Ribena. You tickle me pink. You turn me over and rub my belly, you make me believe again in the creative process; you are a beacon of hope in what feels like a time of perpetual creative darkness. A wizard with a full erection at the contest of bearded men with semis.

This is the era of putting up walls and maintaining steady growth at the expense of making friends and brands worth billions. Turn on your television and every advert is so safe they’re teetering on the edge of pointlessness. Advertising is eating itself. It’s becoming redundant by towing the line of somebody else. Are the people signing off on television adverts so out of touch that they don’t understand we can now fast forward the ads? To stay safe isn’t enough, the modern day TV advert needs to be so good in its own right that it makes someone hit the pause button and actually watch it. The modern TV advert can’t just fit in, or it will be fast forwarded over - it needs to stand out. Someone at Ribena understands this, whereas the people at Cadbury now appear to have the same gorilla that used to be in their ads in charge of marketing. Now, the gorilla can play the drums, for sure, but I wouldn’t put him in charge of marketing because he likes Phil Collins. On the up-side you could pay the gorilla bananas. But, overall your brand would suffer. The gorilla would make pretty good security too. Terrible on the phone, but great at getting rid of PPI calls. Could possibly pull a human apart limb by limb in a board meeting, or punch a shark to death. Overall, it's a business no no. Anyway, I digress...

In 2011 Cadbury recorded a net income of £447,545,760 [1]. I didn’t mind. Cadbury gave us the drumming gorilla. It gave us those two kids with the twitchy faces. Even when their ads didn’t quite work, they were trying to push the envelope. They earned their profit. But fast-forward to 2016, and Cadbury are no longer pushing the envelope, they are filling it with cash and stuffing it into their pockets. Today, Cadbury avoid paying UK tax [2], and have cut the size and content of their chocolate bars. Their adverts are now so cheaply produced they’re slapping their logo over old You Tube videos, like some first year art college project. Cadbury has become the 16 year-old art student with potential who runs up to his teacher with a terrible picture of a sunflower on it, and we are the parents sticking the drawing to the fridges in our homes, and saying things like it’s the most beautiful sunflower we’ve ever seen. NEWSFLASH: the sunflower looks like a depressed stick and the student is taking the piss. He can do better, but he treats you as stupid. Remove the picture from the fridge, ask for a better sunflower, stop buying Cadbury products, demand better adverts.

Cadbury have decided to please their short-term financial overlords over their brand. Well, step aside Cadbury and hello Ribena, you lovely round-faced blackcurrant legend.

The Ribena advert forces people to hit the pause button when skipping the adverts because it’s something worth seeing. Being a successful TV advert is no longer about being the one good advert in a series of ten during the traditional ad breaks…it’s about being the one advert people stop to look at out of five hundred adverts skipped. That’s the new power of being creative. That’s the new price of maintaining the status quo and not looking after your brand. The brands that reach this understanding first are the brands that will thrive.

I can see the Ribena creative pitch now…

Creative: So, we have flying hedgehogs, an owl with human lips that fires lasers from its eyes, a rabbit pops up near the end wearing sunglasses and a fake moustache, we’ll have robin’s riding blackcurrants, hedgehogs on balloons, maybe someone who looks a bit like Beyoncé carrying a flag on the back of a swan…A goose with a bow tie, who isn’t afraid to be different…
Ribena Executive: NO.
Creative: We thought you might say that. But you haven’t heard the soundtrack yet.
Ribena Executive: Security. Hi. Can you come into my office immediately; I’ve got some crazy creative from Riben…
Creative: ZIBBE DOO ZIBEE DOO ZIBBEE DOOO ZIBEEE DOOOO ZIBEE DOOO ZIBBBE DO.
Ribena Executive: Hang on security. I've got to make another call...Chuck! Chuck, it's Marvin. Your cousin, Marvin Berry! You know that new sound you're looking for? Well, listen to this!..

^^ That should also be the follow up advert. Ribena, get in touch.

So, there you have it. Cadbury, you melted our hearts through great advertising and product, but then you got greedy. You cut the budgets across the board to line the fat little pockets of your board members.

Cadbury is dead. All hail our new creative overlords, Ribena.

To discuss content marketing and how it can help you and your business, email [email protected]

Source [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadbury
Source [2]: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/adf59a06-9c24-11e5-8ce1-f6219b685d74.html#axzz4AEWdVSM2

Culture matters. Not the cultivation of bacteria and tissue cells in an artificial medium containing nutrients. People culture. Work culture. Human achievement regarded collectively culture. Culture sustains that first week enthusiasm for an entire career. If a business owner gets their culture right, the result is peace of mind.

Employees should look forward to going to their jobs. They should enjoy the challenges, their co-workers, and the atmosphere. Careers shouldn't provoke stress in employees. The working environment should not close down the mind, heart and spirit of a person.

While the work may be difficult, the culture should be designed to alleviate the work related stress: a window with a view will always be more powerful than a motivational cat poster pinned to a brick wall.

Business culture can be a Tyrannosaurus Rex that will eat morale alive and swallow your business whole in a single gulp. Or it can be the cement that glues hearts and minds together, so they work with you forever.

Here's a few tips on how to avoid T-Rex culture:

Avoid square peg in round hole syndrome

The US Government didn't employ J. Robert Oppenheimer to head up the Manhattan Project, then insist he spend his time in the cutlery department trying to create a spork. They put him where he best fit, then let him go to work. OK, so his work murdered hundreds of thousands of innocent people - but that was what he had been employed to do.

Feed, water and leave your people in light

Humans are not designed to sit at a computer all day hitting buttons with letters on. A human with no plan is a lion without eyes or teeth, sent into a ballpit with violent children: full of frustration, with nowhere to release it. In the beginning the lion hates himself. But after a while, he hates the ballpit. In short, if you keep an employee in the dark and let them think that they can't grow in the company, if a person thinks that what they are doing today is what they will be doing for the rest of their life...Eventually they will hate your company. They might even stay working for you while hating you - which is the mentality at the heart of all customer complaints.

Just say no to motivational cat posters

Don't take the piss out of your employees intelligence by insulting them with fluffy kittens playing with balls of elastic, with embarrassing out of date wisdom from the 80's. Just. Don't.

Do not micromanage

You created the business from scratch, but if you aren't prepared to let your people do what they can, then your business is never going to grow beyond your own limitations. A business that is micromanaged is the extension of one mind. This is the DNA of a small business. A business led by a visionary who empowers his staff to become autonomous becomes the extension of many minds. This is the DNA of an empire.

Beards are good

Don't tell your employees how to dress or look. Just because you think suits should be worn, and ties and suits and polished shoes are a must, doesn't mean they should be. Some owners run their business like the military and think this is good. NEWSFLASH: The military is an organised group of people who unfortunately sell their soul to the devil for a lie. It's really nothing to emulate.

Don't be a fuckwit

Well done, you created a business. You are making money. This doesn't make you a genius. Remember that your employees might not have your business head, but Mark in booth 10 once scored a goal from the half way line, and Margaret in booth 3 can fly a plane. You are the magnet that has attracted these people, but you are not the main attraction in their lives. So don't get above your station. A real leader lets others lead. Don't be a fuckwit.

To discuss content marketing and how it can help you and your business, email [email protected]