NORTHERN PLANNER

Brand babblers do my head in.

It may sound a bit rich, someone who gets paid to build brands saying this.

Except I don't paid to build brands.

I get paid to help people sell things.

The answer to that is rarely brand stuff. It's dealing with barriers to selling more. 

People don't think about brands that much.

People with brand in their job titles do. 

The brand babblers do my head because they think brands are intangible things that exist in the customers' minds.

They are not.

They are extremely tangible.

Our impressions of people and organisations are made of our most common experiences with them. 

Just like you probably only know me through a series of badly written blog posts.

But the people I work with know me for great tea, too much dry humour and too much lycra.

We all know that our opinion is really governed by experience. 

Amazing food can de destroyed by a crap waiter.

The joy of buying a new bike destroyed by a shop who treats you like an inferior species.

The 5 star hotel experienced ruined by a room that isn't clean.

The e-commerce site that is hateful to navigate.

Your relationship with a client can be obliterated by putting your most junior person on it, after promising the earth.

The most creative thing you ever got signed off can be hateful if its a nightmare to get made. Or if everything is always late. 

It doesn't matter who you are, if you hire people who don't care, they will show it to your customers. 

All the effort put into everything else gets crushed.

So when you recruit someone ask this.

Do they care about what you do?

Even tougher, will they have any reason to?

The first is OK, just don't hire them.

The second is a catastrophe. Fire yourself. 

For me, the really great companies make you feel something, not just buy something. 

Mostly because they have something they want to do.

Usually they want to change something. 

As people, we want to be part of something, we want to belong. 

So we want to part of that change. 

This is where so many challenger type companies tend to go wrong because they criticise the world as it is. 

The best organisations feel human, because they tell us how it could be. 

They strip away the layers or corporate bullshit and lay themselves bare.

Life isn't perfect, especially at the moment.

So celebrating and documenting the real struggle in company's journey.

Or genuinely being part of theirs.

Stands out and gets related to.

Computing that works for creative people, not corporations. 

A beauty brand that wants to stop the beauty industry making you feel bad.

A diesel engine for people people who hate diesels.

A car company for successful people with a work ethic as high as theirs. 

An premium insurance company for people who know you only get out what you put in. 

A strong deodorant that wants to give you a break from having to look strong all the time. 

Just as the greatest heroes in our greatest stories are flawed, their journey is a much about overcoming themselves as any bad guy.  

You could call it a purpose, but that term has been mangled by the PR folks into CSR bollocks. 

Don't believe the self-serving 'trust' data either, it's much simpler. 

In jaded world, we're all a bit numb, we all want things that make us feel more.

No amount of programmatic precision will help with this.

Nor will knowing what a company makes is really good.

In a busy world, brands that make us feel something, sell more.

Because they are in tune with the rhythms of our real lives.

We can't say why they're different, we just feel different about them (hi Byron Sharpe). 

This isn't love, we don't love brands, we love our friends, family, maybe Star Wars.

It's simply getting noticed.

Getting brought without thinking.

The rational facts justify the emotional decision we've already made. 

Because people may block out marketing, they don't block out life.

And when so much if life is pre-programmed these days, feeling something is really powerful.

 

 

When I was working at an agency in Manchester over 10 years ago, I had a marathon month.

(This was an agency that habitually did 12 hours a day anyway. Thankfully things are a little less brutal these days)

Pitching for a supermarket, it mattered. 

Working on one of those demanding showpiece clients everyone wants to work on, that only looks good on the outside.

A series of workshops, the ones that demand hours of prep, dressing the room, timed to perfection, all me. 

It was too much, it was exhausting, I got little help. I was simply told to feel lucky to work there. 

It was the agency where a director said they loved recessions because you could squeeze more out of your people.

You get the picture. 

There was one day I got in at 7am (after a hour's commute) to frantically make sense of a pitch brief.

I finished after midnight sticking reference onto boards for a workshop the day after. 

In at 6 the next day to finish it off. 

When it all ended, I called in sick with man-flu, but it was exhaustion. I was running on fumes. 

Simply crumbled like a Jacobs Cracker. 

Did I do my best work? Are you kidding? I was lucky to simply get everything done.

