Live, love, run

Three good runs this week. 8km, 5.3km and 8.35km.

Dexter did two of those runs. I have loaded him as a piece of equipment in Buckeye!!

Work is hard at the moment,so the running is very important for that mental break. The weather is cooling slightly which is making life easier. Next race is next weekend - Swan Twilight, then half marathon training begins.

When you’re eleven, ten seems so young, you feel alot closer to twenty

So I spent some time and created a new age - I like to call it ”eleventy”.

It’s the age when she tries to give me that look like I am old and  a wee bit crazy

It’s the age when she says “Come on dad!” - how dare I tell her she’s lazy!

The unmade bed is fine… I’ll pick it up soon… can I have Miki over for plays?

But in the end she can leave that bed in a horrible mess for at least a couple of days

When you’re ready to be grown up, but people still pull the strings

It’s easy to get upset about the little things

“But it’s too early for bed….. it’s not time to go”

Or the worst thing of all - that dreaded eleventy word NO!

But then it’s late, and the day has been long

And she looks at me trying to be calm and strong

And she turns into that little girl I know

And we talk and laugh and it begins to flow

Because eleven or eleventy, she always knows

My endless love for her, come what may, is the thing that glows.

This has been a tough week.

For posterity’s sake I am the Director, Client Services at an ad agency. I have had my biggest client sign the single biggest estimate in the history of the business this week, after 18 months of work. I am three Board papers behind for Monday, and I have only just got my head around my presentation for this Sunday’s Conference Presentation.

I am also Chairman for the Oasis Project which runs the Oasis Ball annually. Oasis assists troubled youth through the Salvation Army’s Crossroads West Programme. It’s in the Top 10 events in Perth and is the industry’s night of nights.

We use event coordinators for the ball, and as of today they are $30,000 over budget. Unfortunately for my body, I love the challenge. It will all work out. I’ve already sold a $10,000 sponsorship package and will find more no doubt.

My job is amazing, and the opportunities it gives me are great, but I am not sure that my body will hold up. I run, and work out, but mentally it is extremely hard. It is the kind of job that just sucks everything from you. It will just keep taking.

But now it’s Friday and I can re-charge. Bed awaits.

Hopefully tomorrow I can muster the energy to have some fun with my beautiful kids. Even if I can’t I suspect I will.

The machine always finds a way.

I was supposed to run the Matilda Bay 10km race today as the end of my week, but I just didn’t feel ready for it. I ran 12km total this week and start to push into 20 - 30km mode from this week on.

Work is more under control now so I can start to plan more effectively for running and cross training.

Today’s 7km run was great and the first time I ran with Dex, our 1 year old Cavoodle. He absolutely loved it and trotted alongside me the whole way. I’ll take him on most runs from now on for his exercise, which will keep me motivated and give me more reasons to get out.

Drank way too much booze this week with Gilly’s last ODI match against Sri Lanka on Friday, Sanchia’s flying visit from Canada last night at The Saint, and then lunch at the Shorters today. Fun times, but too easy to drink too many frothies!

Two weeks until my next 5km, and I also need to choose another qualifying WAMC event after missing today.

Another disappointing week for running.

$400 worth of ultrasound and a $200 urology appointment identified I have a hernia which may be causing referred pain down into my right groin. It “could” be the hernia, but maybe not! So I am on a 4 week program of low dose antibiotics. If this removes or reduces the pain I will then move on to a 6 month course of treatment.

The doctor advised me to keep running which is good news and resulted in a slow but satisfying 7 km run on Sunday. It has been seriously hot with average temperatures well over the 30 degree mark every day for the past few weeks. This next week is looking like 36, 36, 37, 38, 36, 38 up until Saturday. Tough to find running time in that, so early or late is the order of the day.

I suppose the positive of the doctors visit is that it is nothing that will kill me and that I just need to get out there and on with it. That sounds good to me.

