Edelman's Amina Colter Jones (SVP, Health), Dinah Douglas (Senior Strategist), and Laura Goldsmith (Head of Strategy, LA) were part of a team that helped The Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation launch a campaign to get attention for black student's mental health challenges. The campaign was called “The Unspoken Curriculum”. It recently picked up Gold in the Healthcare category and an honorable mention for Nonprofit Strategy at the 2022 Jay Chiat Awards.  In this episode of Sweathead, we discuss how it came to be–from why the campaign was needed to how the team arrived at their approach as well as the involvement of their clients. You can see the campaign here: https://borislhensonfoundation.org/unspoken/ Amina Colter Jones (SVP, Health): https://www.linkedin.com/in/amina-colter-jones-94545512/ Dinah Douglas (Senior Strategist): https://www.linkedin.com/in/dinahdouglas/ Laura Goldsmith (Head of Strategy, LA): https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauraseidengoldsmith/ ** 🔥 Strategy classes: http://www.sweathead.com ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 📸 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead 🔊 Podcast & other links: https://znap.link/sweathead 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.

British Airways has just launched a new positioning "A British Original" and a new campaign "Every Reason You Fly". The campaign breaks conventions by focusing on small moments that happen because of travel in their 15-second ads as well as the real reasons people travel.  Part of the campaign involves 500 ads which feature three radio checkboxes and the words "Business" and "Leisure" then a third set of words showing the real reason someone is traveling, such as "Because the weather sucks" and "Remission". The campaign was made by the profuse Uncommon Creative Studio with MG OMD handling media. It's one of those campaign that has excited agency folk with industry writer Tim Nudd declaring "British Airways' New Ads Will Make You Love Copywriting Again". However, the campaign has also come in for criticism from the marketing effectiveness community and some experienced marketers. I wanted to use the campaign as a way to bring both sides of the house together to discuss why some people love this work and why others think it won't work. Since 2020 especially, online discussions about advertising have often and quickly become toxic with people speaking over, around, and beyond each other. So I brought together Colin Lewis and John Long to hear their perspectives. Colin Lewis has spent over a decade marketing travel brands such as Thomas Cook, Stobart Air, City Jet, and flybmi. The travel tech company he last worked at has sold over $1B of British Airways tickets. And he has strong opinions about what works with travel marketing. John Long is ECD at LG’s in-house agency as well as the former global head of creative for The Economist and an ECD at Ogilvy NY. He recently shared a Twitter thread comparing old advertising to recent digital advertising that stoked strong reactions and he's worked on the Southwest Airlines brand.  You can find Colin here: https://twitter.com/colinalewis John is here: https://twitter.com/janthonylong The new British Airways campaign is here: https://www.lbbonline.com/news/there-are-over-500-unique-reasons-to-fly-in-british-airways-unique-campaign You can listen to a Sweathead interview with Lucie Jamieson, Co-Founder of Uncommon here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-if-you-could-make-an-agency-from-scratch-lucy/id1370723809?i=1000472372492 ** 🔥 Strategy classes: http://www.sweathead.com ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 📸 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead 🔊 Other links: https://znap.link/sweathead 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.

In this episode, I speak with John Lyons, a senior marketer who was recently at the LEGO Group.  John has been weathering a difficult few years. He's shared his challenges on Twitter–the loss of a brother, a marriage, a career, and more.  I wanted to find out more and to put a voice to his story. We discuss some topics that might be difficult for you to listen to–including depression and self-harm.  I recently heard of research that suggests that if you give people a trigger warning they're more likely to feel triggered but I don't know what to do with this research as I publish this episode. Mental health crises can hit any of us at any time. In fact, a real crisis will hit most of us directly or through people we know at some point in our lives. Unfortunately, when we are hit directly, we withdraw, we isolate, and we struggle to reach out for help. If this describes you now then you will hopefully benefit from John's story. Please reach out for help. Millions of other people are confronting similar challenges.  Thank you to John for sharing your story with us. You can find him here: https://twitter.com/johnnieego ** 🔥 Strategy classes: http://www.sweathead.com ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 📸 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead 🔊 Podcast & other links: https://znap.link/sweathead 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.

Susan Coghill is the Chief Marketing Officer of Tourism Australia. Susan and her team have just launched a new campaign with their agencies M&C Saatchi, UM, Digitas and many more. They are spending $125M over two years in an attempt to get tourism numbers back to pre-pandemic levels of about nine million visits per year. In this episode, we discuss: - How the campaign came to be - Some of the science in the campaign, especially the distinctive brand assets it deploys, and - How Tourism Australia selects its agency partners. You can find the campaign “Come and Say G’Day” here: https://www.tourism.australia.com/en/resources/campaign-resources/come-and-say-gday.html You can find Susan here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susancoghill ** 🔥 Strategy classes: http://www.sweathead.com ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 📸 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead 🔊 Podcast & other links: https://znap.link/sweathead 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.

