Think with Google Firestarters

Patricia McDonald has run strategy teams at agencies including Isobar, BBH, Weber Shandwick and is now the Global CSO, Creative, at Dentsu. In this episode Pats talks about how as a strategist, it's not enough to be right, you need to bring people on the journey with you, and how the best strategists have generosity as an inherent operating system. She describes how storytelling is a superpower in creating memorability, especially those stories that have an evolutionary advantage. There are also insights into the risks inherent in the polarisation of the marketing industry, and the importance of psychological safety amongst planning teams. Check out our YouTube video series at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNBdIP33wJ3rZLkH1iR_Xjy0TznS1Ii_3

Trevor Robinson OBE is the Creative Director and founder of Quiet Storm Advertising and Create Not Hate, the not-for-profit which aims to combat systemic racism and get underrepresented young people into the creative industries. In this fascinating episode, Trevor speaks about the importance of laughter and fun in the creative process, how clients can be brave and take creative risks, and how to get buy-in for bold ideas. He also talks about creating work that you're proud of, and why diverse perspectives and people are so needed in the creative and advertising industries. Check out our YouTube video series at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNBdIP33wJ3rZLkH1iR_Xjy0TznS1Ii_3

Tom Roach, VP of Brand Planning at Jellyfish, discusses how brand planning can be the glue that binds different marketing specialisms together and about the need to break down the false dichotomies in marketing between brand and performance. He describes the inevitability of convergence between media and creative, human capability and automation, and how this is heralding a 'third age' of planning. Check out our YouTube video series at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNBdIP33wJ3rZLkH1iR_Xjy0TznS1Ii_3

Amelia Torode spent many years leading strategy at agencies including VCCP, Good Relations Group and TBWA before launching The Fawbrake Collective, an independent strategy consultancy with a unique model based on distributed planning talent. In this fascinating episode Amelia talks about what's wrong with the current agency 'operating system', the need to move 'from large and layered to faster and flatter', how some moments in life refocus you on 'the fierce urgency of now', the challenge of running distributed teams, and why sometimes it can be hard but necessary to move on. Check out our YouTube video series at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNBdIP33wJ3rZLkH1iR_Xjy0TznS1Ii_3

Brand consultant Jim Carroll is the former Chairman of BBH London. In this episode, Jim talks about how good strategists should have a continuous stream of inputs to get to good outputs. Great planners, he says, bring the outside world into the agency, and act as psychotherapists to clients rather than doctors - uncovering insights, listening, and looking for patterns. He discusses the dangers of 'windtunnel marketing', how best practice can help raise the floor but can also risk lowering the ceiling, and why we need 'Cavaliers' in advertising as well as 'Roundheads.' Check out our Youtube video series at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNBdIP33wJ3rZLkH1iR_Xjy0TznS1Ii_3

Before becoming VP Marketing at Bulb Energy Russell Davies led communications and digital strategy at organisations including Nike, Honda, Microsoft, Apple and was the Director of Strategy for the UK Government Digital Service for four years. In this fascinating episode Russell discusses the delicate dance that strategists perform between simplicity and complexity, how the most successful planners are those that can get an organisation to do something, but also how making things easy to do is actually really hard. He talks about the need for teams to have a common understanding of how advertising works, and how it should occupy the uncomfortable place between art and science. Check out our YouTube video series at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNBdIP33wJ3rZLkH1iR_Xjy0TznS1Ii_3

Rachel Mercer is the Co-founder and CXO of innovation consultancy Proto, and previously served as the VP, Head of Strategy in R/GA's flagship New York office. In this enlightening episode, Rachel discusses the intersection of design and strategy and how critical it is for strategists to be expansive. She describes the need to take both a '20 foot view' and '5 foot view', to look at trends in the context of cultural edges, dominant subcultures and the mainstream, how brand strategy can be a lens for everything you do as business but also the importance of working at the speed of culture. Rachel also discusses the challenges and opportunities that the pandemic has opened up in the world of work, how we should all run towards something and the value in putting our own oxygen masks on first. Check out our YouTube video series at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNBdIP33wJ3rZLkH1iR_Xjy0TznS1Ii_3

Sara Tate is an organisational consultant, the former CEO of TBWA London, and author of the new book 'The Rebuilders: Going from Setback to Comeback in Business and Beyond'. This engrossing episode is full of insights into how curiosity takes you further than knowledge, breaking out of self-imposed constraints, and the value of a beginner's mind in generating new possibilities. Sara also discusses the importance of creating a safe space for exploration, experimentation and learned experience in navigating change. Check out our YouTube video series at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNBdIP33wJ3rZLkH1iR_Xjy0TznS1Ii_3  

Katie Dreke has spent her career working both client and agency side, including seven years at Nike, where she was latterly the Senior Director, Global Concept Development at Nike Women, and stints at Droga 5 and Wieden & Kennedy. In this episode, Neil Perkin, moderator of Think with Google Firestarters, talks to Katie about the future of marketing, what agency strategists can bring to client organisations, breaking out of constraints, and how we can design better futures for brands and consumers.   Check out our YouTube video series at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNBdIP33wJ3rZLkH1iR_Xjy0TznS1Ii_3

Trailer for Think with Google Firestarters. Check out our YouTube video series at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNBdIP33wJ3rZLkH1iR_Xjy0TznS1Ii_3