In a meeting of likeminded marketers the other day I heard something I hear too much. “I went with it, it was gut feel”!

How is it that as a profession, some marketers seem to believe that “gut feel” is good enough?

Do auditors check their numbers on gut? Do accountants just close there eyes and throw a dart at a board when completing complex tax issues? Would a legal team, given the absence of precedent or any substantiating facts careen off into the nothing for a client? Of course, the answer is no.

So why is it that marketers and agencies seem to be happy to run expensive campaigns in the absence of any data or consumer insight in order to drive sound strategic decisions founded in some semblance of fact!?

I believe there are two reasons:

1. Deadlines!

“It would be lovely to go to that extra effort, but we just don’t have time. My budgets are slipping and the Board want results”. Give me a dollar… Thinking and strategy take time and effort. Take the time to do the work that needs to be done in order to make reasoned decisions.

Choose partners that challenge and drive better insight, thinking and strategy. In my experience, the result is always better. Hard conversations held with the highest levels of an organisation is what it takes for breakthrough results. I have never heard a CEO talk about this month’s numbers when faced with a long term brand strategy debate.

2. Laziness

I believe that some of us have done ourselves a great disservice as marketing professionals. Where other professions have cemented their place at the top of the corporate ladder, marketing is too often relegated to lower level positions and hierarchy. Clearly there is a reason for this, and my view is that it is because we do not show proof of value.

This failure to show proof is grounded in lack of analytical skill, a resistance to using numbers effectively, and a belief that this marketing gig is about the creative process only. Too many marketers simply ”make stuff”, “print stuff” or live in the endless cycle of tactical fixes.

If your CEO’s most significant discussion with you is the design of your annual report cover, you’re who I am talking about.

Look, don’t get me wrong, I have worked in organisations where all of this is the case. I have been one of those marketing people. It’s a tough gig to be in an organisation that doesn’t believe in your profession. But we have to push through those barriers and use all the tools we have to get noticed and respected. Our profession grows business value - and that’s a valuable thing. 

I love it when I see strong, evidenced based communication linked with insightful, compelling creative and through-the-line media thinking, and trust me, so do consumers. We could see more of this kind of communication given a desire to push the boundaries at both client and agency level.

Do not accept mediocrity, information gaps, incomplete analysis, shortcuts. Fight for the time to discover, learn and debate.

Then when it’s time to launch (and yes, it will be past deadline!) you may have created something that is loved by your fellow executive - for the results, held in esteem by your peers - for the thinking and sought out by your audience - because you have built something that is relevant and connects.

By U2 (edited)

Sometimes I feel like I don’t know
Sometimes I feel like checkin’ out
I want to get it wrong
Can’t always be strong
And love it won’t be long…

Oh sugar, don’t you cry
Oh child, wipe the
tears from your eyes
You know I need you to be strong
And the day is as dark as
the night is long
Feel like trash, you
make me feel clean
I’m in the black,
can’t see or be seen

Baby, baby, baby…light my way

You bury your treasure
Where it can’t be found
But your love is like a secret
That’s been passed around
There is a silence that
comes to a house
Where no one can sleep
I guess it’s the price of love
I know it’s not cheap

Baby, baby, baby…light my way

I remember
When we could sleep on stones
Now we lie together
In whispers and moans
When I was all messed up
And I had opera in my head
Your love was a light bulb
Hanging over my bed

Baby, baby, baby…light my way

Ultraviolet…

First official week back at work, and what a doosey! I can’t remember the last time I had this much work on. It’s good for the agency, but not so good for running!

Ran 5 on Monday and a short run today. It’s been over 33 degrees all week so difficult to run unless you are up at 5am or late evening or resigned to go to the dreadmill!!

Ended up going to the doctor about my snip pain. Got really bad. I have to go to the urologist this week. It may mean surgery. Gulp. The medication I got from the doc helped so running at least is not painful anymore. 

Will head to the gym this week if it remains hot.