Mayur Hola is a former creative director who now runs India's OYO brand. OYO helps small- and medium-sized hotels sell their rooms. They've been winning a ton of awards for a campaign they made with The Script Room, including several at the 4As' Jay Chiat awards. In this interview, Mayur takes us through the key decisions that led to this campaign, one that attempted to increase hotel bookings by showing people that hotel rooms can be used in many more ways than just for couples romances or for on-the-road business trips.  You can find Mayur here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mayurhola/ ** The Sweathead Do-Together will take you through ten hours of strategy conference October 18-20, 2022. The Sweathead Strategy Accelerator is 4 weeks of lively strategy training and starts Oct 25, 2022. Find out more at http://www.sweathead.com. ** 🔥 Strategy classes: http://www.sweathead.com ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 📸 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead 🔊 Podcast & other links: https://znap.link/sweathead 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.

Tim Gingrich, along with his team at Edelman and his clients at Dallas Regional Chamber, recently picked up a couple of trophies at the 4A's Jay Chiat Awards. Silver in the Healthcare category, bronze in the Regional category. In this interview, Tim takes us through the thinking behind the initiative that sought to get over 600,000 North Texans vaccinated and why capitalism played a key role in the messaging. You can find Tim here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timgingrich/ ** The Sweathead Do-Together will take you through ten hours of strategy conference October 18-20, 2022. The Sweathead Strategy Accelerator is 4 weeks of lively strategy training and starts Oct 25, 2022. Find out more at http://www.sweathead.com. ** 🔥 Strategy classes: http://www.sweathead.com ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 📸 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead 🔊 Podcast & other links: https://znap.link/sweathead 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.

James Whatley is Chief Strategy Officer at UK agency Diva. Diva works with gaming brands but they also help non-gaming brands get into gaming. James is speaking at our upcoming conference The Sweathead Do-Together so I thought it would be good to speak to him about the work he's doing at Diva: 1. How does an agency that focuses on gaming work with brands? 2. How can brands get it right more often than not? You can find James here: https://twitter.com/Whatleydude ** The Sweathead Do-Together will take you through ten hours of strategy conference October 18-20, 2022. The Sweathead Strategy Accelerator is 4 weeks of lively strategy training and starts Oct 25, 2022. Find out more at http://www.sweathead.com. ** 🔥 Strategy classes: http://www.sweathead.com ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 📸 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead 🔊 Podcast & other links: https://znap.link/sweathead 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.

This Sweathead episode is a live workshop in front of a virtual audience of about 60 people. Working with the team at TEACH, we try to crack a strategy to get more people with bachelor's degrees to consider teaching STEM in high schools around the USA. You'll hear Jen Cooper (Senior Director of Content), Teresa Alexandru (Director of Growth Marketing), and Nancy Sylvan (Director of Programs) workshop with me, Mark. We sort of got somewhere. But perhaps it's the messiness that makes the most sense. You can find out more about TEACH here: http://www.teach.org ** The Sweathead Do-Together will take you through ten hours of strategy conference October 18-20, 2022. The Sweathead Strategy Accelerator is 4 weeks of lively strategy training and starts Oct 25, 2022. Find out more at http://www.sweathead.com. ** 🔥 Strategy classes: http://www.sweathead.com ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 📸 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead 🔊 Podcast & other links: https://znap.link/sweathead 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.

Ever felt creative but uncertain about how strategic you were? What about the other way around? In this episode, we get into both of these situations. We'll discuss small shifts creative minds can take to become more strategic and help the strategy-inclined to understand their creativity. We also answer strategist questions: 1. How can I sell strategy without design? 2. What to do if your creative crew isn't capable of translating your strategy into a digital concept? 3. How do you convert a campaign pitch to a brand strategy pitch? 4. Tips for someone transitioning from a strategy doer into a strategy leader? To find some of this on Instagram... "I'm creative but am I strategic?" https://www.instagram.com/p/Ch2ZpGYOo8Q/ Why strategy work is creative work https://www.instagram.com/p/CiA0yYOOkCa/ ** The Sweathead Do-Together will take you through ten hours of strategy conference October 18-20, 2022. The Sweathead Strategy Accelerator is 4 weeks of lively strategy training and starts Oct 25, 2022. Find out more at http://www.sweathead.com. ** 🔥 Strategy classes: http://www.sweathead.com ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 📸 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead 🔊 Podcast & other links: https://znap.link/sweathead 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.

