So, you've interviewed over 300 strategists from around the world and spoken with thousands more... what aren't we talking about enough? In this episode published on the third anniversary of the Sweathead podcast, I (Mark) run you through a stream-of-consciousness list of fifteen points that I feel are true but not in a science way. They're true in a "we need to pay more attention to this" way. You can find this podcast episode as a post on Instagram http://www.instagram.com/markpollard and on LinkedIn if you'd like to share it with colleagues: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/markpollardstrategist_300-strategist-interviews-activity-6770700692966526976-vj-s Thank you for listening to the podcast and for being part of the Sweathead world. ** Favor: If you have enjoyed the pod, could you drop a kind review or rating? I haven't asked many times before but it's time to step up what I'm doing. Thank you. 

Let's say you have one hundred team members spread across the world. They work on thousands of briefs for massive brands every year. Often, they have to reach great ideas within a matter of days. They're doing well but you believe they can do ever better. Where do you start? Aly Baer is a Director at Twitter Next in New York and John Lee is a lead of the Twitter Next lab in San Francisco. Their team helps marketers and agencies create ideas worth talking about on Twitter.  This is an unusual discussion for me because I'm talking with two people with whom I worked on exactly the challenge above. Having spent time with all kinds of companies, I can say that their challenges weren't uncommon in the happening but they can be uncommon in the way companies tackle them. And, because of this, I wanted to talk about the work we did together knowing we'd tread a fine line between what they can feasibly say as representatives of one of the world's most influential companies and not wanting to be too self-indulgent or sycophantic. We discuss: - How thousands of ideas travel through Twitter Next - Giving feedback about work while it happens - The benefits of frequent reviews of work once the work has happened You can find Aly at http://www.twitter.com/baer_naked and John at http://www.twitter.com/john_lee. ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com  

You have reams of research in your head but you need to whittle everything in your head into an insight fast–what do you do? In this episode of Sweathead, I share a few steps I like to use–especially in workshops–to take an observation and land on an insight. These steps–or "stumbles"–can work in customer interviews too.   You can read this episode on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CK9LVGhhyA2/ ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

Advertising agencies have responded to pleas to open their doors to people from different backgrounds in different ways. Some have resisted the pleas, some have faltered in public, and others have managed to listen and make structural, policy, and cultural change happen.  In this episode of Sweathead, I speak with Tanya Brown who co-chairs the Equals Network and Simi Nijher who co-chairs the Heritage Network. These "networks" are two of the six Diversity and Inclusion networks that sit across M&C Saatchi Group's businesses.  We discuss: - The importance of bottom-up D&I networks - How to know if they're working - Which topics are getting attention right now    You can find Tanya here https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanyabrown1 and Simi here https://www.linkedin.com/in/simi-nijher-57809278  **  Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

What's the point of all the trend reports? What's the point of trends? And how do you use trends anyway? Matt Klein is Director of Strategy at sparks & honey but he's also into cultural theory and cyber psychology. Recently, he rounded up nineteen trends from over thirty trend reports and I gave him nineteen minutes to discuss them while reminiscing about the incredible Japanese obstacle course television show Takeshi's Castle.    We discuss the truth wars, reworking work, mindfulness, soft activism, the tranquil web, and why–like many brand essences–trend names sound like perfume ads from Paris. You can find Matt here http://kleinkleinklein.com/ ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

So, what did account planners make of this year's Super Bowl ads? #PlannerBowl is a hashtag that account planners and strategists use to talk to each other about Super Bowl ads as they watch them. Born in 2013, it has housed snark, wit, strategy analysis, and probably led to a friendship or two. In this episode, Megan Averell and Brian Wakabayashi discuss what they saw planners discussing as well as their own thoughts on this year's Super Bowl ads.  We cover: 1. How few brands ran at the mega cultural shift happening in the USA right now 2. Nostalgia and escapism during dark times 3. The state of fear and exhaustion into which the Super Bowl ads were unleashed 4. The reappearance of the old school celebrity 5. And the question: How do you find the thing everyone can relate to?   You can find Megan here https://theinsightinn.com/ and Brian here https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianwaka/. ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

Problems can fix creative briefs. But how can something broken make something else work?   In this mini lesson, I define the word "problem" as I use it in advertising strategy (or account planning), why you need to be careful when you use the word, and six examples of a problem statement being solve with a strategy statement to help greyhound dogs find new homes.   To listen to two of these strategies happen live, listen to the episode with Cait Dorombozo, which you can find here: https://www.sweathead.com/blogs/podcast/30-minutes-to-a-greyhound-adoption-campaign-strategy-cait-dorombozo-graphic-designer.   If you have ideas for other problems that greyhound adoption agencies might need to address plus ways to solve them, tag me on Instagram @markpollard with your thinking. ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

How would you get people to adopt a greyhound? Cait Dorombozo is a graphic designer in Brisbane, Australia. She keeps house with two greyhounds and is trying to come up with ways to get more people to adopt greyhounds.  People associate greyhounds with racing, intensity, muzzles, and size yet many need caring homes. We come up with two possible campaign strategies in 45 minutes–but edited into 30 minutes for you. You can find Cait here: https://www.instagram.com/caitdorombozo/ ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

What does it mean to do provocative thinking and why is it easier to do it for brands than for ourselves? Hugh Munro is Head of Planning at one of Australia's most prolific agencies The Monkeys, an agency that sells one thing - provocative thinking.  We discuss: - The positioning of The Monkeys   - Building brands for the long-term - Australia Day advertising - Working through the pandemic - Being malleable - Questioning the value of what strategists do   You can find Hugh here https://www.linkedin.com/in/humun/ and The Monkeys here https://themonkeys.com.au/ ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

How do you conduct useful research? Simple question, right? At Current Forward, a research and brand strategy consultancy in Austin, Texas, Ashley Lapin and Kaitlin Moon spend their working lives trying to answer this question.  With COVID-19 throwing everything up in the air and forcing even more research to happen through screens, we decided to discuss practical ways to conduct research in a pandemic but also not in a pandemic. We discuss: - Helping clients work out what research to do - Pricing research - Quantifying qualitative research - Creative testing and is there really a point? - Working out which outputs would be useful  You can find Current Forward here: http://www.currentfwd.com ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

What do you do when where you work is hurting you? This episode was a livestream within the Sweathead Facebook group.  We discuss working at toxic companies. - Is it you? - Is it the company? - What can you do about it? Our guests: 1. Emma Siu is a seasoned scientist who is currently working in the gaming industry in Seattle as an award-winning community manager. https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmasiu 2. Thiago Bersou is a Brand Strategy Consultant in Los Angeles. He has 15 years of brand work under his belt with brands like Nike, Diageo, and Unilever. He also used to have his own agency in '06. https://www.linkedin.com/in/tbersou/ ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

What happens when you draw a card from a strategy card deck and apply it to your life? Jye Smith runs Double Star in Sydney. He recently made a deck of strategy cards called "Strategy Action Deck: Stupid Questions And Bad Ideas". I've known Jye for close on 15 years so I thought it would be interesting to use his cards on him as a sneaky way to get him to talk about mental health challenges, the ups and downs of his career, good and not good decisions he's made, and what he's learned about himself in the process. You can find the cards here: https://youregoodgetbetter.com/shop/strategy-action-deck You can find Jye here: https://twitter.com/jyesmith  ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

