If we do everything right, what changes? For us? For the world? For brands? For people?
We will be frustrated by different things than we are now.
We will be frustrated because we’ll see in retrospect what could have been better.
Or that something we thought would work, didn’t.
We’ll be frustrated when we see brilliant ideas because ‘why didn’t we think of that?’
But we won’t be frustrated by “what could have been” given the chance.
We won’t be frustrated by not being able to see an idea through.
The source of our frustration will stop being the world, and instead be ourselves. Frustration will be internal– a push to be better.
In our industry’s current model, frustration is just the precursor to apathy.
PIRATE READINGS
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Game Theory: A very short introduction
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Choice Theory: A very short introduction
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Other readings (also known as articles)
Digital is a downstream discipline
“…there is no such thing as digital-first communications.”
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“give up demanding more of yourself than three or four hours of daily high-quality mental work”
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STRAT SCRAPS
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CREATIVES ON STRATEGISTS
I’ve previously linked to a survey I did where I asked Creative Directors questions about what makes a good strategist. Here it is if you’re curious.
Every time I work with a new creative team, I ask them to fill it out.
Got some new answers recently that seemed worth sharing. This is one of the biggest themes I’ve seen throughout the responses.
What well-meaning practice or habit is in fact frustrating?
Telling us a strategy story in the same, drawn-out or narrative way you'd tell a client. We get it. You don't have to convince us. Short and sweet.
Scream into the void: Anything else you want to bring up, get off your chest, suggest, or tell Strategists anonymously?
Strategists tend to be smart and creative and curious and well versed in synthesizing information from lots and lots of sources. This is a great strength, but it must be tempered by an equally sharp ability to edit. My favorite strategists are those that can distill what they need to tell me down to a couple of sentences that contain multitudes. And then, when I dig in on the implications of what they've told me, they have all the answers because they've done the work. Being a pretty writer helps this, for sure, but substance over style all day. A turn of phrase is more likely to fool a client than a creative.