Trevor Robinson OBE is the Creative Director and founder of Quiet Storm Advertising and Create Not Hate, the not-for-profit which aims to combat systemic racism and get underrepresented young people into the creative industries. In this fascinating episode, Trevor speaks about the importance of laughter and fun in the creative process, how clients can be brave and take creative risks, and how to get buy-in for bold ideas. He also talks about creating work that you're proud of, and why diverse perspectives and people are so needed in the creative and advertising industries. Check out our YouTube video series at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNBdIP33wJ3rZLkH1iR_Xjy0TznS1Ii_3

Tom Roach, VP of Brand Planning at Jellyfish, discusses how brand planning can be the glue that binds different marketing specialisms together and about the need to break down the false dichotomies in marketing between brand and performance. He describes the inevitability of convergence between media and creative, human capability and automation, and how this is heralding a 'third age' of planning. Check out our YouTube video series at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNBdIP33wJ3rZLkH1iR_Xjy0TznS1Ii_3

Amelia Torode spent many years leading strategy at agencies including VCCP, Good Relations Group and TBWA before launching The Fawbrake Collective, an independent strategy consultancy with a unique model based on distributed planning talent. In this fascinating episode Amelia talks about what's wrong with the current agency 'operating system', the need to move 'from large and layered to faster and flatter', how some moments in life refocus you on 'the fierce urgency of now', the challenge of running distributed teams, and why sometimes it can be hard but necessary to move on. Check out our YouTube video series at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNBdIP33wJ3rZLkH1iR_Xjy0TznS1Ii_3

Brand consultant Jim Carroll is the former Chairman of BBH London. In this episode, Jim talks about how good strategists should have a continuous stream of inputs to get to good outputs. Great planners, he says, bring the outside world into the agency, and act as psychotherapists to clients rather than doctors - uncovering insights, listening, and looking for patterns. He discusses the dangers of 'windtunnel marketing', how best practice can help raise the floor but can also risk lowering the ceiling, and why we need 'Cavaliers' in advertising as well as 'Roundheads.' Check out our Youtube video series at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNBdIP33wJ3rZLkH1iR_Xjy0TznS1Ii_3

Before becoming VP Marketing at Bulb Energy Russell Davies led communications and digital strategy at organisations including Nike, Honda, Microsoft, Apple and was the Director of Strategy for the UK Government Digital Service for four years. In this fascinating episode Russell discusses the delicate dance that strategists perform between simplicity and complexity, how the most successful planners are those that can get an organisation to do something, but also how making things easy to do is actually really hard. He talks about the need for teams to have a common understanding of how advertising works, and how it should occupy the uncomfortable place between art and science. Check out our YouTube video series at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNBdIP33wJ3rZLkH1iR_Xjy0TznS1Ii_3

Rachel Mercer is the Co-founder and CXO of innovation consultancy Proto, and previously served as the VP, Head of Strategy in R/GA's flagship New York office. In this enlightening episode, Rachel discusses the intersection of design and strategy and how critical it is for strategists to be expansive. She describes the need to take both a '20 foot view' and '5 foot view', to look at trends in the context of cultural edges, dominant subcultures and the mainstream, how brand strategy can be a lens for everything you do as business but also the importance of working at the speed of culture. Rachel also discusses the challenges and opportunities that the pandemic has opened up in the world of work, how we should all run towards something and the value in putting our own oxygen masks on first. Check out our YouTube video series at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNBdIP33wJ3rZLkH1iR_Xjy0TznS1Ii_3