Call To Action

This week, ​​in a world where most businesses blend together like a briefcase filled with slightly smaller briefcases, we’re seeking out the business leaders who are standing out in their sector, and doing things very much their own way. Mind Your Business is the sponsored spin-off of Call to Action® that gives inspiring, unusual or simply very likeable businesses a chance to share their story. It’s like reading a business book with the word ‘guru’ in the title, with the single but vital exception that it won’t make you do a little sick in your mouth. This is the first episode of a three part series with Startle. A talented tech company curating music for brands looking to deliver customer experiences within spaces spanning retail, hospitality and beyond.  Whether you’re a food operator looking to get customers chewing faster, a retailer wanting to get shoppers shopping longer, or simply a fan of behavioural science and its application across a range of industries, press play to find out why the music sounds better with Startle. For this first episode, we’ve caught Adam Castleton, Startle’s CEO and self-confessed lead singer who can’t sing, to riff on his first job in charge of a rollercoaster, being an anti-tech tech founder, the magic of subtlety in tech, how Startle designs the perfect atmosphere, Startle’s book to help harness heuristics and biases in retail and hospitality, handing out free air guitars, why you shouldn’t play music people like, and loads more.  ///// Check out Startle and Adam on LinkedIn. Here’s Startle’s first-of-its-kind book, Atmospheres That Sell.  And find out what happened when Startle handed out free air guitars at Nudgestock.  Timestamps:  (01:12) - An introduction to Startle and Adam  (02:43) - His first job in charge of a rollercoaster and his passion for the intersection of leisure, humans and tech     (04:38) - An idea in the pub 5 years ago and how Startle came to be (10:44) - Startle in a nutshell   (12:47) - Startle’s behavioural science book for retail and hospitality  (15:26) - Where background music providers have go wrong and the importance of intent (21:50) - Thinking about your customers’ mood (29:10) - Handing out free air guitars at Nudgestock (30:30) - A teaser for Part 2  ///// This episode of Call to Action® is sponsored.  Got a business we could stick our sponsored spinoff shaped nose into next? Email calltoaction@gasp.agency.

This week we travelled home and away to catch Tourism Australia’s Chief Marketing Officer, Susan Coghill.  Using the power of creativity to build brands, drive business, and shape culture, Susan is a proper marketer tasked with tempting tourists to the land of kangaroos and Kylie.  And we were lucky, lucky, lucky enough to talk to her on a ton of topics, including her first job at a retirement home, working with Steve Jobs, understanding context, creativity in service of commercial outcomes, brand codes as a mental shortcut, testing, Come and Say G’Day, silencing critics, creating something distinctly and uniquely Australian, managing 27 million stakeholders, and a whole lot more. If it’s a celebration of proper marketing you want, then pour this into your lug holes.  ///// Follow Susan on LinkedIn  And check out Come and Say G’Day Timestamps (02:08) - Quick fire questions (03:17) - First jobs, what she learnt working in a retirement home, and getting into ad land (08:12) - Being a part of Apple’s Think Different campaign and what Steve Jobs asked her opinion on   (13:00) - Account management, being a creative enabler, and what set her up for success client side  (18:14) - Speaking the language of the boardroom and Ritson’s Mini MBA   (20:49) - A deep dive into Tourism Australia’s Come and Say G’day campaign (25:55) - Using research and brand codes to create something distinctly and uniquely Australian   (32:26) - Testing in Australia and beyond with System 1  (39:52) - Listener questions  (47:41) - 4 pertinent posers  Susan’s book recommendation is:  Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara  /////

