In most fields of human endevour, the chances of uncovering the truth are increased as more perspectives are taken into account. - Jon Steel
Seeing things through a different lens is 101, but in reality most of us are guilty of not seeing anything through any lens other than that which gets us to 'good enough' easiest or fastest in our jobs. And 9 times out of 10 that's from an ergonomically correct position staring at a Mac.
With most briefs I tend to go digging through social media. This is cool, and there are some awesome listening and visualisation tools that add some sexiness to presos and get clients buying into the thinking - but it still doesn't get you away from the desk. I love this video. John Jay talks about how we need to come down from the ivory tower and get back on street-level - hang out with real people, not just decks of strategy. So I'm taking inspiration from real people I know [that don't work in advertising].
A mate of mine Dean is a writer, and a very deep guy. He's said a lot of crazy stuff to me over the years. But something that's stuck with me was how when he was 7, he [so the story goes] burst out crying, saying to his mum "I won't ever see the world through anyone's eyes but my own." Very creepy for a little kid to say that, but also ultra profound...but mostly straight up creepy. In all seriousness though, little Dean made a solid point there - how can we possibly be satisfied with seeing a whole lifetime pass by from just one point of view?! It actually makes me feel a little upset too to be honest. So how can we step outside and see more?
My girlfriend April is an illustrator, and often says interesting stuff that I can relate to planning. The other day she told me how when something she's working on doesn't look quite right, she'll take a photo of it, or turn it upside down - seeing it from another perspective lets her step back out of what she's doing, and identify what's wrong as observer rather than artist. Cool.
Another mate, Rob Graham aka SpinFX has taught me heaps of cool life stuff - lots of it pissed in nightclubs or at some afterparty. Rob's the kind of guy who's never seemed focussed on getting better at stuff through incremental improvement. He takes giant leaps into new places, where it's infinitely different and more interesting. In the 10 years I've known him, he's kept pushing this agenda [especially as a DJ] with no sign of ever letting up.
In Truth, Lies and Advertising, Jon Steel talks about the value of being 'out of it' - getting the balance right as a planner between having your head sufficiently 'in' the business of advertising so as to make informed judgements, while at the same time being sufficiently 'out' or detached from the game to see things clearly for what they really are.
Rob showed me this at 6am in his bedroom on a boozy Thursday morning. It's a personal project he worked on this year. I really like it. I like it because he uses outside elements like sound + edits + repetition to help the viewer really step 'out of it'. To me, this video is about unearthing a frightening perspective on something we seem to have accepted over time through continued exposure and desensitisation. Very cool.
Spring Cleaning from Rob Graham on Vimeo.
So I realise I haven't offered a silver bullet so much as bang on about shit. But, I think my take away from this thought is to spend more time looking for gold outside the agency. The more you really listen to people around you [even your girlfriend or your crazy DJ mate], the more ammo you have to bring to each brief.
In the Satorialist, Scott Schuman reminds us that "one of the basic needs of people is to be understood". Nuff said.
