On Strategy Showcase

How Sacha Baron Cohen's team and Leo Burnett made a National Rifle Association President undermine his own organization on a national stage in an effort to save lives. 

John Kenny (then head of planning at FCB Chicago) shared the story behind the distinctive "Social Athlete" label and campaign. Subsequent work from W+K has built on this campaign's original line "It's only worth it if you can enjoy it." 

From the 1960s’ “Think Small” to the 1990s’ “Drivers Wanted” to the current “Drive Bigger,” VW’s audience has always been those frustrated with the status quo.

The food spread dramatizing the tension between lovers and haters further pushed the product into popular culture and consideration with this latest installment "The Marmite Gene Project."

A chat about the streaming wars and the back-story on the amazing "Great Shows Stay with You" strategy with Tim Whirledge, while at Droga5 London.

Effectiveness data in B2C is robust, but not so in B2B. The Institute plans to change that. Jon Lombardo shares their latest work and some new  concepts that can help your CFO support your case for effective investment.

In a campaign from  Fred & Farid, Los Angeles, Ladder, an online life insurance company, is embracing brand marketing (not simply performance) with a totally unexpected campaign in an uptight category.  

In 2019, the brand went through TBWA’s Chiat Day’s “Disruption” planning process, which attempted to realign enterprise-wide activities around a refreshed expression of the brand’s platform. This is the strategy story. 

In his new book, Conflicted, Ian explains how we lose the benefits of diverse thinking because of our inability to disagree well. And how productive disagreement leads to better strategy.

In his new book, Look out, Orlando builds on the work of Jenni Romaniuk, Les Binet, Peter Field, Byron Sharp and others with his research on how we can better ensure we are producing work that works.

A must listen Masterclass that begs the question, does loyalty exist, or is it just a habit that can be broken? Facing two massive competitors, Yorkshire Tea went from 5th to 1st with a hilarious creative and strategic effort that reignited consumer interest in what was thought to be a deeply entrenched category.  

The story of 13 years of growth following a crisis for the McDonald's brand. A recovery built on a rethink of operations, tone and messaging. One that put humility and relatability at the center of everything.  A 2021 APG Award winner.

We talk about planning and cover a bunch of topics including why labels are used in strategy as proxies for genuine knowledge, how our industry’s fetish with “insight” has caused so many to lose sight of our deliverables. And whether we ever really know enough to really know.

A Gold WARC award for effectiveness winner, we hear how, after a series of hate crime attacks, McD’s used an update of their iconic Kiwiburger song to drive an important cultural conversation in New Zealand, resulting in the best sales period ever recorded. 

The tagline is one of the most iconic in advertising history. It's embedded itself in popular culture in ways few campaigns have ever achieved.  I talk with R&R Partners about how it came about, and why, in 2022, it's about to change. 

This award winning case from TBWA Hong Kong shows how reallocating upper funnel media dollars across the customer journey helped Lexus successfully launch the UX in one of the toughest auto markets in the world.

How EOS and Mischief brilliantly capitalized on a TikTok moment with a genius response that went viral. CMO, Soyoung Kang and Mischief's ECD, Bianca Guimaraes share the back story of the brand and the moment.

By brilliantly crafting a perceived negative into a strength, Aldi went from a 2% share to a 7.9% share. Hear the Grand Prix award-winning strategy story from Jamie Peate and Laura McKinlay of McCann, Manchester.

Bumble's about women making the first move. In this latest work, the brand expands on their empowerment platform by encouraging women to fall in love with dating as a journey, not simply a means to an end. 

If drinking beer is typically something you do for yourself, could drinking a low carb beer be something you do for someone you love? It's "I'm drinking it for you" with James Tucker, Planning Director at Colenso BBDO in Auckland, NZ.

In a category fixated on clean, Unilever laundry detergent Persil flipped category conventions by telling the world that dirt was not the enemy, but the result of giving a child the freedom to explore and grow. This commitment to child development became the heart of the brand.  This is the story behind that platform and how it was evolved to reflect Unilever's new green purpose. 

A fast food brand attempting to win a Michelin Star? Seems crazy, but it's the attempt alone that worked. This is the strategy story behind the award-winning campaign from KFC and Ogilvy Australia.

TBWA Chiat Day Los Angeles has formed an elite team of creatives and strategists to build out a B2B marketing practice. I talk with Managing Director John Hickman about the back story and the case for B2B.

A WARC Grand Prix winner. The Middle Eastern-based home furnishing retailer used Father's Day to celebrate the achievements of single mothers. 

The story behind the heart-warming and award-winning campaign that reversed losses by expanding appeal, with Rachel Ellerm of Lion and Lucinda Sherborne of DDB, New Zealand.