Category: The day job
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I'm married. I've learned the hard way that winning arguments is pointless. It's a very hollow victory you can only enjoy yourself why someone else sulks. All you get is a brief sense of victory followed by a very empty feeling. I don't want to feel like that. I want my wife to feel like…
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I went to see Prince on Friday. Utter genius, over two hours of a blistering tour de force. Even if you can't stand him, you couldn't help but admire the talent and showmanship. Here is a man famous for self indulgence, almost willfuly pissing off his fans at every turn. Yet when gets on stage,…
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Once upon a time I thought that George Michael was quite a ladies man. I once believed Jimmy Saville was a lovable 'character'. Once upon a time, I thought I would never ever countenance the idea of having children. I even liked a Queen song once. So it's sensible to assume that everything you know…
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Someone asked me what a reading list for a new planner would be, how to engage with creatives and how to get a job in the UK when you live in Australia. This is what I said. Any other thoughts? Read, in this order: Truth Lies and Advertising By John Steele A masterclass in brand…
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I love food. If truth be told, after my children and wife, I probably love it more that anything, even swimming, cycling and Star Wars. It's probably neck and neck with tea and way, way ahead of anything to do with work. I relish the feeling of hollowness after a long bike ride, because I…
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(this will be full of typos, I don't have time to check stuff these days, not that it was ever perfect) I been in this industry for more than five minutes and most of that is working in creative agencies of one type or another. Working in a media agency still means working with creatives,…
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I was lucky enough to be invited to a client conference last week. I'll admit it was fun, late night drinking, bungee jumping, shooting and so on. But there was some serious business too. Seriously great performance to share, even more serious objectives and challenges. Most of that came from, and would continue to come…
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I hated being made to do presentations when I was younger. I still do to be honest. Because I'm shy, dislike big crowds and am not a natural orator. I also share a personal truth, I moved from being a suit to planner and always have this nagging doubt I'll get found out as not…
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Not this kind of hard. Not this kind of hard. This kind of hardness. Patience, forgiveness and turning the other cheek to win in the long run. Let me explain. If you believed the way some of the case studies and awards entries were written, you'd be forgiven for thinking this was a lovely little…
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I didn't finish Chip and Dan Heath's 'Switch' because it was a book that should have been an essay and seemed to contain too many generalisations to my liking. That said, I loved the popcorn study, where they filled some popcorn tubs with really stale crap popcorn, all in tubs too big for folks to…
NORTHERN PLANNER 