This week, we followed the HERDmeister to find and catch behavioural science buff, Mark Earls.  Dubbed by DO Lectures as “Britain’s answer to Malcolm Gladwell…without the hair”, Mark is a prolific thinker, recovering account planner and best-selling writer.  We shoot the breeze on the intimidatingly smart Paul Feldwick, being public enemy no. 1 in the eyes of market research, why we’re not individuals, copying, learning Welsh, what he’s optimistic about in the industry and tons more. In fact, we had to stop and reload a few times to take aim at bollocks brain scans and infantilising the creative genius, before wrangling a stampede of listener questions. What an episode. ///// Find Mark on LinkedIn and Twitter   Check out HERD HQ Get your mitts on all Mark’s books: Copy, Copy, Copy  Herd  Creative Superpowers  Welcome to the Creative Age  Here’s Strands of Genius guest curated by Giles  And ISOLATED Talks  If that wasn’t enough, keep an eye out for chances to catch Mark IRL at upcoming The Marketing Society events  Timestamps (01:48) - Quick fire questions (02:44) - First jobs, being a tour guide and working with Paul Feldwick    (08:38) - Becoming a behavioural science geek (aka becoming HERDmeister) (17:17) - Why we’re wrong to think of ourselves as individuals  (22:00) - Stop overlooking the influence of culture   (36:32) - Copying and the value of creative triage  (48:13) - A shed load of listener questions  (53:50) - Why brain scans are bollocks  (1:07:07) - How being a lover of both language and languages helps him understand people, communication and culture (cc Lisl Macdonald)  (1:31:12) - 4 pertinent posers  Mark’s book recommendations are:  Why the Germans Do it Better by John Kampfner The Invention of Tradition by Eric Hobsbawn  Hooligan by Geoffrey Pearson  Books by Jhumpa Lahiri  From the Diary of a Snail by Günter Grass /////

This week, we rattled the trunk of a large tree to dislodge and catch Matt Herbert and Connor Archbold.  A pair of possum* players turning brand tracking upside down, Matt and Connor are co-founders of Ritson-backed startup, Tracksuit. The duo are dead set on making it easier and cheaper for marketers to track their brand health, demonstrate return on marketing spend, and answer the all important question, "Is what we're doing working?". Go press play and unleash a mega catch of informative marsupials, including; getting brand tracking into boardrooms, knowing your brand’s ‘job to be done’, picking the fruit vs watering the tree, future demand, how CMOs should talk to to CFOs, the cookie-pocalypse, velcro buttons, the future of Tracksuit, playing possum, and more. ///// Follow Matt, Connor, and Tracksuit on LinkedIn.  Check out the Tracksuit website too. *A proper Kiwi drinking game. To play possum, you climb a tree (along with your case of beer) and drink until you fall out of the tree. First person to fall out of the tree loses. Timestamps (01:57) - Quick fire questions and who’s a strong budgie smuggler fan (02:58) - Matt’s first jobs, working in radio and getting into the world of startups  (06:18) - Connor’s beginnings as a corporate lawyer and reconnecting with Matt  (07:47) - The hypothesis that started Tracksuit  (10:15) - Making brand tracking more accessible (16:14) - Knowing your ‘jobs to be done’ as a brand (21:09) - Brand building as future demand  (22:48) - How the CMO should talk to the CFO (24:40) - The future of Tracksuit  (27:44) - Listener questions, velcro buttons and playing possum  (35:58) - 4 pertinent posers  Matt and Connor’s book recommendations are:  Travels with Charley: In Search of America by John Steinbeck  Future Demand by James Hurman  Shoe Dog by Phil Knight /////

This week, we caught something Contagious. Luckily for us, it’s their Co-Founder Paul Kemp-Robertson. A chap with serious smarts for global marketing communications, Paul is the brain behind Contagious. Part editorial, part consultancy, part research, they get their kicks helping brands and agencies be more creative, get smarter, and deliver better work.  Paul spreads his smarts across a tonnes of topics, including; being the intern who became editor at Shots, thinking Saatchi & Saatchi was an investment bank, creativity as giving the world something it didn’t know it was missing, Nordic socks on Instagram, zero based creativity, the manic unlock, question storming, drunken nights at the Gutter Bar, AI and the meh-taverse, agencies as outside agitators, ageism, and a whole lot more.  ///// Follow Paul on LinkedIn  Sign up for the Contagious newsletter  Check out Contagious IQ Here’s his book The Contagious Commandments  Bag a seat at Most Contagious London 2023 on 7 December And here’s  Paul’s TED Talk  Timestamps (02:00) - Quick fire questions (04:25) - Going from intern to editor at Shots   (12:54) - Creativity is giving the world something it didn’t know it was missing  (20:00) - Zero-based creativity  (21:44) - What we learned about AI from Cannes Lions    (33:45) - The real value of agencies  (38:28) - Asking heretical questions  (46:38) - Listener questions  (50:57) - 4 pertinent posers  Paul’s book recommendations are:  Atomic Habits by James Clear  Good Strategy Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt  The Choice Factory by Richard Shotton How Not to Plan by Les Binet and Sarah Carter How Brands Grow by Byron Sharp  Anatomy of Humbug by Paul Feldwick Shy by Max Porter  /////