Sharing creative briefs with creative teams is intimidating when you're starting out. In this episode, I share some history, including "I didn't write my first creative brief until I was about 28", and at least 15 tips about how to do this.  Listen to this episode with CCO Jill Applebaum and ECD Kieran Ots as they give feedback to strategists: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/creative-bosses-give-4-strategists-feedback-live-and/id1370723809?i=1000571081998 For more Internet content about sharing creative briefs: 1. "I need to give the creative team feedback but I'm scared." https://www.instagram.com/p/Chsnci2J3uY/ 2. 8 Things To Consider When Sharing Creative Briefs With Creative Teams https://www.instagram.com/p/ChXPmUDuGMp/ ** The Sweathead Do-Together conference and our next multi-week accelerator will happen in October, 2022. Podcast listeners can get early-bird tickets to the Do-Together until September 14. Instructions are in this episode. ** Subscribe to our newsletter for updates: ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 ** 🔥 Strategy classes: http://www.sweathead.com 📸 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead 🔊 Podcast & other links: https://znap.link/sweathead 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.

In 2021, Derek Walker lit up our first ever strategy conference The Sweathead Do-Together.  His talk about fear in advertising sent chills through over one hundred souls.  We've heard that some people replay this talk to themselves when they need a kick in the pants. Having just launched this year's Do-Together, we thought we'd share Derek's talk via the podcast. He'll be back this year to light a fire under you. You can find details at http://www.thedotogether.com. You can find Derek here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/derek-walker-8741578/ You can watch this talk here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVeW7xbm1z0 ** Early-bird tickets to this year's Sweathead Do-Together are available until the end of August or until sold out: http://www.thedotogether.com. October 18-20, ten hours of conference, over 20 speakers, plus 3 masterclasses. ** ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 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.

In this episode, we discuss mediocrity and why some people need it plus I answer nine questions while walking through New York City. The questions include: 1. What can I do when I feel a lack of interest cause every project looks the same? 2. How to approach building a team for the first time 3. Why are we moving backwards as a country? 4. Are the traditional strategy-creative roles in agencies relevant in the fast-paced digital marketing era? 5. Does the agency world over index with neuro-atypical peeps (spectrum, sociopaths, etc)? 6. I’m frustrated by how the person I report to hardly gives a shit about planning and knows less. 7. What’s the value of strategy? 8. How do you deal with a strategist above yo who won’t get out of your way? 9. Do you know of any good practices or exercises I could use to "derive insights from data"? ** For early-bird tickets to The Sweathead Do-Together and for information about our next strategy accelerator, visit http://www.sweathead.com ** 🔥 Strategy classes: http://www.sweathead.com ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 📸 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead 🔊 Podcast & other links: https://znap.link/sweathead 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.

Freelancing can smell like freedom but it can also reek of fear. “I can’t wait to be my own boss…but what if I can’t manage myself?” “I’m so excited about finding my own clients…but what if nobody wants to work with me?” “I can’t wait to choose how I spend more of my days…but what if I spend them in ways that set me back?” In this podcast recording, freelance strategist Lydia Taylor hosts a conversation with Sophie Cross and Howie Chan about specific tips that will make the freelance life feel less scary. Lydia Taylor is a freelance strategy consultant https://www.linkedin.com/in/lydiataylor0/ Sophie Cross is Editor of Freelancer Magazine https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophcross/ Howie Chan is a healthcare brand consultant https://www.linkedin.com/in/howiechaniam/ ** 🔥 Strategy classes: http://www.sweathead.com ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 📸 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead 🔊 Podcast & other links: https://znap.link/sweathead 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.

For this episode of Sweathead, VMLY&R's Kevin Brockenbrough collects a few of his favorite minds to share their experiences as black strategists working in advertising in the USA: Simone Pratt (Ogilvy), Deadra Rahaman (Huge), and Emanuel Basnight (Power Twist). This episode is from a live recording. Kevin was due to host the whole session but had some technical challenges so you’ll hear his powerful voice at the start and then towards the end when he rejoined us. Big thanks to Simone for taking over as the session’s center of gravity. The guests’ details and links are as follows: Kevin Brockenbrough - Group Director, Strategy & Insights, VMLY&R https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinsbrockenbrough/ Deadra Rahaman @DeadraRahaman - VP Brand Strategy, Huge https://www.linkedin.com/in/deadrarahaman/ Emanuel Basnight @elbj - Creative Strategy and Content Lead, Power Twist https://www.linkedin.com/in/emanuel-basnight-5079223/ Simone Pratt @simoneisis1913 - Brand Strategy Director, Ogilvy https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonepratt/ ** 🔥 Strategy classes: http://www.sweathead.com ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 📸 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead 🔊 Podcast & other links: https://znap.link/sweathead 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.

Sharing a creative brief with creative teams can be scary, right? Well, how about presenting strategy to a Chief Creative Officer and an Executive Creative Director? Four Sweathead students recently did this with Wunderman Thompson CCO Jill Applebaum and Leo Burnett ECD Kieran Ots.  This is a rare public experience that's often full of trepidation and excitement in equal measures. You can find Jill here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jill-applebaum-4280a96/ Kieran is here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kieranots/ Big shoutouts to our students for being brave enough to go on public record: - Dulce Vazquez: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dulcevazquez/ - Eric Pattillo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-pattillo-0053813b/ - Kaitlin Carpenter: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaitlincarpenter/ - Kris Kennedy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kriskennedy/ ** The Sweathead Do-Together conference and our next multi-week accelerator will happen in October, 2022. ** Subscribe to our newsletter for updates: ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 ** 🔥 Strategy classes: http://www.sweathead.com 📸 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead 🔊 Podcast & other links: https://znap.link/sweathead 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.

Maria Van Buskirk is Head of Strategy at Media by Mother. Mother is notorious for its creativity. So you'd expect Media by Mother to be notorious for its creativity in media.  But how does it all work, especially in a city like New York that can make creativity feel so corporate and where big budgets and a fetish for efficiency can dull many creative spirits? In this episode, Maria shares with us how media thinking can help ideas before they happen and when to bring a comms planner in to play. You can find Maria here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maria-van-buskirk-01317540/ ** The Sweathead Do-Together conference and our next multi-week accelerator will happen in October, 2022. ** Subscribe to our newsletter for updates: ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 ** 🔥 Strategy classes: http://www.sweathead.com 📸 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead 🔊 Podcast & other links: https://znap.link/sweathead 
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.

For details about the Sweathead Strategy Summer Camp, go to: http://www.Sweathead.com

We all want to feel good about our work but does some of the marketing industry take itself too seriously? In our personal pursuit for meaningful work and a sense of nobility, can we completely overshoot the whole point of marketing? What if marketing doesn't need to be noble? What if "brand purpose" isn't a useful concept? What if marketing is just to sell? These are questions that Anthea Foyer (Sector Development Officer, City of Toronto), Julie Ng (Marketing and Business Development Consultant), and Radovan Andrej Grezo (Creative Director, Somebody&Somebody) discuss with us in this live panel recording of Sweathead. You can find Anthea here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthea-foyer/ Julie is here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julieonvancouverisland/ Andrej is here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/radovangrezo With thanks to Dot Jarantilla for making this happen. ** Find out about our 4-week virtual summer camp at http://www.sweathead.com. It starts on July 21, 2022. **  🔥 Strategy classes: http://www.sweathead.com ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 📸 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead 🔊 Podcast & other links: https://znap.link/sweathead 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.

Nathan Brown is Global Chief Strategy Officer for UM in New York. We worked in the same building on William St in Sydney about 15 years ago. Nathan was a breath of fresh air. He built teams that expected to do creative things with their clients’ media buys. He was a good coach and easy to collaborate with. He’s still all of these things. But many years have passed since we worked together so I wanted to see how a coach-oriented, creative thinker was faring in the high-stakes game of media planning in New York. We discuss a lot of C-words: - Creativity in media planning, - Media buying as a commodity, - Being a CEO of PHD Media, - Being a CSO, - Culture, - Collaborating with advertising agencies, - Clients, and - Whether Nathan is a company man at heart :) You can find Nathan here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathan-brown-8115153/ ** Find out about our 4-week virtual summer camp at http://www.sweathead.com. It starts on July 21, 2022.  ** 🔥 Strategy classes: http://www.sweathead.com ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 📸 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead 🔊 Podcast & other links: https://znap.link/sweathead 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.

Jo Lepore is Global Foresight Leader at Mars Wrigley. She moved to the USA about a year ago and works out of Hoboken, New Jersey. In this episode of Sweathead, Jo takes us through how she approaches her work, the work of a snack futurist. This kind of work might be of interest to a few agency strategists and Jo helps us understand how to make it work that the rest of a business will want to engage with rather than ignore or just use as lunchtime entertainment. Jo also publishes her own podcast. It’s called Looking Outside. You can find out more here: https://www.looking-outside.com/ ** Find out about our 4-week virtual summer camp at http://www.sweathead.com. It starts on July 21, 2022. It's for our annual members. ** 🔥 Strategy classes: http://www.sweathead.com ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 📸 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead 🔊 Podcast & other links: https://znap.link/sweathead 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.

Archana Mahadevan is VP, Director of Strategy at DDB Chicago. Archana was born in India and came to the United States to attend college. She has been here ever since. While in India, Archana was obsessed with advertising, and wanted to prove to everyone that she could do it. So she combined her need to start over, her desire to work in advertising, and her urge to leave her country and grow professionally to come to the USA. You can find Archana here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/archana-mahadevan-30a21617/ ** Details about our 4-week virtual summer camp are coming: http://www.sweathead.com. It starts around July 18, 2022.  ** 🔥 Strategy classes: http://www.sweathead.com ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 📸 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead 🔊 Podcast & other links: https://znap.link/sweathead 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.

