John Drake

Avoiding The Path To Mediocrity

I remember reading Stan Richards' book when it first came out. The part that stood out to me was his open office concept, which was more rare at the time--and how no one, except, I think, his CFO had a door. Stan said that with doors employees always think, "if there's a closed door there's a 100% chance they are talking about me in there." I thought that was well-stated.

I also remember losing a pitch once to The Richards Group years ago because the client loved a particular piece of work they did for The Home Depot. It was called "Happy" and I happened to find it still out there...

I think this defines what Stan believes is good advertising:

"Well, we start with a simple one. I really believe and have always believed that people need to like the work. It has to be endearing in some way. It may create a smile. It may create a laugh. It may create a tear. It may provide information that wouldn't have come any other way, but there's some element that makes the people like the advertising, and we work very hard to find that element."

The first time I saw Chick-Fil-A work, I backtracked the agency--and it was Richards. I did the same with Motel 6. Stan should be in the Advertising Hall of Fame, which just happened.

Most industry people probably think of Stan for the recognition he's received for not selling his agency, saying that he has "watched a hundred agencies be acquired and cannot name one that got better." This is also well-stated and pretty much true. Rarely are things black and white. I'd argue that R/GA, Adam & Eve and Deutsch all 'got better' but, yes, it's sad to think of the Ammiratis and the Wells Rich Greenes who are no longer around and the many, many others who are still here, but aren't nearly the same as what they were before. 

For me, Stan's agency has consistently done work that is 'endearing,' to use his words. The fact he hasn't sold is great. But I've just always been a fan of the work. It's an agency I've always liked. Only competed with him once, and it's Stan 1, John 0.

You Have A Right To Imitate Your Heroes

 

Andrew shared this with me.

 

The wisdom of those who have spent a lifetime doing something is always amazing. Nearly anything can apply, in some way, to your craft.

 

Surfing is completely subjective. Competition is best suited for sports where you have some line that’s being crossed with a ball, or a net the ball is getting put into—anything with a defined winning or losing situation. That’s competition.

 

Kids have the right to imitate their heroes. Some people shit on other people for that, but I think that’s the way nature intended it to be. You have heroes and you try to copy them until you become good enough to get off those train tracks behind them and do something for yourself.

 

Make it a beautiful life. You’ve only got one f–king chance. You’ve only got one go.

Set Rules For Yourself

Kendrick Lamar has an inspiration board made up of five rules.

A great list. And a reminder that, perhaps, we all should have one, if we want to push, guide and hold ourselves to high-levels of achievement.

Attitudes Are Caught, Not Taught

At five minutes Fred Rogers says that one of the greatest gifts an adult can give a child is for them to see how much they love what they do. Maybe that's work or a hobby.

Let that sit with you for a moment...

After all, that's Mr. Rogers' favorite thing about his own book--the spaces between the paragraphs.

You'll find that in this video, too.

And it's no small thought that attitudes are caught, not taught. Ponder that for a bit--for yourself and for the world today.

How And Why To Be Bold In Marketing

I moderated a panel at MarketMix about how marketers can be bold. I was up there with three people I greatly admire: Peter, Ryan, and Michael. Their bold work speaks for itself. The session ended up being standing room only--it was quite fun.

The idea for the panel started here: As an agency, you present a very bold idea, it gets approved, and then you leave. But the marketer is left with an entire organization of people who don't work in marketing or advertising so they have to champion the work internally and get it approved and supported. Imagine how difficult that is when your idea is extremely bold?

One of the great bits that came out of our discussion was how to recognize a bold idea. The group's answer: when it makes you uncomfortable. Their opinion was that, when the work is presented, if you don't feel uncomfortable it means you've probably seen something similar before... even if you're not sure where.

Which doesn't mean it's not good! It just means you're probably not in "bold" territory. And that's fine, of course. But if you're looking to be bold, to stand apart, to turn convention around, to surprise your competitors, to earn an unfair share of consumer attention, then you should anticipate being uncomfortable on your way there.

Bowie said the same thing.

