Tag Archives: inspiration

Advertising. Ideas are easy. It’s the caring that costs.

“The simple act of caring is heroic.” Edward Albert There’s a quiet, persistent mistake the industry keeps making about creatives. A kind of polite delusion. We say “creatives come up with ideas,” as if that’s the job. As if that’s the mountain. But coming up with ideas is not the job. It’s barely the foothills.Continue reading “Advertising. Ideas are easy. It’s the caring that costs.”

Creativity. Why do people still go to art galleries?

Recently I was in Melbourne with a spare afternoon. My wife Minky and I decided to go to an art gallery. It was very full. I asked myself a simple question. Why do people still go to art galleries? Those paintings and sculptures are all available online. Why do people bother? What is it thatContinue reading “Creativity. Why do people still go to art galleries?”

That’s not a knife. That’s a creative team.

“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.” Vincent Van Gogh Advertising is a strange place at the moment. Much is changing and will probably continue to do so. A lot of fear and concern. Many questions and uncertainty. So, to cheer us all up I thought I would start toContinue reading “That’s not a knife. That’s a creative team.”

Cannes. The truth is nobody bloody knows.

“We drive into the future using only our rearview mirror.” Marshall McLuhan This one will be a little different. Cannes is normally a mirror to the industry. But this year it was a kaleidoscope. It showed us many possible futures. An endless array of possibilities that will forever change things. It was weird, you couldContinue reading “Cannes. The truth is nobody bloody knows.”

Creativity.The value of water on the smoke.

“Some people never go crazy. What horrible lives they must live.” Charles Bukowski Some of you may find this shocking but not all ideas are the same. I find many speak about ideas like they are loaves of bread. Give me 10 of those and three of those. Perhaps that’s where we are. The amountContinue reading “Creativity.The value of water on the smoke.”

And remember kids, don’t waste your imposter syndrome.

“I still feel very much an imposter in the whole music scene, which I’m quite happy about to be honest.” Nick Cave About a month ago, I was a keynote speaker at the This Way Up Creative Festival in Sydney. The name of my talk was called, ‘What the Fuck is Creativity anyway?’ I workedContinue reading “And remember kids, don’t waste your imposter syndrome.”

People. Always the last piece of the puzzle.

“You can be cautious, or you can be creative, but there is no such thing as a cautious creative.” George Lois When Jerry Hall didn’t arrive for two sittings with the famous artist Lucien Freud he decided to change her into a man. He replaced her face with the upper torso and face of hisContinue reading “People. Always the last piece of the puzzle.”

Creativity. Things we shouldn’t lose.

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing.” George Bernard Shaw Sorry it’s been a while. One thing I have learnt this year is that it is way harder and takes way longer to write a book than you think. But, we are almost done. My book basedContinue reading “Creativity. Things we shouldn’t lose.”

Creativity. And now for something completely unexpected.

“We don’t see the things as they are, we see them as we are.” Anais Nin I hope this post makes you remember the first time you had an idea. Come on now, don’t roll your eyes yet. Creatives are odd in quite a few ways. But, perhaps the strangest is how they search forContinue reading “Creativity. And now for something completely unexpected.”