What shapes can a strategy career take? This episode was a livestream from the Sweathead Facebook group. In it, we discuss what shapes strategy careers can take.  Our guests: 1. Serena Berra is a strategist based out of Miami. From being a planner to director of marketing to teacher to co-founding her own IOS application, she is now back freelancing as a strategist and enjoying it. https://www.linkedin.com/in/serenaberra/ 2. Monica Duran is a freelance marketing consultant based out of Miami. She is a bilingual and bicultural marketer that specializes in shopper and brand marketing. She's had multiple clients and has experience in working on different brands and industries. https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicaduran/ 3. Matilde Ricon Peres is working at Mondelez in London as part of the category development insights team. She started out as a researcher that worked to analyze different channels to create innovative insights. Now with Mondelez, she is now focused on driving insights on category, shopper, consumer metrics by analysing & translating data on the Chocolate UK market in general and Cadbury brand products in particular. https://www.linkedin.com/in/matildericonperes/ ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

What if you think you're a strategist who happens to write but you're really a writer who happens to do strategy? Claire Strickett is a senior planner at one of the world's best agencies adam&eveDDB. In London. She writes all day every day - research debriefs, workshop agendas, presentations, and creative briefs. But she just co-wrote a book with Bert Blaize. It's about food and wine and it's called "What Wine When: What to drink with the food you love". So we investigate the difference between being a strategist who writes and a writer who does strategy. You can find Claire on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/clairestrickett You can find "What Wine When" here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1529104858/ref=c ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

What are your desires, goals, and cravings? In this episode, Libby Swan takes over as host and brings four of us together to discuss our desires. Grace Steite is Head of Program Management at Square’s Creative Studio and has recently been working from Ireland: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gsteite/ Anjali Ramachandran is the Director of Storythings and Co-Founder of Ada’s List: https://twitter.com/anjali28 Libby Swan runs digital agency PRDXN: https://prdxn.com/ ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

What do the 15,000 people in the Sweathead Facebook Group think about working in advertising and dealing with each other online? 2020 managed to infect the community with rage and frustration so, a few months ago, Stephen Yap helped coordinate a research project for Sweathead.  One hundred people in the group got together and ran discussions about the advertising industry as well as the Sweathead Group. In this episode, Stephen discusses the project and what we found. We thought it would be a 45-minute debrief but it ended up being a ninety-minute therapy session.  Stephen is utterly coherent throughout. I'm less coherent from the midpoint as I try to discuss difficult issues such as aggressive behavior in the group and towards me and people I know online, racism, and sexism. You can find Stephen here https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephen-yap/ ** The Sweathead Annual Report 2020 is here: http://bit.ly/sweathead2020 ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

How do you help a brand stay in someone's mind by going through their ears? Steve Keller is Sonic Strategy Director at Pandora. Pandora has over 60 million active users per month and is worth a few billion dollars. Steve sits in Studio Resonate, a small part of this few-billion-dollar company in Oakland, USA. At Pandora's Studio Resonate, Steve works with brands on how to appear in people's ears - on and beyond Pandora. In this interview, we discuss: - The science of sound - The key concepts of sonic branding - How the money works (who gets paid for what)  You can find Steve here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevekeller1/ You can find Resonate Studios here: https://www.pandoraforbrands.com/studio-resonate ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

Why are networks for women in advertising needed and how do they work? Anita Schillhorn van Veen is Director of Strategy at McKinney LA. Anita is also on the leadership team of Ladies Who Strategize, an online community for women-identifying strategists.  We discuss: - Ladies Who Strategize and creating networks for women within the advertising and strategy world - Writing and being creative in stressful times - Empathy and empathetic leadership You can find Anita here https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitasvv/ You can find Anita's newsletter here https://framestrategy.substack.com/about You can find Ladies Who Strategize here http://www.kimbklyn.com/ladies-who-strategize/ ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

Can companies change? If so, how? Hilton is VP of Marketing at Cognitive. He was born in Zimbabwe but he's worked in the UK, the USA, and Canada. And he was a founding member of the Account Planning Group (APG) in Toronto, Canada.  After a long career in advertising, Hilton wanted to get closer to business problems. This led him to exploring company culture and change management. In this episode, we discuss: - Shifting from account planning to marketing - Change management - Organizational culture as an accelerant of strategy You can find Hilton here https://www.hiltonbarbour.com/ ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

