Sweathead, A Strategy Podcast

Haley Gordon is a strategist at BBH in Los Angeles. Part of her attempts to work her way into a strategy role involved attending the BBH Beautiful Minds program, named in honor of a man a lot of us knew for his writing and generous teaching spirit, Griffin Farley. In this chat, we discuss Haley's attempts to get into strategy and her experience in this weekend-long, competitive bootcamp. You can find Haley here http://www.haleykgordon.com/ And Griffin Farley's Beautiful Minds program here: http://griffinfarleysbeautifulminds.com/ 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 in soon http://www.strategyisyourwords.com

Sai He is a copywriter and runs the hilarious social media presence Dong Draper. He thinks he’s one of the most introverted people in the industry. I have a hunch a few listeners might contest this claim. Either way, Sai is prolific and still finding his feet in the industry. My question to him: What are you going to do after this industry? You can find Sai here https://twitter.com/adversaising Dong Draper on Twitter here https://twitter.com/dongtent Dong Draper on Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/dong.draper/ You can find Mark here http://www.instagram.com/markpollard And details for The Strategy Megaclass here http://www.strategymegaclass.com

Julian and I have just launched Season 2 of The Strategy Megaclass. It's called F**k Yeah Rainbow Cannons. And it's coming to NYC, Chicago, San Francisco, and Seattle in March and April. It's a full day of strategy training covering words, briefs, ideas, and strategy frameworks. Details and tickets are here http://www.strategymegaclass.com We thought we'd use the occasion to talk through some work by S'well, Burger King and ClassPass, as well as discuss strategy practice work that Harriet (@minimalstrat), Bram Draaijer (@DraaijerB), and Sanika Tilway (@tillwaytweets) have posted on Twitter to #ShowYourStrategy. Hannah Molly Baker's ClassPass case study https://www.hannahmollybaker.com/classpass-positioning-campaign Harriet - Selling fountain pens to office workers https://twitter.com/minimalstrat/status/1226120048902918144?s=20 Dram - Selling wall paint to new house owners https://twitter.com/DraaijerB/status/1225792494018887681?s=20 Sanika - Selling speed dating to introverts https://twitter.com/tillwaytweets/status/1223692880826568704?s=20 The Strategy Megaclass -> http://www.strategymegaclass.com Julian https://www.planningdirty.com/ Mark https://www.instagram.com/markpollard/

Clare Barry is a copywriter from Liverpool, England. She struck Internet gold with an article titled "Everyone’s a copywriter. Right?" in which she captured the frustrations of many of her peers. Now, she's back in the mines again. This time she's writing a book in public and on the road. It's called "Drink. Smoke. Swear." It's going to be like "Eat Pray Love" but Clare. You can find Clare here https://twitter.com/ClareBarry and here https://copyclare.com/ You can find her article "Everyone’s a copywriter. Right?" here: https://medium.com/@ClareBarry/everyones-a-copywriter-right-4dbbac741a4d You can find Mark here: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard And new dates for The Strategy Megaclass here: http://www.strategymegaclass.com

Justine Armour started as the Chief Creative Officer of Grey New York this week. Big job, big city, big ambitions. In this episode, we discuss the journey from doing the work to helping others do the work. We touch on missteps along the way, as well as ideas that can help people doing creative work do better creative work.  You can find Justine here: https://twitter.com/jusarmour You can find Mark here: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard New dates for The Strategy Megaclass are here: http://www.strategymegaclass.com

Stephanie Matthews is Partnerships Director at Creative Equals where she is currently launching the next series of their Creative Comeback Returners Programme. The programme is a two-week bootcamp for people who've worked in the advertising industry but have had a prolonged period away from it and now need a hand to get back in. It involves training as well as working on a real creative brief. Some participants may also get the opportunity to do a mini-internship.   Details about the Creative Comeback Returners Programme are here http://www.creativeequals.org/creativecomeback You can find Stephanie here https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanielmatthews You can find Creative Equals here http://www.creativeequals.org/ And here's an article Stephanie wrote about the power of businesses with diverse employee populations which cites the McKinsey research she mentions in the interview: https://www.virgin.com/entrepreneur/how-mary-poppins-could-inspire-gender-equality-workplace  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 8,000+ strategists: http://www.sweathead.co The deskbook “Strategy Is Your Words” is out in soon http://www.strategyisyourwords.com

Claire is a strategist in Paris. We met at an impromptu strategy get-together in Paris a couple of weeks. It was organized by M&C Saatchi Head of Planning Gregory Duquesne. Having been fortunate enough to hang out with and enjoy long conversations with strategists around the world, I've realized these are some of my favorite conversations and that many of the non-strategy topics we discuss are echoing across borders and continents. This is also why I want to do a better job of sharing these non-strategy topics.  So, today, almost live and unedited, Claire discusses feminism, romance, singledom, and what it means to be and feel independent in one of the most romantic cultures and cities in the world. You can find Claire here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/claire-joly-18634b9b/ I'm here: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard

Tamer Kattan is a stand-up comedian who's plied his strategy trade at 72andSunny, TBWA\Chiat\Day, and Deutsch.  He was born in Egypt, moved to the USA when he was 8, and then he had to work out how to adapt to an unhappy father and to unpredictable and sometimes violent environments as he grew up. Unfortunate for Tamer but lucky for us–because now he makes jokes about it all. P.S. Tamer is in NYC for the next few months doing shows. I caught him last night at the West Side Comedy Club. Go out and support one of your strategy kin flexing in new and incredible ways.  And shoutouts to Heather LeFevre and Julian Cole for putting me onto Tamer and his work. You can find Tamer and his shows here: https://twitter.com/TamerKattan 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 in soon http://www.strategyisyourwords.com

Heather LeFevre is back. Last time, we discussed applying strategy to life. This time, we discuss 10 things we hope advertising students can contemplate as they embark on their careers.  You can find Heather here https://twitter.com/hklefevre - and make sure you check out her book “Brain Surfing.”  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 8,000+ strategists: http://www.sweathead.co The deskbook “Strategy Is Your Words” is out in April 2020 http://www.strategyisyourwords.com

Julian Cole and I decided to speak in public for an hour before we plan the year. Well, probably, a few years. It's the first time we've sat face-to-face to plan the events we do–specifically, The Strategy Super Sizer Megaclass. We discuss things we've learned about strategy, doing events, and life.  Details for the next megaclasses will appear here soon: http://www.strategymegaclass.com You can find Julian here https://twitter.com/juliancole You can find Mark here http://www.instagram.com/markpollard