This week, we pushed a creative fledgling out of the agency nest to lure and catch author of ad land’s how-to guide, Junior, to teach them to fly. Long overdue, it’s Thomas Kemeny.  Junior is a book that should be instantly useful for people starting out. Unlike most marketing books, Thomas packs it with proper, practical advice on navigating hallways, not ballsing up presentations, and the virtue of pushing in your chair after meetings. Thomas chirps to us on tonnes of topics, including his first job taking a crowbar to beautiful furniture, what might've been if he'd never read Hey Whipple, writing the book he wished existed, bus stops that smell like cookies, writing 100 terrible lines to get to a great one, AI, what to do with a dud brief, his arch rival Andrew Boulton, the Tom he’d float with in a barrel down a river, and a whole lot more. Junior or not, you’d be a fool not to let us bend your ear ‘ere. ///// Follow Thomas on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter.  Here’s his website.  Pick up at least one copy of Junior.  Listen to our episodes with Thomas’s pals Luke Sullivan and Cameron Day.  Here’s our episode with his arch-rival Andrew Boulton too.  Timestamps (02:08) - Quick fire questions (03:22) - Getting paid to beat the shit out of beautiful furniture  (07:40) - What might’ve been if he'd never read Hey Whipple (08:57) - Writing the book he wished existed  (12:10) - The highs and lows of life as a Junior (16:41) - Writing 100 terrible lines to get to a good one   (20:17) - Will AI take our jobs?  (25:00) - What to do with a dud brief (28:04) - Listener questions  (29:32) - Which Tom he’d float with in a barrel down a river  (34:40) - 4 pertinent posers  Thomas’s book recommendations are:  The Book of Gossage by Howard Luck Gossage  Hey Whipple, Squeeze This by Luke Sullivan  Chew With Your Mind Open by Cameron Day  /////

This week, we cast a spell of double double toil and trouble and caught the pair from Burst Your Bubble; it’s Andrew Tenzer and Ian Murray.  The duo behind a treasure trove of award-winning research on the culture of marketing, Andrew and Ian have recently launched a radical new consultancy powered by the art and science of perspective-taking.  There’s no eye of newt or toe of frog in this cauldron of conversation topics, but the duo turned up the heat on studying politics, when their paths first crossed, monkeys, bananas, and pandas, provocative research, why Ian is sickened by the idea of the ‘London bubble’, spotting bad research, whether the ad industry is left-leaning (h/t Steve Harrison), banning the word insight, and lots more.  ///// Follow Andrew and Ian on LinkedIn Check out Burst Your Bubble  Here's their workshop on research for open thinkers Read why we shouldn’t trust our gut instinct And listen to our episode with Steve Harrison for good measure Timestamps (02:08) - Quick fire questions  (02:54) - Andrew’s first jobs, failed music career, and how he got into research  (07:54) - What happened when Ian followed what interested him (13:43) - Their first joint research piece on gut instinct  (16:31) - How marketers compare to the rest of the population when it comes to taking notice of context (28:01) - The Myth of the ‘London Bubble’ and why it sickens Ian (33:39) - Their new consultancy Burst Your Bubble (40:31) - Listener questions  (47:12) - 4 pertinent posers  Andrew and Ian’s book recommendations are:  The Road to Somewhere by David Goodhart  The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt Lemon by Orlando Wood Look Out by Orlando Wood Decoded by Phil Barden  Obliquity by John Kay  Feminism for the 99% by Nancy Fraser  The Old is Dying and the New Cannot Be Born by Nancy Fraser Editor’s Note: Steven Lacey, mentioned by Ian in this episode, has been in touch to clarify his stance on the 'London Bubble'. Steven concurs entirely with Ian and Andrew’s viewpoint that the London Bubble is a myth. For his full response, see here.  /////

