By the same people as the social media guru:

I’ve been meaning to write this post for a while now, but I kept forgetting and other things took over.

But today I was at a loss as to what to post and suddenly remembered the following:

M&C Saatchi seem to have become pretty good.

I’m not saying that it was not good before, but (and I think this has happened since the arrival of Graham Fink) it really seems to have started standing out for the quality/improvement of its work.

Three examples:

Then there’s this,

…which won’t win awards, but is quantum leaps ahead of its predecessor:

And last, the loved-by-everybody-so-I-might-as-well-jump-on-the-bandwagon:

(Not sure how to make them bigger, but it’s this campaign for Dixons.co.uk.)

So, nice one, M&C/Graham. Fingers crossed for more.

Someone left this comment on yesterday’s post:

how does everybody feel with regards to their creative partnerships? is there commonly one who works harder than the other? is it more commonly the ad or the cw? if so, how big is the difference? perhaps the difference in work ethic is a good thing (pairing an ad geek with somebody who spends their free time away from ad blogs and award annuals, instead being influenced by everyday situations).

what’s everybodys thoughts? perhaps this might make a decent blog post.

I couldn’t agree more.

I’m off to watch Criminal Justice on the iPlayer.

I’ve just come from a talk given by Clive Stafford-Smith, the legal director of Reprieve.

Reprieve is an organisation that helps impoverished people who are facing the death penalty and promotes the ideas of human rights in general.

I don’t think I can do justice in this medium to the bravery, intelligence and goodness of this man and his organisation.

He has saved hundreds of lives and engineered the release of hundreds of people from an anonymous hell of illegal imprisonment and torture.

And he’s funny. Really funny. he started off telling us about a man who was serving six years in a maximum security prison in Georgia for committing the act of oral sex with his wife (it’s illegal in 26 US states. You do it three times, you get life in prison without parole). In the end, Clive got him off (ha ha).

But then he makes brilliant points about the corruption and hypocrisy that goes on in the British and American governments as far as their human rights records go.

Check out the website or YouTube channel and do something to contribute to this cause.

You know it’s going to be roughly a million times better than absolutely anything else you’ve got planned.

UPDATE: The talk was held at This Is Real Art, and this is their blog post about it. Thanks to Paul, George, Kate and all the good people at TIRA.

I haven’t bought Nick Hornby’s latest, but I will admit to having read Fever Pitch at least ten times.

Although I wouldn’t recommend it that warmly if you’re not an Arsenal fan, it does provide some excellent insights into life beyond Highbury.

One of these is the observation that many players feature on the way through the ranks from school team to county team to doing trials for a proper club, to their youth team, to their squad, to their first team, and despite being really bloody good at football, they might be dropped from the process at any time.

It’s a fine lesson in the futility of believing in your own destiny. No one has a right to make it, no matter how entitled they feel.

I was reminded of this the other day when I was looking through the comments of this post. Someone suggested that the Creative Department stopped being so respected after the early 90s recession and is now many miles from the vaunted position it held in the 80s.

That might seem like a shame to some degree, but actually it’s nothing of the sort.

Creatives have no right to any kind of position, respect or primacy in any situation. Across London and the world there are some places where creativity is held in much higher esteem than others, but that’s only the case because a combination of people want it to be that way and work towards that goal.

Creativity is a like a muscle that needs work and commitment to grow.

Without that attention it will simply atrophy.

If you let it.

Or want to do something else.

I’m not posting it because I can’t be arsed to deal with the comments, but if you want to watch it/’chat’ about it, here’s a blog that will give you a chance to do both.

I think it’s fascinating and wonderful that a puerile song can have 65 million hits on YouTube (thanks, C.):

Oh, go on. Have another one (thanks, L.):

And another (thanks again, L.)

(Sorry. I accidentally put Christopher Walken up twice. I hope the joy of big-handed MJ makes up for my crapness.)

Added bonus SFTW via The Denver Egotist:

Here are some of the biggest, most awarded ads of recent years.

Without looking them up, name the creatives responsible:

Over the course of my career, I’ve found it fascinating how your financial satisfaction affects what you think and what you think affects your financial satisfaction.

For example, I once got a pay increase from 10k to 12k which made me much happier than larger raises I got later on in my career.

And I’ve learned over the years that a raise is like a meal, in that it only makes you happy for a while, then you start wondering where the next meal is coming from. You easily modify your outgoings, which worked fine at 30k, so that you’re suddenly not earning enough at 45k. How does that happen?

It’s a truism in advertising creative departments that you are underpaid for the first half of your career and overpaid for the second half. Can’t someone just work it out so that you’re paid the average for your whole career?

I have never shaken the feeling that I had as an underpaid junior, that I need to make the most of any situation in which the beer is free. I may have stopped taking bottles home in my pockets, but there’s still that distant voice that tells me fill my boots while the going’s good.

Then there’s the other truism (or truth), that people would rather earn 50k if everyone else in the office earns 45k, than 85k if everyone else in the office earns 100k.

So it’s all relative.

I love the line in Wall Street where Charlie Sheen asks Gordon Gekko ‘How many boats can you waterski behind?’. Is it human nature to always want more, or can we temper that somewhat? I think we can. I suppose it depends on the lifestyle you’d like to live, but there must be a point where the extras become less satisfying.

I often see great people moving to unexpected agencies. I am often told afterwards that the great person in question is going through a divorce.

A team I once knew insisted on staying nowhere for longer than three years. Then they stayed where they were for the next five. Perhaps the never-ending desire to acquire more money can be quenched by happiness.

So, past a certain point, is money a substitute for happiness?

Perhaps it’s worth remembering that money is worthless until you spend it.

Many wise people say that you should never move agencies for money rather than happiness. Good advice, but if you can, try to move for happiness and money. Then give the excess to Amnesty International.

(Special bonus Blog thingie: Jeremy Clarkson is not an enormous fan of BMW Joy. Thanks, L. And some ‘unintentionally’ amusing comics. Thanks, different L.)