Inspiring Futures - Lessons from the Worlds of Marketing and Advertising

The episode features an interview with Tracey Follows who is a professional futurist. Since the future is what the podcast is supposed to cover, it was fantastic to have Tracey on the show. Tracey started her career in advertising and then moved client-side before taking on senior strategy roles at VCCP and JWT. Most recently she has been working as a futurist and running her own consultancy. Tracey has just authored a new book that explores the future of the individual in the technological age. The book explores the themes of identity, the relationship between man and machine. It's basically a guide to help people understand how to protect their autonomy when the world around them is transforming. From her perspective, we need to be armed with the knowledge to understand the personal and societal implications of bio-hacking, mind-clones, and even more contemporary, health passports.

Aaron Duffy is a director and the co-founder of the agency Special Guest. In the podcast, we talk about his journey from art school into the world of commercials and film direction.  Getting his first break with BBH London who let him loose on an Audi ad that happened to win a Lion in Cannes. He is also one of the creative forces by the iconic Parisian Love spot for Google as well as the highly awarded Chrome Project work. 

Alex Benett-Grant founded Amsterdam shop "We are Pi" when he was 28 and now 10 years later the agency is firmly part of the establishment of indy creative shops- especially after winning the Ad Age International Small Agency of the Year in 2019.Mark Lester is the agency's head of strategy- having joined the shop from R/GA-NY - also in 2019.Our conversation covered many topics from agency culture, working in Amsterdam, the changing ad agency landscape, managing through COVID, and more. 

Bree Groff is a partner at SYPartners and an expert in change.We first talked on this podcast in August 2019 where Bree talked extensively about her background in the world of change management and what it takes to get people to do the difficult thing and change. Fast forward to February 2021 and it seemed like an opportune moment to reconnect with Bree to understand what she was both seeing and doing. This seemed to make sense given that many business analysts are talking about the pandemic moment as a period that has seen change accelerate; with developments that used to take years, now happening in a matter of months. Given that Bree is on the frontline of helping organizations change- we talk about what she's seeing, hearing, and learning. What she thinks are some of the fundamentals of how our working lives have changed and are going to change and her hope for the upcoming "Roaring Twenties"

Alexander Rae and I had the opportunity to interview Carolyn who is the executive creative director at Young & Laramore in Indianapolis.We talked about Indianapolis, the new rules and definitions of creativity, why she loves strategy, and more.Sadly, she never told us she was also a podcaster. I guess we aren't getting invited onto any of her shows. 

Craig Mawdsley and Bridget Angear are two of the biggest names globally in the world of Account Planning.They have not only won every significant strategy award going- including multiple IPA Effectiveness Awards, but their day job was to co-managing the Planning Department at AMV-BBDO in London.Interestingly, I learned that Craig majored in business and Bridget in economics- which is an interesting combo for a planning team at a creative shop, but clearly a nice advantage being able to speak the same language as their clients. Just over a week ago, they left their full-time positions at AMV to start the Craig&Bridget Consultancy.Our conversation was a little all over the place, but it the randomness allowed us to cover a wide range of topics including- the changing demands on strategy, the core skills that strategists need, the challenges brands face, data, and storytelling through to the future of business and life Post-Covid.

Chuck and Nandi Welch run Rupture Studio a consultancy that helps brands and corporations navigate the complex world the exists across the worlds of business, marketing, culture, and lifestyle. They bring over 30 years of combined experience to the table- Nandi in brand management and Chuck from his work with media and creative agencies ranging from Mediavest and Naked to McCann and Wieden & Kennedy. In our conversation, we talked about their experience, the benefits of running their own consulting company, the work they are doing, and some of the challenges involved in getting companies to get to grips with and understand the real world- be that outside or inside of their building.With events of the past year pushing the diversity agenda to the forefront of the business agenda- Chuck and Nandi shared their thoughts on the smartest ways for companies to make meaningful progress on this critical issue. 

Rishad is one of the smartest minds in the ad business. He moved from Bombay to Chicago to do an MBA in Marketing and Finance at the University of Chicago, got hired at Leo Burnett and stayed for his entire career. That's not entirely correct- he worked his way across and up to the very top of the Publicis Group becoming Chief Strategist and Member of the Directoire. He spent his career thinking about the future especially in media and digital- he had roles at Starcom and help created a number of companies and was Chairman of Digitas LBI and Razorfish.He has a unique set of experiences that make him well-equipped to take observe some of the key macro trends and developments. In 2020, Rishad wrote his first book "Restoring the Soul of Business: Staying Human in the Age of Data" which was critically acclaimed with Strategy and Business naming it one of its top business books of 2020....he makes as thoroughly documented a case as I have come across for why the businesses that thrive are those whose leaders know that what made them great is their human resources. Tobaccowala singles out mighty customer- and user-focused corporations — Walmart, Starbucks, Domino’s, Google — that have “successfully reoriented their thinking on how to fuse technology and humanity,” while he warns of “data-blinded companies” that stumble when they do not correct such matters as “stifled employees [who are] not encouraged to contribute ideas or insights” and “poor customer service due to automated, robotic processes that cause frustration and hurt the brand.”....In my conversation with Rishad, we talked about the book, what he has learned from his experiences, his background, and his thoughts on the business implications of the pandemic. 

This was a pod recorded almost a year ago- right before COVID hit and somehow this recording got lost in the mix.Brent Vartan left his high-powered strategy job at Deutsch to join a former colleague Mike Duda and created Bullish.Bullish is a hybrid company that brings together a PE/VC company and a creative agency- the remit is as an early stage/angel. The vision is to "own what they make" to get equity and ownership in the company's they work for.  They only invest in consumer categories- there are apparently 256 of them!!The very first company they invested in was Birchbox in 2010....because they believed they need a brand and then they got introduced to Harry's, etc.Bullish was also they were the first money in Casper and Peleton. Their work is all about brand and providing thinking about how to build a brand, but also how to create a deep customer experience. A big challenge is understanding what the opportunities and limits are of a newly minted brand. Brett also talks about the differences between the ad industry and VCs and The Bay Area and NY and explains how hard it is to make this happen for an agency; you need brand strategists and MBAs and there also needs to be a willingness to risk your own money. This podcast was recorded at Betaworks and was recorded by Alexander Rae, who also co-hosted. 

Jason Harris is the CEO and Co-Founder of Mekanism. In our conversation, we discussed the evolution of the agency in the past 15-years from a digital shop, to a viral agency, a production house, and now a full-service shop with 4 offices and 200 employees. Jason is a firm believer in the importance of relationships and understands that at its essence, advertising is a people business. It's the reason Mekanism establishes offices close to its major clients. It's also the motivation behind a new book he has out called "The Soulful Art of Persuasion" which is something akin to a C21st version of How to Win Friends and Influence People. He acknowledges the big shift that has happened with leadership having to flip to understand concepts like empathy and purpose. What he espouses for human beings he also recognizes matters for brands. Mekanism is also an agency with a strong internal culture guided by a fundamental set of beliefs and values. From the onset, this was an agency that celebrated together with trips to Mexico and Hawaii, the most recent outing in 2019 was a camping trip in California. We also talked about the key-contributors to long-term success which he defined as being his fellow partners, a long-term legal council/business advisor, and his many connections in the ad industry who he has sought advice when needed. Finally, like everyone, Jason is looking forward to Summer 2021 when the Mekanista (Mekanism employees) will return to their offices and the agency can reassert its culture and the development of ideas can be more organic and free-flowing and less of a process run by the demands of Zoom.