December 2022
“Could you take a look at the content formats for client X’s employer branding campaign?”
I knew nothing. Formats, funnels, frameworks. Zip. Nada.
November 2023
I added this section for the sake of the structure of my story. After a little year of copywriting, I felt quite comfortable. At ease.
There’s not much more I can say about this.
September 2024
Antwerp, Us by Night. Over 60 artists from around the globe coming together in a spruced up port warehouse to share their wisdom. And so they did. Wisdom was shared.
Among them was Kimou Meyer. And I hung on his every word.
Kimou Meyer
Kimou grew up in Switzerland, trained to become a graphic designer in Belgium, and has always been fascinated by the New York underground scene. I would use his surname out of politeness but come on, Kimou is just too fun a word not to use.
In 45 minutes, he attempted to summarise his insanely varied career. In hindsight, that seems like an impossible task.
A rollercoaster of locations, pursuits, and encounters, interrupted by his body of work, which evolved into something new after each new location, pursuit, or encounter.
A Grotesk man
He founded his own agency, Grotesk.
Was a co-founder of the agency Doubleday & Cartwright.
And of the magazine Victory Journal.
He specialised in the unique graphic style of sports clubs.
Handled the rebranding for the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks.
And developed David Beckham’s MLS franchise, Inter Miami CF.
And much, much more.
But the best part? He is far, far from finished.
Play until you suck
Now Kimou is 50, and this year he decided to start his music career. At the end of his talk, he even let us hear a first sample. Although his new pursuit is still in its infancy and he’s a long way from where he wants to be:
“Most people say you have to play until you suck. Until you’re not good anymore. But I say suck until you play, until you’re good at it.”
If everyone had a little more Kimou in them, and didn’t always wait ‘until something is good’ or ‘until something is finished’ to share it with the outside world, the outside world would be a more beautiful place.
And if I had a little more Kimou in me, I would have written a Club Curiosity blog post back in December 2022.
Suck until you play
No one is ever just a writer, designer, or marketer.
My colleague was once a butcher, now an art director, and tomorrow he might be a carpenter.
My brother was trained to become a technician, retrained to become a salesman, and perhaps tomorrow to become a social worker.
I once worked at a school, now at an agency, and maybe tomorrow on a hobby farm in Azerbaijan.
A person is capable of many things.
It’s simply a matter of sucking until you’re good at it.
