The New Abnormal

Series ThreeThis episode of #TheNewAbnormal podcast features Laura de Moliere, Partner and Co-founder at the Germany-based consultancy, Decision-Context. She's also the ex-Head of Behavioural Science  at the UK Govt's Cabinet Office, before which she's was in senior roles at other Government Departments. In this podcast, she gives a fascinating overview of decision sciences, social psychology and behavioural economics. Therefore, we discuss everything from Nudge Theory to being 'Predictably Irrational' and specifics such as confirmation bias, social proof, loss aversion, disinformation, and System 1 & 2 thinking. In particular, she explains her current obsession with ChatGPT from the perspective of applying AI to personalise, evaluate and predict optimal interventions regarding behavioural change.  Finally, we even talk about the dreaded 'B' word. Yes, as in Brexit...

Series ThreeThis episode of 'The New Abnormal' features  Florencia Lujani, a Strategy Director based in London who specialises in brand & creative strategy. She started her career a decade ago at TBWA Buenos Aires, where she learnt about 'Disruption Planning' before moving to the UK. She's since worked at JWT London, We Are Social, and Ketchum PR, before joining Media Bounty, one of the leading ethical creative agencies in the country. Florencia works with brands and the climate sector developing strategies that help shift the world to a sustainable economy. (She recently completed a Master’s Degree in Cultural Studies from Birkbeck, University of London, where she studied the intersection of culture, the economy, advertising, the climate crisis and consumer culture). Florencia also publishes her Substack newsletter 'Cultural Patterns' where she writes about cultural phenomena, new forms of creativity, the climate crisis, emerging consumer behaviour and their impact on brand strategy. She's written for WARC, The Drum, Contagious, The Guardian, Marketing Week and her thinking has been published in the UK, Spain, Germany, the US, and Latin America. In this episode, we discuss a range of issues relating to her specialist knowledge, and in particular, some of her latest thinking regarding "if you don't have a climate plan, you don't have a business plan".  

Series ThreeIn this episode of #TheNewAbnormal I interview the incredibly dynamic Stephanie Benedetto.  A corporate attorney turned climate fintech entrepreneur, Stephanie is the Co-Founder of Queen of Raw, no-code enterprise software to intelligently resell and recycle unused inventory on Raw Chain, measure, report, and turn pollution into profit. Prior to starting Queen of Raw, Stephanie worked as a lawyer in the fashion, media/entertainment, start-up, and technology industries and co-founded a sustainable textile manufacturing facility. An advocate for women in business and sustainability, her companies have been featured in NPR, Good Morning America, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, and Entrepreneur. Stephanie is a 2020 Inc. Female Founders 100, an MIT Circular Economy Solver, an LVMH Innovation Award Finalist, and an Accenture and World Economic Forum Circulars 2022. She's also a Member of Pledge 1% and Founding Member of New York Circular City Initiative and Wildlife Friendly Enterprise Network. So...as you can probably imagine,  this episode is a great example of someone who went out there to build a business and change the world for the better... 

Series ThreeIn this episode of #TheNewAbnormal, I interview Giana Eckhardt, Professor of Marketing and Vice Dean at King’s Business School, King’s College London. A leading expert in the field of consumer behaviour, consumer culture, consumer ethics, branding and the sharing economy, she publishing regularly in journals such as Harvard Business Review. She is co-author of The Myth of the Ethical Consumer (Cambridge University Press) and co-editor of Handbook of the Sharing Economy.  Her research has won awards and been featured in outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, The Atlantic, Fortune, Vogue, Scientific American, The BBC, and on National Public Radio. Giana has presented her work at top institutions and conferences around the world, inc the United Nations CSR Global Forum, Brand Week, Future of Brands, and the Global Women’s Forum. So, we discuss the above, and her forthcoming book 'In Praise of Inconvenience'. 

Series ThreeThis episode of #TheNewAbnormal podcast features DuBose Cole, Co-Founder & Managing Partner at We Are Rival - a consultancy that helps businesses change (not just challenge) markets by being smarter about how they build brands, products and go to market strategies. He's a strategist that's worked across various disciplines, from media to creative to consulting, with a background in technology and psychology. In this interview, we discuss the latest #RivalSpark brand purpose research from the consultancy, which is currently causing something of a social media storm just prior to the Cannes Lions, where they'll be presenting the findings of their US/UK research. Without giving too much away, let's just say it appears that marketers shop more purposefully...

