Sweathead, A Strategy Podcast

To start 2023, we're running a fast series on trends worth paying attention to in The Sweathead Trend Bender Series. Over five episodes this week, you'll get to hear 25 trends that people who get paid to find trends are highlighting for their clients. In this episode, Will Poskett breaks down five trends he's seen across all those trend reports everyone is gouging on. These are called Meta Trends. They include Coping Through Creativity, The Power Of The Past, and Recover In Reconnection. You can find Will and his deck about these trends here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/will-poskett-%F0%9F%94%A5-62942716/ ** Join a live Meta Trend workshop with Reddit's Matt Klein on Feb 3 here: http://bit.ly/3XOjJ7f Next strategy training: Lucky Generals Cofounder Andy Nairn teaches a masterclass (Feb 23) The Sweathead Strategy Accelerator (March) Details: http://www.sweathead.com. ** Sign up to our weekly strategy newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 ** Sweathead is a support group for strategists and account planners around the world. We host conferences, online courses, live events, and podcasts. We also train companies. Find out about our company training here: https://sweathead.com/teams/

A big thank you to the Sweathead team and all the speakers for making The Sweathead Get-Ahead happen on January 20, our five-year anniversary.  We have so much planned for 2023, including a week of trends this week on the podcast (The Sweathead Trend Bender) and a live workshop with Reddit's Matt Klein on 16 meta trends on Feb 3. RSVP to the workshop here: http://bit.ly/3XOjJ7f ** Next strategy training: Lucky Generals Cofounder Andy Nairn teaches a masterclass on planning superpowers (Feb 23) The Sweathead Strategy Accelerator (March) Details: http://www.sweathead.com. ** Sign up to our weekly strategy newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 ** Sweathead is a support group for strategists and account planners around the world. We host conferences, online courses, live events, and podcasts. We also train companies. Find out about our company training here: https://sweathead.com/teams/

Justin Graham runs M&C Saatchi Group in Australasia. He started in management consulting then moved to Leo Burnett Sydney as an account planner. I sat next to him there, or at least in arms' reach. Like, I could annoy him if I wanted to without using my arms if I felt like it. After Leo Burnett, Justin moved to BBDO in New York to run Gillette before returning to the Australian offices of Droga5. He always struck me as a very intentional decision-maker so,now that he's running things, I wanted to find out how intentional he was, how set on becoming an advertising agency CEO he'd been when we worked together, and what he's learned along the way. I think this is the first interview I've recorded face-to-face for Sweathead. Out of 400+.  We recorded this in Sydney at the M&C Saatchi offices. You can find Justin there most days of the week and also here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinalexandergraham/ ** Sweathead celebrates its fifth anniversary on January 20, 2023 with a live event "The Sweathead Get-Ahead". Join us for talks, case studies, and a chance to plan your year. Details at http://www.sweathead.com. ** 🔥 Strategy classes: http://www.sweathead.com ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 📸 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead 🔊 Other links: https://znap.link/sweathead Sweathead is a support group for strategists and account planners around the world. We host conferences, online courses, live events, and podcasts. We also train companies.

It's not every day you get to hear two strategy leaders compare and contrast their agency's Gold IPA Effectiveness Papers. But Senior Planner at Brave Michael Kates suggested it on Twitter and Leo Burnett's London Head of Planning Tom Sussman and Wieden+Kennedy's Group Strategy Director Tass Tsitsopoulos said "yes". So here we are–a rare day. Tom takes us through a 15-year case study of disciplined brand building for McDonald's in the UK. Tass shares the “Famous Orders” campaign with us. It's a refreshing discussion that will help you understand how each agency approaches their work for McDonald's, attitudes towards celebrity, making a global brand work locally, and more. Big thanks to Michael for suggesting the chat. Links below: Tom: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-sussman-59892719/ Tass: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tass-tsitsopoulos-ba44551/ Michael: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-kates-484b4843/ ** Sweathead celebrates its fifth anniversary on January 20, 2023 with a live event "The Sweathead Get-Ahead".  Join us for talks, case studies, and a chance to plan your year.  Details at http://www.sweathead.com.  ** 🔥 Strategy classes: http://www.sweathead.com ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 📸 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead 🔊 Other links: https://znap.link/sweathead Sweathead is a support group for strategists and account planners around the world. We host conferences, online courses, live events, and podcasts. We also train companies.

Friends, Sweathead celebrates its fifth anniversary on January 20, 2023, with a live event called "The Sweathead Get-Ahead". RSVP at http://www.sweathead.com. It's free and open to all and it features... 1. Elizabeth Paul–CSO, The Martin Agency Adage CSO of the Year and Chair of the 4As Strategy Committee 2. Andy Nairn–Founding Partner, Lucky Generals The UK’s Planner Of The Year in 2021 3. Tahaab Rais–CSO MENAT, Publicis Groupe One of the world’s most awarded strategists 4. Ambika Pai–CSO, Mekanism Former Partner at Wolf & Wilhelmine and Adjunct Professor at Parsons 5. Aisha Hakim–ACD, 72andSunny Art director published in Sweeney’s…tasty 6. Rodrigo Maroni–CSO, Wunderman Thompson Winner of the Grand Prix at Cannes and various Best Agency Awards Sign up to our weekly strategy newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 ** In this episode I run through our plans for the year, 7 strategist affirmations you can use to talk back to your brain, and a list of first principles I'd encourage you to keep in mind as you do your work this year. We have big plans for 2023 and hope to see you in strategy class soon. ** Find out about our company training here: https://sweathead.com/teams/

