Sweathead, A Strategy Podcast

Payal Pereira is studying strategy at VCU Brand Center. We met in Bombay, India, last year but I came across her portfolio again in a spreadsheet compiled by Aisha Hakim. In this spreadsheet are over 300 people hoping someone with industry experience with review their portfolios. Payal's portfolio and the way she expresses her strategic thinking stood out to me. So, we decided to talk through her portfolio in public. You can find Payal here: https://www.instagram.com/payalpereira/ Her Swatch case study is here: http://www.payalruthpereira.com/swatch Aisha Hakim's spreadsheet is here: https://bit.ly/reviewmyportfolio Sweathead strategy classes are in session: http://courses.sweathead.co

Noah Brier is Co-Founder of Variance, a relatively new company looking to help people work better together. His last venture was Percolate, a content marketing platform many of you will be familiar with. But these companies came after years in agencies such as Naked and Barbarian Group. In this episode, we discuss the shift from "coming up with things" to "coming up with systems for other people's things".  You can find Noah here: https://twitter.com/heyitsnoah You can find Variance here: https://www.variance.com/ Sweathead strategy classes are in session: http://courses.sweathead.co

Rob Estreitinho is a strategist at VCCP in London and he helps make strategy get-together machine Group Think happen. He also publishes Salmon Theory in which he discusses ways of seeing the world, often with a nod to working in advertising. We live-streamed this chat last week right into Sweathead on Facebook. Now it's here ... for your ears. You can find Rob here https://twitter.com/robistyping Salmon Theory is here https://robistyping.substack.com/ Sweathead strategy classes are in session: http://courses.sweathead.co

Darren Woolley is Co-founder and CEO of Trinity P3. He spent 15 years as a copywriter including working as a Creative Director at JWT. Then he decided to help marketers make smarter decisions with their marketing. A big part of his work focuses on helping marketers hire agencies and fix relationships with their existing agencies. In this chat, we ask whether procurement or pitch consultants have hurt the industry the most, how agencies make money from employee salaries, as well as different ways agencies can charge for their work. You can find Darren's company and articles here: https://www.trinityp3.com/ And his LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darrenwoolley  Sweathead strategy classes are in session: http://courses.sweathead.co

Mary Buzbee is a creative at Lewis Communications in Birmingham, Alabama. Recently, she published an article about classism in advertising and how it prevents people who could work in advertising and who want to from doing so. And this is what we discuss. You can read Mary's article here: https://medium.com/@fellowcommunity/as-advertising-becomes-pay-to-play-creative-potential-is-wasted-267363870380 You can find her here: https://twitter.com/mary_buzbee (One correction, I mention Recurse Nation and how it's now called Hacker School - I meant it the other way around) For more strategy talk: Newsletter: http://www.markpollard.net/email-newsletter/ Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/markpollard Facebook - join 10,000+ strategists: http://www.sweathead.co The deskbook “Strategy Is Your Words” is out soon http://www.strategyisyourwords.com

Leo Nguyen is a strategist at Stink Studios in Brooklyn. He grew up in Portland, he graduated from the University of Oregon in 2015, he interned in Singapore, and he's wrestled with what it means to be American in a family that's from somewhere else. Initially, we intended to talk about the BBH Griffin Farley program but Leo talked about so much more and mesmerized me with how articulate he is. So, we talked about a lot more. You can find Leo here https://www.linkedin.com/in/ljnguyen5 For more strategy talk: Newsletter: http://www.markpollard.net/email-newsletter/ Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/markpollard Facebook - join 9,000+ strategists: http://www.sweathead.co The deskbook “Strategy Is Your Words” is out soon http://www.strategyisyourwords.com

In this episode, I share some thoughts about the past couple of weeks, some real talk from a recent Instagram story about your work life and WHAT ARE YOU DOING, as well as run you through 10 strategy exercises and answer a bunch of questions. Thanks for hanging out with me. You can find 10+ hours of training videos here for the next week or two: http://www.sweathead.co

Amy Charlotte Kean is Director of Innovation at &us in the UK. She's led teams in the UK and throughout Asia. But we don't talk too much about this. Instead, we discuss Amy's book "The Little Girl Who Gave Zero F**ks", her article on mental health "Don't Tell Me To Talk, Teach Me To Listen", and DICE - her attempt to improve the diversity of industry panels. You can find Amy here: https://twitter.com/keano81 P.S. This was recorded before COVID-19 arrived in a big way in the UK so our discussion about going out after the interview was not about going out in spite of COVID-19. For more strategy talk: Newsletter: http://www.markpollard.net/email-newsletter/ Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/markpollard Facebook - join 10,000+ strategists: http://www.sweathead.co The deskbook “Strategy Is Your Words” is out soon http://www.strategyisyourwords.com

Gregory Duquesne leads planning at M&CSAATCHI.GAD in Paris having been Managing Partner of Naked. He published a book called "Oeil Neuf" a few years ago in which he demonstrates how a planner's fresh eyes can apply critical thinking to questions such as "Why don't we pay attention to fire extinguishers even though they are red and very visible?", "Why do some people have more luck than others?", and "Why do students do better when they like their professors?"  You can find Greg here https://www.linkedin.com/in/gr%C3%A9gory-duquesne-a328a71/ For more strategy talk: Newsletter: http://www.markpollard.net/email-newsletter/ Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/markpollard Facebook - join 10,000+ strategists: http://www.sweathead.co The deskbook “Strategy Is Your Words” is out soon http://www.strategyisyourwords.com

Jani Westcott is a planner who plans to help more people get into planning by giving them new ways to see themselves and to speak about themselves. Essentially, she plans planners. Truth be told, she does this mentoring work with people who aren't just looking to get into planning but into the advertising industry as a whole and she focuses her work on helping women and people of color. In this conversation, we hear how Jani works with people to help them understand the power of their experiences while also helping them navigate an industry that has overlooked them for too long. You can find Jani here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janwestcottplanner For more strategy talk: Newsletter: http://www.markpollard.net/email-newsletter/ Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/markpollard Facebook - join 9,000+ strategists: http://www.sweathead.co The deskbook “Strategy Is Your Words” is out soon http://www.strategyisyourwords.com