Nobody showed up

At 18, I blew a loan on a DJ event that nobody showed up to.

Flyers, radio ads, even a TV spot on local TV — and not a single person in the room. Just me, three DJs, two bartenders, and nine security guards. At least I felt safe.

That night was a failure, but it was also the most expensive lesson of my life.

The Lesson

I thought I had done everything right.

• I invested in slick design.
• I printed thousands of flyers.
• I booked a big-name DJ and promoted the date everywhere I could afford.
• I bought radio spots. I even paid for local TV.

I had distribution. I had volume.

And still, nobody came.

This was 2004 — two years before Facebook came out. Not an excuse, but context. I didn’t even think to use the platforms people were actually on, like MySpace or MSN. It was all manual work, and in my mind, if someone saw the flyer or came across the ad, that was enough.

To make it feel more “legit,” I even came up with a production company name (embarrassing in hindsight) and put myself as Artistic Director. But nobody knew me, nobody knew the company, and yet I advertised it like they did.

I skipped the groundwork. I jumped straight to phase three. I thought awareness was enough. That reach would equal relevance. It doesn’t.

I didn’t have clarity on why I was doing it, or why it mattered. I didn’t have a community, or a reason for anyone to care.

It’s not about you. It’s about your audience.

It’s not about what you want. It’s about what they need.

Otherwise it’s just a transaction. And transactions can’t build momentum — they only race to the bottom: bigger names, cheaper discounts.

The Pivot

That failure pushed me into advertising. I needed to understand what had gone wrong.

I wanted a step-by-step guide. Ten things to do to make people show up. Fifteen years later, I know it doesn’t exist. And yet, that obsession still drives me. The landscape keeps changing, the noise keeps getting louder, but the questions remain the same:

• What makes people care?
• What makes them show up?
• How do you earn attention in a world drowning in noise?
• How do you get someone to cross the road — or the city, or the country — for something they can now get with a click?

It turns out the answer isn’t a PDF, a hack, or a listicle. Those are oversimplified distractions that make us feel like we’re working, when really we’re avoiding the hard stuff.

And yes, I’ve fallen into those traps too.

But there are frameworks and systems that can act like guardrails — structure, protection, and compass.

The Fight

I’ve worked in network agencies, indie shops, production companies, and in-house teams across a few countries. I’ve seen both sides: the big international budgets and the micro budgets where every dollar has to fight.

What I’ve learned is this: challengers can punch far above their weight, and leaders can fall asleep at the wheel. With the right systems, the fight is fair. And with AI and new creative tools, the gap has never been easier to close.

What This Blog Is

This site is my notebook.

You’ll find the frameworks and systems I use day to day. The questions I ask when dissecting a brief or solving a brand problem. Past case studies, current ones, and experiments I’ll run on potential brands. My contention is simple: with the right foundations and clarity, you can sell almost anything.

You’ll find reflections on challenger brands, clarity, and how AI is reshaping the game. You’ll also find the occasional rant, because let’s be honest — a creative who doesn’t rant isn’t credible.

What you won’t find here: hacks, shortcuts, or guru playbooks. Hustle culture has polluted the waters enough.

This is about the long game. About clarity that compounds into trust and equity, not just clicks and quick wins.

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Let’s cut through the noise together.