Hate something, change something, make something better.
This is my favourite earworm.
Over 17 years ago Honda ran an ad for their diesel engines and I have thought about it many many times since. There were a handful of stand-out ads made for the Honda brand and products in the 2000's, they sat under a master campaign idea called the "Power of Dreams" and were created by ad agency Wieden+Kennedy (W+K). Two of the best were The Impossible Dream and The Cog, both movie quality productions with epic sound design. But it was the catchy jingle of Grr... that became my favourite earworm.
"Here's a song for anyone who's ever hated... in the key of Grrr..."
Grr... came out in 2004, I started Uni soon after - Marketing, International business & Human Geography. We studied the Honda campaign as part of a paper in first year, looking for the marketing secrets it held. But, reflecting back on it now, I can see that what I learnt from Grr... went much deeper, and quite probably has helped me more than the rest of all of my degree. The lesson I took? Hate isn't a bad word, it's not something to run from.
Can hate be good? Can hate be great?
Can hate be something we don't hate?
Perhaps I am weird but I like that feeling of discomfort you get deep in your gut when you come across something you hate. If you pause, don't wriggle away and actually listen to it you can learn more from that discomfort than anything else - at least that is my experience. And, there is nothing better than taking those lessons and designing something better.
Below are examples of some 'hated' things I have encountered and had the good privilege to work on with clients:
An awkward, out-of-tune clash between the 'team-as-family culture' of a business and the way that business made critical people decisions
A team that kept choosing to not believe in itself or in the organisation's leaders, and that were not even trying to hide their satisfaction when initiatives failed because of it
Great and impactful content - from raw ideas to highly polished material - being lost to an organisation due to a lack of understanding and tools for asset management
Significant talent and market risks staring a business in the face and a leadership team electing to turn their back rather than face into the work required to mitigate them
A leader with a chronic micro-management habit that was left unchecked, resulting in the almost complete turn-over of what was a very high-performing team.
In some of these cases I saw and hated what was happening. In other cases the organisation felt the discomfort first and it was my great fortune to be asked to work alongside them on solutions. I highly commend those who sit inside teams and businesses and have the objectivity and courage to turn something they hate into something great. Note - there have been times when I have spotted hateful things and there hasn't been the will inside the organisation to change, at which point I have wandered away whistling my merry tune.
What have you 'hated' recently and what lessons or solutions came from the feeling?
Oh, and watch the Grr... ad here and see if you aren't still singing the jingle when you go to bed this evening.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwRCBHhyrAA
