Five Years 'Below The Line' and You Learnt WHAT!

Today marks my last day at WWAV Rapp Collins. Five and half years just drifted by. I lost some hair, I gained some weight. I learned some cool things, I forgot some important things about myself, went through joyous times of sheer professional happiness and experienced searing bitter resentment. Not quite as bad as this person though.

I've enjoyed learning about marketing, about brands and businesses, about profit and customers. And about Creativity. And about harnessing it for commercial reasons. I met some great people who taught me a lot. I also met some pretty silly people who taught me a lot about how people interact, and how groups of Humans work - think Chimpanzees in the jungle...

Its impossible for me to have gotten to today without having gone through the last five years. So here are five good things I'd like to remember and take-away from here:

1. Coaching is good. It's always worth going the extra mile to brief a younger / less experienced person. It encourages them to deliver super work. It inspires you with new ideas. It grows the whole.

2. Single-mindedness is next to Godliness. People often just aren't that interested in what companies want to tell them. The best you can hope for is to convey a very simple message that shows the man in the street what's in it for him. The best direct marketing is so simple and persuasive that it affects peoples' behaviour.

3. Surround yourself with bright and dynamic people who have a vision for change. It's great when there's someone you can learn from, be inspired by and react with. It sucks when there's no one to feel inspired by. Which leads me on to my next point.

4. Inspire yourself. You can't spend your whole life looking for a role model. Its time to be your own generator. Read widely, challenge yourself, never accept compromises that you know in your heart are wrong. It may only be marketing but its good to passionate nontheless.

5. Understand the mental model of the organisation you're in. What? I mean, understand that there is a way of thinking about how marketing works (or any other discipline for that matter). Then challenge the model. Is it right? Is that the latest model of how things work? Or is it out-moded dogma. Make up your own dogma. Then change it.

That's it.