Sweathead, A Strategy Podcast

How does one of the world's best agencies–adam&eveDDB-work? The teams of Chief Creative Officer Rick Brim and Chief Strategy Officer Martin Beverley are responsible for some of the UK's most famous advertising. Their John Lewis Christmas campaigns are what all other Christmas campaigns are compared to. So how does the magic happen?   In this interview, we discuss: - How the account planners work with the creative teams at adam&eveDDB - Why simplicity matters, and - What it feels like to be only as good as your next idea   You can find adam&eveDDB here: https://adamandeveddb.com/ ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

Why are you so caught up in being accurate instead of compelling? And that 100-slide deck–can anybody even use it? Rachel Bateast is VP, Strategic Planning, at The Mars Agency in Detroit, Michigan. To the advertising industry on the coasts, the mid-west advertising scene can feel way more conservative so what does it even mean to call B.S. on work in Michigan? In this episode, we discuss and role-play (you're welcome) specific situations to show people how to question themselves to tighter thinking–from research to creative briefs and presentations. You can find Rachel here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-bateast-8968478/ ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

So, you've interviewed over 300 strategists from around the world and spoken with thousands more... what aren't we talking about enough? In this episode published on the third anniversary of the Sweathead podcast, I (Mark) run you through a stream-of-consciousness list of fifteen points that I feel are true but not in a science way. They're true in a "we need to pay more attention to this" way. You can find this podcast episode as a post on Instagram http://www.instagram.com/markpollard and on LinkedIn if you'd like to share it with colleagues: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/markpollardstrategist_300-strategist-interviews-activity-6770700692966526976-vj-s Thank you for listening to the podcast and for being part of the Sweathead world. ** Favor: If you have enjoyed the pod, could you drop a kind review or rating? I haven't asked many times before but it's time to step up what I'm doing. Thank you. 

Let's say you have one hundred team members spread across the world. They work on thousands of briefs for massive brands every year. Often, they have to reach great ideas within a matter of days. They're doing well but you believe they can do ever better. Where do you start? Aly Baer is a Director at Twitter Next in New York and John Lee is a lead of the Twitter Next lab in San Francisco. Their team helps marketers and agencies create ideas worth talking about on Twitter.  This is an unusual discussion for me because I'm talking with two people with whom I worked on exactly the challenge above. Having spent time with all kinds of companies, I can say that their challenges weren't uncommon in the happening but they can be uncommon in the way companies tackle them. And, because of this, I wanted to talk about the work we did together knowing we'd tread a fine line between what they can feasibly say as representatives of one of the world's most influential companies and not wanting to be too self-indulgent or sycophantic. We discuss: - How thousands of ideas travel through Twitter Next - Giving feedback about work while it happens - The benefits of frequent reviews of work once the work has happened You can find Aly at http://www.twitter.com/baer_naked and John at http://www.twitter.com/john_lee. ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com  

You have reams of research in your head but you need to whittle everything in your head into an insight fast–what do you do? In this episode of Sweathead, I share a few steps I like to use–especially in workshops–to take an observation and land on an insight. These steps–or "stumbles"–can work in customer interviews too.   You can read this episode on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CK9LVGhhyA2/ ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

Advertising agencies have responded to pleas to open their doors to people from different backgrounds in different ways. Some have resisted the pleas, some have faltered in public, and others have managed to listen and make structural, policy, and cultural change happen.  In this episode of Sweathead, I speak with Tanya Brown who co-chairs the Equals Network and Simi Nijher who co-chairs the Heritage Network. These "networks" are two of the six Diversity and Inclusion networks that sit across M&C Saatchi Group's businesses.  We discuss: - The importance of bottom-up D&I networks - How to know if they're working - Which topics are getting attention right now    You can find Tanya here https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanyabrown1 and Simi here https://www.linkedin.com/in/simi-nijher-57809278  **  Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

What's the point of all the trend reports? What's the point of trends? And how do you use trends anyway? Matt Klein is Director of Strategy at sparks & honey but he's also into cultural theory and cyber psychology. Recently, he rounded up nineteen trends from over thirty trend reports and I gave him nineteen minutes to discuss them while reminiscing about the incredible Japanese obstacle course television show Takeshi's Castle.    We discuss the truth wars, reworking work, mindfulness, soft activism, the tranquil web, and why–like many brand essences–trend names sound like perfume ads from Paris. You can find Matt here http://kleinkleinklein.com/ ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

So, what did account planners make of this year's Super Bowl ads? #PlannerBowl is a hashtag that account planners and strategists use to talk to each other about Super Bowl ads as they watch them. Born in 2013, it has housed snark, wit, strategy analysis, and probably led to a friendship or two. In this episode, Megan Averell and Brian Wakabayashi discuss what they saw planners discussing as well as their own thoughts on this year's Super Bowl ads.  We cover: 1. How few brands ran at the mega cultural shift happening in the USA right now 2. Nostalgia and escapism during dark times 3. The state of fear and exhaustion into which the Super Bowl ads were unleashed 4. The reappearance of the old school celebrity 5. And the question: How do you find the thing everyone can relate to?   You can find Megan here https://theinsightinn.com/ and Brian here https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianwaka/. ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

Problems can fix creative briefs. But how can something broken make something else work?   In this mini lesson, I define the word "problem" as I use it in advertising strategy (or account planning), why you need to be careful when you use the word, and six examples of a problem statement being solve with a strategy statement to help greyhound dogs find new homes.   To listen to two of these strategies happen live, listen to the episode with Cait Dorombozo, which you can find here: https://www.sweathead.com/blogs/podcast/30-minutes-to-a-greyhound-adoption-campaign-strategy-cait-dorombozo-graphic-designer.   If you have ideas for other problems that greyhound adoption agencies might need to address plus ways to solve them, tag me on Instagram @markpollard with your thinking. ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com

How would you get people to adopt a greyhound? Cait Dorombozo is a graphic designer in Brisbane, Australia. She keeps house with two greyhounds and is trying to come up with ways to get more people to adopt greyhounds.  People associate greyhounds with racing, intensity, muzzles, and size yet many need caring homes. We come up with two possible campaign strategies in 45 minutes–but edited into 30 minutes for you. You can find Cait here: https://www.instagram.com/caitdorombozo/ ** Find the book "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes at Sweathead here: http://www.sweathead.com