The centenary blog: What we’ve learned so far. Part 1.

It’s been ten years (more or less) of writing these blags and it turns out that I have now penned a staggering 99 of them (okay, not the most staggeringly prolific writer I must say, but not a bad average) and so I have been thinking about what I should write for the 100th, or what I like to call the centenary edition.

You know, a real barnstormer.

So while this is, to a certain extent, ‘cheating’ – what better way to celebrate than to look back at what we’ve learned over the years venting my thoughts and opinions and generally mouthing off like a big opinionated know-all.

Let’s see what still stands up. (This may take a couple of blogs to complete).

In my first ever blog we learned how to ruin a successful format of award winning ads. A somewhat painful story of my time at an agency called The Creative Business when I was but a lad. I think this was definitely venting some frustrations about agencies that aren’t creative meritocracies.

In the subsequent months, we learned how not to evaluate creative in ‘the three worst ways to judge creative’. The wilful misinterpretion of concepts that drives me mad and how to combat it.

Next we learned why having a few primadonnas in your creative department isn’t always a terrible thing. A little pride in our experience and training isn’t as precious as people think.

We discovered how every part of your advertising budget is a sales rep. So you shouldn’t just hire the shoutiest, bluntest person you can find.

We covered in ‘The other great war’ how every creative has to deal with the unfairness of this business. I re-read this blog and had forgotten some of the sad losses some creatives had suffered.

“Our ad died when, after years of trying to get it bought, the account man moved agency and sold it to someone else and now I have to watch it on telly, done badly.”

I feel your pain comrade.

I didn’t totally give up on the venting but I then started to think about brands and how people in pharma could be further convinced of their value. Especially in healthcare there is a tendency to strip away the pixie dust and leave you with the naked data and an MOA. This is all well and good but The North pond hermit explored this theme with a true story.

I think it was around then that I started to get an idea of what this blog was actually all about. (sometimes you just have to start writing to figure that out).

I wanted to do more than vent, I wanted to help creative people in pharma think and be inspired and share some of the things I have picked up over the years about how to think creatively. And more importantly, for us to take pride in the work we do.

We are not just monkeys with typewriters and we are no longer the consumer creative’s grubby little country cousin.

On the whole.

I think this aspect of ‘how to think’ is summed up well in ‘The power of doing nothing’. I even did a little bit of research to back up my hunch on this one. It’s worth checking out again if you are stuck for an idea and are feeling like justifying why you’re staring out of the window.

lastly, for part 1 of this centenary edition, I guess I must have been looking back at the white cliffs of consumer advertising (mostly because consumer advertising was full of white men called Cliff) from the deck of the pharmaland ferry and saw my new country of residence with a fresh perspective. ln ‘28.5 things creatives should know before moving to pharmaland’. I was trying to be humorous, but re-reading it, it seems pretty bang on still.

My favourite observation, though I say it myself, was ‘When you present to the affiliates from all the countries, who will have to agree to take your concept to use locally, there will always be someone who doesn’t agree with the strategy or creative because in their country your image is associated with dog poo’.

It’s funny cos it’s true, as they say.

Stay tuned for part 2.