Felipe Tomaz is Associate Professor of Marketing at the Saïd Business School at University of Oxford. He's about to publish a paper in the Journal of Marketing after analyzing 1,000 campaigns and a million customer journeys via Kantar and Wavemaker. With this paper, he'll be showing that "not all reach is created equal" as well as how few campaigns are actually effective. I invited Tom Roach to join me for this chat. Links Felipe: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drfelipethomaz Tom: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-roach-5b468026/ Mark: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard For strategy training, check out http://www.sweathead.com

Ipsita Das often reaches millions of people every month. While she was studying media and psychology at he New School, her Instagram account started to pop. Now, she works with tens of people every week. She tries to help them with the thoughts in their minds that are holding them back. In this episode, we discuss the five issues Ipsita hears about more. Ipsita will be teaching at our 2024 Sweathead Do-Together. Find tickets at http://www.sweathead.com. Links: Ipsita: https://www.instagram.com/helloipsita/ Mark: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard

Steve Walls has had big strategy jobs at TBWA, Ogilvy, Publicis Groupe, and more. But, now, he lives in Zurich, works with Moon Rabbit, and sees agency pitches from the other side - as someone helping marketers get more out of their agencies. In this episode, we discuss what Steve sees agencies get right and wrong in the pitch process. Steve will be teaching at our 2024 Sweathead Do-Together. Find tickets at http://www.sweathead.com. Links: Steve: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-walls-bb533638 Mark: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard

Mike Jacobson has worked in strategy for years. But he's been a magician for decades. Not long ago, he appeared on America's Got Talent. That's how good he is. In this episode, Mike breaks down the business of magic as well as how what he's learned from being a magician and strategist has helped both of his crafts, something he'll be teaching at our upcoming strategy conference The Sweathead Do-Together. Links: Mike: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacobsonmike/ Mark: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard The Sweathead Do-Together: https://sweathead.com/the-sweathead-do-together-2024/

I recently spoke with Joe about strategy frameworks and whether they're dumb. In this episode, we discuss strategic territories, which is one of those tools that is either useful or offensive, depending on how people use it. Joe will teach us how to use territories at our upcoming strategy conference The Sweathead Do-Together. Links: Joe: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-burns-bb73a31b/ Mark: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard The Sweathead Do-Together: https://sweathead.com/the-sweathead-do-together-2024/

Lucien Etori is the Chief Strategy Officer of McCann New York. He grew up moving around a lot as well as a fan of several music subcultures. This has led him to question the way a lot of advertising people use the word "culture". What do people mean by "culture" and "the culture" and "be part of the culture" and "to do work at the speed of culture"? And this is what we get into. Links: Lucien: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucien-etori Mark: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard The Sweathead Do-Together: https://sweathead.com/the-sweathead-do-together-2024/

The last time I spoke with Jenny Chang was four years ago. Since then, she's worked in agencies and for Lego and has now launched her own company, Constellation Theory. In this episode of Sweathead, we discuss this journey as well as what it's like to build a business around yourself. Jenny is hosting our upcoming strategy conference The Sweathead Do-Together. Links: Jenny aka jennifer m chang: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayemsey Mark: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard The Sweathead Do-Together: https://sweathead.com/the-sweathead-do-together-2024/

Kevin Chesters has CSO’d it all - Ogilvy, Wieden + Kennedy, Dentsu and more. He’s started a business. He’s sold a business.  He’s also started writing a book and finished writing a book, which is the hardest part of starting to write a book. It’s called The Creative Nudge. Kevin is speaking at our fourth Sweathead Do-Together about how to say your ideas in a few words. In this chat, we touch on this topic but we spend a lot more time on being diagnosed with being on the autism spectrum as an adult.  Links: Kevin: http://www.kevinchesters.com Mark: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard The Sweathead Do-Together: http://www.sweathead.com

James Hurman was once the number one planner in the world. Now, he runs an innovation studio called Previously Unavailable, he teaches a Master of Advertising Effectiveness with the crew at WARC and Cannes Lions, and he directs brand-tracking company Tracksuit. In this episode, we discuss James’s 18 months in the creative department and what he learned that can help strategists.  We also get into the 101 of brand tracking. Here, you can find…  James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jameshurman/ Mark: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard Sweathead: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead Strategy classes and books: http://www.sweathead.com

How often does your advertising career feel stuck?  How often do you compare your career to other people’s careers? What do you do to get your career un-stuck? Iuren Ramiro is a Strategy Director at Agência WE in São Paulo. He’s also on the ANA and Lions CMO Growth Councils. In this episode, we discuss Iuren’s own journey through the darkness as well as a recent survey we ran to see how other strategists feel about these topics. Find our deck on feeling stuck in nan advertising career here: https//sweathead.com/feeling-stuck-in-advertising-deck/ Here, you can find…  Iuren: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iuren/ Mark: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard Sweathead: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead Strategy classes and books: http://www.sweathead.com

Maytê Carvalho won a special version of Brazil’s The Apprentice television show when she was 18 years old. People told her she was persuasive. They told her to write a book about it.  But, first, Maytê decided to study persuasion and ended up getting a Master’s degree focusing on it. She also became a Research Fellow at the Berkeley Global Society. Simultaneously, Maytê worked in the Grey Group and Accenture Song in São Paulo and TBWA\Chiat\Day in LA then CUBOCC in New York as their Chief Strategy and Growth Officer. She’s just moved to LA and set up her own company. We talk about all of this. Here, you can find…  Maytê: https://www.instagram.com/maytecarvalhos Mark: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard Sweathead: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead Strategy classes and books: http://www.sweathead.com

Come for a walk around Washington DC as I discuss the ten things strategists whisper to me and debrief you on 14 events in 5 countries for 700 people over the past two weeks. Find our classes here: http://www.sweathead.com Find me here: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard

Join me on a walk from Times Square to the Flatiron District as we discuss some big life changes, my masterclasses in Asia, impostor syndrome, and teaching strategists.Find me @ http://www.instagram.com/markpollard

John Lyons is a fractional CMO. This might mean that he's a fraction of a CMO and that he's either very small or only does a fraction of what a CMO usually does. Well, that's what I think when I see the title "Fractional CMO" - Oh, it's a thumb-sized CMO doing 10% of the CMO job. But, in this chat, John puts me straight while also sharing his thoughts on why B2B service-based companies - especially agencies - struggle with marketing. And John gives us a brief mental health update because, last time we spoke on Sweathead, John shared a lot about his battles with a mental health crisis. You can find John here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnpaullyons/ You can find details about our upcoming masterclasses and accelerator here: http://www.sweathead.com

Lena Roland is Content Director, Strategy at WARC. This means she's dealing with all of you as she explores and gathers the smart minds in the world and what they're doing to market and advertise effectively. In this episode, we chat about the present of strategy - what we're both hearing from strategists around the world. If you'd like to share what you're thinking about the future of strategy, WARC is collecting opinions for their Future Of Strategy report until August 2, 2024. Find it here: https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/7914889/Future-of-Strategy-2024 And find Lena on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lenaroland/ For details about our upcoming accelerator as well as masterclasses in Los Angeles, Singapore, Jakarta, Manila, and Sydney, visit http://www.sweathead.com

Join me by the river Vitava in Prague for a beer and a chat about the 2024 Cannes Lions Festival.

- The power of paper - Summarize stingily - Digging into problems - Fixing presentations Find out about my masterclasses: http://www.sweathead.com Download the ebook "How To Do Strategy" http://www.sweathead.com Find me on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard

Toygun is Chief Strategy Office at TBWA in Istanbul, one of my favorite cities on the planet. He recently presented his thoughts about artificial intelligence at SxSW. We discuss these thoughts as well as Turkey.  You can find Toygun here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/toygun-yilmazer-29810267/ ** For details about our upcoming strategy masterclasses and free ebooks, go to http://www.sweathead.com 🇨🇿Prague 🇩🇪Berlin 🇺🇸NYC, LA 🇸🇬Singapore 🇮🇩Jakarta 🇵🇭Manila 🇦🇺Sydney

Joe was Head of Strategy at BBH in New York but decided to go to an indie shop Quality Meats as a Group Strategy Director. We discuss this move as well as a survey that suggested a lot of strategists think strategy frameworks do more harm than good. You can find Joe here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-burns-bb73a31b/ ** For details about our upcoming strategy masterclasses and free ebooks, go to http://www.sweathead.com 🇨🇿Prague 🇩🇪Berlin 🇺🇸NYC, LA 🇸🇬Singapore 🇮🇩Jakarta 🇵🇭Manila 🇦🇺Sydney

