
Sweathead, A Strategy Podcast
How do you get good at strategy? Whether you’re into brand strategy, advertising strategy, digital strategy, social media strategy, or you just love doing strategy but you get frustrated at how people use the word, Sweathead will help you delve into the practices and minds of some of the world’s most wonderful strategists. We're in our sixth year and have surpassed 1,500,000 listens! Hit SUBSCRIBE, tell your friends, and leave a kind rating. Real-time action is @markpollard and @sweathead.
You can find strategy classes and "Strategy Is Your Words" here: http://www.sweathead.com.
Latest episodes

Jan 8, 2024 • 38min
How Hallmark Went From Greetings Cards To Advertising Agency - Trish Berrong
Trish Berrong is a copywriter and strategist who spent decades at greeting card company Hallmark. She's not only written greeting cards but she helped Hallmark develop an in-house agency that went from serving Hallmark to serving external clients. And this is what we discuss.
You can find Trish here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/trishberrong/
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Find out about our strategy training and conferences at http://www.sweathead.com
You can download a free 50-page ebook "How To Do Strategy" here: https://mailchi.mp/sweathead/how-to-do-strategy-by-sweathead

Jan 3, 2024 • 26min
Your Personal Development Plan Template - Hell's Kitchen, NYC
You can find a link to the personal development template here: https://sweathead.com/personal-plan
Sign up for The Sweathead Get-Ahead free livestream from London here: https://sweathead.com/sweathead-get-ahead/
My London Masterclass tickets are here: https://sweathead.com/london-strategy-masterclass-with-mark-pollard/
And you can grab free ebooks and find out about our classes here: https://sweathead.com/

Dec 18, 2023 • 40min
Better Relationships With The Creative Department - Anirban Roy, Head of Strategy at Wieden + Kennedy, India
Anirban Roy is Head of Strategy at Wieden + Kennedy in India. They have offices in Delhi and Mumbai.
In this interview, we discuss good relationships with creative teams - whether it's common, what makes them difficult, and what makes them work.
You can find Anirban here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/anirbanroyplanner/
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Find out about our strategy training and conferences at http://www.sweathead.com
You can download a free 50-page ebook "How To Do Strategy" here: https://mailchi.mp/sweathead/how-to-do-strategy-by-sweathead

Dec 14, 2023 • 33min
Humor In Advertising - What Does The Research Say? - Polly Wyn Jones, Kantar
Polly Wyn Jones has been anlayzing advertising for over 30 years. In the past two years, she's published two articles about humor in advertising - how it ebbed and flowed over the past 2 decades, the kinds of humor there are in ads, and if it's coming back. And this is what we discuss.
You can find Polly's two articles here
1. https://www.kantar.com/uki/inspiration/advertising-media/how-to-get-humour-right-in-advertising
2. https://www.kantar.com/north-america/inspiration/advertising-media/starting-to-laugh-again-the-slow-return-of-humour-in-advertising
You can find Polly here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/polly-wyn-jones-67a0b3137/
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Find out about our strategy training and conferences at http://www.sweathead.com
You can download a free 50-page ebook "How To Do Strategy" here: https://mailchi.mp/sweathead/how-to-do-strategy-by-sweathead

Dec 13, 2023 • 41min
Is There Really Less Humor In Advertising Right Now? - Paul Fisher, Head of Strategy, BBDO Dublin
Paul Fisher, Head of Strategy at BBDO Dublin, woke up with a mission one Sunday a couple of weeks ago. He wanted to confirm or debunk a belief that there's less humor in advertising than before.
He spent hours trawling through and categorizing campaigns. And I thought it would be worth speaking to someone who feels like this is a good way to spend a Sunday.
You can find Paul here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulfisher1980/
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Find out about our strategy training and conferences at http://www.sweathead.com
You can download a free 50-page ebook "How To Do Strategy" here: https://mailchi.mp/sweathead/how-to-do-strategy-by-sweathead

Dec 7, 2023 • 42min
Getting Strategy Jobs At Netflix, CashApp, Nike, Apple And More - Grace Gordon, CashApp
Grace Gordon is an Australian who's worked with a list of companies many strategists would dream of working with: Netflix, CashApp, Nike, Apple, The Fader, Refinery29, as well as various agencies. In fact, we worked together at Big Spaceship a decade ago.
In this chat, we discuss living and working the USA as Australians as well as what Grace learned about getting these kinds of jobs.
You can find Grace here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/gracelgordon/
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Find out about our strategy training and conferences at http://www.sweathead.com
You can download a free 50-page ebook "How To Do Strategy" here: https://mailchi.mp/sweathead/how-to-do-strategy-by-sweathead

Dec 4, 2023 • 37min
Setting Your Next Marketing Budget - This Time With Evidence - Marc Binkley, Fractional CMO
Marc is a fractional CMO based in Calgary, Canada. He recently published a deck to help marketers work out how to set their budgets based on evidence.
You can find the deck here:
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7134918764252299264/
You can find Marc here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcbinkley/

Nov 10, 2023 • 40min
Shocking Truths About Insights In Advertising (I'm joking - but, yeah, "insights")
You can download a free 45-page ebook on insights, including a chapter from my book "Strategy Is Your Words" here:
https://mailchi.mp/sweathead/mastering-insights
You can find out about The Insight Masterclass that I'm teaching on Wednesday, December 6, online here:
http://sweathead.com/the-insight-masterclass-mark-pollard

Nov 6, 2023 • 40min
The Marketing Sciences Suggest: Make Your Brand Think And Act Broad - Julien Normand, Publicis
Julien Normand is Global Strategy Lead for Publicis LEON @ Publicis Media in Singapore. Recently, he wrote a piece called "The Silent Ascent Of Super Light Buyers," in which he shares research that suggests marketers need to pay attention to people who don't buy them very often.
You can find Julien here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/julien-normand-101/
His article is here:
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7061959692071141376/
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Sign up for our newsletters:
https://sweathead.com/newsletter/strategy-for-life/
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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/

Sep 29, 2023 • 41min
I Got A Hair Transplant In Turkey - Istanbul, Walk and Talk
I was going to keep it private but people started to find out. I got a hair transplant. And I had a second operation to get a lipoma removed. At the end of this episode I talk a little about functional versus emotional advertising. But most of the episode is about hair and Istanbul. You can find videos about the experience on my Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard
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