Author Archives: dbs81270

10 000 bicycles. Why creatives need cults.

“You can look at anything as a cult. Churches are cults in their own way.” Philip Seymour Hoffman Whenever I go to America I always feel like I am in a giant sitcom or film. Everything is familiar. A type of television déjà vu. San Francisco was no different with our Russian taxi driver wantingContinue reading “10 000 bicycles. Why creatives need cults.”

Critics don’t make mistakes because they don’t make anything.

Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how it’s done, they’ve seen it done every day, but they’re unable to do it themselves. Brendan Behan Mistakes. Lately, many people are asking about mistakes. It’s funny how this happens. As the world becomes obsessed with data and certainty we all start to crave madnessContinue reading “Critics don’t make mistakes because they don’t make anything.”

I am going to tell you how to make a lot of money.

Right now we are an industry that is in flux. There are many people who are trying to figure out where things are going. What to do next. We constantly read articles about what advertising will look like in the next 5 years. There are many who claim they know. Well, to quote Dan Weiden,Continue reading “I am going to tell you how to make a lot of money.”

Bounce. What does a score mean if there is no game?

I was watching Tina Fey the other night and she was talking about the two main rules of improvisation on stage. The first is that if there are two of you on stage, you have to agree. In other words, if I say I am holding an imaginary apple, you don’t say no you’re not.Continue reading “Bounce. What does a score mean if there is no game?”

11 seconds with Madiba

I met Nelson Mandela twice. Each time it was fleeting but those 11 seconds have stayed with me. The second time was about 4 seconds long and we were completely alone. I was working at an agency called TBWA Gavin Reddy in Houghton in Johannesburg. Houghton was the suburb where Mandela lived. I was walkingContinue reading “11 seconds with Madiba”

It’s not the stars that are important, it’s the spaces between them.

Photo courtesy geek philosophy.com Well, yes and no. This is an old Buddhist quote. I have been thinking about it and how it relates to what I do now and what I will do in the future. For a long time, advertising was designed around stars. Dots of light. Points of excitement. And then nothing.Continue reading “It’s not the stars that are important, it’s the spaces between them.”

Make content but do not be content.

In 2008 I wrote an article called is PR the new advertising. As you can guess the title did not make everybody happy. I had read that at the time Miley Cyrus was worth a billion dollars. Lunch boxes and DVD’s had made her brand worth a billion dollars. I made the argument that peopleContinue reading “Make content but do not be content.”