Russell Davies

creativity

These are the current issues of Fast Company and Strategy + Business. Now, either it's a slow newsmonth in business-wonk land or creativity is an important issue right now. And, well it is, HBR are always writing about the importance of creativity. Getting access to the right sort of creativity at the right time is clearly a huge issue for businesses everywhere.

Yet here in adland we seem determined to prove we're not a creative business at all. The IPA particularly seems determined to turn advertising into a regulated, predictable profession like any other. The IPA effectiveness awards plough on, but to what effect who knows? It seems that if anyone still needs to be convinced of the value of advertising then a few more awards aren't going to do it. And for everyone else, why are we still flogging this horse?

The one bit that it's worth paying agencies for - unpredictable, lateral ideas - seems to be the bit that the industry plays down in its ceaseless quest to be as 'accountable' as other industry supplier.

Oh, I dunno. I had a bit of a head of steam when I started this post, but now I'm not quite sure what point I'm making.

I guess it's this.

Business is crying out for creativity, for business partners who are different and interesting. Not like them. And the last 10 years of advertising industry thinking seems to have been about proving that we are just like them. We're just another big business. This seems counter-productive and short-sighted to me.

Does that make more sense?

newspapers? brilliant

I don't normally read newspapers. I should be I can't be arsed. Today though I was stuck with nothing to read over lunch and 60p in my pocket so I bought a Guardian. And it was packed with good stuff. And I didn't bother reading the main paper and I've still got the sport to read.

There was this fantastic article which basically explains the meaning of life.

There was this John Sutherland thing about the bizarre American child-care practise of hot-saucing.

And this great Roy Of The Rovers piece.

And this great thing by Andrew Marr about how to read/decode a newspaper article.

And this blogging thing.

(some registration required for some of this)

All for 60p. That is bloody impressive. Something to be grateful to advertising for.

push pull

this is me ranting about design again. and the brain in some way. this is the inside of a yo sushi. looking out through the door. and what do you do when you see this sign? you pull. which, of course, is wrong. your back-brain or unconscious or whatever you're supposed to call it decodes what it says and tells you to pull. you need your conscious brain to go the step further - ie decode what it says, work out that it's on the other side of the door and that means you need to push. you shouldn't be engaging your conscious brain in decisions about getting through doors. hmm.

alternative names for planning

1. experimental philosophical club
2. total information awareness
3. office of special plans

lovely imperfection

from the Mal Maison Hotel in Manchster; a great example of a company or brand acknowledging it's imperfections and talking to you engagingly and directly about them

brevity

I'm very skeptical of the value of brevity in doing ads and strategies. But when you find a fantastic bit of compression it's worth noting. Picnic, lightning is one of those. Billy Collins has turned it into a poem, and I think it's the title of a book, but it's originally from Lolita: 'my very photogenic mother died in a freak accident (picnic, lightning) when i was three....

films that are really about management

Crimson Tide "we're here to preserve democracy, not practise it"

Glengarry Glen Ross

i'm not sure

you know this thing where magazines (especially fashion/style mags) do a bunch of different covers each month. i'm not sure it's a good idea. I can see why they're doing it - more potential ways in, maybe get people to think it's a new issue and buy it twice (well, that's what happens to me). But I think it diminishes the authority of the magazine's brand. No, that's not it. That's too pretentious. And I believe in multi-dimensional brands, so I should like this. But somehow it feels wrong. I need to think about this more. Note to self; think about this more.

good google

I used to work on Altavista. We met them just as they were transforming from a bunch of dedicated and talented search engineers into a bunch of starry-eyed dotcom marketeers. Mostly because of Compaq and the infamous Rod. We did some nice ads, and arguably spent more money than we should have, but they went absolutely crazy with branding madness, doing one of the grossest launch events I've ever seen.

Anyway...while this was going on we used to go and visit them in Palo Alto (was it Palo Alto? I think so, I can't actually remember) and we'd drive by this office that had a banner saying google hanging out the window. Just a amateurish, fun, engineery kind of thing. And even at the time I thought, hello, that's what we should be doing, that's where altavista's going wrong. All this bombast is killing us. And if only I'd bothered to mention it to anyone I could be seen as a seer now.

Of course most of google's success is down to their superior technology. But it's help consderably by the warmth, humour and focus of their brand. The fact that they're willing to take the piss out of themselves and play with their brand takes the edge of their techiness without getting all slick and marketingy. This is a great example.

you want insight...

this is insight. a fantastic site of snatches of conversation overheard on the tube.