"Should I work in advertising or marketing or something else?" In this episode, we discuss what it's like to shift from advertising to marketing - and back. Challapalli Kalyan Ram is based in Mumbai, India. From project/account manager to strategist to a consumer planning and research manager in Diageo and back to strategy, Kalyan is now running his own shop Wolfzhowl where they specialize in branding, research, and many other services.  https://www.linkedin.com/in/challapallikalyan Dmitry Grobov is based in Moscow, Russia. He started out as a strategic planner and moved his way up to strategic planning director and is now the head of marketing in Xiaomi Russia. He uses a creative yet data-driven approach that helps him craft marketing campaigns and guide teams to success. https://www.linkedin.com/in/dgrobov/ ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

How do you get clients to shake shit up when the world already seems shook up enough? Chuck Welch is CSO of Rupture Studio, a company he runs with his MBA-awarded wife Nandi. It's a mom-and-pop business that helps the couple do the work they want to do while also helping them spend time with each other and their children. Chucks' early years were spent at companies like Def Jam, Naked, and McCann. Now he and Nandi help brands shake themselves up in a time when by-standing is not in fashion. We discuss: - Working in the music industry and at Def Jam - Shifting into advertising - Running a consultancy with his wife Nandi - Getting brands to act more urgently through times of strife You can find Chuck and Nandi's company Rupture Studio here: https://www.rupturestudio.co/ ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

What does the journey from doing strategy for other people's brands to making your own product look like? Brooklyn's George Crichlow made $250,000 selling bamboo hats in high school. This bought him a ticket to the elite Georgetown college and it made George the first person of his family to go to college - most of his family had not stayed in school beyond the fifth grade. After college, George ran an agency gamut that took him from telling the world about brands to help companies create brands to making his own product and telling the world about it. He was AKQA's tenth employee in New York and made pitstops at Wolf Ollins and Red Scout along the way.  Now, he does freelance strategy but puts most of his time into Kynsho, an outerwear brand that he created. And it's into this brand that he puts his love for problem solving, making, and entrepreneurialism. In this interview, we discuss: - Running a business in high school - The attributes of an entrepreneur - Making your own product   You can find Kynsho here http://www.kynsho.com  You can find George here http://www.georgecrichlow.com/ ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

Do creative lives happen in straight lines? Carolyn Hadlock is Executive Creative Director at Indianapolis's Young & Laramore. She does creative work but, as part of doing that creative work, Carolyn also does ethnography. She likes to go deep into people's lives to try to understand what's going on inside their minds. It's an unusual combination–a creative director who does ethnography–and it's led her to set up her own publication Eunoia where she's recently started documenting other people whose minds are also unusual combinations. In this interview, we discuss: - The creative and agency scene in Indianapolis - Young & Laramore and the work they do - Carolyn's circuitous path into advertising (after seven years of undergraduate study), and - Carloyn's investigation of minds she finds beautiful through Eunoia, a blog started four years ago You can read her interviews with beautiful thinkers and listen to them chat at Eunoia: https://medium.com/eunoia-by-carolyn-hadlock  ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

What do strategists do and where do they fit in a large digital agency? Based in New York, Grant Owens is Global Chief Strategy Officer of Critical Mass. He's had the role for over five years and that's after an eleven-year stint at Razorfish.  In this episode, we discuss: - Organizing strategy activities in a large agency - How to effectively use "open office hours" You can find Grant here: https://twitter.com/grantowens ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

What do different roles such as user experience designer, strategist, and managing director have in common - and what's the real work involved with doing these roles well? Jess Mireau is a strategy and agency leader. She started as an animator then she moved into user experience then strategy then strategy team leader then managing director. The last role she did in Hong Kong on behalf of her Brooklyn agency. In this interview, we discuss: - What these roles have in common - How to pay attention to what you're really interested in - The shift from user experience into strategy - Managing a new office in a foreign country - Mental health challenges  You can find Jess here https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessmireau/  ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

