Category Archives: Uncategorized

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.”

Where are the crazy ones?

These words are part nostalgia, part belief that some things never change. They are about the death of salesmen with apologies to Arthur Miller. It is what Hegarty talks about in his latest interview. We have to become about persuasion again rather than just promotion. It is about strong beliefs versus polite process. Here’s toContinue reading “Where are the crazy ones?”

Trust me I am a creative.

Over my career I have often heard people talking about formulas. A foolproof way to arrive at a perfect creative result. To replicate something over and over. A system for ideas. That’s like saying, let’s use communism to create lego. Sometimes, I still have nightmares about 700 page style guides. Whole forests have died inContinue reading “Trust me I am a creative.”

It’s the cracks that let the light in.

I shot this photograph 20 years ago on Rockey Street in Johannesburg. It’s an important photograph for me because it represents my philosophy on creativity. Creativity is a very strange process. It involves having a vision that you completely believe in and would defend to the hilt. It also involves having the ability to throwContinue reading “It’s the cracks that let the light in.”

Cool Runnings. What a Jamaican Eatery taught me about boardrooms.

Growing up I was always fascinated by stand up comedy. I would watch early Saturday Night Live tapes of Belushi at his best and his worst. Bill Hicks destroying audiences and them laughing and thanking him for it. Richard Pryor being a free basing genius. I think it was the mixture of sheer terror ofContinue reading “Cool Runnings. What a Jamaican Eatery taught me about boardrooms.”

If Russell Brand doesn’t have a fat friend called Greg, he has a problem.

Russell Brand is using his many skills as an a stand up comedian against Jeremy Paxman in an interview we probably have all seen by now. As I watch it, I have this overwhelming feeling of de ja vu. I have seen many speak like this before. And they are normally one half of aContinue reading “If Russell Brand doesn’t have a fat friend called Greg, he has a problem.”

Trying to find Jesus through advertising

The team started to explain their idea to the Group Account Director. He wasn’t having the best of days. I was watching his face as he listened. It began to change with a small laugh. Then he started laughing uncontrollably until he was crying.Tears were rolling down his cheeks. Laughter is a very powerful thing.Continue reading “Trying to find Jesus through advertising”