How to be creative (even in a pandemic)

Recently, and very briefly, 168 Things was the number one business podcast in Sierra Leone. In this episode, Paul Kitcatt interviews Simon Robinson, the famous creative director, about many things, but mainly about being creative and writing. It's full of pearls of wisdom born of long experience, and we offer them to the whole world, but especially to our valued listeners in Sierra Leone. We would love to hear from you. We hope you find this episode useful and entertaining. 

If your clients are fucking up the planet, what can you do?Find someone who’s unfucking the planet – in the exact opposite way to your clients – and give them your time pro bonoCall it karmic offsetting.The big brands have all the money, and all the power. They pay us to create desire. We know how to make people want more, more, more. The result is a planet on fire, oceans full of plastic, animals going extinct – ad people didn’t create this state of affairs, but we sure helped. We have powerful skills. We’re persuasive.This is our superpower.We’re not here to berate you, and make you feel bad about yourself or the industry. You’re nice, good people who have values and ethics and you’re charming and fun. So help save the planet by using your superpower for good.There are many organisations and campaigns who need you. They don’t have the money and resources of your clients.To fond out more, go to probonomundi.orgor contact us on [email protected] 

Sporting analogies are popular in business - for obvious reasons. Winning and losing, teamwork, roles within the team, etc. can be useful ways to think about what we do. But I think there's something more important about sport, and its relevance to creative business. In this episode I talk about why going to watch a fairly unsuccessful football team matters,  and what that has to do with being creative. 

Tom Gattos, founder of the Rainbow Lottery, talks to me about his long and varied career in advertising. He's won awards all over the world, and worked on four continents. And he's still working, as you'll hear - but his great project now is the Rainbow Lottery - if you don't know it, check it out at rainbowlottery.co.uk - and buy a ticket, too. Big prizes and good causes to support. It's an entertaining interview, with teasing references to some of his more hair-raising escapades. About which he's promised a further, NSFW interview soon. 

After a short pause, we're back with a guest - Paul 'Nobby' Davies, a brilliant creative thinker, who's now a coach. We talk about how he got there, how to give yourself and your team a creative upgrade, and Nobby goes on to explain his concept of 'hyper-observation'. Our conversation is illuminated by many anecdotes, all of which serve a purpose, even if it isn't immediately apparent. If you want to contact Nobby, he's on LinkedIn - Paul Nobby Davies - or  you can find him via his website - do-be-do.net - or email him at [email protected]

Breaking through the glass ceiling with Chalice Croke - in this episode, I interview my business and podcast partner about the book she's writing. In it she will tell how she went from a council flat in Battersea all the way to the top in a male dominated, and mainly middle class industry - and she hopes her experience can help and inspire other women following in her footsteps. In the podcast, she tells me about her early years and first jobs, and how she dealt with some of the 'tricky' men (as she puts it) she encountered on the way. It's entertaining and inspiring, for women and men too. Though possibly not the tricky ones.

Vonnie Alexander was one of the four partners who founded Kitcatt Nohr Alexander Shaw - one of London's best known agencies, in its day. But what did she do next? Here, she talks about how everything she'd learnt and done in her agency career helped her become a highly successful and sought after coach - though it's not quite as simple as that, as you'll hear. If you've ever found yourself wondering how to deal with a tricky colleague or a difficult situation, listen to Vonnie (and probably call her in). Highly enlightening.

Do you ever find it hard to make a decision? We all do sometimes. Here's a surprising but effective way to help you stop wondering what to do, cut through the ifs and buts, and make a choice. The episode includes Chalice talking about the method, then a real time demo of it in action, helping her resolve a tricky question. 

We said we'd do more about copywriting - and here's an interview with one of the best writers in the business, Lu Dixon. She tells us how she started out, who she learnt from, and why visiting a crisp factory was more than just an opportunity to eat hot potato slices. An episode not just for writers, but for all who work with them and want to help get the best words out there. 

If you're creative - for business or pleasure - how do you stimulate your creativity? Especially now, when all our movements are so circumscribed. You need to find your inner Winnie the Pooh, and resist Rabbit. Do what Archimedes did, or Mendeleev. If you're wondering what I'm talking about, listen here and I'll explain. I've made a living from being creative for over thirty years, and worked with many other such people. I've thought a lot about creativity, and watched it happen, and tried to stimulate it. Let me tell you a little of what I've learnt.