The Imposterous

How we got Jeff Goodby on The Imposterous still baffles us. But then we remember Laura Petrucelli talked him into it so yeah, it had nothing to do with us. Back to feeling like imposters.Jeff, along with his friend Rich, started this whole Goodby Silverstein and Partner thing.Jeff grew up in Rhode Island and graduated from Harvard, where he wrote for the Harvard Lampoon. He worked as a newspaper reporter in Boston, and his illustrations have been published in TIME, Mother Jones and Harvard Magazine.He began his advertising career at J. Walter Thompson and was lucky enough to meet the legendary Hal Riney, whom he still thinks of as his mentor. It was with Riney at Ogilvy & Mather that Goodby learned his reverence for surprise, humour, craft and restraint.He also met Rich Silverstein there. They founded GS&P in 1983 with a founding client they renamed Electronic Arts. Since then, the two have won just about every advertising award imaginable. And yes, Jeff was the guy who originally wrote “got milk?”He is also a director and has delivered the director’s address at the Association of Independent Commercial Producers. His work has been memorialised in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. In 2006 he was inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame, and in 2019 he and Rich received the Cannes Lion of St. Mark Award for lifetime achievement. In 2020 the two starred in an 18-part MasterClass online learning series.Jeff has always held that the best advertising is like vandalism—loud, funny and still there the next day. It’s a topic that has earned international attention, in a talk first given at Cannes and then at comparable creative events in London, Sydney, New York City and Boston. He continues to believe that his success is a happy confluence of his mother (a painter), his father (a Wharton graduate) and the rest of his family, who have always been a constant reminder of irony and humility. He lives in Oakland, California, with a dog, a cat, three horses and said it was OK for us to lift this bio for GSP’s website.

Jane Caro AM spent 35 years as an award winning copywriter and 7 years teaching Advertising Creative in the School of Communication Arts at Western Sydney University. Jane is a Walkley Award winning Australian columnist, author, novelist, broadcaster, documentary maker, feminist and social commentator. These days Jane is a full time writer, speaker and broadcaster and is standing for the Australian Senate at the country’s May 21 Federal Election. Jane will stand as a candidate for Reason Australia. She has published multiple books, including three novels Just a Girl, Just a Queen and Just Flesh & Blood – a trilogy on Elizabeth Tudor, and a memoir Plain Speaking Jane. She created and edited Unbreakable featuring stories women writers had never told before, which was published just before the Harvey Weinstein revelations. Her book, Accidental Feminists about the life story of women over 50 was launched in 2019 and her latest novel, The Mother is a current best seller! How Jane found time to talk to us we’re not sure - but jeez we’re glad she did!

Faker by Tom Spicer. Spoken by Rupert Degas.As Tom Spicer says, “If ever there was something in desperate need of a rebrand, it’s imposter syndrome.  It definitely sounds bad.  But so many amazingly talented people have encountered it and lived to tell the tale, how bad can it really be?  In fact imposter syndrome might just be the reason for their amazingness in the first place.  Maybe Charles Bukowski summed it up best when he said, “The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts while the stupid ones are full of confidence”.  Hear, hear Tom Spicer! Your poem Faker, is the perfect way to end Season One of The Imposterous. Thank you for sharing it with us and our fellow frauds!Tom’s career spans 20 years and two continents. His work has been frequently recognised by Cannes Lions, D&AD, The One Show and many others. Tom’s 'Moonwalking Bear' was directly credited with helping reduce cycling fatalities in London by a third.  In his time at Arnold Furnace Tom helped the agency win a host of awards for the first time in its history, including at the Webbys, New York Festivals, Award Awards and Spikes Asia.  After returning to the UK and Creative Director stints at Anomaly and Grey Tom is now back in Australia freelancing and calling Brisbane home. 

Not every conversation on The Imposterous ends with us looking at each other saying, ‘Well, she’d be good to work for’. But this one did. Emma’s career spans 25 years, from junior writer, to Group CD, through to Executive Creative Director and Board Member at Clemenger BBDO. Now ECD at M&C Saatchi Melbourne Emma has won multiple international awards, judged locally, nationally and internationally and mentored up and coming talent as a lecturer and tutor at Award School. Emma gives back to the industry in the work she makes and the Creatives she inspires. There’s a generation of Creatives out there because of the advice Emma has given and the example she has set. Fun, funny, caring and a cracking writer, Emma is one of our favourite imposters for sure. 

