Sweathead, A Strategy Podcast

Megan and I had this chat in the middle of 2019. I'm republishing it along with other episodes that tackle difficult topics because 2020 seems to have woken up a lot of us. But there's still work to do.    Megan Averell runs The Insight Inn, a research and strategy consultancy. You can find her here https://theinsightinn.com "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes are now live at http://...

Zac Martin is a senior planner at Ogilvy in Melbourne. We discuss getting. interviewed and being in the spotlight when you’re not used to it and how Australian culture is suspicious of it.  You can find Zac here: http://www.twitter.com/zacmartin  "Strategy Is Your Words" and 100 strategy classes are now live at http://www.sweathead.com

Over the summer, I'm going to republish a few episodes from over a year ago. This one features Zoe Scaman. It's direct, honest, and vulnerable, and delves into the challenges many creative minds face as they try to fit into themselves and then the advertising industry. You can find Zoe here: https://twitter.com/zoescaman Sweathead strategy classes are now in session: http://courses.sweathead.co

Stef Hamerlinck runs the podcast Let's Talk Branding in which Stef publicly documents his own journey to learning about brand strategy in a deeper way while coming from a design background. In this chat, we discuss Belgium and the soft skills that help brand strategy happen.  You can find Stef here http://stefhamerlinck.be/ and Let's Talk Branding here: https://www.letstalkbranding.be/ Sweathead s...

Recently in Marketing Week, Colin Lewis wrote, "Careers won’t pick up where they left off." Colin believes the recruitment process is broken, age discrimination will continue to rise, employers talk soft skills but buy hard skills, and job stability is a myth. Colin is CMO of OpenJaw in Dublin and organizer of Ireland's largest marketing event DMX. You can find Colin here: https://twitter.com/coli...

Melle and I recorded this interview almost a year ago to the day. Having briefly worked with Melle, I can say that she is a powerful force, deeply compassionate, and excellent at what she does.  We hadn't had many direct conversations about what it was like to be a Black strategist in America while we were working together. I'm republishing this because I'm hoping it can give more of you insight i...

Jon Haber is Co-founder of Giant Spoon, a well respected, fully integrated agency based in Los Angeles. We discuss how Giant Spoon goes about its award-winning work and how to stay active during quarantine. This interview was recorded in April 2020. You can find Jon here https://twitter.com/jonhaber Sweathead strategy class is in session: http://courses.sweathead.co

Lizi Hamer is Regional Creative Director at Octagon in Singapore, where she also runs SheSays. She's appeared on the television show Gruen Transfer, she's been listed in the Top 20 Women in Asia to watch, and she's met Jurgen Klopp, the coach of Liverpool Football Club.  Lizi and I worked together at McCann in Sydney ten years ago. And, since that time, a lot has changed in the advertising industr...

Will Humphrey is Strategy Director at Wunderman Thompson in London. He grew up in an advertising family and he’s worked in a variety of agencies with various focuses - from advertising to PR. In this episode, we discuss how many strategists mature over time. You can find Will here https://twitter.com/Will_Humphrey Strategy class is in session: http://courses.sweathead.co

Rachel Mercer is Head of Strategy at R/GA New York. About one month into New York getting closed down (April 2020), we spoke about what it was like to try to help an agency and its clients deal with COVID-19. And all this after Rachel and her husband had to get off one plane and return to America on another plane before all the borders closed. You can find Rachel here https://twitter.com/rachelmer...

Sheldon Tarpey is a strategist at McCann in Birmingham in England. In this episode, we discuss how Sheldon made his way into a strategy role from inside McCann. And we discuss the importance of problems as well as the scene in Birmingham. You can find Sheldon here https://twitter.com/SheldonLT Strategy class is in session: http://courses.sweathead.co

Atlas Acopian makes. He makes ideas that use all their might to capture the attention of the Internet. From Amazon Dating (a website where you can shop for a date), Scrubhub (Pornhub but for cleaning your hands), an 18-hole mini golf course that can fit in a tiny backyard, and some sweet video direction for companies like AWAL. In my plea to strategists to make - and not just think, I wanted to ta...

