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What do you need to work on?

Before Mr Agassi came along, my favourite tennis player was Lendl. Odd, when there was the delightfully mad John McEnroe or Becker’s Wagnerian serve to choose from, but there you are.

Lendl

I admired about the way he always worked on his weaknesses. He had an endurance problem so he modified his diet to become the fittest player ever, McEnroe kept exploiting his weak backhand, so he developed on of the best topspin backhands of the era. Even his weak volleying improved to the point he was unlucky to not win Wimbeldon.

Sometimes it’s not the things that you’re great at that lead to success, it’s improving those weaknesses that hold you back.

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10 responses to “What do you need to work on?”

  1. Rob @ Cynic Avatar
    Rob @ Cynic

    Without doubt, brands that exploit their acknowledged weakeness tend to develop the most interesting communication – possibly because consumers already have a perception there and this strategy forces them to re-evaluate their views.
    I remember working on an Aussie Radio Station that never played the popular songs of the day [like all the competitors did] … infact, they were known for playing obscure, weird and downright awful tracks.
    All this led to the idea: ENEMY OF AVERAGE – where we celebrated mainstream mediocrity.
    In literally weeks [thanks to some great, great ads] the brand was seens as fresh, interesting and for people who are individuals rather than follow the crowd.
    Interestingly, I HATED the station and it was this hatred that led me to developing the idea – mainly because I knew it would move sad-bastards like me, to reconsider the stations output.
    We had loads of stuff, from BAN BEIGE VOLVO DAY, ‘DON’T BUY THIS’ Stickers on various artists CD’s in HMV [they threatened to sue], PISS ON MARIAH [a Mariah Carey lookalike on public urinals who would scream when you peed on her [Taken down within 24 hours!] right through to my personal fave of ads in all the yuppie press that simply said, “WE DON’T LIKE YOU EITHER”.
    And it worked. Massively.
    Celebrate weakness … it ironically makes you much, much stronger.
    Great post mate … which I will blatantly rip off when we launch our new branding philosophy of ANGER IS ENERGY.

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  2. Andrew Avatar
    Andrew

    Anger is energy, clever bugger. Very, very nice.

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  3. Rob @ Cynic Avatar
    Rob @ Cynic

    To be fair I sort of borrowed the concept from [name drop alert] Bob Geldof, who told me his anger [about the starving in Africa] was the motivation to make Live Aid happen, whatever the challenge [www.robcampbell.wordpress.com/2006/10/19/anger-vs-advertising/] … and the phrase ‘Anger Is Energy’ comes from some lyrics within a Public Image Limited Song called ‘Rise’.
    You call it ‘stealing’, I call it ‘recycling’.

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  4. Rob Mortimer Avatar
    Rob Mortimer

    Yes Rob. You could be wrong, you could be right…

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  5. Rob @ Cynic Avatar
    Rob @ Cynic

    At least we’ve moved on from Status Quo … don’t get me wrong, I ‘Ain’t Complain’
    Damn … no we haven’t!
    [You have no idea how long I spent looking on Status Quo’s website to find a song title that would let me make that joke! What a sad shite! Right, I’m off … bed is needed for me!]

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  6. Rob Mortimer Avatar
    Rob Mortimer

    Whatever you want Rob, take your money and make your choice…

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  7. andrew Avatar
    andrew

    Now now you two, don’t burn your bridges

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  8. Rob @ Cynic Avatar
    Rob @ Cynic

    Stop ordering me about Andrew – you make me feel like ‘I’m In The Army Now’

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  9. Rob Mortimer Avatar
    Rob Mortimer

    Oh good grief, down down deeper and down…

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  10. Rob @ Cynic Avatar
    Rob @ Cynic

    You win – and given we’re talking about bloomin’ Status Quo – I am really happy about that!

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