Issue 13: A bulletin for big ideas and better business.

OPINION/ CREATIVITY 

Creativity and selling

💬 Sir John Hegarty

We’ve been hustling hard at The Garage in recent weeks. The latest cohort for The Business of Creativity opens next Monday, and thanks to our fine team, there are only a few spots left to fill. In the lead up to launch, there’s always a debate around the office about the best way to sell. Is the deed best done on a quick telephone call? Or does a deal warrant an in-person chat sealed with a hearty shake of the hand? Some colleagues maintain that a decent lunch is necessary. Sadly, the maximum number of lunches a person should have a day (one) is quite different to the minimum number of sales calls they should make.

Selling is vital in creativity. Capital won’t flow into your start-up if you’re unable to coax it from investors. Bosses won’t pursue your ideas if you’re unable to persuade them it’s the right course of action. If you can’t pitch your book, film, or art project properly, it won’t get the attention it deserves. You won’t get paid either. Things get even more complicated when you realise that selling to the person in front of you is rarely enough. Your proposal has to be strong enough for them to sell it on to their boss too.

In the last fifty years, my job has been as much about selling creative ideas as coming up with them. Here are four things that have helped me do it.

1. Speak less, say more 🗣

The human brain is easily overwhelmed. Simple messages are less taxing to recount than complicated ones. An argument doesn’t get more persuasive for being longer. If you’re doing most of the talking, then it’s probably not going as well as you think.

2. Use stories 📖

Numbers are convincing – but they are hard to remember. And they lack emotion. When did you last call up a friend to tell them about a stat you’d just found? Stories and anecdotes are better. We understand the world through stories.

3. Write a one-page pitch 📜

Does your argument fit on a single page of A4? At BBH we would often write a one-page pitch. Doing this would help us simplify our idea. And the client could use it to refer back to. It’s a simple way of making sure everyone is on the same (single) page.

4. Sell the future 🔮

Don’t sell the thing. Sell the life that comes after. People don’t buy features, perks, bonuses or discounts. They buy a vision.

After that little sales refresher, I’m feeling energised to go and fill the last remaining places on the course. Selling is all about creating a tomorrow. But there’s only one useful time to do it – today.

📣 ALL STAFF 

We’re on a mission
to unlock creativity.

LAST DAYS TO JOIN

The next cohort of The Business of Creativity course launches on the 29th April. It’s an eight-week masterclass that gives attendees all they need to reach their (limitless) potential.

Find out morehere. 

THE AGENDA

1.
Not every country celebrates its monarchy with bunting, tea-towels and curried chicken. This week King’s Day – or Koningsdag – comes to Amsterdam. Royalist fervour takes a backseat to uninhibited partying with many of the orange-clad revellers still going from the night before. For this strenuous undertaking, those in attendance should equip themselves with a pair of special edition Nike Air Max 1 trainers that the sportswear brand has produced to mark the occasion. In the national colours, of course.
27th April (but arrive the day before to enjoy King’s Night)  

2.
Burning Man’s sister festival AfrikaBurn kicks off next week. For six days, a city will appear in the arid landscapes of rural South Africa before being burnt to the ground when festivities end. It’s an eloquent metaphor for the transience of things.
29th April – 5th May

3.
Hot shot journalists from the US will gather in Washington DC for the annual White House Correspondents’ Association’s dinner. In recent years the affair has been criticised for being too cosy. Attendees and guest speakers eschew hard questions and put the ruling administration through a gentle roasting instead. We agree. Positive change never comes from pulling punches.
27th April

4.
Italian director Luca Guadagnino’s much-hyped new film Challengers is released on Friday. The film is about a ménage à trois between three tennis players. The lead actor Zendaya has been appearing at global premiers in sports-themed couture (tennis-core?). This has become a trend among recent blockbusters. Stars of Barbie and Dune have adopted red carpet looks inspired by the films they’re promoting.
26th April

Hallyu, is it me you’re looking for?
Contributor: Andrea Ripamonti / Alamy Stock Photo

SEOUL / MEDIA

Culture with a capital ‘K’

US music magazine Billboard is expanding into Asia with the launch of Billboard Korea. The new subsidiary will cover the country’s music scene with an inaugural issue set for June. K-Pop is worth around $10 billion, according to Allied Market Research. And this figure is expected to double by 2031. Aligning itself with such a global phenomenon is a smart move by the media company. The Korean cultural wave – which is known more broadly as hallyu – goes beyond music. The country’s film, television, video games, fashion, and food have flourished around the world in recent years. The model of putting culture first offers a valuable lesson for businesses. Provide audiences with the things that move them, and the rest usually takes care of itself.

Contributor: Clo’e Floirat

CREATIVE HACK

Nature

Natural environments assist creativity. They help you recharge and synthesise thoughts. They’re usually pretty too.

LONDON / BUSINESS

Boosting returns

The bottom line is no longer a number. That’s the conclusion writer Philippa J. White came to when working on her new book Return on Humanity: Leadership Lessons from All Corners of the World, which was published yesterday. The work explores how human traits offer an optimistic future for business (and civilisation more broadly). White gathered stories from around the world, finding insight in places that most business book authors wouldn’t think to look. These ranged from Brazilian psychiatric care workers to innovators in the UK prison system. “Businesses work better when they feature human assets, like flexibility, empathy and vulnerability,” she says. “The future of business rests on these skills, and when our companies are built on them, it makes the world a better place too.” In a world where we’re obsessed with data, and companies are designed to operate like machines, it’s compulsory reading.

BERLIN/ CITIES

Creative scenes don’t last without grassroots 

The end of the month sees the return of Berlin Gallery Weekend. The annual event sees fifty of the German capital’s greatest institutions throw open their doors with special exhibitions, extended opening hours and plenty of champagne-fuelled parties. For decades, the city has traded off its credentials as a hub for creative talent. But with swiftly rising living costs, fewer studios and the closure of many informal, artist-run spaces, Berlin’s cultural profile is changing. If the city wants to maintain a thrumming creative scene, more must be done to keep its bohemian side alive. Over the last seven years, rents have jumped 44% while the average wage in the city has increased only 30% according to federal and local data. And while gentrification is nothing new here, thoughtful strategies such as rent caps and public grants should be seriously invested in in order to avoid the destruction of the city’s cultural fabric.

Weekend wonders
Contributor: Pacific Press Media Production Corp. / Alamy Stock Photo

GLOBAL / LANGUAGE

It’s all Greek to me

Today marks the 408th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, an event marked each year by the UN’s English Language Day. The Bard’s native tongue is more common than any other globally. But the result is a complacency among native anglophones to learn a second language. New research has shown that doing so is being deprioritised at UK schools, conflicting with the government’s target for 90 per cent of pupils to study a language to GCSE level by 2025. While learning a second language may not be a necessity for many, it’s fundamental to the kinds of cultural exchange that breeds creativity. Being able to understand the linguistic subtleties of a Kafka novel, Truffaut film or Lorca poem in its original form is not to be underestimated when it comes to sparking inspiration. Time to download Duolingo?

If you find a book you really want to read but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.

/Toni Morrison