Inspiring Futures - Lessons from the Worlds of Marketing and Advertising

It has been 15 years since David Charles and I worked together at BSSP. David has since gone on to jobs at AKQA, 72 and Sunny, and opening the Los Angeles outpost for KesselsKramer. He started off in Brazil writing comic books before making his way into advertising with the dreams of becoming a filmmaker. At AKQA and KesselsKramer he got the chance to direct spots and hone his skills. This all was put to good use when he came across an amazing opportunity while working with the team at Airbnb. Post the Trump election the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus announced it would be protesting by touring the South by Bus. After winning over the chorus and Airbnb David went on to make the documentary Gay Chorus Deep South which has picked up a ton of accolades on the festival circuit including the audience award at Tribeca. The film was recently purchased by MTV. In the episode, we talk about David's journey from advertising to filmmaking and the process involved in making his first documentary. We also talk about how the film served to explain the essence of the Airbnb brand and the power of long-form filmmaking to tell brand stories. 

Michael Arterberry is the Executive Director of the Youth Voices Center. His work involves working with high schoolers to get them to think beyond race and skin color and to understand their fellow schoolmates as people. In a wide-ranging conversation, we talk about his life experiences, the work he does and his observations on the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement following the death of George Floyd.

Justin Small is the founder and mastermind behind FSC- Future Strategy Club. Justin is determined to reinvent the agency model by creating teams for clients made up of the best talent possible, FSC is not a no thrills remote network- it has an HQ, host parties, trains its members, and is even in the process of setting up a ventures arm.Justin wants agencies to be great again and FSC is his attempt to make that happen. https://futurestrategyclub.com/

Jay Chaney is a strategist and part of a crack team of Canadian advertising professionals who have gone and done something completely insane by launching an ad agency in the middle of the Covid 19 crisis. Chaney has teamed up with Beverley Hammond, Todd Mackie, Carlos Moreno, and Denise Rosetto to create Broken Heart Love AffairChaney is no stranger to challenges has been part of successful turnarounds at both DDB and Cossette. In the interview, we talked about Jay's interesting career that included time as a Canadian broadcaster, the inspiration for the new agency, the name, and what they are hoping to achieve. Plus, of course, the challenges and perhaps some of the advantages of launching during Covid. 

George Olver is the co-founder of Movidiam.Movidiam is all about changing how films get made. It is basically a global network of skilled practitioners in the world of film production. The network allows production to be more efficient at a time when clients are short on both time and money. It also ensures a level of quality because the experience of individuals is fully transparent. Think of it as a global production house at your fingertips which allows for both payment and project management.In the episode, I talk to George about the evolution of the company and where it headed.  

Jen Patterson is now a mom and a life-coach after spending over 20 years as a strategist. She started her career at Wieden and spent time at Deutsch in LA and at Wunderman in Seattle. In the episode, we talk about her career trajectory - growing up at Wieden and then moving to Deutsch. About agency cultures and her thoughts on the magic part of the culture that make Wieden, Wieden, and how different things were at Deutsch. We discussed her time in Miami with The Community and the challenges involved in getting clients to understand the importance of the Hispanic market. We also talk about her passion which is listening and learning from others. Nowadays Jen has channeled her passion into life-coaching and motherhood. We talk about these two roles and some of the challenges. We discuss the way in which agency life and corporate life in general squeeze the self out of people and how the best advice she gives people is about getting centered around who they are and what they want is.Her life-coaching practice is about paying close attention to you and developing a program which is, in simple terms. a gym for the mind. 

Niclas is one of the most experienced strategic planners in Sweden. He began his career at Acne and had stints at the likes of TBWA, Naked and Grey, and in consulting. He now finds himself back at Acne- which is now owned by Deloitte UK. In this episode, we talk about his career, the history, the evolution of Sweden's ad agency landscape, and talk a little about COVID-19.What emerges from the conversation is a perspective on an agency landscape driven by creative entrepreneurs, where the integration of multiple disciplines is expected and demanded by clients and the working style is very open, collaborative, and transparent. 

In March, creatives at R/GA Chloe Saintilan, Zach Roif, and Matt Woodward sold in an initiative to their agency leadership which was designed to help small businesses impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. The The initiative called Merch Aid, which went live in early April, helps local businesses by selling specifically designed merchandise created by designers. The initiative started in New York but is expected to roll out to other cities in the coming months.In the podcast, I talk to the team about the genesis of the idea, how it works, the challenges of making it happen, and what they have learned along the way. 

13 years ago, Adrian Ho left his strategy job at Fallon to create a new offering for clients in the form of Zeus Jones. In this episode, I talk to Adrian about the evolution of the Zeus Jones business and what he has learned along the way. We also take a moment to discuss the Covid-19 situation, which given this was recorded a few weeks back, might be a little dated.

Shaun is the global chief creative officer of Iris Worldwide. He has been at the agency since 2008 and took on his latest role in 2016. Shaun has worked with a number of interesting brands over the years including the likes of  Adidas, Guinness, Samsung, Domino's, Pizza Hut, Mini and Jeep.In the episode, we cover his unique background which includes writing for theater and how his non-conventional career trajectory has served him well over the years. The bulk of the conversation centers on Shaun's expansive view of creativity. He believes that creativity needs to be in service of solving a client's business problems and that solutions shouldn't be confined or limited by media choices.