Kickstarter update whatever: Five days in, and I'm feeling a kind of way - I am so grateful. (Didn't see that coming, did you?) I'm so thankful to those who have shared the link, expressed support and even contributed. I know some really cool people. www.kickstarter.com/projects/cra...

Kickstarter for my book Crash & Burn is chugging along. www.kickstarter.com/projects/cra... What's the book about? I'll let Ima Hack answer that:

Let the world know! Please, pretty please with sugar on top! www.kickstarter.com/projects/cra...

Kickstarter update #4: I'm hours away from going live with the Kickstarter for my book, and I haven't had one single drink of alcohol!😂 The voices in your head are not always your friends. Wait a minute! This is going to be a chapter in the book. Please be ready to share.

Industry standard is never the goal. Industry standards = status quo Status quo has never been great.

Kickstarter update #3: I suck as a client. I let the dang creatives do whatever they wanted. What was I thinking? My Kickstarter is approved. We go live Monday! Let the call go forth! Rally the troops! www.kickstarter.com/projects/cra...

Kickstarter update #2: The video for the Kickstarter page is done, and "it sucketh through the nose sideways!"🤣 (Not really but some may think so.) It is not normal or regular at all! It doesn't follow the formula. It is pure madness and chaos. It reflects the book so well.

"I don't get how you remember and know so much about your advertising career," a former AD partner said to me. "Because the journey meant so much to me. It was new and different, and after everything I went through to get here, I was determined to soak in all in," I replied.

"And how you died does not redeem how you lived." www.facebook.com/stacey.patto...

Kickstarter update #1: I am freaking out. We shot the video for my Kickstarter yesterday, and the realization that with so much is riding on this video is a new level of anxiety. Hopefully we can go live in a week or so. Breathe derek, breathe.

Advertising's best and brightest are really mediocre at best, and very dim, so very, very dim. Maybe it is time to give a different group a chance at bat. Who am I kidding, it's well past time for a flushing of agency and holding company leadership.

I suck at asking for help. I'm used to being the one to give help, but 2 major illness and the death of my father have taught me to ask for help. I'll be doing a Kickstarter to help with the publishing of my, Ima Hack's book. I'm going to need getting the word out. Stay tuned.

Either I will succeed spectacularly, or I will fail magnificently. I'm good either way.

It is easier to do things the way everyone else does them. It may even be more efficient. It is also harder to stand out or get better results than anyone else if you're doing what they're doing. That's cool if your goal is to be like everyone else. If.

I do not care that AI saves you time if the work that I am paying for is lesser than you are capable of doing, i.e., not on the level of your portfolio. If you somehow see this as anti AI, that's on you.

I'm not ready for your AI work. I'm trying to be open but I just ain't ready. I'm not afraid of AI, it is just that I have standards. AI still feels off. I get that you want to experiment with it, fine. Cool, but you should let the people hiring you know that you are using it.

I think my Friday is sliding into a "brown liquor" kind of mood. (Relax! I am not drinking, just playing music that sounds like I am) www.youtube.com/watch?v=OysW...

Look at the concept behind the work, and less at the execution. Ads in portfolios can feel dated until you look at the concept. Show your best work, not the recent. Show me what you can do when the conditions are right. Show me better than this today. www.youtube.com/watch?v=mU2r...

Your work may be old in your portfolio but the concept is ageless. Your best creative idea from yesterday, may be your best creative idea today and tomorrow. Hear me out. Sometimes our best work is the result of the perfect storm - strong agency leaders and brave clients.

"I've only read the 1st page of the chapter, but just in case I died tonight, I had to let you know how much I enjoy this chapter!" I shared the 1st chapter of my book with an ex boss, who I really respect, expecting him to cut it apart, and this was his response. I'll take it.

"When someone who doesn’t know our limitations tells us we can do something, it carries the weight of fresh belief." Naresh Sunkara is onto something here. Maybe clients can't hear advertising agencies because we're too close. medium.com/@labtostartu...

Rewrites/revisions don't always make it better. Too often it makes it more palatable. Often in team settings, members mistakenly thinks they have to "touch it up" or they are not involved. Too bad, no one seems to want to take the role of protecting the idea. That's the MVP.

As bad as it is that many business leaders believe that A.I. can make employees redundant or obsolete, what's really depressing is employees believe this too. If people don't think they bring something special or unique to their job, why should anyone else?