Picture this: you have a yearning to do strategy but you’re in an account management role. Maybe a job switch has been promised. Maybe you're simply doing multiple roles. Either way, on your mind is this question: "How do I do strategy full-time?" The transition isn’t always easy. The thing you want can put stress on your current company. But how much of that is a ‘you’ problem versus a ‘them’ problem? In this episode of Sweathead, we speak with these three people who’ve made the leap: 1. Kimberley Upton, Head of Planning at Blue Chip (UK) https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimberley-upton-93112819 2. Chirag Khushalani, Creative Strategist at AKQA (UAE) https://www.linkedin.com/in/khushalani/ 3. Alana Dwyer, Strategic Planner at Goosebump (Ireland) https://www.linkedin.com/in/alana-dwyer-6bb8695a/ ** 🔥 Strategy classes: http://www.sweathead.com ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 📸 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead 🔊 Podcast & other links: https://znap.link/sweathead 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.  

Within a matter of minutes, the pandemic went from freaking out everybody about keeping their jobs to unfurling a ton of new opportunities. Agencies and brands alike turned to strategists to help them navigate the ambiguity and confusion and frustration. And now many strategists realize they have more options than ever. But what’s a strategy boss to do? In this live session, we ask: 1. What are the most common challenges facing managers of strategists right now? 2. What do managers get wrong? 3. How can managers get more things right? Guests: Lee Maicon – CSO https://www.linkedin.com/in/leemaicon/ Nikita Walia – CEO and Founder of Blank https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikitaontheinternet/ Seth Gaffney – CSO, Preacher https://www.linkedin.com/in/sethgaffney/ ** Find out about our 4-week virtual summer camp at http://www.sweathead.com. It starts on July 18, 2022. ** 🔥 Strategy classes: http://www.sweathead.com ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 📸 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead 🔊 Podcast & other links: https://znap.link/sweathead 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.

Rodolfo Estrada is a fresh new planner at BBDO in Guatemala. He recently took The Sweathead Strategy Accelerator, our 6-week strategy course. And I thought his work was worth sharing. In this episode, Rodolfo takes us through his response to a hypothetical brief. The task was to get heavy drinkers to consider Vivitrol as a way to cut down their drinking. Vivitrol is a monthly needle in the butt (although there are pill versions of the drug, too - eg Naltrexone). It claims to turn down the opioid receptors in the brain, to reduce the endorphin rush that heavy drinkers feel after their first few drinks and then chase for the next few hours with more drinks. You can find Rodolfo here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rodolfoaestrada/  ** Find out about our New York City strategy workshop on June 16 here: https://sweathead.com/products/the-sweathead-strategy-workshop/ ** 🔥 Strategy classes: http://www.sweathead.com ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 📸 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead 🔊 Podcast & other links: https://znap.link/sweathead 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.

After stints at Leo Burnett and Droga5, Mara Rigney now helps brands work out what to do with Web3 at Accenture Song. "With Web3" is such a...non-specific thing. And, for those of us who've been around through Web 1.0 and Web 2.0, it's hard not to feel a little skeptical. Like, "Oh, here comes another Ponzi scheme." But, in this episode, Mara takes us through some of the fundamental concepts of Web3 and describes how she works with brands to get a handle on it. You can find Mara here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mararigney/  ** Find out about our New York City strategy workshop on June 16 here: https://sweathead.com/products/the-sweathead-strategy-workshop/ ** 🔥 Strategy classes: http://www.sweathead.com ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 📸 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead 🔊 Podcast & other links: https://znap.link/sweathead 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.

Austin Powers is currently in Phuket, Thailand. He recently burned out. In Phuket, he hopes to rekindle himself. Austin had been working in Taiwan as a Global Marketing Strategy Director. This was after working in Singapore, Beijing, and Hong Kong. He posted his exit strategy in the Sweathead Facebook Group. Many other strategists related...hardcore. So I decided to talk to him about what he's been going through and how he hopes to put himself back together. You can find his exit strategy here:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/445994692484756/posts/1700175407066672 You can find Austin on LinkedIn here:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/powersaustin ** Find out about our New York City strategy workshop on June 16 here: https://sweathead.com/products/the-sweathead-strategy-workshop/ ** 🔥 Strategy classes: http://www.sweathead.com ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 📸 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead 🔊 Podcast & other links: https://znap.link/sweathead 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.