This week, we opened spoof copywriting dojo Cobra K-AI to sweep the leg of the scammer-scammer, Dave Harland. Copywriter and messabouter with massive fingers. Dave helps businesses and brands speak to people with more personality, via the medium of the alphabet. His favourite part of it all is “getting paid to be silly”. Tune in for an exclusive on his brand-new copywriting agency. Plus we chat about betting on illegal hedgehog duels, a size 5 Mitre Delta casey, what he’s been up to the last 1400 days, going all in on the funny stuff, positioning himself against our diligent robot overlords, confusing scammers, Uncle Tony’s underpants, where the most memorable ideas come from, Professor Henry Gremlin and tons more.  ///// Listen to his first Call To Action foray in 2019.  Follow Dave (and the tales of Uncle T) on LinkedIn and Twitter. Here’s his website.  Sign up to The Word for tips, stories, silliness, and updates on his new agency. He’ll be at  The Marketing Meetup Liverpool and CopyCon.  And once he gets his arse in gear, there’ll be an Uncle Tony book to look out for. Timestamps (02:01) - Quick fire questions  (04:05) - What he’s been up to since his first episode  (05:02) - Lockdown and going all in on the fun stuff  (10:57) - Does funny have a formula?  (18:06) - The Origins of Confuse the Scammers (25:12) - An exclusive look at his new copywriting agency (31:02) - Listener questions (31:58) - Something…something…copywriting and AI (48:46) - 4 pertinent posers  Dave’s book recommendation is:  A Self-Help Guide for Copywriters by Dan Nelken  /////

Following eyewitness reports of stolen genius, we hurtled down the highway to catch ad land’s own Bonnie and Clyde; it’s Rosie and Faris Yakob.  Together they form Genius Steals, a nomadic creative consultancy helping brands, agencies, and rebels find the awesome at the intersection of new communication ideas, new product concepts, and new ways of thinking.  They give us the low down on life on the run road, how Rosie earned $10,000 babysitting, ‘Ask Faris’, US vs UK education system, the lack of industry practitioners as professors, engineering moments of in-betweenness, K-shaped recovery, Blair Enns, charging for what you know (not what you do), entertainment as the cost of admission to someone’s brain, the key to creative effectiveness, and a whole lot more.  ///// Here’s Genius Steals  Follow Rosie on Instagram  And follow Faris on Twitter (yes, he’s still on there) For our chinwag with Blair Enns, hear here  Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen) by Baz Luhrmann  Timestamps (01:44) - Quick fire questions (Ask Jeeves or Ask Faris?) (03:42) - How Rosie made $10,000 babysitting and her first jobs  (10:32) - Faris’s beginnings collecting golf balls, management consultancy and working at lads mags   (18:41) - The education system, subjectivity and outdated teaching methods  (26:52) - Life on the road and why you shouldn’t be a prisoner to your preferences (32:47) - Engineering moments of in-betweenness  (42:08) - Listener questions  (42:24) - Attention, emotion and the importance of context  (52:56) - How we can create more effective work (01:02:00) - Trends for marketers and the emergence of luxury products  (01:04:50) - 4 pertinent posers  Rosie and Faris's book recommendations are:  To Sell is Human by Dan Pink  The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt  XX by Rian Hughes  Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin  Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud  Stone Junction by Jim Dodge  /////

We had to drag Giles away from Chick King to catch Spurs royalty and exceptionally talented business brain Chris Paouros this week.  Broadcasting from the bench to the boardroom, Chris spends her time solving hugely complex, often highly emotive problems that are rooted in everything from corporations to communities.  She talks to us on her first job in a video shop, making covered buttons, what working in retail teaches you, social justice, Eric Cantona and meaningless distinction, building businesses, running a political campaign, being a pain in the arse with compassion, Pride in Football, why belonging at work is so important, and a whole lot more. So go have your ears bent now (in a good way). ///// Follow Chris on Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram  Hear her sing a little song on Guardian Women’s Football Weekly  And check out her website  Timestamps (02:19) - Quick fire questions (03:53) - First job in a video shop and what a grounding in retail can teach you  (12:31) - Doing the original “Mickey Mouse” degree  (17:30) - The lecturer who stayed in her house (20:17) - Eric Cantona and meaningless distinction  (26:53) - Learning how to build a business on the job (33:09) - The Women’s Equality Party and running a political campaign  (38:58) - Equity, inclusion and belonging  (47:59) - Pride in Football and getting a homophobic chant banned (52:31) - Listener questions (h/t Andrew Spurrier-Dawes) (58:44) - 4 pertinent posers  Chris's book recommendations are:  From Margin to Centre by Bell Hooks  How to Lose a Country by Ece Temelkuran   How to Stay Sane in an Age of Division by Elif Shafak The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak /////