All posts by squad

Don’t Weep Make it Happen

Agencies, Process, ,

 

Don't Weep Make it Happen

George was a talented guitarist.

Talented enough to impress a friend in the year above him at school.

And when you’re fifteen, its very hard to impress a sixteen-year-old.

Its even harder to get his eighteen-year-old pal to say you can join his band, The Quarrymen.

And George was fundamental to their sound.

He wasn’t a particularly fast, noisy or flashy showman.

But George truly understood his instrument.

Stretching not only the band, but also, eventually, musical boundaries.

He was a virtuoso player of numerous stringed instruments.

George didn’t draw attention to himself by belting out self-indulgent solos.

He simply made the right decisions, never playing a note out of place.

Not safe and predictable, but understated and sophisticated.

Drawing his influences from a huge array of sources: from jazz to rockabilly.

His structured chord vocabulary,versatile and tasteful.

Playing with clarity, feeling and an unmistakable tone.

He paved the way for the likes of The Smiths Johnny Marr, his signature style perfectly showcased Morrissey’s baritone, without the need for showboating solos.

So opposed to guitar heroics was George, that when he penned a song that was crying out for him to exhibit his own talents, he didn’t.

Because his problem was bigger than a guitar solo.

On the 25 July 1969, The Beatles (the band The Quarrymen became) began recording’While My Guitar Gently Weeps’.

But it wasn’t working.

John and Paul weren’t taking it seriously, because they were only interested in recording their own songs.

Being the third-best songwriter in the best band in the world was a difficult place to be.

But George knew the song was pretty good.

The next day, while driving into London with a friend, he asked him to play on it.

His friend was reluctant, because no one else ever played on a Beatles record.

George was persuasive.

So, on the evening of 6 September his friend joined them in the studio.

Using Harrison’s Gibson Les Paul, Eric Clapton performed his solo.

Harrison knew this would make them take his idea seriously.

Clapton’s presence put the band on their best behaviour.

They all tried that bit harder.

Georges problem wasn’t his songwriting or his guitar playing, it was finding a way to change the game.

Creatives need to understand that sometimes a great idea isn’t enough: you have to be able to make it happen.

Create the conditions for success.

Get the best people on the job.

And make collaboration a core part of your DNA, because brands built today need to be more multidimensional.

Like George, sometimes arm’s-length orchestration is more effective than being a flashy soloist.

– DB

 

Footnote:
George Harrison’s first six studio albums released between 1968 and 1975 on the Beatles Apple label have been newly remastered as part of a box set. The Apple Years 1968-75 is available now. https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/theapple-years-1968-75/id913049423

 

An interesting first kiss

Communications, Inspiration, , , ,

 

An interesting first kiss

First Kiss has been watched by over 90 million people to date. You may be one of them (if you haven’t seen it, then take a few minutes to watch it below.)

It was made by the fashion brand Wren to showcase their designs.

The three-and-a-half-minute film shows ten pairs of strangers kissing for the first time.

 

It’s particularly interesting because it’s achieved success without being humorous, rude or X-rated.

I remember the first incarnations of viral marketing (as it was called then).

I was working in an advertising agency at the time.

We started receiving an influx of briefs to create viral videos.

The received wisdom at the time was that people only forwarded things that were hilarious or outrageous - preferably both.

This raised questions about what was right for the brand. Often the projects wouldn’t happen because the requisite tone was deemed inappropriate.

Wren has achieved success with a film that taps into other emotions. It’s a genuine and charming portrayal of an awkward moment to which many people can relate. As befits a fashion brand, it’s done with a suitable amount of style and edge.

First Kiss shows that you can achieve success with content that’s right for the brand. You don’t have to sacrifice ‘appropriateness’ for ‘shares’.

The key is to produce content that’s genuinely interesting and connects with people - in whatever way.

This requires a rebalancing of where budgets are invested - away from media and towards strategy, creative and production.

It also necessitates a shift in mindset. There’s no guaranteed level of exposure with social content, unlike with traditional media.

For those that are willing to do this, the financial rewards can be substantial; imagine how much would it would have cost Wren to buy 90 million exposures for a three-and-a-half-minute film via traditional media.

– RG

That ol’ Razzle Dazzle of Different

Agencies, Innovation, Inspiration, Process, , ,

 

That ol' Razzle Dazzle of Different

Norman Wilkinson was a talented, if conservative, marine painter and poster artist.

But he had a dazzling idea.

The open waters around the British Isles were a dangerous place for allied ships during the first world war.

Each vessel a sitting duck, unable to hide from the enemy submariners lurking below the surface.

Throughout 1917, merciless German U-boats decimated British and American vessels at an alarming rate.

Hundreds of ships per month lost to their deadly patrols.

At its worst, eight ships per day were consigned to watery graves.

Severing critical British trade and supply links.

Returning from submarine patrol and the dangers of the Gallipoli campaign, Norman Wilkinson began service on a British minesweeper.

It was here that he came up with his revolutionary and experimental approach to naval defence.

An audacious idea that played a vital role in the protection of British naval and trade vessels.

Wilkinson realised that the Admiralty were trying to solve the wrong problem.

It was impossible to find a way to sufficiently camouflage and hide away all ships, in all conditions, at sea.

The variations in sky colour, cloud cover and wave height were simply too many for any typical camouflage colours, such as black, grey or blue, to work.

So he did the opposite.

Wilkinson devised a fiendishly clever plan to draw attention to vessels rather than hide them away.

Favouring disturbance over disguise.

Optically distorting the appearance of each ship to confuse the enemy rather than conceal.

Suitably impressed, the Admiralty made Wilkinson the head of the new dazzle camouflage section.

Influenced by British avant garde painters like Wyndham Lewis and David Bomberg, Wilkinson assembled a team of artists and model makers from the Royal Academy.

Edward Wadsworth, founder of Vorticism the British artistic movement that grew out of Cubism supervised the patterns.

Consisting almost exclusively of women, the team of students from the RA set about the patternation of the ships.

Each side of every vessel a different design.

Every ship an absolute one-off.

Quite literally a work of art.

A cacophony of intersections and angles.

The contrasting geometric shapes and colours interlocked and dissected, creating optical illusions designed to disorientate.

Even the smokestacks were decorated to appear to be leaning in a different direction.

When the German periscopes broke through the waters they had only seconds to locate their target and calculate its speed and course.

Shooting not directly at the ship, but where the vessel would be by the time the torpedo got there.

The problem now facing the German submariners was that the manually operated coincidence rangefinders needed to adjust so that two half-images of the target aligned, completing the picture.

But it was hard to align two halves when what you were looking at didn't make sense: the bold shapes at the bow and the stern broke up the form of the ships.

Making it more difficult for the enemy to calculate an accurate angle of attack.

During the first world war, more than 2,000 Cubism-inspired dazzle ships were operational, and while never scientifically proven, it's safe to say that some patterns worked better than others, and that traveling speeds played a major part.

Recent tests indicate that similar patterns tested on military vehicles, such as Land Rovers, can cause an unguided rocket-propelled grenade, fired at a target traveling around 90km/h, to miss by a metre or more.

The difference between life and death.

Its often all too easy to work within the conventions of a category or situation, gravitating to like-minded ideas.

Take risks.

Iterate as you go, because it no longer takes 100 years to prove your theory.

When you do the polar opposite of what you'd normally do, new ideas, viewpoints and solutions open up in front of you.

The final answer may not end up being the exact opposite, but you'll have more variables on the table in the process.

And possibly a bit of that ol' razzle-dazzle.

– DB

USS West Mahomet in dazzle camouflage, 1918

If your creative agency were a World Cup football team, which would it be?

Agencies, Process, Squad

 

If your creative agency were a World Cup football team, which would it be?

So that’s it.

The argument settled as to who’d win the 2014 World Cup Final.

The best team in the world, or the best individual player in the world?

Germany, a model of team ethos and team spirit, coupled with a moment of sublime brilliance from Mario Götze to score the worthy winning goal.

And as Argentina’s Lionel Messi ponders what might have been, the Germans are rightly celebrating the belief that organisation is everything.

So as this World Cup winning side graduates - world champions in a triumph of German engineering - threatening to dominated the World Cup in 2018, what can we learn about how to structure a creative business from this squad, and the best World Cup teams of the past?

Brazil 1970

No team has ever captured the imagination like the Brazil side of 1970.

Resplendent in shimmering gold.

Turning the previous black and white world of football into glorious Technicolor.

There have been more enduringly successful teams, but none has ever dismantled the opposition in the utterly exhilarating manner in which Brazil did during the 1970 World Cup.

Pele, Jairzinho and Carlos Alberto combining to thrash home the goal that set the blueprint for all we know to be Brazilian football.

