Sweathead, A Strategy Podcast

Side projects don't have to be side hustles - but what's the point of them? Jesse Nicely is a Group Strategy Director at Cashmere in Los Angeles.  After studying psychology and journalism at NYU and editing the subculture magazine Frank 151, Jesse has found a place in the advertising world but he keeps one hand in a side project called Puffington's Golf. Puffington's Golf is a brand for golfers who also play with cannabis.   We discuss: - The benefits of side projects - The struggles of side projects   You can find Jesse here https://www.linkedin.com/in/jesse-nicely-84094b33/ And you can find Puffington's Golf here https://www.puffingtonsgolf.com/ ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

Why is it so uncomfortable for marketers and agencies to delve into dark emotions? Lindsey Wehking is an Associate Director of Strategy at Nonfiction Research. She recently led research into the way people use music playlists on Spotify to identify and process dark emotions. Nonfiction published this research under the title "America's Secret Playlist Report".   We discuss how the team approached this research and what they found. Hint: dark places aren't bad places.   What I took out of this chat is this: 1. "Negative" emotions are useful and need dealing with; they need labels and names if we're to address them . 2. Vivid language disappears somewhere between what we say and what people tell us and what strategists put in their formal documents. 3. When you're conducting a research project, it helps to have breathing room between an initial qualitative phase and the quantitative phase so you can work out what you're really looking to put numbers to. 4. "The Story That Wasn't Told"–this is what Lindsey focuses on in her research. Do enough strategists ask themselves for the untold story before they write creative briefs? 5. People want to go into dark places with others because our public lives focus the light on heroic acts by heroic people as if those heroic acts are eternal and infinite. You can find Lindsey here: https://www.instagram.com/sup_creep/ You can find Nonfiction Research here:  https://nonfiction.co/ ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

Black, indigenous, and racialized minorities are barely visible in the advertising industries in North America, which is where we are going to situate this conversation. We’ll situate it here because Derek Walker (USA) and Gavin Barrett (Canada) are on a mission to help more people become visible to and in the industry and North America is where they’re plying their trade. Gavin Barrett is Chief Creative Officer at Barrett and Welsh in what Canada claims to be the “most multicultural city in the world”, Toronto. He’s also Co-Founder of People of Colour in Advertising and Marketing (POCAM). Gavin is here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gavinbarrettbw/ Derek Walker is CEO of advertising agency brown and browner. A prolific writer and truth-speaker, Derek has been writing daily profiles about Black American advertising talent for several Black History Months. Derek is here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/derek-walker-8741578/ ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

Ever been hired to a strategy or account planning job only to arrive in the company and they don't know what it is, they aren't sure they want it, and they make you justify your existence every day? Ilana Bryant was one of two American planners in London in the 1990s. Read that again. It's not the premise of your next Netflix binge-watch but it could be. Ilana finished her postgraduate studies in the UK. She studied law at Oxford. Then she stayed on as an account planner. Not only were there few women in the agencies in which she worked, there were few Americans in the London advertising industry at all, let alone... well, hardly any American women in planning in London at the time. Ilana has worked with some prolific creative leaders. She's worked at BBH, Lowe Lintas, and HHCL. She was the CSO of Strawberry Frog for 5 years in New York.   So we discuss the differences between planning in the UK and the USA and how a planner can prove their value in a country–I mean, "agency"–that isn't sure what they are. You can find Ilana in her company Special Forces here: https://specialforcesny.com/projects  P.S. Some of my questions don't quite make sense in the second half of this. It happens. I was excited. ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

Dear advertising agencies, mental wellness is not an initiative you can use to wish away cultures and processes that are not mentally healthy. What makes an agency culture mentally healthy? 1. A sense of meaning 2. Autonomy 3. Psychological safety 4. Reasonable hours 5. Work getting made 6. Small, focused teams 7. Gentle hierarchy Mental health in an agency starts with doing meaningful work in a 
self-directed way. And this episode is a rapid reminder about what actually matters to strategists and their mental health. You can read this episode on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CMpRV8TBVM4/ ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

If you hunger to solve toothy problems, where can you even do that work right now? Many agencies talk a good game when it comes to solving problems only to put the brains fiending to do such work on social media calendars and hashtags and into inter-agency meetings gone wild. MJ Alexander-Scott is Group Director at Fjord, which is part of Accenture Interactive. He leads the strategy and insights practice there. In his work, MJ finds himself drawn to problems without a playbook, a siren that has led him from the agency world into the management consulting world.    We discuss: - Why so many people in advertising are wondering, "What else is out there?" - The kinds of problems management consultancies deal with - The different kinds of companies that strategists and account planners who are frustrated might do well to explore You can find MJ Alexander-Scott here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeljon/ ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

How does it feel to leave a 5-year-career but then to flare out of the new agency that you join in a matter of months? And what if the flaring out really helps you work out what you want in life? Brinn Phillips is a strategist in Detroit. After a long run in one agency in which she grew in responsibility and in titles, had a mentor she enjoyed, and started to mentor other strategists, she left. She lasted a matter of months in the agency to which she moved, an agency that she hoped would open her to more client variety and a broader range of strategy. This journey will happen to many strategists.  For Brinn, stepping out of a new role, taking a short break, and examining what she wants has led to many doors opening, many new conversations, and a stronger sense of what she wants to pursue. You can find Brinn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brinnp/ ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

You're about to interview your first potential hire, how on earth do you feel right now? In this chat with Nicole Rajesky, we discuss the journey from not hiring to hiring. Nicole is a Senior Brand Planner at Rethink in Toronto, Canada. They do good work. Very good work. Nicole is 18 months into hiring and was kind enough to talk about the guilt she feels when interviewing people, feeling like a fraud, and wanting to be desirable while still making an assertive decision. You can find Nicole here https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolerajesky/ and Rethink here https://rethinkcanada.com/ ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

If you're a freelancer exchanging time for money, and chasing invoices while trying to explain to people what value you can really bring, how could setting up a company help you? Brandon Williams runs 55 Media Group in Los Angeles. We were going to talk about what it's like to freelance–to go in and out of companies that aren't always functional–but we ended up discussing Brandon's journey from artist to advertising freelancer to business-haver to, now, business-runner. Brandon has such a broad background and works in so many different ways that, as we spoke, I kept trying to put my finger on exactly how he is trying to fit into the world. This is because I speak with a lot of freelancers and consultants who are trying to work it out. And I thank Brandon for letting me basically interview him to understand what exactly he is trying to do. And it's big. His goal is to hire the most people of color in North America while making afro-futurism happen now. You can find Brandon's 55 Media Group here: http://www.55mediagroup.com/ ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

Ever worked in a company that fusses with process and organizational charts but never makes good work? Yeah. The question houses the truth, doesn't it? Genevieve Grandsen, Selma Ahmed, and Will Grundy work at one of the world's best agencies (although, now I've interviewed six people from adam&eveDDB, it sounds like "the world's best agency" is the "key message" but this is very un-British so I'll be British on their behalf and say "one of..."). Having spoken with CCO Rick Brim and CSO Martin Beverley, I wanted to find out if their relatively low-fi way of working is real. It seems like it is. And this will disappoint many agencies that are new to creative teams and account planners and spend their days in offsite meetings reviewing all their management things. Apparently, hiring people who know how to do what they need to do, expecting good things from them, and letting them talk is a pretty adequate process. And that's what we discuss. You can find Gen and Selma here http://genandselma.com/ and Will, because he's a planner and isn't on somebody else's website, here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/will-grundy-5835a536/ ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com