Vitality the vision

Some years ago, I helped Unilever to develop a new “corporate mission”. In the end it all came down to one word – VITALITY.

Clarity about vitality as a way of being could create real new momentum for the multinational giant ‒ as the focus of all R&D and marketing efforts; on whom to promote and whom to recruit (and whom not); on which brands to acquire and which to sell.

I was so excited by the word and its obvious relevance and potential that I lobbied as many members of senior management as I knew ‒ and in due course it was adopted.

A little later I was disappointed to learn that it had not been taken up by the HR people in the company in any meaningful way. And the company went on owning the profitable but not very obviously vital Pot Noodle brand.

Now I see on the internet that the strategy has been reduced to a standard formula. This is it (above). Useful, no doubt, but unlikely to unleash much in the way of vitality. 

Human Material

I just discovered (from an interesting piece by Andrei Gavrilov on the recently-deceased American pianist Van Cliburn, winner of the first Tchaikovsky prize in Moscow in 1958) that the Soviet term for people was “human material”.

Thinking about it, I’m not at all sure that it’s any more ghastly than the current Western term (originating from the land of the free), “human resources” (or even just HR).

Both seem to me to de-humanise us, reducing us to featureless commodities.

What on earth was wrong with the previous descriptor, personnel?

Hiring people better than yourself

Among the many important things that the legendary adman David Ogilvy wrote, this is one of the best:

“Hire people who are better than you are, then leave them to get on with it. Look for people who will aim for the remarkable, who will not settle for the routine.”*

I’ve always endeavoured to do this, not always successfully, of course. (Indeed one or two of you may even read this.)

It does seem important enough to take on board at a personal level. Of course, this takes a certain amount of courage and self-belief. But then if we lack those qualities, we’re in trouble anyway, sooner or later.

And then it’s good to talk to HR about it. We know from research that they are usually on a quite different page. It’s of particular importance if you need innovation and creativity living within your organization.

Now I notice that it’s also the mantra within Google. They are currently worth tons more than the business that Ogilvy started. It’s the centenary of David Ogilvy’s birth this year. Let’s see if Google lasts as long.

*From his Confessions of an Advertising Man of 1963. Aside from its now unacceptable (though unconscious) sexism, it’s still worth reading, carefully.

Brown’s Job

Advertisements are not generally heart-warming. This one is that and highly original too.

It was written in 1920 by FR Feland of BBDO for the agency’s own house magazine, and it was later placed as a full page in the New York Times. Feland was not a copywriter, but treasurer of the agency. For me, its style is reminiscent of Raymond Chandler in more tender mood. Chandler’s work was to come a few years later.

Although not PC by today’s standards, it says more about the employer’s attitude to colleagues than any amount of the usual HR strategies can.

Do give it a read-through. Click on the image to enlarge it.