The Strategy Inside Everything

Kate Knibbs is a senior writer for Wired . In her work, she wants stories to be true and interesting. In pursuit of those goals Kate is a determined researcher. In this conversation, she shares her process and talks about stories which presented unexpected turns in the reporting which lead to better–that is more truthful and interesting stories. Strategists and knowledge workers of all kinds can b...

Carolina Cruz-Letelier has seen career growth from a lot of different angles. From brand side to agency side to jumping to new cities without a job, she's had a chance to think about how people adapt to new teams and organizations, and what prevents success there. Over the wild (understatement?) past years, she's been working with her team at MUH-TAY-ZIK | HOF-FER, to figure out what "culture...

Adam Nayman is a film critic, lecturer, and author. In an interview he posted with the maker of the film The Empty Man (which I loved), Adam presses the director on other films he was reminded of or felt was referenced. The interview raised some questions for me about my approach to starting a new strategy assignment. How much do you need to know, to feel like you understand? How much information...

Jenny Nicholson, Executive Director, Brand Experience at McKinney began her career as a copywriter. But before landing in advertising, she earned a Master's degree in Social Work. She's always been in touch with how people think and make decisions. Despite working on beautiful and compelling creative, she wondered traditional advertising channels were the most impactful tool which led to the creat...

Chief Innovation Officer at UC Irvine and UN Advisor on AI, Neil Sahota, joins a lively discussion with host Adam Pierno on how AI is improving. Improving means getting smarter, but also carving out niches for applications. This wide ranging conversation touches on the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and thinking beyond automation. Neil shares examples of eye opening work being done by AI, like a fi...

Colin Mitchell has come from a traditional planning background at BMP and other shops famous for planning and creative, along with a stop at McDonald's before his current role at Virtue , the agency powered by Vice. Adam and Colin discuss how that planning education from the pre-digital era has informed the powerful work they're doing now to tap into culture and sub-culture trends. You can learn m...

Reginald Cash, CEO of 3BLACKDOT joins Adam for an in-depth discussion about how creators are transcending (escaping?) the confines of platforms through their own creativity. His background spans the NY party scene and top-levels of high finance communications, providing a different prism to the oft rehashed world of creators, looking at it beyond typical marketing implications.  Find more abo...

Where do you fit in and why? Christina Garnett has figured out that people rarely fit in to communities that aren't welcoming. She's been single-handedly making Twitter friendlier (put her on the payroll, cowards!) and sharing insights about how to nurture meaningful communities. If you're a long-time listener, you know I come back to this topic often. See Darien LaBeach's episode for another soli...

Joe Cole joined me from his cross-country travel to share what he's learned building a list of what agencies are serving the interests of oil and fossil fuel companies at Clean Creatives. He's been rallying creative people–and others (that's important) to bring that work into the light, and make it plain who is taking the money. We all have a choice what type of work we do. Joe's work as a creativ...

In this episode, I’m joined by Brad Scott of Applied Design Works. I wanted to talk to him about how Applied worked with the Braille  Institute on a branding project and ended up developing a font intended for people with visual impairment, that they called Atkinson Hyperlegible. We talk about getting to that solution, and how to work on challenges you have never experienced - and therefore c...

Leslie Short studies workplace dynamics and to identify how diversity, equity and inclusion can be better woven in–sometimes in places where it has never been considered. Her approach is practical, pragmatic. I was fortunate to speak with her and learn more about the questions she asks, and how she addresses some of the biggest challenges in this space. For more information on Leslie Short, visit...

I had to take a break from publishing. Truth, I got extremely busy at my full-time job, some challenging freelance strategy projects for brands, and little disinterested in extra effort beyond all of that. The Strategy Inside Everything is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Thanks for hanging in there while I pause...

I had a wonderful conversation with Claire Atkin, co-founder of Check  My Ads, which helps firms examine where their media funds are sent by  their programmatic partners and software. Claire has an extremely  pragmatic approach that makes the work of determining where a brand's  ads are running, which can seem overwhelming, very simple. The hard part  in many cases is for...

