went to Watford,

I used cover and cover paper, getting my answers with my stamina and speed.

However when I came to Watford, I gradually moulded into a more untraditional style,

with my thinking, tackling briefs more executional,

working backwards towards the line to sum it up.

The way I saw it was to simply answer the problem with a solution,

we are problem solvers at the end of the day.

This could be seen weird for someone who trained under the Watford banner,

in terms of approach, but I like to think of myself as a boxer who can switch styles.


HEART / CHIN

"You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard you hit; It's about how hard you get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done!" - Rocky Balboa

The heart in a boxer's arsenal is what makes champions,

the engine to win when your back is against the wall.

To get knocked down and get back up again!

Tony would call this 'passion and energy', the formula for any great creative.

Because it's the passion, the love for the industry that keeps you going,

and the energy to come back with more and more!

Until eventually your at the top,

whether it be the best creative in your department,

or the winner of the Cannes Grand Prix.

Like Paul Arden said's "It's not how good you are, it's how good you want to be.".

I also found that heart is how much you can take in criticism, and keep coming back with more.

Advertising is an harsh business, a subjective business,

with heaps of criticism flying from everywhere.

Tony would prepare us for this by constantly destroying our ideas,

he can be a tough man to please, but it was for our best,

because if you really had the heart for advertising you would come back with more.

Again, and again, and again.

I had a dark patch during the beginning of my second term at Watford,

where everything I brought in for Tony to critic was shit; everything!

So I began to work on finding myself, what inspired me in advertising,

I searched myself and got off the canvas with bigger and stronger ideas,

that best symbolised me as a creative.

The result showed as I was hand picked to go to Google.


SHOWMANSHIP

Some boxers have a show when they come to the ring,

flashing lights, dancers, singers, fireworks!

Some wear flashy robes, with tassels,

even shorts with their name engraved in diamonds.

The nicknames they have, Floyd 'Money' Mayweather, 'Dr. Steelhammer', 'Ragamuffin Man'.

Some with simply their lively attitude, mouthing off in the press conference,

building up the fight with their antics, they build a love hate relationship around them.

Neither way, it works to a extent to get people talking about them and the fight!

Some creative teams self promote themselves with a simple logo,

or go one step further and create self promotion videos, personal projects,

even create names that symbolise their team, instead of something boring like Tim & Joe,

just their normal names.... you are a creative, promote yourself creativity!

I greatly encourage it, my creative team is called 'PotterScotch',

basically me and my partner's second names combined with a sweet!

Also showmanship most importantly comes down to how you present you're ideas.

During my week at Google, a few teams including myself as a single, where chosen out the class.

Google was big, so when it came to presenting our world changing ideas, we did it in style.

Big keynote slides, on a large screen in front of the some of the heads of the creative labs.

Most of my classmates where clean cut, selling the idea inside out from the insight/truth,

right to how it would help people's lives, proper entrepreneurial stuff!

It was very professional.

However mine was the opposite, it wasn't as polished as the rest,

it was just one slide.

It was simply a black and white photo of me,

with a quote from me talking about innovation in ideas and the future.

I was parodying Steve Jobs, and it worked.

I felt more relaxed and interacted more with my audience, like I was at some big launch,

by starting off with a joke, and then bringing my future bending ideas into the fold!

Everyone was laughing and talking about it afterwards.

Memorability is key, I made not just a presentation but a show.


PART 2 COMING SOON.

QUANTITY MAKES QUALITY.

Cover paper!

Cover paper!

Cover paper!

This was the gospel of my tutor Tony.

For the only way you where going to get anywhere, was to go on a paper binge!

I was already living by this before I started the Watford course,

covering paper with my regular entries on One Minute Briefs,

placing them on my TONY I WANT IN! blog.

Eventually getting me into Watford,

and winning the most prolific OMBLE award,

hitting two birds with one stone.

Quantity and lots of it in thinking!