How do you get people with power to talk? Vince and Max host the podcast Son Of A Pitch from Sydney, Australia. Vince works as a strategist in advertising; Max used to. They've interviewed many agency leaders and we found ourselves discussing the power of naivety and dealing with power dynamics in interviews.  We also discuss: - Whether advertising is a compelling career - Making podcasts - Australian banter You can find the Son of a Pitch podcast here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/son-of-a-pitch-podcast/id1483296304 Vince is here: https://www.vinceusher.com/ Max is here: https://www.maxlearmont.com/  ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

If you wanted to tell the truth to a group of students eyeing advertising careers, what would you tell them? Vanessa Toro is Group Strategy Director at Digitas North America. She's based in Atlanta. She loves both her chosen city and her agency And, often, she loves her industry but she knows it can do better, especially for the new batch of students trying to get into it. In this interview, we discuss: - How advertising students want to change the advertising industry - Bringing who are to your day job - Her love of Atlanta You can find Vanessa here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanessatoro/ ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

Strategists can take many shapes but what do those shapes look like outside of a full-time agency? This episode is from a livestream in the Sweathead Facebook group. It features Ian Crocombe, Jackie Crynes, and Carlos Hermida.  We discuss: - Things that make people leave agency life - What people hope to find after agency life - How "qualified" is "qualified enough" - Perceptions hirers have of agency people Ian Crocombe is based in London. From strategist to VP Innovation to CSO to finding his own shop to teaching and then working at Facebook, Ian is now on his newest venture of helping in-house teams build the next generation of performance brands. Find him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iancrocombe/ Jackie Crynes is currently based in Arizona. She started out in strategy then moved client-side and is now back in a strategy role where she blends the worlds of digital, product and brand strategy to design meaningful experiences and drive business results. Find her here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackiecrynes/ Carlos Hermida is based in Colombia where he is now focused on advising entrepreneurs and startups. He has experience in marketing, strategy, branding and communications. Find him at his twitter account: http://www.twitter.com/walkthefox ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

What happens when a creative career leads to a self-destructive life? Philip Slade went from Mac Operator at famed music magazine Smash Hits to art director at Saatchi & Saatchi then to creative director and planning director roles and, eventually, to managing partner of Crispin Porter + Bogusky London. But along the way he had to reckon with his relationship with drugs and alcohol and himself.  We discuss career mid-points, working in the London agency world in the 1980s, being adopted, and the difficult realities of decades spent making up stories. You can find Philip here: http://www.homeslade.com ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

What's it like to freelance? This episode is from a livestream in the Sweathead Facebook group. It features Tasha Prados, Lexie Perez, and Greg Donnelly. We discuss: - The mindset shift from being an employee to a freelancer - Working with agencies - Working with entrepreneurs - How jobs appear Tasha Prados is a multicultural strategist who's worked out of Washington, D.C. but was in Hanoi, Vietnam, during our chat. She has ten years of international project management, communications, and marketing experience with the world’s leading brands, publishers, and nonprofits https://www.linkedin.com/in/tashaprados/ Lexie Perez is a brand strategist in San Francisco and her credentials span across B2B and consumer tech, CPG, retail, and entertainment, fin tech - at both global and regional levels http://www.lexieperez.com/ Greg Donnelly is a brand strategist in New York with experience in product marketing and creative strategy at global brands including Altria, Airbnb, and Google https://www.linkedin.com/in/greg-donnelly/ ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

How do you graduate from "doing social" to doing strategy? Blake is a digital strategist from New York who entered advertising after a brief flirtation with neuroscience.   In this episode, we discuss the  evolution made by many people who start out as social media workers. They go from trading on their youth and knowing the platforms because they use them to making recommendations not just because they get the platform but because they get people and business.    You can find Blake here https://www.instagram.com/not.blake.lively/ ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

