Happy, happy, happy. Joy, joy, joy.
It’s the awkward sequel to the sequel. Hopefully not as bad as Jaws III, but with a bit of luck, just about as good as Return of the Jedi.
Here it is, in all its dollop-sophical glory. Part 3 of what Rotten Tomatoes is(n’t) calling ‘The ultimate blockbusting pentalogy the world didn’t know it needed’.
Quick recap, here’s our full, 10-step program to creative bliss:
Dollop’s philosophy (dollop-sophy):
1) It’s never as serious as you think
2) It’s only scary if you’ve never done it before
3) Ideas trump gimmicks
4) Turd polish is a waste of money
5) You should never pay for stuff you don’t need
6) Happy people create better things
7) Too much pastry makes you sluggish
8) Sluggish is cool – if you’re a slug
9) The world needs more misfits
10) Never give a machine gun to a gorilla
In Pt 1, you went crazy for:
It’s never as serious as you think: seriousness means tension, tension means pressure, pressure means unhappy people and unhappy people make mistakes. So, even in business, we need to chill the flip out.
It’s only scary if you’ve never done it before: the longer we stew over something scary, the more it scares us. Sometimes you’ve just got to crack on and face that fear. Stupid fear!
In Pt2, you couldn’t get enough of:
Ideas trump gimmicks: fads and fashion have their place, butrock solid creative ideas always win in a bare-knuckle fight. Just ask that bloke with a black eye; the one with the mullet and leg warmers.
Turd polish is a waste of money: Just because you’ve lived with your logo since before Stormzy was Michael Ebenazer Kwadjo Omari Owuo Junior, doesn’t mean it’s any good. Get over it.
So now here’s Pt3 (technically it’s sort of parts 5 and 6, but who’s counting?).
5) You should never pay for stuff you don’t need
What’s that saying, ‘a consultant is someone who sells you a watch, then asks you for the time’?
Some industries have a crappy reputation – Estate Agents, Bailiffs, Neo-Nazi Dry Cleaners. There are some people who’d lump design and ad agencies in with this lot.
“You come round ‘ere with your hoity-toity haircuts and your Savile Row suits. All teeth and Rolex. Selling me the latest programmatical-tiktokicle mumbo jumbo. I only came in for a bloody rebrand and I ended up spending two hundred grand on a poxy TV commercial starring that bloke, you know, he was one of the Teletubbies…”
This is not us.
We’ll never sell you a Bentley when you ask for a Fiat Panda. We’ll never suggest a trouser press when you actually need an air fryer.
Ironically, you might come to us thinking you need a freshly waxed Ferrari SF90 Spider. But, if we’re convinced a Mini Cooper will do a better job of getting you to your destination, that’s what we’ll suggest.
We’ll make sure every penny of your budget is spent wisely. No hidden extras, no heated seats or front/back/side/roof cameras.
Just the spec you need.
N.B. This is an analogy. We don’t sell cars. Sorry.
6) Happy people create better things
“Oh yeah, what about Van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec, Dostoyevsky…”
Good point. Annoying, but good.
The difference here – these were proper artists. What we’re talking about is commercial ‘art’. Briefs, branding and budgets; not berets, brushes and borscht.
Sure, we’d love to flounce around looking wistfully into the distance all day long. But apparently, you don’t make a penny ‘til you’ve popped your clogs. And someone’s got to buy the Ginger Nuts.
So, back to the business-y world of creativity.
The last thing you need is to work with frustrated artists and tortured souls. They bring the room down. Suck the jam out of your donut.
You want people who inject a bit of sunshine into your life and kaboing into the work they produce for you.
Happy people are big on collaboration. They look for the positives in tough challenges. They keep going when mopey-chopped whingebags give up.
Happy people are more fun to be around. They’re less precious about their ideas. It’s about cracking the brief, not scoring points.
Sometimes this job can be a slog. Tight deadlines. ‘Impossible’ creative problems. Long hours. So we’ve assembled a talented network of ‘glass half full-ers’ and ‘sun has got his hat on-ers’.
The sort of people you’d happily have a pint and a pickled egg with.
And we promise not to cut our ears off, get addicted to absinthe or end up in a Siberian labour camp.
Hey, we’re only on Pt3. While you’re waiting for the next instalment, if you want to talk to a creative agency that’ll never flog you a cut ‘n’ shut rust bucket, and always has a smile on its face, call us on: 01273 458 557 or drop us a line at: hello@dollopcreative.co.uk – ah go on.
