Picture: THINKSTOCK
Let’s be mindful that innovation and technology are no longer boxes to unwrap and explore, says the writer. Picture: THINKSTOCK

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AS WE roll back into work this year, leaving behind our sun-kissed holiday memories, our boozy days and boozier nights, our indulgence and abundance, our lazy bones and languid afternoons, I wonder how the advertising and marketing industry will behave this year.

Motor company Ford published a trends document for 2016 called "Looking further with Ford". One of the trends it outlined is that of mindfulness. It says: "As our lives become increasingly complicated and demanding, the solution for many is to be less mind full and more mindful — giving ourselves the time and space to breathe, reflect and regroup."

Mindfulness is hugely relevant for our domestic industry, which is sometimes insular — driven by egos, budgets, targets and awards. The sociopolitical climate begs for a new consciousness and deep reflection. We are wounded and in dire need of a shift in focus, thinking and action.

I’ve always believed in the power of brands to instigate and interrogate, to challenge and reset some of the ways in which we view our world because we are so intricately involved in consumers’ lives. Brands such as Nando’s have played a powerful role, stimulating debate and articulating public sentiment through satire. While all brands can’t be Nando’s, there is a mindfulness that each one can turn on — choosing how corporates might play a part in closing the fissures in our national psyche.

I believe we can start by cutting the bulls**t. Someone who wrote the early rule books decided that advertising and marketing people should behave like wayward cruel kids, breaking our toys and feeding ourselves on a culture of hedonism and rebellion. While rebellion is key for any shift, our industry could do with directing that restlessness and spirit of anarchy in better ways.

In the past few years, the industry has been distracted by award-show debacles, identity crises, anger, phony attempts at "doing good", and holding on to business and people. It’s time to let mindfulness permeate everything we do.

Let’s actively attend to transformation. Transformation is a wholehearted commitment; it’s a company-led belief system; it’s not a headline on a PowerPoint presentation. The industry needs to attract young black people, and women, and we need to find ways to retain them.

Let’s stop treating humans like moneybags and idea robots. Let’s trade words such as "the client" and "resources" for "partners" and "people". We must stop squeezing ideas out of creatives when they’re dry and exhausted, because we’ll get advertising that’s dry and exhausted.

Let’s find trust again, and know that if there is no trust, there will be bulls**t. Trust your agency to look after your brand. Trust your marketers to tell you what keeps them up at night.

Let’s be mindful that stress is the silent killer of the century. We have to stop pushing agencies to the edge of the cliff with unrealistic expectations and stop holding them to ransom, dangling the threat of lost business.

Let’s be mindful that innovation and technology are no longer boxes to unwrap and explore. They should be part of our DNA.

Let’s be mindful that our industry can perpetuate unhealthy stereotypes, sexism, racism, ignorance and hatred. Let’s nurture and build. Let’s uphold excellence and integrity.

And finally, let’s not make bad advertising.

We’ve all latched on to the international trend that’s about making campaigns that change the world. We all want to be Chipotle and Dove, which are changing the way we live in our environment and in our skins. But this doesn’t mean we’re changing our own immediate world, right here in troubled SA.

Mindfulness is not a yoga studio in an ad agency, or a canteen kale salad. It’s a jab in the guts and a consciousness that our industry has remained the same for far too long.

• Gordhan is a creative director in advertising