Strands of Genius: Matt Hardisty + 2023 Consumer Trends
featuring: an interview with our guest editor and a research report
Welcome to the Bonus edition of Strands of Genius! On Fridays, we’ll be publishing interviews from our guest editors, and sharing a research report. Thanks for being along for the ride. Oh and by the way, you look great today :)
:: STEAL THIS THINKING | RESEARCH REPORT ::
In the past three years, consumers and marketers alike have seen more disruption and transformation in their habits and behaviors than probably in the past two decades. In 2023, a global pandemic thankfully seems to be slipping slowly into the rearview mirror, but the effects will be felt for years to come.
:: DIVE IN | THE INTERVIEW ::
MATT HARDISTY, FOUNDER OF 'ART FOR OUR SEA' + A POP-UP STRATEGY STUDIO.
>> Matt Hardisty guest curated Strands on December 14th, 2023. Read it here.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and what keeps you busy. How did you end up doing what you’re doing today?
I have recently embarked upon an experiment. Could I choose 6 clients to work with over the course of a year, for 6 weeks a piece - and still keep the lights on? 6 weeks is long enough to get to the heart of the problem. Join the dots between business, brand and creative strategies. Reduce distractions, and create something exciting that everyone can rally around and act upon. Outside of that. I Dad. I paint. And I raise funds to plant a network of seagrass meadows circling the UK to rewild our seas and suck-up some carbon.
What excites you most about what you do?
Professionally: choice and authorship. Freedom to close one chapter, then write the next. After 25 years in media, communications, digital and advertising agencies you begin to see that employment sometimes offers a false sense of safe harbour, when really - you’ve got one life to live. An upgrade is required. Life: for a limited time only. And whilst you have energy and curiosity - you need to give it all that you can give. There’s a wonderfully wild world out there, holding futures that can be invented with wonderful humans. Collaboration is what will save us.
Personally: Dad’ing. 75% of the time we spend with our children in our lifetime, will be spent with them by the time they’re aged 12. And I intentionally choose to make the most of those precious years.
What beliefs define your approach to work? How would you define your leadership style?
Trust your gut: ok, but no. Have a routine. Find your method. Question everything: the problem contains the solution. Ask for help: think of all the possibilities. Take criticism. Keep learning. Never stop dancing. And treat others as you expect to be treated: being kind and showing gratitude, get over yourself because no one wants to work with a dick.
What has been the most rewarding project you’ve worked on and why?
I was fortunate. Late-90s I worked with Beck’s on their art label series. Exhibiting emerging works on their beer bottle labels, addressing the need to break art out of the gallery to broaden its appeal. 15 years later at Mother London, I got to write its next chapter and bring that concept into the 21st Century. We created Beck's Green Box Project. 3-dimensional pieces viewed on smartphones. A genuinely new art form. Pre-QR codes. Pre-Blippar. The world’s first networked augmented reality gallery. We put a flame on the Statue of the Liberty. 30 boxes toured the planet. Minds were opened. Artists' careers made. Awards were won.
We are big believers in diversity -- Not only because we believe in equality, but because we also think it’s better for business. How do you frame these kinds of conversations, both internally and with clients? Is there an emphasis on action, or are the conversations really more about communication?
There is a lot of rhetoric around diversity and inclusion goals. Often, to tick a box. The reality is to change something structural. You need to change the structure. Strategy departments in London for example, for decades have suffered from massive gender-pay gaps. Older. White. Men. More often than not Oxbridge educated. Sometimes with a podcast. Have held senior positions. Post-Covid and BLM, things are fortunately changing. Previously hidden figures are emerging. Not replicating the old workforce pattern into the future. Not more of the same. Framing? Diversity is not a marketing technique. It is everything.
Switching gears a bit, how do you find time to balance personal interests with your career? Do you believe work/life balance is possible? Anything you’ve implemented that you recommend that others try?
6 weeks on - school holidays - repeat 6 times. It’s an experiment. Be either ON or OFF. Work hard. Canoe home. I’ve always loved that energy of a pitch. And I love spending time with my daughter. Right now. ON / OFF works. Life in the balance. I’m massively inspired by the whole Danish Sommerhus model of living. Peace Cabin: that may even end up being what I call this pop-up strategy studio. Trying to imagine a life that you don’t need a holiday from, and one with no wasted days.
Other than that: Day Trips and Nature Breaks - woods and shores - on the edges of the big smoke and beyond. Choose to do ‘no things’ regularly, amazing things happen in the space it creates. Oh and Sam Harris’ Waking Up app: it’s like if Monocle met Headspace on a Californian beach.
What’s your media diet? Where do you find inspiration?
Hand on heart, there is no longer one goto spot for me like there once was. I would say the only thing I constantly find myself reading are Hiut’s Scrapbook Chronicles newsletter, and Satisfy’s Possessed magazine. Oh and I ride buses, I love eavesdropping real chat. I cherry pick from far and wide, then document, a bit like how JJJJound first started. For the past few years I’ve kept a shared album of images, headlines, quotes - stuff I refer back to.
Inspiration wise - art galleries. Not for the art, but for their Letraset paragraphs talking about the given show. I spend a lot of my time defining ideas for other people. Be that a creative team or for clients. And the clarity of thought I find on those walls is golden.
What’s the best piece of advice/knowledge you’ve stolen, and who/where’d you steal it from?
In hindsight, it’s from Stef Calcraft (whilst I was at Mother London). I was about 37 at the time. We were chatting and he asked: “So what's your second mountain going to be Matt?” I was like, “what Stef?” He knew ad land had a shelf life in terms of age. I now encourage everyone as they plateau in title around their late-30s, to think about what that next chapter is going to be. Comms, is comms, is comms. Invaluable skills. Applicable to many situations. Our industry is a wonder-filled training ground. But really, is that it? Author. Artist. Inventor. Earthshot Prize Winner. Our planet needs all of us, directed to the best possible ends imaginable. Mary Oliver asked: “what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” - that’s what I think Stef was channelling.
If your employer were paying, what’s the thing you would encourage someone to do - just ONCE?
Attend the DO: Lectures in Wales. Imagine an autonomous pop-up community. Like TED meets Burning Man. But way more soulful. Like The Big Chill back in their Black Mountains days. And when they had their media mix tent. It’s a bit like that. Just without the electronic music. And smaller, just 100 wonder-filled humans. And the food set-up, like the best wedding you’ll ever attend. Do that. It’s indescribable. Just double check that your employer is paying before you click ‘add to cart’.
And one rhetorical question: What if the intelligence we urgently need is not artificial, but natural?
You can keep in touch with Matt via Linktr.ee.
If we can ever be of help to you, even outside of a formal engagement, please don’t hesitate to let us know.
rockON,
faris & rosie & ashley | your friends over at geniussteals.co
@faris is always tweeting
@rosieyakob hangs out on instagram
@ashley also writes for deaf, tattooed & employed