With so much talent on offer throughout the side, it was even suggested that this embarrassment of riches were too similar in style to be assembled into one team, on the same pitch.

The idea of simply playing all your best players could never work.

But coach Mario Zagallo thought differently.

He went ahead and put all of his best players into a loose starting XI.

Pele and Tosado, both playing a withdrawn centre-forward role.

The lack of bodies in the box negated by the sheer attacking prowess of an entire unit.

It was pure magic despite the lack of overall shape.

But despite the absence of textbook military precision so abundant in today’s modern game, this side moved up and moved back together, as a team.

A symphony of rhythm, agility and instinct.

A marriage of teamwork and individual brilliance.

If this Brazilian side were a creative business they’d put fun at the top of their agenda.

They’d understand the power a shared culture over a ruthless system.

They’d look for sheer talent in every area.

And they’d let people go out and play.

Their way.

Holland 1974

As the shimmering gold of Brazil faded, it was clear that the future was still to be bright.

The future was orange.

With a brand of football that would become known to all as Total Football.

Unencumbered by a specific rigid formation, the Dutch system relied on wonderfully versatile players who were capable of filling in at any position the game required them to.

As a player moves out of position, he’s replaced by another from his team.

Anyone successively becoming an attacker player, a midfielder or a defender.

Fluidity reigns but the team’s organisational structure is retained.

An exhilarating wave of orange illuminated the world of football.

And although one player epitomised the Total Football ideology - able to play in almost every outfield position - Johan Cruyff was just one part of a living organism.

So the Netherlands coasted through their first and second round matches, defeating Argentina (4-0), East Germany (2-0) and Brazil (2-0) to set up a meeting with hosts West Germany.

Only to lose in the final.

But while the result is often forgotten, the ideology isn’t.

It may never have yielded a major trophy, but it did help them to reach two consecutive World Cup finals.

Having the most talented individuals doesn’t guarantee success, but sometimes we should revel in the journey not the destination.

If Holland of 1974 were a creative business, they’d place their emphasis on technically brilliant individuals with the ability to do more than their chose role.

Renaissance men and women, unhindered by job title or description.

With shared vision and discipline.

A group that collectively develops the capacity to deal with the demands of the given project.

A true renaissance team.

Spain 2008-2012

For so long the perennial underachievers of world football, La Roja matured like a fine Rioja to produce one of the most robust systems of play to grace the world stage.

A possession-based brand of football known as Tiki-taka.

Experts in controlling a game, keeping the ball from their opponents in the manner of a cat toying with a helpless mouse.

A style of play based on making your way to the back of the net through short passing and movement, the ball worked carefully through various channels, with patience and possession above all else.

Everyone gets a touch of the ball, because everyone is capable.

The metronomic “carousel” passing of Xavi and Iniesta.

Compellingly silky with a steely defence and sublime skill (most notably when beating Italy 4-0 in the Euro 2012 final).

It was football in a completely different technical and intellectual stratosphere, reducing even the finest of competition (the Germans and Dutch) to headless chickens.

Spain had developed a footballing identity - a successful combination of Dutch ideas with a twist of their own.

They’d a national commitment to a certain idea of football.

If the Spanish team of 2008-2012 were a creative business they’d set themselves up to have shared ownership of the idea.

A systematic and patient development of a thought involving everyone.

Key players at the centre of the team, keeping up the momentum and pace, bringing others into the game, and creating option after option.

-

Perhaps what we can learn from the greatest international football sides is that (inevitably) any team or strategy falters over time.

When plan A doesn’t’ work, don’t resort to plan A.

Tactics have their importance, but they spring from the central thing - the idea.

Preserve the core purpose and values but change the cultural and operating practices: the specific goals and strategies.

Over-reliance upon fixed old-fashioned partnerships such as art director and copywriter need re-thinking and reinventing.

The idea of the fixed design team, or conversely the lone designer, need re-evaluation and a greater emphasis on bringing others into the process, creating greater collaboration with other disciplines.

Different partnerships like creative and planner can prove both cerebral and aesthetic pleasing.

The client isn’t the equivalent of the “bastard in the black” (football speak for the referee): they’re part of the team and should be brought into the game.

Branding and marketing is a team sport.

A combination of great team play and moments of individual genius, with an overall belief in a way of doing things.

We remind ourselves of this every day.

You tend to do that when you’re called “Squad”.

– DB