I loved producing loads of ideas,

because it never felt right getting to something with a few scrapes of paper.

It didn't feel there was a enough hard work behind the idea.

Keep covering until you got to one good idea,

keep covering until you got to two good ideas!

John Cheese once said in a talk on creativity,

that during his Monty Python years, he never settled on the first good sketch,

he strived until he got a second, a third, a forth better then the first.

This was the reason the dead parrot sketch came into existence, persistence!

I remember my week at GREY London, during the Watford tour,

and a creative team called Greg and Thomas said to us all,

that our biggest enemy was ourselves, that we must beat the best thing in our book!

That would mean always working on our book, always coming up with more and more,

until one idea toppled the best one!

One single creative that inspired me,

during my time at Mother London,

was Paddy Fraser, former Watford.

As Paddy put it in a interview with DRUM, you need to keep practicing and practicing,

until 1 in 40 is good, 1 in 20 is good, 1 in 10 is good!

Anders Ericsson said's in his paper 'The Role of Deliberate Practice in the Acquisition of Expert Performance', it takes 10,000 hours of practice to be a expert at something.

So as I sit in Starbucks with my pad of 500 sheets of wilko paper,

(forget about the fancy layout pads, paper is paper, plus it's cheaper),

I cover, cover, cover, until one day, every sheet of paper has one good thought on it.

That or I cover 500 sheets of paper in a day with crap, and a few gold nuggets.

You must shovel through shit before you find gold.

MAKE LOVE WITH YOUR PARTNER.

I was sitting in the pub one day having a pint of Guinness with one of my close friends.

Rambling on about the creative partners I had tried and failed to form a team with.

If there was something I never got right during my time at Watford, was making a team!

I had five creative partners, made up of close friends, people I felt I was compatible with, and people my tutor Tony felt I was compatible with.

What I mean by compatible is what Tony would describe as someone who was logical, partnered with someone who was.. well, the opposite.

Two very different people working to each other's strengths to make the complete team.

The left and the right side of the brain.

This always reminded me of the sci-fi film 'Pacific Rim', where two drivers where synced together, to operate a giant robot known as 'Jaegers', to fight giant monsters called the 'Kaiju'.

The only way the Jaeger would work and win the fight against the Kaiju, would be if the drivers were compatible together, worked together.

But compatibility didn't mean two different people, it could be two brothers or father and son, a personal bond, just someone you felt right with.

Someone you could let into your mind, your life, to fight together as one!

The foundation of McDonald's and the idea of fast food itself was formed by two brothers 'Dick' and 'Mac', who lead a strict system.

And even though there where hiccups in the early stages, they stuck together through thick and thin, and built a successful formula.

Their bond as family made a effective team and kept the quality control of McDonald's high.

Ray Kroc noticed this and delivered that way of management with couples across the franchise of McDonald's in America, to keep standards in check while he wasn't their to mange himself.

McDonald's was family.

Cus D'Amato wasn't just Mike Tyson's mentor, he was his father figure, the man who looked after him in his own house, eating at the same table as his family.

This destructive team wasn't just achieved by hard work, but respect, love for one another.

Mike Tyson went on to be the baddest man on the planet, but he could of been the greatest heavyweight of all time if Cus hadn't kicked the bucket so early in his career.

Even one of the greatest bands of all time, if not the greatest, started because Keith and Mick bumped into each other at Dartford station, with a common love for rock n roll and blues.

Compatibility is more then talent, hard work or being different for that matter, it is being best friends with that person, letting them into your life.

By the end of my rambling, I concluded to my friend over the table, that a team who is simply compatible, would be like a man and meeting a woman; "Your female. I'm male. Lets make a baby".

Now a team that get along together is like this; "I like you. You like me! Let's make love!".

Imagine how grey creativity would be if teams just worked together because they just fit like parts, there would be no fun, no fire in the studio space, just a factory wheel.

Great love leads to great ideas.