port·man·teau

The Tavistock Portman partnership no longer exists, so does that change anything? 

It's one of the unanswered questions. Their separation surprised me more than any piece of news in recent weeks, months maybe even years, because it's central to their doctrine, their piety if you will. I also made a point of telling anyone with the patience to listen how extraordinary the sudden announcement was, which was vanishingly few, and even then, how do we know they were listening? Either way I've got a lot of good news building up for a later post.

I've been told that, paradoxically there are inspirational and gifted individuals at Tavistock, however, that's way above my paygrade. That's not the same thing as having an opinion though.

I believe my credentials in this area are decades longer than most.

A Question Of Sex?

I always prefer to use gender, but you know how the British are for these things, such as calling the restroom the 'toilet', when all that does for me is conjure up images of obstinate turds floating in the bowl. Yes, our American cousins are more refined than us on more occasions than we really care to examine.

Back to the post, as I've been struggling whether to open up a can of worms on planning and international planning that can never be fully resolved. As with most things in life, it's a case of the dynamic so putting it down in black and white often leads to intellectual obsolescence quite quickly. But a start must be made and I think a warm up post on gender equality might be a good way to begin the proceedings. It's probably just as contentious.

A long time ago I realised that all the most well known chefs are male and I couldn't figure out why something so intuitive and creative could be represented mostly by men rather than women. Is this because of men's inherent superiority or some perverse misrepresentation that when it comes to running a kitchen, women are best and then leave the fellas to the superior execution of Crème brûlée and blow torches in a restaurant?

I was just ordering some food here in Beijing and had a thought because a long time ago I had the good fortune to work in one of the best kitchens in Hollywood, Los Angeles while on vacation from the marketing degree I was doing. That place was stuffed with guys too.

 

So I just noticed at Bread Talk (where they do the awesome Crouching Tiger Hidden Bacon) that all the kitchen staff are guys.

 

And all the service staff are women. I've only just figured this out so maybe I'm just late to the game but it has nothing to do with culinary superiority, it doesn't take that much skill to learn a set list of bread products (good as they are)  but it does take something I observed in a kitchen of macho Mexicans. 

Brute strength is required to cook. I know this because lifting out a tray of chickens from a sizzling oven with boiling hot oil and juice takes not only strength but endurance, doing that and a hundred other demading tasks each and every day. Maybe the reason for men's dominance in the Kitchen and as celebrity chefs is more down to a strength advantage which makes me think that perhaps we're missing out on some tasty talent out there. What do you think? Am I off-on-one or does it make sense.

Or are men simply superior?

The Business Of Skin Whitening In Asia

I've been talking about this for so long that the only thing that really interests me is why anybody in marketing and advertising who would want me do for some work with them, might not have googled my name and Unilever + Skin whitening. 

In any case it's still worth making a quick summary because money doesn't come first in my universe. Skin whitening creams in Asia are broadly speaking about hierarchy. The whiter the skin the less likely you are to be fresh from the rice paddies. The less likely you come from the rice paddy, the more likely you are to be hired, promoted, secure a Blu Ray DVD player, iTablet, BMW 3 series and/or shiny white teeth.

Though it strikes me that for someone who argues a woman is entitled to make her own decisions about abortion that the final decision on what colour one wishes to be is down to that person. So I'm not anti skin whitening.

They say that holding opposite and conflicting thoughts in our heads at the same time is a mark of evolution and so the only position I can take when thinking about this category is that it behooves the multinationals; that is the onus is upon them. That they bear the responsibility that there is a clear responsibility to fulfil and articulate, that melatonin expectation transactions should come with an unambiguous message that Unilever, P&G, Johnson & Johnson et al respect all people of all colours. The reverse isn't true for tanning lotions because that hierarchical imposition isn't present within that context. I maintain it's a great communication opportunity of the win win variety - if it's with sincerity.

Anyway, above are a series of ads by Ogilvy & Mather Hong Kong regional office. They look innocuous and in some markets they may well lean more towards the beauty end of the spectrum than concealment but as I've mentioned over here in the comments; the focus groups are revealing because with skilful moderation, the kind where dirty secrets surface...well they tell the story of skin whitening. 


And it aint pretty.

Darkie

ybboey

It was on my first trip to Burma in 2001 that I knew something was going on in a global cultural sense that I should try to understand. I was traveling light from one military checkpoint state to another when I saw the only sign of dissent in the whole country. It was a gang of youths dressed in cheap baseball hats and basketball vests playing of all things the unmistakable genre of Rap in Burmese. They were doing no harm but for sure they were saying things suck in Burma, and that's a fact because in Burma they really do.

I guess the reason for my incomprehension was that I didn't 'get' Hip Hop or Rap. I thought it was the lowest common denominator of music to dance to. Anyone could do it. A couple of gang gestures, a bobbing head and some Yo Yo exhortation meant that anyone was down with the bad asses. But it wasn't working for me. I couldn't see why people loved it so much and would frequently walk out of clubs in protest, as I always do if the music is rubbish.

Then I got some education.

Some years on from that Burma trip I was with some friends and invited to hang out in a bar on Royal City Avenue (RCA) in Bangkok called Hip Hop. The crowd were an unpretentious and friendly bunch and the music was really rather good when the DJ dropped a Diana Ross Hip Hop mix that blew me away and I knew what the problem was. I'd been listening to bad Hip Hop for all those years.

A conversation with a very smart DJ friend of mine helped also to clarify that Hip Hop was a culture, a movement and not just a genre of music and so now I have no problem hitting a bar for Hip Hop, but like all my music tastes I'm just a bit fussy about what I expose my ears too and need something that makes me think as well as feel.

Well yesterday I came across yet another brilliant Smashing Telly recommendation called The Hip Hop Years. The Origin of Hip Hop. Its on another level and sucked me in for the full 2 hours and 20 minutes 7 seconds. Its completely delicious and to ignore this fine documentary is probably on a par with ignoring the impact that Rock & Roll and Punk had on popular culture. Hip Hop is constantly reinventing, has embraced all genres of music from death metal to classical and brings young people together from the South Bronx to Burma.

But the reason for this post is that I've noticed something while globe trotting and parachute planning in a few countries. I've never come across an African or Afro Caribbean planner. There are plenty of great Indian marketing folk that I've worked with, but I'm starting to get the feeling that planning is predominantly a middle class, Indy music loving, Caucasian pursuit and that is most definitely not a good thing. As I've made clear elsewhere homogeneous advertising is made in homogeneous agencies. As far as I know only two three London planners have expressed an interest in the world's largest and fastest growing music genre and it leaves me asking a difficult question. Are we OK in advertising when it comes to rebranding a toothpaste from Darkie to Darlie but failing abysmally when it comes to black culture? Because if so, we are not representing.

Educate yourself and watch this seminal video.