Inspiring Futures - Lessons from the Worlds of Marketing and Advertising

The latest Inspiring Futures podcast on better briefs and creative development featured a different format - instead of a typical one-on-one conversation, I gathered together an expert panel to examine and explore the issue.Matt Davies and Pieter-Paul von Weiler - From Better Briefs. Former creative agency strategists with two decades of experience working on thousands of briefs. They've published studies on brief writing and idea assessment, and now work with BetterBriefs, helping major brands create more effective briefs.Jeremy Diamond - Worked at major London agencies before moving to New York in 2000 to join Ogilvy & Mather. In 2004, he founded Distillery, a brand strategy consultancy, and has worked on a myriad of clients, including Diageo, Campbell's, Cox Communications, IHG, Holiday Inn, American Express, and AON.Tom Noble - A highly experienced global marketer and advertising strategist with extensive experience as a senior marketer and agency exec. Tom's experience includes Nike, adidas, BMW, MINI, AFL, Jeep, Alfa Romeo, and Fiat.Why this particular group? Matt and Pieter-Paul don't just theorize about brief problems - their research for the World Advertising Federation exposes the serious disconnect between clients and agencies, and they're in the trenches helping brands fix it. Tom and Jeremy have felt this pain firsthand across agency, client, and consulting roles. The combination gives us both the data on what's wrong and the real-world knowledge on how things could be better.

Mary Lou Bunn is the CEO and founder of the agency Flower Shop. This is how the agency describes itself on its website. "Ad Age’s Small Agency 2024 Newcomer of the Year. That’s right, we’re a creative agency. We may be based out of a former florist’s on the Lower East Side of New York City, but we sell sneakers (or spirits, or non-alcoholic beer, or women’s sports teams, or energy drinks for athletes, or trading cards) rather than bouquets. We like to look at things from a fresh angle, with a twist. So we may not bring you flowers - sorry - but we can promise beautiful campaigns that are undeniably famous and will grow your brand."In our conversation, we discussed her background in hospitality and architecture, and how it influenced her perspective on the agency. Her agency experience, the story behind the origins of Flower Shop, its philosophy, and the opportunity for a nimble small agency at this moment in time.  

From digital media planner to Chief Strategy Officer - and now she's on a mission to democratize strategy for everyone.This is a podcast interview I did with Lucy Barbor, a strategy consultant and educator who's flipping the script on how we think about strategic thinking.After rising through the ranks to become CSO at PHD UK and Global Strategy Partner at Dentsu, Lucy made a bold move: she decided to take strategy out of the boardroom and into the hands of anyone hungry to learn.Her philosophy? Strategy shouldn't be this mysterious, gatekept discipline that only a select few can master.In our conversation, we dive into:How she approaches teaching strategy to make it truly accessibleThe biggest misconceptions people have about strategic thinkingWhat she learned climbing the ladder in competitive agency environmentsHer framework for breaking down complex strategic problemsIf you've ever felt intimidated by strategy or wondered how the best strategists think, this one's for you.

David Aaker is widely regarded as the father of modern branding. Over a five-decade career, he transformed brand from a communications tool into a strategic asset. His groundbreaking concept of brand equity, introduced in Managing Brand Equity (1991), reframed how businesses understand value — not just through products, but through perception, loyalty, and meaning. He followed with Building Strong Brands (1996), which introduced the Brand Identity System, and later with Brand Leadership (2000), co-authored with Erich Joachimsthaler, which cemented the idea of brand as a driver of business strategy.Beyond his role as a professor at Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, Aaker has shaped practice as well as theory. As Vice Chairman of Prophet, he’s advised global brands on identity, portfolio strategy, and brand relevance. His frameworks — from signature stories to brand architecture — have become foundational tools for strategists around the world. In 2015, he was inducted into the American Marketing Association Hall of Fame for his lifetime contributions to marketing thought.Among those deeply shaped by Aaker’s work is Scott Galloway, who studied under Aaker at Berkeley in the 1990s and later co-founded Prophet. Galloway has said, “There would be no me without David Aaker,” a testament to Aaker’s profound influence on the next generation of brand thinkers. What Aaker pioneered — brand as belief system, as organizing principle, as strategic lens — remains more relevant than ever in a time when differentiation is fleeting and cultural resonance is everything.