Thom James is Head of Strategy at One Green Bean, part of the Havas network, in the UK. Recently, he was hospitalized due to deteriorating mental health. He Tweeted about his experience in a very frank and vulnerable way. Most people will directly or indirectly deal with a mental health crisis during their lifetimes. But it does seem like the creative industries are home to a lot of people with challenging mental health situations. Yet we rarely hear real talk about it. And this is why I wanted to speak with James.  We discuss depression, hospitalization, social anxiety, ADHD, agoraphobia, and how he went through this with his family–then Twitter–watching on. If you're going through tough times, please reach out to a specialist for help. Pandemics, war, recessions, and broken families are leading to a lot of challenges out there. Seek help if you need it. You can find Thom here: https://twitter.com/ThomJames ** 🔥 Strategy classes: http://www.sweathead.com ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 📸 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead 🔊 Other links: https://znap.link/sweathead Sweathead is a support group for strategists and account planners around the world. We host conferences, online courses, live events, and podcasts. We also train companies.

Santi Pochat is Vice President of Marketing at LinkedIn and he believes that beautiful ideas can come from the worst ideas. And this is what we discuss in this episode. Santi has spent over ten years at Edelman across two stints. He's also worked at Verizon and Google. He's strategic but loves making things and I'm excited about what he's about to unleash for LinkedIn, a company he recently joined. You can find Santi here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/spochat/ ** 🔥 Strategy classes: http://www.sweathead.com ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 📸 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead 🔊 Other links: https://znap.link/sweathead Sweathead is a support group for strategists and account planners around the world. We host conferences, online courses, live events, and podcasts. We also train companies.

In this episode of Sweathead, James Hankins discusses two big topics: marketing concepts he's infatuated with and how he published his way through–then out of–a redundancy.  We discuss concepts such as market share, contribution margin, and incremental revenue. And we discuss how writing can provide a sense of rhythm and mission when life throws lemons at us. James is Global VP Marketing Strategy and Planning at SAGE. He's also Founder of Vizer Consulting and the Co-Chair of the IPA Share of Search ThinkTank. In the past, he's worked at Manning Gottlieb OMD, Vizeum, and MEC. He's worked on two of the most successful smoking cessation campaigns in the world (Quit Kit and Stoptober for the UK's NHS) as well as IKEA's "The Wonderful Everyday". He created the "Hankins Hexagon"–a new model of the path to purchase, and "digital availability"–an addition to the availability canon. He also works with JP Castlin writing about e-commerce, modern retail and corporate strategy implications. You can find James here: https://twitter.com/jcphankins ** 🔥 Strategy classes: http://www.sweathead.com ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 📸 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead 🔊 Other links: https://znap.link/sweathead Sweathead is a support group for strategists and account planners around the world. We host conferences, online courses, live events, and podcasts. We also train companies.

In this episode of Sweathead, I discuss cross-culture kids with Sean Choi. Cross-culture kids are people who grow up between two or more cultures. These "kids" are fast becoming a large population in the USA and, because of this, they are increasingly working in advertising and the audiences of advertising. Sean currently calls The Martin Agency, AdWeek’s back-to-back Agency of the Year, home.  He takes pride in quite literally ‘breaking into’ strategy as a late bloomer but brings along his background in Talent and Culture from Apple and freelance photography.  Aside from fully believing “New York or nowhere,” Sean is a proud Korean-American committed to being a megaphone for the marginalized.  He’s spoken at events hosted by the likes of the 4As, AIA, and 3AF, crafted thought leadership picked up by Adweek, and is the the curator of an industry-wide cultural moments calendar. You can find Sean here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seanrichardchoi/ ** 🔥 Strategy classes: http://www.sweathead.com ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 📸 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead 🔊 Other links: https://znap.link/sweathead Sweathead is a support group for strategists and account planners around the world. We host conferences, online courses, live events, and podcasts. We also train companies.

Tahaab Rais has won over 750 top-tier regional and global awards across Cannes, Effies, One Show, D&AD, Jay Chiats, Andy's, Clios, LIA, New York Festivals, WARC, Loeries, Dubai Lynx, among others, including a record of 340+ Effies. He's the MENAT CSO of Publicis Groupe. That's Middle-East-North-Africa-and-Turkey, a region with hundreds of millions of people in it. Some conversations I feel at home in. And this is one of them. In this interview, we discuss the ingredients that go into an agency being able to do award-winning work. We discuss the obvious stuff (like working with exceptional people) as well as the stuff that's only obvious when you no longer have it (like agency leadership that will fight for your ideas). We also discuss a campaign his team and client have been winning awards for lately: “James Jefferson: A Fraudster, Created by a Bank, to Reduce Financial Fraud” for Emirates NBD. You can find Tahaab here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tahaab/ ** 🔥 Strategy classes: http://www.sweathead.com ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 📸 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead 🔊 Other links: https://znap.link/sweathead Sweathead is a support group for strategists and account planners around the world. We host conferences, online courses, live events, and podcasts. We also train companies.