How does the Strategic Planner of the Year think? Andy Nairn co-founded Lucky Generals in London seven years ago. The agency has grown to ninety people in London and now has twenty people in New York. Their work is consistently exceptional. Andy's contribution to it was acknowledged by Campaign when it named him Strategic Planner of the Year 2020. We discuss growing an agency from scratch, establishing a culture of effectiveness, seeking clients who are in search of dramatic change, and some of Andy's favorite work. You can find Andy here: http://www.twitter.com/andynairn ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

What does it feel like to take a stance about a difficult topic and to let it rip in public? Jenny Chang is a comet roaring through space–a comet that likes the wind in its face. That's how her prolific publishing feels. Only four years out of college, Jenny has dropped stances on the Cardi B and Mega Thee Stallion song "WAP", TikTok, and the stolen history of New York. She writes with a fire that might make you wonder, "Is advertising big enough for her?"   You can find Jenny and her writing here: http://www.jayemsey.com ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

What if account planners get paid for their confusion and clarity is fleeting but just a bonus?   Richard Huntington is Chief Strategy Officer and Chairman of Saatchi & Saatchi London. He's also a writer of many classic account planning articles that you can find on his blog Adliterate http://www.adliterate.com/  In this episode, we discuss the confusion and vagueness of the strategy career, the act of clarity, performing in front of people, being weird, and the intermittent value account planners provide.   You can find Richard on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/adliterate ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

How do you know you're ready to freelance and how do you make it work?  In this episode, we speak with Colleen Berg, Lani Dourado, and Willem van der Horst about what it means to freelance, the ups and downs, getting clients, and pricing.   Colleen Berg is based in Toronto and the Director of Strategic Insights in the Palmerston Group. She specializes as a human insight consultant and has over a decade of experience in the field. https://www.linkedin.com/in/colleenberg/  Lani Dourado is a freelance brand strategist. She has worked with Virtue Worldwide, Supermachine and Alaffia. https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilanadourado/  Willem van der Horst is a brand strategy consultant based in Paris. He's worked with clients such as SC Johnson, P&G, and Toyota. http://www.icecreamforeveryone.net Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

It’s been a minute but here’s a ramble from an Upper West Side bedroom about discovering yourself. PS My book just came out - http://www.sweathead.com

What if you know you have something to offer to the advertising industry but the advertising industry isn't set up for you?  Jennifer Ekeleme runs JennZen Co-Creation Studio. She is a brand and creative consultant as well as a diversity, equity, and inclusion facilitator.  In this episode, we discuss burn out in an early New York advertising career, depression, being a highly sensitive person, and jumping out of the industry so you can work out how to jump back in. You can find Jenn here https://www.instagram.com/_jennzen_/ ** Caveat: In this episode, we discuss depression. We try to make the point that everybody's experience with depression is personal and it is a complex condition with many strands. Please consult a professional if you're experiencing mental health challenges.    ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

Megan and I had this chat in the middle of 2019. I'm republishing it along with other episodes that tackle difficult topics because 2020 seems to have woken up a lot of us. But there's still work to do.    Megan Averell runs The Insight Inn, a research and strategy consultancy. You can find her here https://theinsightinn.com "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes are now live at http://www.sweathead.com

Zac Martin is a senior planner at Ogilvy in Melbourne. We discuss getting. interviewed and being in the spotlight when you’re not used to it and how Australian culture is suspicious of it.  You can find Zac here: http://www.twitter.com/zacmartin  "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes are now live at http://www.sweathead.com

Over the summer, I'm going to republish a few episodes from over a year ago. This one features Zoe Scaman. It's direct, honest, and vulnerable, and delves into the challenges many creative minds face as they try to fit into themselves and then the advertising industry. You can find Zoe here: https://twitter.com/zoescaman Sweathead strategy classes are now in session: http://courses.sweathead.co