David Snell and Christopher Owens have worked at The Richards Group in Dallas for fifty years. Combined. That's a long, long time.  David is TRG's Head of Brand Strategy while Christopher is Brand Strategy Director. In 2020, The Richards Group hit a crisis. Words said by the agency's founder were reported to the media. The agency lost staff. The agency lost clients. David and Christopher stayed.  In this episode, we discuss how the crisis affected the company and its people, how David and Christopher worked through it, and how they are rebuilding their strategy team.  You can find David here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-snell-9371b9a/ You can find Christopher here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christ0ph3r/ ** Find out about our New York City strategy workshop on June 16 here: https://sweathead.com/products/the-sweathead-strategy-workshop/ ** 🔥 Strategy classes: http://www.sweathead.com ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 📸 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead 🔊 Podcast & other links: https://znap.link/sweathead 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.

Strategy bosses say it’s hard to find good talent right now.  Recent pressure on margins and growth has meant that many strategy bosses are torn between their roles in the management team, winning new business, and helping their teams to develop. The pandemic led to a lot of strategy job losses but, as soon as the economy came back on, it also led to high salaries and a battle for ever bigger titles. It also led to an interest in finding more diverse talent but confusion about where to look. In this episode, Dino Demopoulos @chroma, Chief Strategy Officer, GUT and Brinn Phillips @inwithbrinn, Global Strategy and Director of DE&I at Commonwealth/McCann, help us understand what's going on out there.  This episode is from a live panel hosted by @markpollard and @dotjarantilla.  You can find Dino here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dino-demopoulos-91b1073/ You can find Brinn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brinnphillips/  ** Find out about our New York City strategy workshop on June 16 here: https://sweathead.com/products/the-sweathead-strategy-workshop/ ** 🔥 Strategy classes: http://www.sweathead.com ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 📸 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead 🔊 Podcast & other links: https://znap.link/sweathead 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.

It's not every day you get to launch a campaign at the Super Bowl. And it's not every day you get to speak to the people who did it.  This episode of Sweathead is an edited recording of a live panel we hosted for the Sweathead community, organized by Dot Jarantilla. In it, Chandreyi Davis (Global VP of Brand Marketing, Trips Brands at Expedia Group) and Melissa Peace (Senior Manager, Global Brand at Expedia Group) discuss: - Why launch campaigns at the Super Bowl? - Where did the budgets come from? - How are they measuring success? We also get guest questions from Theophilus Wells IV, Al Sakickas, and Mark Jenson. If you'd like to attend live sessions like this, sign up to our newsletter for details: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 You can find Chandreyi Davis here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chandreyi-saha-davis-9a4859/ You can find Melissa Peace here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissaspeace/ ** 🔥 Strategy classes: http://www.sweathead.com ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 📸 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead 🔊 Podcast & other links: https://znap.link/sweathead

Strategy bosses are humans, too. It's true.  In this episode, we run through ten tensions that follow around most strategy bosses from an analysis of over 60 responses to a LinkedIn post. You can read the PDF of this podcast here: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/markpollardstrategist_the-twisted-reality-of-strategy-bosses-activity-6926907852582268928-lGiT ** MASTERCLASS / WORKSHOP ANNOUNCEMENT Join me for my first in-person masterclass and workshop on June 16 in NYC. Bring a brand or project and leave with a creative brief.  Find details here: https://sweathead.com/products/the-sweathead-strategy-workshop/ I'm excited. ** 🔥 Strategy classes: http://www.sweathead.com ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 📸 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead 🔊 Podcast & other links: https://znap.link/sweathead

Strategists Karan Taneja and Syed Shozab Abbas recently shared a bunch of practice strategies online. In this episode, we look at five of them: Selling Playstation 5 to 45+ dads in a midlife crisis Selling Sleepwell mattresses to pregnant women Selling Woodland to stay-at-home dads Selling therapy to bodybuilders Selling Fastrack to grandparents Syed describes himself as a perennial ad geek while Karan is a chef-turned-strategist. They were classmates who decided to put their thinking into public to land their first strategy jobs. You can find Karan here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karan-taneja29/ You can find Syed here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/syedshozab/ ** 🔥 Strategy classes: http://www.sweathead.com ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 📸 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead 🔊 Podcast & other links: https://znap.link/sweathead

If you'd like to read this episode, go to this link: https://www.instagram.com/p/CdbxeOTpGg0/ My first in-person masterclass will happen in NYC on Thursday June 16. DM me for details or get them in your inbox with our newsletter soon. In this episode, we discuss Fearless Honesty and five ways a strategist can focus on sounding clear rather than emulating The Strategist Dictionary and trying to sound expensive. Also, you're a hermit crab.  ** Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 Strategy classes and books: visit http://www.sweathead.com Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead Podcast: https://www.sweathead.com/pages/sweathead-podcast

In this week's episode of Sweathead, we speak with Sahar Mehdi (Digital Strategist, WE Codeword) and Kate Endeley (VP, Multicultural Strategy Director, Edelman). We continue a conversation we started in person in Dallas in which we discussed some of the initiatives and titles agencies use to do, hint at doing, or pretend to do..."inclusion".   You can find Sahar here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sahar-mehdi-98920128/ You can find Kate here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherine-kate-endeley-5023417/ ** 🔥 Strategy classes: http://www.sweathead.com ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 📸 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead 🔊 Podcast & other links: https://znap.link/sweathead