Claudia Cristovao is the Head of Google Brand Studio APAC. She studied Communication, Film and Fine Art between Lisbon, Copenhagen, Amsterdam and London and is an honors graduate at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam and holds an MA from Saint Martins in London.Claudia has worked as a writer, brand developer and Creative Director for Nike, Google, Honda, Adidas, MINI, AMEX, at agencies like W+K, Sid Lee and AKQA. Her projects have included music videos, interior design, art installations, digital experiences, social media campaigns and business transformations. Claudia was the President of the Innovation Jury at the Cannes Lions 2020-2021 and has been a juror for the New York Festivals, Cannes Lions, ADFEST, Spikes Asia, W20 and the WIRED Hack Awards. Her artwork has been exhibited across the world, namely at the São Paulo Biennial, the Dakar Biennial, the Guangzhou Biennial, De Appel in Amsterdam and MOCA in San Francisco. And without doubt, a wonderful guest on The Imposterous.

David’s son Cameron better known as Cam has led international creative shops including Droga5 New York and Sydney, Publicis London, AMV BBDO, Grey, BMF; for the last four years he’s filled the Chief Creative Officer’s chair at M&C Saatchi Australia. Cam has been awarded hundreds of times at international awards including a coveted D&AD Black Pencil for The New York Department of Education, D&AD Yellow Pencils and Cannes Lions for CUB and Cadbury, two Grand Clios and two Gold Clios for the A-League. And in 2020 another D&AD Pencil for hijacking the Queen’s Christmas Address with ‘Matesong’ for Tourism Australia. Cam is currently the Chairman (or is it President?) of The Australian Writers and Art Directors organisation (AWARD).Cam’s dad David is a very successful Creative leader too having done it all years earlier in offices with doors. David or Blackers as he is affectionately known oversaw Clemenger Melbourne and took them to the very top of Creative and New Business ladders year after year. Blackers turned Clemenger Melbourne into one of the first true hot shops in Australian advertising winning at Cannes Lions more than 10 years in a row from the late 80’s to early 2000’s. This was at a time when Cannes had a lot less categories and gave away only a fraction of the metal. Returning from a stint in BBDO’s London office, Blackers founded The Australian Writers and Art Directors organisation (AWARD) and in 2014 was inducted into its Hall of Fame. After 34 years at Clemenger BBDO, Blackers retired as its Chairman and went on to take up the position of Chairman at Brainwave Australia and a lot more painting. 

Julian Cole is a strategy consultant to global brands including Apple, Facebook, Disney, Snap and Uber. Previously he held the role of Head of Comms Planning at BBDO and BBH in New York. Julian has helped create award winning work for PlayStation, Bacardi, Pepsi, Google and Coca-Cola. With a void of practical information online, in 2017 he started the Planning Dirty newsletter to share the best tools and resources growing to over 30,000 subscribers. Julian has an undeniable passion to create better Strategists by providing the knowledge and tools to be brilliant. Listeners of this podcast are invited to enjoy 25% OFF ($500USD) a Lifetime membership The Strategy Finishing School. The Strategy Finishing School teaches the fundamentals of strategy and will give you the confidence to walk into any room knowing you can deliver value. It has over 2000 members who have access to lessons and frameworks to be better at their jobs. Thanks Julian!

Cindy Gallop likes to blow shit up. She is a brand and business innovator, consultant, coach and keynote speaker available to work with anybody who wants to change the game in their particular sector. People go to Cindy for radical, innovative, groundbreaking, transformation - Cindy does not do status quo! She can help you own the future as the leader you want to be, the business you want to be, the gender-equal, diverse, inclusive workplace you want to be. We could at this point go into Cindy’s achievements and past experience but like Cindy we’re way more interested in talking about the future and directing you to her social sex revolution, Make Love Not Porn, her online platform business portraying a more humane way of viewing sex, educating couples about consent and creating a meaningful connection. Without doubt one of our favourite conversations.

Ben is one of the region's top creative leaders, known for his inclusive leadership style and strategic rigour. Over the years he and his departments have won numerous Australian and international creative and effectiveness awards. In 2015, Ben was voted Campaign Asia’s Best Creative Talent for Australia and NZ. His inspiration is the reader, the viewer, the listener and the clicker; our raison d’etre, who for the most part, is bored, insulted and uninspired by what our industry produces. Ben’s recently released The Pitch, a novel about climate change, advertising, politics, love and a vertically challenged limo driver is a must read. And for those who enjoy much shorter stories and the occasional well priced high quality tipple, his blog wineunder20lifeover50.com is made for you.

Anais is a Kiwi-turned-Aussie copywriter who’s changing behaviour for the better. In just her sixth year in the industry, Anais has created ideas for Cadbury, Subway, WNBL, Isuzu, Suncorp, and various Government clients. She won the B&T 30 Under 30 Grand Prix and Creative categories in 2021, adding to her growing list of international and local industry awards. But these only keep imposter syndrome at bay for so long.It’s the meaningful stuff that really stamps it out. Anais’ proudest work would be her road safety ideas and One Less Present charity campaign which revolutionised Christmas donations and raised over $300K to help abused Australian kids.Anais strongly believes in giving back. She guest lectures at university, is a seasoned Youngbloods committee member, and helps drive the female mentoring program Assisterhood.