Stef Hamerlinck runs the podcast Let's Talk Branding in which Stef publicly documents his own journey to learning about brand strategy in a deeper way while coming from a design background. In this chat, we discuss Belgium and the soft skills that help brand strategy happen.  You can find Stef here http://stefhamerlinck.be/ and Let's Talk Branding here: https://www.letstalkbranding.be/ Sweathead strategy class is in session: http://courses.sweathead.co

Recently in Marketing Week, Colin Lewis wrote, "Careers won’t pick up where they left off." Colin believes the recruitment process is broken, age discrimination will continue to rise, employers talk soft skills but buy hard skills, and job stability is a myth. Colin is CMO of OpenJaw in Dublin and organizer of Ireland's largest marketing event DMX. You can find Colin here: https://twitter.com/colinalewis You can read a new piece "Seven tried and tested strategies for getting back into work" by Colin here: https://www.marketingweek.com/seven-tried-tested-strategies-getting-back-work/ * This episode was recorded as a livestream in Sweathead on Facebook on May 8, 2020.  Sweathead strategy class is in session: http://courses.sweathead.co

Melle and I recorded this interview almost a year ago to the day. Having briefly worked with Melle, I can say that she is a powerful force, deeply compassionate, and excellent at what she does.  We hadn't had many direct conversations about what it was like to be a Black strategist in America while we were working together. I'm republishing this because I'm hoping it can give more of you insight into what it's been like for the few who've been able to get the title and then stuck around despite not seeing many people ahead of them like them and despite the treatment. You can find Melle here: http://linkedin.com/in/mellehock You can find Art Noir here: https://www.artnoir.co/

Jon Haber is Co-founder of Giant Spoon, a well respected, fully integrated agency based in Los Angeles. We discuss how Giant Spoon goes about its award-winning work and how to stay active during quarantine. This interview was recorded in April 2020. You can find Jon here https://twitter.com/jonhaber Sweathead strategy class is in session: http://courses.sweathead.co

Lizi Hamer is Regional Creative Director at Octagon in Singapore, where she also runs SheSays. She's appeared on the television show Gruen Transfer, she's been listed in the Top 20 Women in Asia to watch, and she's met Jurgen Klopp, the coach of Liverpool Football Club.  Lizi and I worked together at McCann in Sydney ten years ago. And, since that time, a lot has changed in the advertising industry but ... not enough. So, in this episode, we discuss what it's like to try to find a place in advertising while trying to open doors for others.  You can find Lizi here https://www.instagram.com/lizihamer/ Sweathead strategy class is in session: http://courses.sweathead.co

Will Humphrey is Strategy Director at Wunderman Thompson in London. He grew up in an advertising family and he’s worked in a variety of agencies with various focuses - from advertising to PR. In this episode, we discuss how many strategists mature over time. You can find Will here https://twitter.com/Will_Humphrey Strategy class is in session: http://courses.sweathead.co

Rachel Mercer is Head of Strategy at R/GA New York. About one month into New York getting closed down (April 2020), we spoke about what it was like to try to help an agency and its clients deal with COVID-19. And all this after Rachel and her husband had to get off one plane and return to America on another plane before all the borders closed. You can find Rachel here https://twitter.com/rachelmercer when she's not playing Words With Friends with me or letting me make fun of her workaholism. * This interview was live-streamed to the Sweathead Facebook Group on April 25, 2020 - about 6 weeks into New York being locked down. Sweathead strategy class is in session: http://courses.sweathead.co

Sheldon Tarpey is a strategist at McCann in Birmingham in England. In this episode, we discuss how Sheldon made his way into a strategy role from inside McCann. And we discuss the importance of problems as well as the scene in Birmingham. You can find Sheldon here https://twitter.com/SheldonLT Strategy class is in session: http://courses.sweathead.co