Series ThreeThis episode of 'The New Abnormal' podcast features Maurice NDiaye, Founder and CEO at Descartes & Mauss, the first Stratech and a new breed of AI-powered consulting firm.Maurice has devoted his career to using artificial intelligence to solve the most complex business challenges: with a dual professional background as an Ecole Polytechnique Engineer and a Columbia University business graduate, he's convinced that technology can, and should, enable companies to be both more efficient and more virtuous. After starting his career at McKinsey, Maurice spent about a decade designing AI-based capabilities and services to help companies grow faster. The company he founded and runs today, Descartes & Mauss, is the result of these years of research and consulting. So, we discuss how he basically measures the immeasurable i.e. making tangible what has not yet happened in order to build instability-proof action plans. Modelling the future is his obsession, especially in a world that has become more unstable than ever, and I really enjoyed listening to his illumination of this fascinating subject.BTW - please note that a tech issue means the sound quality is poor on this episode. Apologies! 

Rob Hopkins, cofounder of Transition Town Totnes and Transition Network, discusses the power of imagination in addressing climate change and the decline of play vs screen time. He also talks about the challenges faced by Extinction Rebellion during the pandemic, the design system of permaculture, and the benefits of slow travel. This dynamic and insightful interview explores various topics including positive change, citizen assemblies, speculative fiction, and The Fall.

Series ThreeIn this episode of The New Abnormal,  I interview Stefan Rollnick, Head of The Misinformation Cell at Lynn, a consultancy who believe that when you inject behavioural science into communications, you can build campaigns that do what’s important: create the behaviours needed to positively change the world.  With a background in politics and campaigns, Stefan has provided strategic consultancy to the World Economic Forum, World Health Organisation, UK and Welsh Government, national health agencies, and more. In our interview, we discuss a world where choices are everywhere, cognitive overload is at maximum, the stakes of our decisions are higher than ever, and it’s harder to trust what we see and hear. Hence, audiences need the communications industry to do better. That's why the Misinformation Cell provides a unique service dedicated to helping clients with the growing threat of online hate and misinformation so they can cut through the noise, build resilience within their online communities and together, achieve positive societal change...

Series TwoThis episode of #TheNewAbnormal features Gustav Martner, Head of Creative (Nordics) at Greenpeace.  Having worked with numerous leading agencies (inc being Exec Creative Director , EVP (Europe) and MD (Sweden) at CP+B ), he's also been a member of numerous award juries, including The ONE Show, Art Directors Club, Cannes Lions, D&AD, and NY Festivals.  Gustav has also been the Chairman of the Swedish Association of Communication Agencies and a featured speaker at conferences such as Eurobest, Web 2.0 Berlin, Hong Kong Kam Fan Awards and the TechCrunch50 in San Francisco. In addition, he's been an advisor for the Swedish government in regulatory issues related to digital media ,and co-founded 'Refugee Phones'. However, today, Gustav is Head of Creative at Greenpeace (Nordic) and you'll no doubt have seen / heard / read about his activity at the #CannesLions2022, which we discuss in this episode along with his perspectives on a wide range of issues impacting campaigning and activism, and his viewpoints on the future...

Series ThreeIn this episode of #TheNewAbnormal I interview Alex Quicho,  Head of Cultural Intelligence at Canvas8. Her research into identity, ethics, and technology has been published widely, including in Wired, Bookforum, and a monograph for Zero Books. She is an associate lecturer in speculative futures at Central Saint Martins and holds a master’s degree in cultural criticism from the Royal College of Art. In this episode we discuss how Canvas8 'find better ways to understand the world' and Alex illuminates their recent reports into Chaotic Communities re: how to create meaningful connections and why fragmentation is at a tipping point, etc. We also discuss the right roadmap for business in 'inflationary times' along with issues such as social insulation, squad goals, next-door communities, partisanship, Tropical Futurism (which reimagines a different relationship to the earth) and why futurism has failed. Therefore, why it's time for an alternative...