“Inspiration and genius – one and the same” Victor Hugo
Being a genius can be hard work (it does take some effort). Getting inspired can be hard work too but it’s ok – you just need to work at it. And sometimes it just needs a different approach.
We all generally sit at our desks all day trying to manage a constant flow of emails, voicemails, requests, meetings, twitter, facebook, the wife and whatever else you choose to keep up to date – plus a mounting to do list that only ever grows longer - and yet sometimes I think that we all forget the real reason behind what we’re doing. Seriously. Why did you get into this media / advertising / marketing / pr / digital / insert interesting job title [delete as appropriate] game?
Stop.
And.
Think.
About.
It.
As the cult BBC kids TV series asked “Why Don't You Just Switch Off Your Television Set and Go Out and Do Something Less Boring Instead?“
Seriously, why do you do what you do? Does it involve what you’ve been doing all day or what you’d like to do all day? I’m sure we all could sit around and not challenge ourselves or each other and simply get by but where is the JOY in that? Does that interest you? Does that interest me? Seriously, you got into this to sit on the factory line?
The point I’m loosely trying to make is that good ideas don’t come when you’re sat frantically trying to just cope with the day’s pressures. Good ideas come when you take a step back. Stop doing – start thinking as Nick Kendall put it to me last week. And it’s a dam good point. All of this also ties rather nicely into Russell Davies piece in this months Wired Magazine too in which he talks about non-conferences and the fact that he gets more out of just not being at work at conferences and having a good old think than the conferences themselves. I could also disappear at this point on a tangent about the 9am - 5pm model (seriously who clocks on at 9am and clocks off at 5pm?) as I generally start work when I wake up and stop when I go to sleep. Being at "my desk" is pretty much irrelevant as its simply my "base" (and home to a pile of books, a laptop base and some Wired Magazines). But I'll save that and my thoughts on the architecture of the workplace for another time.
So back to my original train of thought. Over the next 15 months I’ll be involved with the IPA Excellence Diploma in a bid to step back, do some thinking, learn A LOT and most importantly come out the other side INSPIRED (and more genius-like hopefully).
Last week the first 2 days of the course began at The Museum Of Brands over near Portobello Road so in true planner fashion I’m going to highlight some of the interesting points raised throughout the 2 days via in most cases questions. I’ll keep it to a few main points rather than a total splurge of my notes as I know how little attention span we have these days.
1/ David Hackworthy presented his Sex and Death thinking which he talked about at The Battle Of Big Thinking (so @SamDThoughts has already covered some of this). Some interesting thoughts though and it isn’t a planner presentation without a Baudillard reference which came nice and early. Less collusion, more collision! Bring together elements of tension to create better art (Morrissey and Marr – Lennon and McCartney – Noel and Liam etc - ah music analogies I love them). And a lovely thought about judging ideas - is it sex and death and really evolutionary or just dead sexy?
“Creativity is something I’ve not seen before” David Bowie
2/ Gerry Moira and Steve Henry talked about creativity. When was the last time you stopped and thought about creativity? Honestly...
There was a nice thought about how creativity should be UNCOMFORTABLE. How often do you go for the easy comfortable option? How often do you push something that is uncomfortable? Learn the rules and then break them - and connect emotionally. And most importantly try and make people think “WHERE THE F8CK DID THAT COME FROM?”. Try and surprise people.
3/ Peter Field talked about measurement. He thinks it’s going backwards. He made some interesting points around how online and digital metrics were making brands more short term in their outlook when in fact they should be more long term. Short term price drops will affect your price elasticity in the future. He also talked about how measurement should be about multiple perspectives – it’s not just about AWARENESS ok! Think about the other factors that make up the texture of a brand. And don’t get sucked into a Mephisto Waltz just staring at your competitors as they stare back at you copying each other into oblivion. His final point was this: become a change agent.
4/ David Wilding and Nick Emmell talked about channels and gave a great overview of reading material including heavy plugs for Futuretainment by Mike Walsh and Byron Sharps How Brands Grow. Lots of chat about where being the new when and understanding where the centre of gravity is for a brand.
5/ Mark Lund talked about leadership. Specifically about having a vision, a purpose and a plan. How many of us have those?
6/ Finally Wendy Gordon and Mark Earls talked about people. The bad news – its massively difficult to change social behavior – generally with communications guess what? People just hear or see blah blah blah blah blah blah as we talk at them. There are some ways through this though and there was much discussion around behaviourial economics (this is an IPA course after all!). There was a great quote as well about how “the future of advertising is curating diffusion.”
And that was that - I said it would just be a few interesting points. Just 2 days. Great people, great speakers, great mentors, great thinking, great inspiration (plus a few beers at the end of each day too). And that’s what this is about (inspiration I mean, not beers). I’ve challenged myself to get through this course and to come out of the other side full of inspiration. Hopefully over the next 15 months I’ll share some thinking (ramblings?) that will in turn leave you somewhat inspired too.
Just remember – stop doing and start thinking.
@simonacarr