Kavinda Welagedara is Chief Strategy Officer at Fudge, an eight-person agency born during the pandemic. He's based in Colombo, Sri Lanka, a city and a country in the grips of social unrest due to inflation, as well as corruption and nepotism within the government. We discuss all of this in this episode of Sweathead. You can find Kavinda here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/welewelagedara/ You can find Fudge here: https://www.instagram.com/fudgetheagency/ **  🔥 Strategy classes: http://www.sweathead.com ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 📸 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead 🔊 Podcast & other links: https://znap.link/sweathead

Over 100 people joined us for this panel about getting jobs overseas. It features: - Payal Pereira who recently got her first job in New York at Sylvain,  - Rodrigo Maroni, CSO of Wunderman Thompson NY, - Charlotte van der Vorm, a recruiter and founder of VDV Search in the UK. You'll also hear Dot Jarantilla who makes the Sweathead events happen plus members of the Sweathead community. -- 🔥 Strategy classes: http://www.sweathead.com ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 📸 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead 🔊 Podcast & other links: https://znap.link/sweathead

Shoutouts to all the Dallas strategists who came down to Happiest Hour last night. It was great to be among people for many reasons including how the pandemic made that impossible for a long long time. In this walk around the Bishop Arts District, I talk about strategic rigor and try to re-explain a LinkedIn post about the job title “multicultural” strategist. 🔥 Strategy classes: http://www.sweathead.com ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 📸 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead 🔊 Other links: https://znap.link/sweathead

Harriet Kindleysides is Senior Strategist at Nice and Serious in the UK. She also writes a newsletter called 'A Strategist’s Guide to Art' in which she connects her love for fine art to her strategy mind.  In this episode, we discuss what art is, how art can help a strategist, as well as Harriet's pandemic-triggered email-writing practice. You can find Harriet here: Newsletter: https://astrategistsguidetoart.substack.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/minimalstrat LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harriet-kindleysides/ ** 🔥 Strategy classes: http://www.sweathead.com ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 📸 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead 🔊 Podcast & other links: https://znap.link/sweathead

Ben Culpin is a managing partner at Amsterdam agency Lifely. He turned in a 5-year freelance strategy career to join a company he knew well - as a freelancer and also as friends. Prior to this, Ben worked at Strawberry Frog and Nomads, and, somewhere in-between all of this, he has been a video maker and ethnographic researcher. In this episode of Sweathead, we discuss what it's like to make all these shifts - into then out of the freelance life and into then out of a lone wolf life. You can find Ben here: www.benculpin.com ** 🔥 Strategy classes: http://www.sweathead.com ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 📸 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead 🔊 Podcast & other links: https://znap.link/sweathead

Marcelo Ferrarini is a Brazilian in London working for The Lego Group as Senior Manager, Global Insights.  Recently, he published an article on LinkedIn that later made its way to WARC. And, now, you can hear it from his mouth right here. In this episode, Marcelo takes us through what he's learned from the marketing sciences and how what he's learned has changed how he goes about marketing.  You can find Marcelo here: https://twitter.com/immarcelinho ** 🔥 Strategy classes: http://www.sweathead.com ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 🔊 Other links: https://znap.link/sweathead

Taylor Marks is a senior strategist at SixSpeed in Minneapolis. Taylor completed the very first public Sweathead Strategy Accelerator in 2021. I liked her work and wanted to share it with you. (BTW Our next accelerator starts on March 31, 2022) One of the briefs in our accelerator asks you to sell Party City to people who aren't comfortable partying due to the pandemic. In our chat, Taylor takes us through her Four Points and her strategy story for this brief.  We also discuss how the accelerator has helped her and what she's still applying from it in her dayjob. Taylor is looking to hire her first strategy boss at SixSpeed. If you're interested, go here: https://www.sixspeed.com/ You can find Taylor here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taylor-marks-830592187/ Find out about our next strategy accelerator at http://www.sweathead.com ** 🔥 Strategy classes: http://www.sweathead.com ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 🔊 Podcast & other links: https://znap.link/sweathead

Immediately after speaking with Philipp Paster on Friday, March 11, 2022 (the episode before this one), I spoke with three more Ukrainians about their experience of the war they're living through. In this episode, Nata Zaharova joins us from Odessa, Valeria Tymotievych from Dubai, and Andriy Nimkovych from Kyiv.  We discuss this feeling of induced psychosis, how Ukrainian “Creative Forces” are self-organizing on Telegram and giving each other jobs to do (including helping Ukrainian advertising people get jobs overseas), and the group's personal experience of the past few weeks. - Nata is 23 years into a marketing and advertising career: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natazaharova/ - Valeria is a strategic planner at Fedoriv: https://www.linkedin.com/in/valeria-tymotievych-183455107/ - Andriy is a project manager: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nimkovych/ Love to Ukraine. ** 🔥 Strategy classes: http://www.sweathead.com ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 🔊 Other links: https://znap.link/sweathead

