“if
we always followed the objectives of doing great work and looking after the
people who worked for us than there was a real opportunity to create a business
which would endure and prosper.” (Mead, 2014, p.5).
In
my view people these days are
thrashing around desperately looking for things to subscribe to with their
emotions. (…) This paucity of things to bind us together is also the reason why
football, for instance, plays such an important part in many people’s lives.”
(Mead, 2014, p.7). “If we create a set of principles and beliefs that the
people who work for us can subscribe to then the benefit to be reaped is
enormous.” (Mead, 2014, p.9).
“It
is a fact that we allow individuals to get away with reprehensible behaviour
during office hours. I believe the same rules that apply to being a good father
at home should relate to being a good boss during the day.” (Mead, 2014, p.34).
“Very simply, most of the time fear doesn’t motivate, it paralyzes.” (Mead,
2014, p.24). “I thought running a people business like ours was really simple
because it was about capturing an unfair share of people’s heads and hearts.
(…) if the people in your company are spending 50% of their time feeling
worried about their future, politicking or being psychologically bullied then
the other 50% of their time is all the productivity you can expect.” (Mead,
2014, p.41). “Never be a shouter: When people make a mistake they know they’ve
made a mistake. When they have to face their boss and discuss the consequences
of that mistake they are already embarrassed and sorry. (…) We have to assume
that they didn’t want to make the mistake and so by definition it was an
accident. If the understanding of that is not there and the person who made the
mistake is shouted at and demeaned then the guilt and absolute desire never to
repeat the mistake is replaced by anger.” (Mead, 2014, p.57).
“Every
year just before Christmas we had a party for everybody’s families. The first
year this took play it was my turn to dress up as Father Christmas. I was to
make a dramatic entrance into the atrium on the ground floor using the glass
wall climber lift. Shortly before my descent, David and I stood on the sixth
floor peering down at the excited faces of the wanting kids. David said quietly
that if ever we thought about playing ducks and drakes with people’s lives we
should remind ourselves of those children gazing expectantly up at us. Those
were innocent lives we had no right to disturb. During our time as an independent
agency we never declared anybody redundant.” (Mead, 2014, p.87). “Every company
should devote a small budget and a couple of really concerned people to the
simple job of making people feel better.” (Mead, 2014, p.45). “It’s always been
my practice to pass on nice things that a third party has said to me about
somebody we both know.” (Mead, 2014, p.71). “We were all incredibly fond of one
another which allowed each of us the freedom to criticise and bitch about the
others, because we knew that the ‘Umbrella of Affection’ was inviolate.” (Mead,
2014, p.33).
And
these conviction don’t cost you
money or make things complicated. On the contrary: “The truth is if you have convictions, both
in the personal and business sense, then those convictions will probably
account for 75% of any decision you’re likely to make. That way you’re only
exercising judgement over 25% of any decision you take. So the expression is
wrong, it should be called the comfort of your conviction.” (Mead, 2014, p.22).
“’Creativity is one of the last
remaining legal ways of gaining an unfair advantage over your competition.’”
(Mead quoting Ed McCabe, 2014, p.50). “Claude Hopkins, Bill Bernbach and David
Ogilvy all produced advertising with ideas. They built bridges between products
and users, but beneath the wit charm and friendliness of their ads were always
solid foundations.” (Mead quoting Abbott, 2014, p.186b). “When the advertising
and communication business is working at its very best it creates for the
products or services it represents the golden state of the benefit of the
doubt.” (Mead, 2014, p.98). At DDB “It was made quite clear from day one that
the role of the account managers at the agency was to handle clients with one
aim in mind - to sell the output of the creative department.” (Mead, 2014,
p.231). “The creative people were the geese that laid the golden eggs, the rest
of us were around to build a nest and make sure that those eggs hatched.”
(Mead, 2014, p.231).
“a
fundamental change in the relationship between agency and client from that of a
trusted business adviser to a supplier of a relatively essential commodity. As
an industry, we have failed to affirm the value of the great creative idea.”
(Mead, 2014, p.326). “we should get to a situation where we can command a
premium price for the very best.” (Mead, 2014, p.328). “Sure, the Guinness
Surfers commercial could have been made for less money by cutting out some of
the special post-production effects. But that saving would have reduced the
efficacy of the commercial and turned it into just another piece of film.”
(Mead, 2014, p.329). “It’s unwise to pay too much, but it’s worse to pay too
little. When you pay too much you lose a little – that’s all. When you pay too
little, you sometimes lose everything because the thing youbought was incapable
of doing the thing it was bought to do. (…) If you deal with the lowest bidder,
it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will
have enough to pay for something better.” (Mead, 2014, p.83).
“Affection
and nostaligia make great marketing weapons: (…) 5% of any new products become
winners. (…) There was a great deal of latent affection for this particular
product because people remembered it fondly from their youth. (…) There are literally
hundreds of products gathering dust that could be reintroduced and bring about
the twin rewards of joy and profit. Old product development should be treated
with equal importance as new product development.” (Mead, 2014, p.73).
“We
took the view that we should treat the City in the same way as we behaved
towards our biggest clients in that we should develop a relationship with our
major shareholders, give them no unpleasant surprises, make sure that they were
fully informed and talk to them often.” (Mead, 2014, p.80).
“I
worry that we have lost the ability to create great relationships with our
clients. These relationships are at the heart of our ability to persuade our
client base to trust us in our assessment of what’s needed in creative terms to
solve problems and create whole new markets.” (Mead, 2014, p.329).
“The
great agencies that sprang up, with DDB leading the way, didn’t just change the
way advertising was used but actually helped create fundamental societal
movements.” (Mead, 2014, p.330).