Mani Schlisser is Director of Strategy at OBERLAND in New York. He's had big comms planning roles at Ogilvy, Mekanism, and Chiat Day. In this chat, we talk about Comms Planning 101 but also get into the daily challenges facing anyone creating advertising right now: - What's happening on the social media platforms, and - What agencies are getting wrong, You can find Mani here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/manischlisser/ Find out about our upcoming masterclasses at http://www.sweathead.com You can find Mark here: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard

Monika Farkašová (from agency Triad) has won the Young Lions so I'm now calling her World Champion because "Winner" is boring. The Young Lions takes the best young talent from around the world and pits them against each other in a ferocious battle of minds for 24 hours in Cannes every June. David Cerveny (from agency Zaraguza) is a frequent contender in this battle as well having represented the Czech Republic several times. He has his eyes on the big prize and the new title WORLD CHAMPION. In this episode, we discuss what it's like to compete in the Young Lions competition as well as the advertising markets in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Monika is here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monika-farka%C5%A1ov%C3%A1-7b2730a5/ David is here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidcerveny/ ** Mark is teaching in Prague (June 24) and will be at Cannes this year. Details about all of our upcoming masterclasses are on the Sweathead website: http://www.sweathead.com. You can find Mark here: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard

Dr Anastasia Karklina Gabriel has just published her first book "Cultural Intelligence for Marketers: Building an Inclusive Marketing Strategy". Having earned a PhD, Anastasia has consulted for many agencies and now works in Reddit's Global Insights team. In this chat, we discuss a few of the key concepts in the book as well as the experience of writing it. You can find Anastasia here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anastasiakgabriel/ And her book here: https://www.amazon.com/Cultural-Intelligence-Marketers-Inclusive-Marketing/dp/1398614033 ** Find out about our upcoming masterclasses at http://www.sweathead.com  You can find Mark here: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard

Rob Estreitinho and I have just dropped a deck for you. It's called "Stop Collaborating And Listen". In it, we discuss why workshops are being forced on everyone right now, how this isn't always a good thing, and what to do about it. You can find the deck here: http://bit.ly/stopcollaboratingandlisten

You can find out about our upcoming masterclasses at http://www.sweathead.com Mark is here: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard

Alexandre Kazuo Kubo and Lucas Ribeiro are Associate Creative Directors at McCann New York. Recently, they published a guide on having and expressing award-winning advertising ideas. It's relatively rare for employed big-agency creatives to publish like this so I took the opportunity to get them to talk us through their free guide while forcing them to indulge me in my love of Brazil and Brazil funk. Their guide is here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Vv4yXzNDyDnoaAdDKTh_2W99OrzNZRy_Y_j1feoanx8/edit?pli=1#slide=id.g2ad8616ace2_0_96 Lucas is here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucasantunesribeiro/ Kazuo is here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandre-kazuo-kubo-33189177 Mark is here: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard

Camilla Petty recently released a workshop guide from 15 years of experience in advertising. I've run hundreds of these things and have thoughts. So we got together to discuss what makes a workshop work as well as the things that don't. You can get 25% off Camilla's guide using the code SWEATY at checkout: https://oddkid.co/store/brandstrategyworkshopguide You can find Camilla here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/camillagrey/ You can find Mark here: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard

Michael Miraflor is Chief Brand Officer at Hannah Grey Venture Capital. His agency life started in media agencies then lead him to MediaLink and, now, into VC. In this episode, we discuss his journey as well as what exactly he is doing right now. You can find Michael here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mirateck/ You can find Mark here: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard

Cofounder of the Account Planning Group (APG) in Spain, Luis Miranda is a freelance strategist based in Los Angeles but also a music producer and DJ. In this episode, we see what strategists can learn from techno. Obviously. You can find Luis here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luismiranda1/ You can find Mark here: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard

Carolyn Barclay and David Moore run Kingswood & Palmerston. They work with B2B marketers whom they push to do interesting work. We discuss creativity in B2B advertising as well as Carolyn and David's business. You might know David from his Twitter and LinkedIn sharing of advertising made by advertising agencies to promote advertising agencies. Carolyn Barclay: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolyn-barclay-622b9712/ David Moore: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmooreecd/ ** Make sure you check out the DELUGE of content I've been sharing on Instagram, including ebook links: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard

You can find these bits as essays here: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard

Ty Heath is the Director of the LinkedIn B2B Institute. The B2B Institute works with some of the world's leading marketing academics to find counter-intuitive ideas that can have a ridiculous impact on B2B brands. In this interview, we discuss B2B Marketing 101. You can find Ty here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tyronaheath/ You can download our "How To Do Strategy" ebook, read by 120,000+ people here: https://mailchi.mp/sweathead/how-to-do-strategy-by-sweathead Our next Sweathead Strategy Accelerator happens in March, 2024. Find details at www.sweathead.com.

Ana Andjelic has a PhD, has worked in many of your favorite New York advertising and digital agencies, and now has a massive role at Esprit as the Chief Brand Office and the Chief Marketing Officer. This means Ana is responsible for anything that leaves the office. I caught up with her in the Esprit office to find out how her and the team are reviving Esprit, a brand that, at one time, had a market capitalization of $20 billiong. You can find Ana here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anaandjelic/ ** Sign up for The Sweathead Get-Ahead free livestream from London on Jan 31 and Feb 1 here: https://sweathead.com/sweathead-get-ahead/ My London Masterclass tickets are here: https://sweathead.com/london-strategy-masterclass-with-mark-pollard/ And you can grab free ebooks and find out about our classes here: https://sweathead.com/

There was a time on LinkedIn that was before Alex M H Smith and a time on LinkedIn that was after Alex M H Smith. Every week, tens of thousands of people now see Alex's posts about strategy in their feed but it wasn't always this way. In this episode, we discuss what Alex is up to and how he uses social media. We were going to talk about some of his strategy posts and thoughts but...I actually don't talk to many people about social media so we kept the conversation there. You can find Alex here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-m-h-smith/ ** Sign up for The Sweathead Get-Ahead free livestream from London on Jan 31 and Feb 1 here: https://sweathead.com/sweathead-get-ahead/ My London Masterclass tickets are here: https://sweathead.com/london-strategy-masterclass-with-mark-pollard/ And you can grab free ebooks and find out about our classes here: https://sweathead.com/

Trish Berrong is a copywriter and strategist who spent decades at greeting card company Hallmark. She's not only written greeting cards but she helped Hallmark develop an in-house agency that went from serving Hallmark to serving external clients. And this is what we discuss. You can find Trish here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/trishberrong/ ** Find out about our strategy training and conferences at http://www.sweathead.com You can download a free 50-page ebook "How To Do Strategy" here: https://mailchi.mp/sweathead/how-to-do-strategy-by-sweathead

You can find a link to the personal development template here: https://sweathead.com/personal-plan Sign up for The Sweathead Get-Ahead free livestream from London here: https://sweathead.com/sweathead-get-ahead/ My London Masterclass tickets are here: https://sweathead.com/london-strategy-masterclass-with-mark-pollard/ And you can grab free ebooks and find out about our classes here: https://sweathead.com/

Anirban Roy is Head of Strategy at Wieden + Kennedy in India. They have offices in Delhi and Mumbai. In this interview, we discuss good relationships with creative teams - whether it's common, what makes them difficult, and what makes them work. You can find Anirban here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anirbanroyplanner/ ** Find out about our strategy training and conferences at http://www.sweathead.com You can download a free 50-page ebook "How To Do Strategy" here: https://mailchi.mp/sweathead/how-to-do-strategy-by-sweathead

Polly Wyn Jones has been anlayzing advertising for over 30 years. In the past two years, she's published two articles about humor in advertising - how it ebbed and flowed over the past 2 decades, the kinds of humor there are in ads, and if it's coming back. And this is what we discuss. You can find Polly's two articles here 1. https://www.kantar.com/uki/inspiration/advertising-media/how-to-get-humour-right-in-advertising 2. https://www.kantar.com/north-america/inspiration/advertising-media/starting-to-laugh-again-the-slow-return-of-humour-in-advertising You can find Polly here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/polly-wyn-jones-67a0b3137/ ** Find out about our strategy training and conferences at http://www.sweathead.com You can download a free 50-page ebook "How To Do Strategy" here: https://mailchi.mp/sweathead/how-to-do-strategy-by-sweathead

Paul Fisher, Head of Strategy at BBDO Dublin, woke up with a mission one Sunday a couple of weeks ago. He wanted to confirm or debunk a belief that there's less humor in advertising than before. He spent hours trawling through and categorizing campaigns. And I thought it would be worth speaking to someone who feels like this is a good way to spend a Sunday. You can find Paul here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulfisher1980/ ** Find out about our strategy training and conferences at http://www.sweathead.com You can download a free 50-page ebook "How To Do Strategy" here: https://mailchi.mp/sweathead/how-to-do-strategy-by-sweathead

Grace Gordon is an Australian who's worked with a list of companies many strategists would dream of working with: Netflix, CashApp, Nike, Apple, The Fader, Refinery29, as well as various agencies. In fact, we worked together at Big Spaceship a decade ago. In this chat, we discuss living and working the USA as Australians as well as what Grace learned about getting these kinds of jobs. You can find Grace here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gracelgordon/ ** Find out about our strategy training and conferences at http://www.sweathead.com You can download a free 50-page ebook "How To Do Strategy" here: https://mailchi.mp/sweathead/how-to-do-strategy-by-sweathead

Marc is a fractional CMO based in Calgary, Canada. He recently published a deck to help marketers work out how to set their budgets based on evidence. You can find the deck here: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7134918764252299264/⁠ You can find Marc here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcbinkley/

You can download a free 45-page ebook on insights, including a chapter from my book "Strategy Is Your Words" here: https://mailchi.mp/sweathead/mastering-insights You can find out about The Insight Masterclass that I'm teaching on Wednesday, December 6, online here: http://sweathead.com/the-insight-masterclass-mark-pollard

Julien Normand is Global Strategy Lead for Publicis LEON @ Publicis Media in Singapore. Recently, he wrote a piece called "The Silent Ascent Of Super Light Buyers," in which he shares research that suggests marketers need to pay attention to people who don't buy them very often. You can find Julien here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julien-normand-101/⁠ ⁠ His article is here: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7061959692071141376/ ** Sign up for our newsletters: https://sweathead.com/newsletter/strategy-for-life/ ** Sweathead is a support group for strategists and account planners around the world.  We host conferences, online courses, live events, and podcasts. We also train companies. Find out about our company training here: ⁠https://sweathead.com/teams/⁠

I was going to keep it private but people started to find out. I got a hair transplant. And I had a second operation to get a lipoma removed. At the end of this episode I talk a little about functional versus emotional advertising. But most of the episode is about hair and Istanbul. You can find videos about the experience on my Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard

Watergunz won two golds at the recent Ad Black Sea festival for a campaign called “Women Who Don’t Exist”. They won in the Impact category for Creative Strategy and Sustainable Development Goals. Their campaign managed to get the Tbilisi government to change street names to the names of accomplished women. I was fortunate to be the one who handed them their trophies in front of well over one thousand people and a few stray dogs that had wondered into the Summer Theatre in Batum, Georgia. I grabbed the team at 1am just after the ceremony had finished to find out how they were feeling. Find out more here: https://georgia.unwomen.org/en/stories/feature-story/2023/06/women-who-dont-exist-a-campaign-against-stereotypes

It’s the final day of the Georgian advertising festival Ad Black Sea. The campaign winners will be announced soon. In this episode, I talk with fellow speaker Marie Reig Florensa, Ad Black Sea and agency Winfors founder Vato Lavtaradze, and Lado Malazonia who quit his job on stage during one of my sessions and in front of perhaps 800 people…and his wife. You can find out more about Ad Black Sea here: https://adblacksea.com

The next Sweathead Strategy Accelerator happens in October, 2023. It's a 4-week program that will teach you about The Four Points framework, linear and lateral thinking, the importance of problems, how to write insights, and how to write strategy. This next accelerator is our fifth public accelerator so we thought we'd invite some previous students to share their work and experience with you. You'll hear from: - Dulce Vazquez- VP, Strategy Director, Wildtype Health - Rodolfo Andres Estrada - Senior Brand Strategist BBDO, Guatemala - Sarah Mahoney
- EVP, Healthcare Communications, Strategy & Planning, Weber Shandwick - Victoria Gates-Fleming- SVP, Creative Strategy & Insights at Day One Agency For more details about the accelerator, visit: https://strategyhome.sweathead.com/products/the-sweathead-strategy-accelerator/ For 15 examples and 70 pages of student work, visit: https://mailchi.mp/sweathead/9vtxjz2jqq

In this episode, I share some of the student work from the Sweathead Strategy Accelerator as well as dive into some tips on how to improve your presentations. You can download 70+ pages of student work here: https://mailchi.mp/sweathead/9vtxjz2jqq

In this episode, I discuss a couple of recent essays—when it’s time to quit and how to help a strategy team that’s swirling all over the place. If you enjoy it, share it. And come say hi on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard