WHY I STARTED F-X-IT
When I was at school, I had a French teacher who used to hit me. A lot.
Listen, I’m not complaining. It was the 80s. Corporal punishment was very much “part of the job description.” And while many others had it worse, it taught me something I’ve never forgotten:
PEOPLE WILL TOLERATE FEAR AND CONTROL… UNTIL THEY WON’T
Eventually, they leave.
Or they push back.
ok, so what does this have to do with marketing?
Quite a lot, actually.
I’m a big admirer of Adam Curtis – and what shows up in his work, again and again, is the growing presence of fear in modern life.
Fear of a foreign country. Of a dictator. Of immigration.
Fear of new tech. Or fear of being replaced by it.
Fear of not being good enough. Not keeping up. Not doing the job. Of failing KPIs. Of being seen trying – and still failing.
Fear of not being promoted. Of not being liked. Of being visible. Of being invisible.
And inside most big companies, that fear breeds safe work.
Safe messaging.
Safe decks.
Safe brands that sound like every other brand.
Because if it fails? That’s on you.
And if it succeeds too well? That’s on you too.
𝗕𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲. 𝗗𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝘁𝗵.
(The nail that sticks out will be hammered down.)
fear?
f-ck-it
That’s why I started F-X-IT.
Not just to do better work – but to help the right people do braver work.
Be more authentic. Strip away the b-llshit.
To find the truth underneath.
The fire.