All Wight on the night
The big green ad giant
He kept us enthralled... tales of getting Scottish Knights of the realm a table at the Ivy (I’m not saying who... but you can’t get bigger than him)... his personal art and erm...forest collections... his chats with Charles and Maurice (you know, Mr Nigella and his bruv)... blethering with Stevie Fry and another of his mates, Al Yentob. This was over-and-above his unique ‘industry’ chat and insight.
Metrosexually
The night was young-ish, so for a laugh, we followed-on with a ‘dram’ in one of Glasgow’s more erm... couthy pubs. It would be fair to say that Robin was probably the first punter in there to have had a large dram of Isle of Jura, whilst dressed in a bright green, handmade, Oswald Boateng suit. Yes, like myself, Robin’s incredibly stylish, metrosexually-comfortable in his role as fashion icon and, as he’s been thrice married, he’s also a total hit with the chicks. No wonder he got on so well with me.
Anyway, a wee bit on his talk, which took place at Glasgow’s Lighthouse. If you weren’t there, a lot of what he had to say was based on the fact that according to him (and his detailed research), the ‘primitive’ part of brain makes subconscious decisions, long before the posh, educated, aesthetically-nurtured part of the brain does. And he backed this up with a ‘science’ bit.
The great thing about the night was that although Robin’s fairly highbrow, cerebral talk and extended theory ‘the Peacock’s Tail’ was superbly thought-out, of course, it’s just that. A theory. Being Scotland, a few folk in the audience also had opinions and they were quick to state they didn’t exactly agree with this carefully thought-out, well-researched and eloquently-delivered theory. What fun!
At one point, during drinks and those wee posh nibbles after the lecture, Robin Wight was challenged by a posse (okay, he was cornered) by big Ewan, who’s one of the few brainy lawyers I know, a very forthright, ex-member of The Drum team and a random guy I know from the Ben Nevis pub, (who turned out to be a super-smart Philosophy major)!
They had the cheek to suggest that ‘advertising’ always had hidden behind a veil of pseudo-science!To say the brain-boiling chat that followed went over my head was an understatement. I retreated to the comfort of a bit of toast with some pate on it and a cold beer, to speak to the doorman about the fitba.
Interesting debate
So, that’s it. ‘The Peacock’s Tail and the Reputation Reflex’ an incredibly interesting debate. Whether it’s correct and medically proven by brain scans or a total flight of fancy, it got everyone talking and more importantly... thinking.
What excited me is that in ‘creativity’, in whatever aspect of marketing it might be, ‘gut-feel’ definitely comes into it.
What great ‘creatives’ do, they do largely by instinct and sometimes (if not a lot of the time) it’s dead right. Forget the pre-amble and research. That’s powerful and it’s something to celebrate!
For more see article on Robin Wight