Sweathead Facebook group member Philipp Paster lives in Kyiv, Ukraine. Much of his family is there, too. But everyone lives in different apartments.  On Friday, March 11, Philipp (formerly a brand strategist at TBWA Ukraine) spoke with me about what it’s been like to be living in Kyiv during the Russian invasion. I only watched the documentary “Winter On Fire”, which looks at the toppling of one of Ukraine’s leaders Yanukovych, after speaking with Philipp. Watching it before speaking with Philipp would have given me better questions.  Like many of us, I’m only just starting to wrap my head around the history of Kyiv and Ukraine. Still, many thanks to Philipp for sharing his thoughts with us. I’ll post another interview with three Ukrainians later this week.  **  🔥 Strategy classes: http://www.sweathead.com  ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5  📸 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard

Günel Sadigova is eight months into her first strategy role. A pandemic strategy baby (if that's a thing), Günel was once a professional pianist. She then moved into marketing and, now, into a job with Toronto's Performance Art (coincidentally named–you know, because Günel was a performer and artist). In this episode, we discuss what Günel has learned over the past eight months. She discusses coming to terms with making mistakes, how some briefs will feel exciting but not all of them will, and how doubt doesn't disappear–you just need to learn how to manage it better. On Tuesday, March 8, 2022, Günel will be taking over Mark's Twitter account for International Women's Day. So you can find out more about her story @markpollard.  You can also find Günel herself here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gunelsadigova/ https://twitter.com/gunelsadig ** 🔥 Strategy classes: http://www.sweathead.com ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 📸 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead 🔊 Podcast & other links: https://znap.link/sweathead

"Any advice for my first strategy job?" is a big question. In this episode, I try to answer it along with eight other questions, including: - Can you get promoted too soon? - How do you do deep thinking when you have to work fast? - How do you sell strategy as a standalone offer? * Find out about our Strategy Accelerator at http://www.sweathead.com Follow the fun on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead Subscribe to our newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 The book "Strategy Is Your Words" by Mark Pollard is here: http://www.sweathead.com

Strategy is an odd job. It’s doused in ambiguity and riddled with confusion while sounding important at all times. This is why we brought in Pilar McQuirter. Pilar is a Cultural Strategy Director at Los Angeles' Cashmere Agency. In this episode of Sweathead, Pilar will help you explain yourself to people around you, especially the ones who see you all the time but still don’t know what you do or why you’re so…you know, odd. Find her here: http://www.instagram.com/ayy_pilar ** Find out about our Strategy Accelerator at http://www.sweathead.com Follow the fun on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead Subscribe to our newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 The book "Strategy Is Your Words" by Mark Pollard is here: http://www.sweathead.com

So. Many. Trends. But what's really worth our attention?  In this episode of Sweathead, Chike Ume (Essence, Seattle), Hayley Grant (VaynerMedia, New York), and Matt Klein (Reddit, New York) each introduce three trends they think we need to pay attention to. We recorded this in front of a small but live virtual audience on Zoom. We managed to remove most of the Zoom glitches and there is a little lag in which we speak over each other but this chat left me energized. I hope it does the same to you. You can find these minds here:... Chike: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chikeume/ Hayley: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hayleykgrant/ Matt: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kleinkleinklein/ ** Find out about our Strategy Accelerator at http://www.sweathead.com Follow the fun on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead Subscribe to our newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 The book "Strategy Is Your Words" by Mark Pollard is here: http://www.sweathead.com

The strategy career has been kind to me. Frustrating but kind. And I hope it’s kind to you. I often get this question, “Any advice for someone new to strategy?” It’s a grabby question. A little lazy. But I wanted to share some thoughts for all of you who are new to strategy and trying to work out how to thrive. Some of this even makes sense. You can find this post on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CZxTLRRpZ7S/ ** Find out about our Strategy Accelerator at http://www.sweathead.com Follow the fun on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead Subscribe to our newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 The book "Strategy Is Your Words" by Mark Pollard is here: http://www.sweathead.com

Nick Hirst is Executive Strategy Director at adam&eveDDB in London. He's twenty years into his planning career. He's been at adam&eveDDB for eight years and spent some of them as Head of Planning. That's after being a Head of Planning at Dare and working at Lowe and Grey. In this episode of Sweathead, we discuss the messy reality of doing account planning. You can find Nick here: https://twitter.com/nickhirst  ** Find out about our Strategy Accelerator at http://www.sweathead.com Follow the fun on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead Subscribe to our newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5