My boss was more bothered I had an Excel plan for each workshop with each minute accounted for.

The creative director was more interested in the workshop boards looking symmetrical.

The boss also cared more for a brief having a disruptive bit than actually translating business opportunity into creative opportunity.

Things we're, obviously out of balance and I'm glad for everyone this is less common than it used to be.

I'm also determined no one who works with me ever has to go through what I did.

Yet even now it's common to hear senior people talking about 'earning your spurs'. 

Not through excellence. Through sheer brutal hard work. 

What the fuck is that about?

Yes, creativity is not a just a process, it's not predictable and things can get out of control.

Yes, there are late nights sometimes. 

Yes, adrenaline is cheap and hiring more people is expensive. 

But when you decide to look after your team, you are looking after your business. 

You have to make sure the insane times don't become the everyday. 

A culture where people can have hobbies makes the people more interesting. 

And the work.

95% of marketing is crap because it's done by people who only care about marketing. 

A culture where people take holidays and even lunch breaks keeps them fresh. They work less, but they work better. 

A culture than encourages actual fun, rather than away days to make up for the lack of it, makes people do their best work everyday.

I business that looks after its people makes those people want to look after the business.

It means you can trust more people to do their best work while you do yours. 

That means you are less alone.

It's lonely at the top, but with a little more balance at least you're a little less isolated. 

Your team are more creative, more committed and more fun to be around. 

It's too hard not to be fun. 

They everything. You don't stand a Chance

More experienced people. More track record. More money. More tools. 

The famous propriety process. The entertainment budget. 

They never run out paper. Their printers all work. Their coffee budget is bigger than your IT budget. 

Who would be insane enough to take them on?

 

They have everything. They don't stand a chance

More rules. More internal politics. More politics. More shareholders to answer to. More meetings. More committees. More people to kill ideas because they need to have something to say.

More pissed off staff than you. More energy sucked out by outdated ways of working and models. More people wondering why they got out of bed.

More 'that will never work' More 'it's just the way it is'. More 'because I say it is'. 

Every meeting a graveyard of humour, ready to strangle anything vaguely interesting or different.

 

 

There has never been a better time to attack the status quo, because quite frankly we're all in uncharted waters. The best people to succeed in world of uncertainty are the people who don't get paid to keep things as they are. 

So don't give a monkeys about what they have. You have everything. Something you care about. The fire in your belly.

Something you want to change. 

There have been times on my ride home from work, when I just feel like hammering the peddles. Usually after the odd rough day, or odd really good day, I just want to go all out.

And it feels good at first, you feel superhuman, the adrenalin firing the urge to just go.

But adrenalin is myth your brain teaches your body. It doesn't make you into a superhero, it briefly masks the fact you're mortal. So when the initial zeal begins to fade, like the moment the curtain is drawn to reveal the true Wizard of Oz, the real you is revealed again. 

In my case, a 46 year old man with 46 year old legs. I blow up and crawl the rest of the way home. This is why interval training is the smart strategy. 

It's the same with a new relationship that fizzles out after the first jolt of excitement. 

Or a project you start at a million miles an hour not stopping to think, tearing away at your first instincts.

Or the job you take because you hate the current one too much to think straight. 

Because there are two kinds of passion. 

There is kind that's Fire. All heart, the head doesn't get a look in. Like a supernova, it burns really brightly and then fades just as quick. 

Then there is Ice version, it's cool, calm, considered. It lasts a hell of lot longer because both the brain and the emotions are collaborating. Emotions don't call all the shots, you don't do anything too dumb, but the head doesn't rule either, so you don't end up bored. This is much more effective and at getting results, and when you apply it to yourself, you are more likely to find a love that lasts and lasts. 

To succeed, I think you need to learn the trick of understanding and learning the art of Icy Passion. 

Making sure both head and heart are involved in making decisions. You won't last if you do not deeply care, yet without guidance by the head, you'll either burn out or simply commit to the wrong thing. 

It's tough to control your emotions when you're inspired, but nothing worthwhile is ever easy is it?

I'm 46, I help run a business and I'm a parent. Society at large kind of expects me to be strong and look like a know what I'm doing.

No one really knows what they're doing of course, they just get better at dealing with it. 