I spoke with Nick Childs, who is also helping people better tell  their story. He’s a lifelong creative and leader putting together ads and communications on the biggest stages. He’s pretty much seen it all. Now  he’s started DIRT, a new method for better understanding what works  about creative so we can get better at telling stories and driving  results (if that’s your thing)...

All day long, you hear challenges and create plans to navigate through them. Briefs, decks whatever. You put in writing the plan for how to get from the place the organization or brand is in today to where it needs to be. Where are you today? Are you where you need to be? If not, how do you approach that challenge? Here's an idea for you: write a brief for you. Strategists are brilliant at framing...

Most industries work in teams. The recent adaptation to the way we work has affected our approach in some simple and profound ways. As I've spoken to strategists and marketers, I've learned that this has impacted the way their assignments happen, or maybe just the way they feel. Work, or parts of work that was formerly done by teams in shared space or at least shaped or nurtured in hallway convers...

How often do you look back at your old work? A funny thing happened during the recording of this episode. My guest, Ben Perreira began  describing something he had done earlier in his career and made an off-hand joke about a decision he made. But we continued to discuss, and he arrived at an insight about what he learned from that experience. I got the feeling he hadn't thought much about tha...

For the past year, there's been a big reason for each of us to think about ourselves. My safety and security. My health. My job security. Basically protecting our small bubble. As vaccination happens en masse and we take our first tenuous steps back towards a physical social world, you may have noticed a broadening of your perspective. Things are transforming from the nearly squarish Zoom screen t...

I spoke with the author of Trustworthy, How The Smartest Brands Beat Cynicism and Bridge the Trust Gap ,  Margot Bloomstein about how some brands design their communication and UX around building and maintaining trust, so their customers don't feel icky. In the book, she uses a collection of great examples to make her points, and goes pretty deep on the work they did to identify the point of...

Over the past year, I've been living almost exclusively online. If I had to guess, I would estimate I've watched more than 200 movies and competed a dozen series. I wrote and recorded a bunch. I've played video games and scrolled multiple marathons distance on Twitter. And then came TikTok. Oh boy, Clubhouse. In marketing, advertising, whatever, we call them 'experiences' (myself included) but I t...

In the month of January, I thought I reached the limit of my capacity. Again. I returned to work from a week away from the "office" to all that awaits when you are off for a week. Days of non-stop meetings, and non-moving deadlines kept me moving from item to item wondering when I would run out of steam. This was a combination of professional deadlines and personal commitments. I really had that t...

How do you find the things you love? Films, music, products, people, food? More and more, we're turning to the internet to find pretty much anything. Or, we may not even be looking for things anymore. Amazon, Google, Spotify, Netflix are all recommending things, to varying degrees of success. Social apps recommend people we would like to follow. I presume that dating apps are showing you profiles...

You are going to enjoy my conversation with the incredible Amy Kean. She is a force of nature. She is an author, the founder of Six Things Impossible and co-founder of  DICE (Diversity & Inclusion at Conferences and Events). She is  inspiring because she strikes me as the kind of person who has ever  backed down from a challenge, and probably intimidates challenges  into &n...

I spoke with Global Luxury Practice Lead at McCann World Group and Global Director of McCann Truth Central, Nadia Tuma-Weldon .  She's spent years researching and understanding luxury consumers and  brands. Nadia has a fantastic perspective on why we choose what we  choose, and how aspiration for luxury serves as the ultimate  distillation of aspiration that many brands can lea...

Gunny Scarfo, co-founder of Nonfiction Research  (https://nonfiction.co/) joined me to talk about the findings and their  unique perspective on research. Nonfiction blends qualitative and  quantitative methods to reveal stories that might not be discovered  otherwise. Read the research here: https://nonfiction.co/americas-secret-playlists Go ahead and exercise your peepers with...