ShanghaiZhan: All Things China Marketing, Advertising, Tech & Platforms Pirates in the Navy: David Mayo on the Role of Creativity in the Future of Advertising
Nov 13, 2025
53:40
The agency model isn’t just unraveling — it’s turning into a navy full of pirates.
As holding companies consolidate century-old brands, AI accelerates production, and CMOs prioritize short-term numbers over long-term brand building, the industry is entering its most radical reinvention yet. The ships are getting bigger… but the real action is happening on the pirate boats circling them.
To unpack what this means for creativity, talent, and the future of agencies, we’re joined by David Mayo — veteran strategist, former WPP leader, founder of ADNA/NADA, and long-time provocateur behind some of the industry’s most iconic brand transformations. David’s mantra, “Think like the Navy, act like the pirates,” becomes a lens for everything we discuss.
This conversation cuts past nostalgia and into what’s actually changing — how consolidation alters creativity, why small senior “pirate crews” may beat giant fleets, where AI elevates (and flattens) taste, and why brave clients still make the bravest work.
This isn’t about mourning the old model — it’s a blueprint for how pirates and navies will coexist in what comes next.
1. Where did this mantra come from, and what does it really mean for how agencies should operate?
2. Has efficiency quietly become the enemy of originality?
3. In consolidation, what are CMOs really buying — governance, speed, convenience, or safety?
4. What gets lost when rosters shrink and risk disappears?
5. Are century-old creative agencies closing because of economics, structure, or culture?
6. Are today’s brands less emotional and more functional — and is that a permanent consumer shift?
7. In markets like China, where consumers hop between thousands of product options, does traditional brand building still matter?
8. How do challenger products (like black toothpaste with gold) disrupt giants such as Colgate — and why do big brands often miss these trends?
9. Will creative differentiation increasingly come from influencers rather than brands themselves?
10. Are small, senior “boutique crews” better positioned than holding companies to deliver breakthrough work?
11. What type of senior leaders are thriving right now — and what skill sets are actually evolving?
12. How will in-house studios, AI tools, and brand-side agency veterans reshape the future creative ecosystem?
13. Are we moving toward generalists powered by AI, or specialists supported by AI?
14. Is the “Uberization” of agencies — on-demand teams assembled per brief — a viable future model?
15. How should marketers think about risk, creativity, and the narrowing “corridors of freedom”?
16. Why do brave marketers still create the best work — and how can today’s CMOs champion creativity amid shrinking timelines and rising pressure?
David Mayo on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-mayo-frgs-3b0232/
Buy David's Book, "Raw: Persuasive Creativity in Asia": https://a.co/d/dRfgbmN
Donate to Shanghaizhan: https://www.patreon.com/8001836/join
For everything ShanghaiZhan: http://zhanstation.com/
ShanghaiZhan Theme Music: by Bryce Whitwam
https://soundcloud.com/bryce-r-whitwam/bad-cough-syrup?si=cfb30a6e0c0e459da78b912bf60825ac
Bryce on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brycewhitwam/
Ali on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alikazmi/
As holding companies consolidate century-old brands, AI accelerates production, and CMOs prioritize short-term numbers over long-term brand building, the industry is entering its most radical reinvention yet. The ships are getting bigger… but the real action is happening on the pirate boats circling them.
To unpack what this means for creativity, talent, and the future of agencies, we’re joined by David Mayo — veteran strategist, former WPP leader, founder of ADNA/NADA, and long-time provocateur behind some of the industry’s most iconic brand transformations. David’s mantra, “Think like the Navy, act like the pirates,” becomes a lens for everything we discuss.
This conversation cuts past nostalgia and into what’s actually changing — how consolidation alters creativity, why small senior “pirate crews” may beat giant fleets, where AI elevates (and flattens) taste, and why brave clients still make the bravest work.
This isn’t about mourning the old model — it’s a blueprint for how pirates and navies will coexist in what comes next.
1. Where did this mantra come from, and what does it really mean for how agencies should operate?
2. Has efficiency quietly become the enemy of originality?
3. In consolidation, what are CMOs really buying — governance, speed, convenience, or safety?
4. What gets lost when rosters shrink and risk disappears?
5. Are century-old creative agencies closing because of economics, structure, or culture?
6. Are today’s brands less emotional and more functional — and is that a permanent consumer shift?
7. In markets like China, where consumers hop between thousands of product options, does traditional brand building still matter?
8. How do challenger products (like black toothpaste with gold) disrupt giants such as Colgate — and why do big brands often miss these trends?
9. Will creative differentiation increasingly come from influencers rather than brands themselves?
10. Are small, senior “boutique crews” better positioned than holding companies to deliver breakthrough work?
11. What type of senior leaders are thriving right now — and what skill sets are actually evolving?
12. How will in-house studios, AI tools, and brand-side agency veterans reshape the future creative ecosystem?
13. Are we moving toward generalists powered by AI, or specialists supported by AI?
14. Is the “Uberization” of agencies — on-demand teams assembled per brief — a viable future model?
15. How should marketers think about risk, creativity, and the narrowing “corridors of freedom”?
16. Why do brave marketers still create the best work — and how can today’s CMOs champion creativity amid shrinking timelines and rising pressure?
David Mayo on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-mayo-frgs-3b0232/
Buy David's Book, "Raw: Persuasive Creativity in Asia": https://a.co/d/dRfgbmN
Donate to Shanghaizhan: https://www.patreon.com/8001836/join
For everything ShanghaiZhan: http://zhanstation.com/
ShanghaiZhan Theme Music: by Bryce Whitwam
https://soundcloud.com/bryce-r-whitwam/bad-cough-syrup?si=cfb30a6e0c0e459da78b912bf60825ac
Bryce on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brycewhitwam/
Ali on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alikazmi/