The strong thing though, I think more of us should be able to take a break from having to man-up all the time and admit when they need a hand, or are just having a bad day. 

The British stiff upper lip is bullshit. It should be okay to vulnerable and talk about how you feel.

So I'm just going to say it. I spend a lot of time alone these days and this is mostly okay, in fact mostly really good, but every now and then, this year, I get lonely. 

Much of this is because in 2021, despite spending much of my life fighting the clock, my timing has been terrible. 

Years of daily struggles in a cold pool, doing repetitions against the merciless timer. The slower you go, the less rest to get before the next rep.

Weeks and months mapped out, building form to coincide with the big races of the year.

Then a career in agencies fighting deadlines, doing your best work within increasingly less time. 

I should be a master of timing, yet the fact remains that in the year of lockdown I became single after years of marriage

Of course, helping run a business in a global crisis is a challenge and I'm happy to confess it's scary at times. I wish more would, I know I'm not alone in that sense.

I am in others. 

Now I share the kids, I don't see then everyday.

Now I'm one, not part of a two, I am alone so for large amounts of the week, and have been during various restrictions on seeing other people. 

For a while, you couldn't really see anyone face to face, then, thankfully, we could actually see real people.

But the most of the usual interactions we have taken for granted were largely removed.

And for those of us who are alone in middle age, many of our friends don't have the time even in normal circumstances. 

Yes, single people in their forties are alone. A lot. 

Don't get me wrong, I'm an introvert. I'm good at being solitude.

I can happily spend hours on a bicycle with nothing but the hum of the the wheel hubs, the ache in my legs and my own thoughts.

I can swim in lake, or a pool and get lost in the ache in my shoulders and buzz of doing what I think I was really made to do. 

I can still get lost in my work, when I'm on a roll and a brief starts writing itself.

There's the never ending book pile, the untouched playlists. 

I can potter over cooking for myself, eating what the hell I like. 

But I still love being around people. I'm lucky to have the kind of close, good friends, who ignored zoom fatigue, for virtual chats when we were properly locked down. 

I sat in people's gardens and eventually their houses.

I have a couple of couple of 'husbands' in my village who are always there. 

I have close family, even I we live far apart. 

I know I'm lucky. Many people are less fortunate. 

I'm also choosing to crack on with living without compromise and discover all sorts of stuff about me, who I am, what I'm capable of and what I want. Little really gets me down, I'm moving forward, struggling at times, making mistakes but enjoying the battle. 

In fact, to be more specific, its LITTLE that does sometimes cast a shadow.

It's small, mostly rare moments that, in a world of mostly great, suddenly make you feel less alone but doing great – more a little lonely. 

It can be a full day of working from home and realising that apart from the morning agency WIP call, you haven't said a word out loud. 

It can be a watching something on telly that makes you laugh out loud and realise you're laughing alone. 

It can be wandering around a supermarket watching a couple argue and simultaneously feeling thankful you're not arguing over a shopping list and wishing you had someone to bicker with.

It's uncool to admit to be flailing sometimes, but the British Reserve is just crap. I for one, want to be less British and more human. 

The most recent little thing, was wonderful yet laced with sorrow.

It was little boy, after a brilliant day together, who came in for a spontaneous cuddle and whispered, "I miss you Daddy". 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In normal times, when I'm working in the office, it's 5 mile bike ride home. 

It's nothing in terms of time or distance next what a proper training ride should be.

Conventional wisdom says you need at least an hour to bother at all.

But who needs convention wisdom? 

The science shows that for some, HIIT training for 7 minutes is as beneficial as two hours conventional exercise for others.

Thankfully for me, my body seems to made for HIIT stuff.

The ride is mostly up-hill, no traffic light stops.

I've worked out I can do a minute at absolute full beans, agony inducing pace and gearing.

20 seconds easy.

Repeat until the hill ends, try not to cry. 

When I broke my wrist and did no exercise, apart from this little commute for 5 weeks.

I found I came back only a little less fitter than before the accident. 

There are only 24 hours in the day, you can't change that.

What you can change is how smart you are with that time.

Think about that next time you're power-pointing at 12am. 

Are you really doing your best work?

We live in a world that hates us switching off.

You're phone is designed to suck you in with the little beeps and notifications.