Rachel has spent over a decade at Work&Co. In the episode, we discuss the company's unique origin story and how it has evolved alongside the transformative changes in the world of technology. We talk about..1. The importance of carving out space for creative risk, which clients demand because they find it challenging to accomplish in their environment. 2. How constraints increase the odds of innovation. 3. Why is simplicity hard? Because it requires a combination of iteration and bravery.4. Experience matters- be a user, feel and find the frictions- go to the edge and experience those use cases because innovation comes from trial and immersion. 5. AI is transformative, but now is the time to get deep into the sandbox and play. 

Christine Olivas began her career by hand-delivering 50 resumes to San Francisco startups, which resulted in one startup hiring her. Her entry into agency work came when an owner heard a webinar she produced and was impressed enough to bring her aboard. At this agency, she excelled by running two departments and contributing to significant growth. After years of success there, she transitioned to a strategy role at a New York agency before going freelance. When client demand exceeded her capacity, she built a team, evolving into her current thriving business (No Single Individual) that provides agencies with talent across multiple disciplines. Christine's journey illustrates the power of hard work, risk-taking, entrepreneurship, and market understanding. Our hour together revealed not only her remarkable path but also her insights on how agencies have the opportunity to be more flexible and adaptable with talent in today's challenging environment.A shift that's creating new opportunities thanks to the breadth and depth of freelance talent. 

Tara is the Chief Creative Officer at Rethink NY.She has extensive creative experience from agencies including Y&R, BBH, Mother, and Droga (x2).In our conversation, we discussed her experience at Miami Ad School, where she was forced to think seriously about funny- to an approach and perspective on being sensitive enough to find funny in the world around you.We discussed her experiences and challenges at the different agencies she's worked at.How Rethink throws has a unique West-Coast culture that's designed to make working in a New York agency less like a hot house.How clients still want great workBut this all depends on the relationship and how Rethink has a unique way of making this work from the get-go. 

The latest Inspiring Futures podcast features an interview with Pip Bingemann- the co-founder of Springboards.aiAs strategy departments grapple with how to use AI, this podcast seems timely.Pip is an agency strategist who embraced AI from the early days, learned basic code, and built a model that attracted the attention of several agencies. Fast-forward two and a half years, and Springboards.ai has funding, sales,  and customer service teams in multiple countries, as well as a bench of tech talent that includes a 17-year-old math genius. Pip is doing something different with AI- recognizing that strategists need partners to help them bring their ideas to life, Springboards.ai is designed to be fun and creative. Its focus is on delivering variance vs. the typical AI model, where output is about conforming to an average.

The latest Inspiring Futures podcast features an interview with Michael Miller and Chris Nobile- two of the three founders of consulting group Consiglieri.Before the founding of the consultancy, Michael and Chris worked together and helped build T-Mobile's in-house capabilities. In our conversation, we talk about what they learned from the T-Mobile experience and how it informed the development of their consultancy. We discussed the pieces that matter, like the power of asking why certain things are happening, building operational competence, and doing things that help turn legacy marketing organizations into modern ones. In a complex and complicated marketing world, Consiglieri exists to help CMOs build and operationalize their marketing function, allowing the CMO to manage the day-to-day. 

The latest Inspiring Futures podcast features an interview with Ali Burton. Ali is Head of Incubator at Gate One in London, which is a Havas-owned start-up incubator. He's also in the process of growing his own start-up Catch. https://catchcameras.co.uk/The idea of Catch is to lean into the movement for people to appreciate the analog, enjoy waiting, learn new skills, and build IRL communities. In our conversation, we talked about what he's learned from working with start-up founders, how he's thinking about and growing his business, and what it was that drove him to develop the company.