Noma is one of the world's most famous restaurants. Based in Copenhagen and founded by René Redzepi, creativity is at the heart of Noma's ethos - in words and in action.  Ben Liebmann is the Chief Operating Office of Noma. In this discussion, Ben breaks down the beliefs that form the culture of Noma. It's an incredibly uplifting conversation, and a conversation that many agencies in the world woul...

A brief word about race and the recent energy of the Sweathead Facebook group. Thank you to everyone who’s been teaching the community and me about the history and the present. This week, we’ll launch a small research project to identify ways in which Sweathead can take and show more initiative in addressing inequities and abuses of people in the advertising industry and, especially of the black,...

Mickey Jones is a graduate from the University of Lincoln. Like many of her peers, she's trying to get into the advertising industry. In England, this can mean trying to get a job in London. But, before you can move to London, you need to be able to afford to visit it and stay in it to meet possible hirers. You also need to get on their radars. London is no mean feat if you didn't go to the right...

Charlie Quirk is a strategist at Google in San Francisco. Recently, he published a deck that looked at 50 movies as a way to practice insights.  You can find the deck here: http://charlie-quirk.com/hollywood/ Charlie is here: https://twitter.com/charliequirk Sweathead strategy class is in session http://courses.sweathead.co

Summer Camp! http://courses.sweathead.co

Sabastien Genty is Head of Strategic Planning at DDB in Paris. Recently, he cofounded CPS, an organization to support planning and planners (but not just planners) in Paris. In this chat, we discuss what planning is like in Paris and the work of CPS. You can find Sabastien here http://linkedin.com/in/sebastien-genty-9b4563b - the CPS is here: https://www.collectifplanningstrategique.org Sweathead...

Gracie Page is Director of Emerging Technology at VMLY&R in London. In this episode, we discuss five technology trends that Gracie is currently studying - augmented reality, just walkout technology, voice, visual search, and gaming. Oh, and Gracie's mean knitting tech stack. You can find Gracie here: https://twitter.com/gracietech Sweathead class is in session http://courses.sweathead.co

Rhiannon Stroud is Head of Strategy at McCann Synergy in Bristol. She works with companies on how they interact with their employees. It's an interesting field to work in, a field we don't hear much about because... no Superbowl ads. It can be a very meaningful field, too. We discuss all these things. You can find Rhiannon here https://www.linkedin.com/in/rhiannon-stroud-50787a75 Sweathead strateg...

Simeon Coker is a Creative Director. He also makes a podcast called Mixed Company. A big part of Simeon's work is helping brands and agencies make creative work that is inclusive and that doesn't offend people with stereotypes. We discuss the business benefits and politics of inclusive work. You can find Simeon here https://www.indigoxpyrite.com/  Sweathead strategy classes are in session: http://...

@Femalcopywriter is an anonymous Internet presence. It’s funny. The person who writes it is funny. And, in this episode, we talk about what’s funny about advertising. But we also discuss some serious issues including sexual assault. @Femalcopywriter’s voice has been altered. Female Copywriter is here http://www.twitter.com/Femalcopywriter Strategy class is in session http://courses.sweathead.co

Eric L Hu is VP Strategy and Customer Experience at H4B Chelsea, a healthcare agency that's part of Havas. In this episode, we discuss what strategy work is in healthcare and what clients are asking of their agencies right now. You can find Eric here https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericlhu/ and here: https://www.instagram.com/ericlhu Sweathead strategy school is in session: http://courses.sweathead.co

Alex Stewart is a Senior Content Strategist at The Athletic, which recently acquired Tifo Football. Tifo Football is a football/soccer channel for nerds. It painstakingly breaks down football tactics, history, and business. In this chat, we go through some of the better known ways to approach strategy on a football field and try to make sense of them off the field.   You can find Alex here: https:...

Cole Habersham is an account manager at Droga5 in New York. In late 2019, he published a spreadsheet asking for people to anonymously share their salaries so that he could help friends work out their worth. Not their worth as humans but as salaries. You know what I mean.  This is the story of how it all happened. You can find Real Agency Salaries http://www.realagencysalaries.com/ You can find Col...