Youtube is specifically designed to keep you there for as long as possible, they have pre-roll inventory to fill.

Then there's work. Slack (FFS), email, zoom calls. 

To do your best work, you need focus.

Just as life needs focus too.

Cut through the spiel of mindfulness, it's only really about being present in your own life.

Actually tasting your food.

Talking to your children without your nose in your phone, or worrying about work.

We all find it hard to switch off right now of course, there is too much to worry about. 

One way to do is to find something else to obsess over. 

Take up a sport, a new hobby, it can fishing, tiddleywinks, baking whatever. 

No one has the time, but ask another question, how can you make the time? What really matters?

Because while you obsess over your hobby you are present, you're in the moment, you're alive.

You're likely to be in the flow state from time to time.

Which is one the most mentally beneficial things you can do.

It's a drug that's good for you and it's free. 

And while the mind is switched off, the sub-conscious gets to work on everything else while you're not looking. 

Sometimes the best way to solve problems is purposely avoid them.

Fun pays back. 

Who knew? 

I may have mentioned I love Prince. Like most people, I joined the ride on the Little Red Corvette, when 1999 came out.

Or to be precise, when it was re-released. That's right, the first attempt was a complete failure.

Even before that, Prince's overnight success was a long time in the making.

With a series of albums that made of him a cult favourite, without ever breaking through.

Until he got on MTV and made the record that began to cut-through. 

The record company gave him a lot of time to bed in.

The Shawshank Redemption bombed at the box office, yet was erm, redeemed, with the DVD release. 

Just as the first series of Blackadder was middling, it wasn't until series 2 that it found it's feet.

Just as Parks and Recreation didn't become truly wonderful until a couple of years in.

Few have that luxury any more.

Movies are killed in their opening weekend.

Bands, new and old, are dropped at the first sign of failure.

Because we live in a busy world that makes too much stuff for anyone to hope to consume. 

Yet we all still have exactly the same amount of time. 

So average sinks to the bottom like a stone.

The only hope of standing out is to be outstanding.

Its still possible to get shared and talked about, but the cost of entry is to be in the 5% of stuff that's worth bothering with.

Precision marketing matters of course, it cuts out waste.

But getting in front people does not guarantee success. I know, I've used dating websites. 

Average Instagram doesn't get shared.

Boring Tweets don't get re-tweeted.

Average video doesn't get liked and shared. 

Average ads get forgotten at best, annoy at worst. 

Our culture takes no prisoners now. 

It's ruthless in sorting the good and bad.

No actually, in sorting the excellent from the sea of average.

Good enough is no longer good enough. 

So it's great that excellent doesn't cost more than average, it just takes more work and care. 

In fact, the lukewarm stuff costs more.

You should know that 'Fame' campaigns pay back more by now.

But flip it.

Putting effort in to something that doesn't pay back as hard as it could, that less people see than they might have, is dumb.

And wasting valuable money. 

In other words, spend more time on making things you can't wait to publish, that people actually wish existed.

It will pays back more.

And in a world where the cost of entry is to simply stand-out in a hailstorm of dross.

You can't afford to be lukewarm. 

 

It's confusing doing the job at the moment, there are more people claiming to be strategists than ever. So many ways of working, so many tools.

If you're like me, you're sort of making it up as you go along anyway.

You fear the blank page too.

A simple start that immediately cuts through the clutter really helps. A killer question.

Here's one of mine.

Who is the enemy?

Doesn't have to be a company, I think these days it really shouldn't be, real people don't think about brands that way.

What enemy can you fight on their behalf? Or with them?

Crap design.

Not enough time.

Complacency.

Perfectionism.

Bad service.

Ideas that don't respect the people they will be exposed to (one of mine).

Needless sophistry (mine too).

This can drive everything if you can get it right, if you pick an enemy well.

It can really drive the people in your client company too.

The companies we're bothered about today started out with no more cash than others.

They just had more energy. 

From wanting to change things. 

They knew full well what their enemy was.

Define this and it becomes more interesting and hell of a lot easier.

You might find your own place in the world if you ask this of yourself and the kind of work you want to do.

It was the Joker who made The Dark Knight.

In many ways Darth Vader IS Stars Wars.

Choose your enemies wisely.