"Always go a little further into the water than you feel you're capable of being... go a little bit out of your depth. And when you don't feel that your feet are quite touching the bottom, you're just about in the right place to do something exciting."

But my favorite part was about why it's important to be bold... you do it on behalf of the customer.

The core reason for bold ideas isn't to make your organization "be different." It isn't to strongly position you against your competition and it isn't to grab headlines. The reason it's important to be bold is to make something notably better for the customer. As Bernbach said, a brand value isn't really a value until it costs you something.

T-Mobile, Xbox and Amazon are all bold because they put the needs of the customer at the top of their thinking. And when they do that, their ideas become bold--and the advertising has to level-up.

Hemingway said the same thing.

When you first start to write you get all the kick and the reader gets none, but after you learn to work it’s your objective to convey everything to the reader so that he remembers it not as a story he had read but something that happened to himself. That’s the true test of writing. When you can do that, the reader gets the kick and you don’t get any.

Tracy Wong offered one of my favorite descriptions of advertising: "commerce, artfully told." So it's not surprising that the process of being bold--understanding what it takes, and what it means--is similar to what the world's best artists, writers and musicians experience, too.

On What's Important Now

Larry Gelwix coached the Highland High School rugby team to 418 wins with only ten losses and twenty national championships over thirty-six years. His mantra: “What’s important now?”

By keeping his players fully present in the moment and fully focused on what is most important— not on next week’s match, or tomorrow’s practice, or the next play, but now— Gelwix helps make winning almost effortless. But how?

First, the players apply the question constantly throughout the game. Instead of getting caught up rehashing the last play that went wrong, or spending their mental energy worrying about whether they are going to lose the game, neither of which is helpful or constructive, Larry encourages them to focus only on the play they are in right now.

Second, the question “What’s important now?” helps them stay focused on how they are playing. Larry believes a huge part of winning is determined by whether the players are focused on their own game or on their opponent’s game. If the players start thinking about the other team they lose focus. Consciously or not, they start wanting to play the way the other team is playing. They get distracted and divided. By focusing on their game in the here and now, they can all unite around a single strategy. This level of unity makes execution of their game plan relatively frictionless.

On What Google Is Like Internally

Reid Hoffman recently interviewed Eric Schmidt. It's great. There are several good quotes but my biggest takeaway is how chaotic things can be internally when you're working in such a creative, and innovative, place like Google.

On the outside it feels like they just do things right. And they do.

But in the end it's about great people. And letting great people be great is messy inside.

On Art As The Way You Do Your Work

Russell found this first.

'Art is the way you do your work' is one of the truest things around. Take pride in how you do what you do.

On Advice For A Creative Career

I met Colleen DeCourcy at a conference in New York. She gave one of the best presentations about how to think about digital and I had to talk with her afterwards. It was 2009, I think, so everyone was really trying to figure things out. She had some great thoughts and I've always tried to keep up with her thinking as much as one can.

Here's a great Q&A that's chalked full of great advice for people working in the industry, or wanting to one day.

What is the biggest obstacle you’ve overcome, as it relates to your industry?
Creative people really love comfort and repetition. We have this conceit that we don't, that we’re free spirits. But most truly creative people have managed to find a way to push everything else away, to make space for their own ideas. It’s a process of elimination and discipline. Creative people are really very set in their ways.  It’s called “being sure.”  It’s necessary. 

This whole idea of perpetual change and discomfort, which Wieden has always embraced, is at it’s core a kind of creative trauma.  So, the chaotic, changing world shouldn’t be taking us off our game, but it really makes things hard. 

What motivates you?
Fear. A Fear that I would be invisible and that I would start and finish my life and no one would ever know. It's not ego. It's not that I have to be important. It's that I have to matter. When you combine that with a lot of curiosity and the curse of being easily distracted, it’s a bit of a shit show really. Still, it keeps me going. It makes me work hard.

What advice would you give to your daughter at the start of her career?
Get up everyday and commit yourself to something that doesn’t feel like it’s taking more than it gives.

There's lots more here.

On How To Avoid Criticism

“To avoid criticism say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.”
— Aristotle

Aristotle is on the right.