You will never regret building/creating that crazy idea that no one else can see. This does not mean it will be easy or fun, or that it will even work. Sometimes the act of creating it is the victory. Lord, I wish I had understood this when I was younger.

I may not be as much of an egotistical butthole, as folks think. Naw, I am. "This is really good. Not what I expected it was going to be. Love it man. I was expecting more of your life stories," a friend on the 1st chapter of my book. I feel a kind of way about his comment.😂

The process of writing this book is beating me like I'm a piñata at a fat kid's birthday party. Trying to write a book is a humbling experience for me. How people punch out book after book amazes me. And yet, I am having so much fun. It feels great to be uncomfortable.

Creativity is an unfair advantage. Take that advantage or watch someone beat you to it.

Creativity does not give one flying copulation how big the agency is you work for, or the client for that matter. Creativity is going to be creative where, when and with whoever it wants. It can't be rushed or measured or metered. Creativity is not concerned with being fair.

If you're going to jump on the American Eagle bashing bandwagon, you need to find a interesting way to cut through the clutter - clients aren't listening.

It is easy to see why so much advertising struggles. Marketing and advertising people do not know how to persuade people. Persuasion is an art form.

A huge hat tip to KFC! I really don't give a flying copulation what others think - this is some of the best work going. It is almost like someone at KFC grew a set! Naysayers, read the comments. The streets are talking. lnkd.in/e96yjnYv

Advertising should have people all up in their feelings. And dear lord, there are more feelings/emotions than just happy or sad. Look up how many there are. There's a gamut that advertising can be built upon. Yet most advertising uses the same 3 or 4.

"Be in rooms with people who make you uncomfortable, who challenge you with their skillset and experience. This is how you grow." - Ron Harvey, the presenter at the Columbia 1 Million Cups.

I miss advertising concepts.

Automating the system does not change the system.

I've made some agency CEOs and leadership really regret having an open door policy. It was never about being confrontational. Open door policies meant employees could ask hard questions or make suggestions that were not popular or point out an issue. Are open door policies even a thing anymore?

"I never thought a leopard would eat my face." www.facebook.com/reel/7297424...

I made the mistake of writing this post on Linkedin first, and that made it too long to cut up into smaller bits for here. I am doing social media wrong. www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

Screw practicality and consensus - nothing good comes from them. Stop suppressing your creativity and curiosity because it challenges the body politics. Advertising sucks because you accept it sucking. You can't whine about feces that you're not willing to change.

"They're not good at marketing because they're old, they're old because they're good at marketing," - Rory Sutherland Being able to do more than one thing at a time is a super power. There is a lot to unpack here. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycEQ...

Saying 'no' to something shows that the person saying it has thought it through. It is easier to not say anything. We hear 'no' so rarely, and it is received so negatively that whoever decides to say 'no' aloud has to be vested in whatever.

When you understand what great is, it is hard to accept mediocre. Our 1st great steak was at Keens Steakhouse. Our parents believed you should know what great is to base everything else against. After that meal, I understood what a great steak is.

Advertising has very little hope. As an industry, hope has been beaten out of us by ineffective leaders and abusive clients. I sort of don't blame clients for taking advantage of weak agency leaders who devalued what their agencies bring to the table.

the definition of a relationship is the ability to say "no". if you can't say no, you don't have a relationship. with your client, with your partner, with your kids, with your parents, with your friends, with anyone

If you cannot tell the client the truth, you cannot really help them. Spin it how you want, we have to be able to be honest with clients for the relationship to really work. Now, if you aren't interested in having a client/agency relationship, you can do whatever you want.

I would rather you walk away than to walk all over me.

"I did my research. I know what needs to be done, how long it should take and how much it should cost," a prospect declared. I smiled and put my pad and pencils back in my bag. "What are you doing?" he asked. "Meeting is over. You don't need me then," I say getting up.

There was a time when small and medium agencies could become giant killers. Then procurement and holding companies killed that possibility. The game is fixed. It's no longer about the power of the work but infrastructure and tech. Could a small agency grow a Nike or Apple?

"We didn't intend on you speaking in the meeting. You will not be going back to American (Airlines) anymore," my creative director once told me. My crime? I told the client what I thought. I answered their question. And for that, I was banished from meeting with the client.