Sweathead, A Strategy Podcast

Aisha Hakim is an associate creative director at 72andSunny. She's also prolific online. Aisha will be hosting a masterclass called "The Art Of Deck-Making" for us on May 17. Aisha originally published a deck about deck-making to Twitter and then to LinkedIn. The deck went a little viral and it still pops up every few months. In this episode, we discuss all of this. You can find Aish...

It's May 4. Today marks three years since Sweathead launch its first online class. And, to celebrate, we've published a new report "What Strategists Want From Work". In this report, you'll learn: 1. What strategists want from the companies they work at, 2. What strategy bosses want from their strategists, 3. What makes a strategy career happen, 4. The top strategy bosses that...

Bonnie Wan is Head of Strategy at Goodby Silverstein & Partners, an agency she's worked at for thirteen years. In 2022, she won a big award: AdAge's CSO of the year. And she's about to publish a book through which she's going to put all of her strategy nous into a shape that can help you in your life. It's called "The Life Brief." In this episode of Sweathead, we...

Bernice Chao is author of "The Visibility Mindset". Her agency experience includes R/GA, Zambezi, TBWA, and David&Goliath. While navigating her career in the creative department, Bernice found herself longing to be able to connect with more people who understood her experience. So she set up Asians In Advertising with Jessalin Lam and has amassed a community of over 4,000 people who...

Sofia, Bulgaria. It’s the capital of one of Europe’s poorest countries, a country that spent decades behind the iron curtain, a country after which the Bulgarian Split Squat is named, and a country that wants you to visit it. I’m speaking at Digitalk on May 18 and I’m teaching a masterclass on May 19. And to whet people’s appetites for the eccentricities I’m going to bring, this episode features a...

Yikes. I think I squeezed four episodes into one here. We discuss: 1. Advertising industry news and breaking campaigns from Dodge, Icelandair, KFC, and Lawn Doctor 2. Natalie Brinkman's strategy for Sriracha 3. How to improve Get/To/By 4. Tensions facing strategists right now And a bunch of Sweathead news including masterclasses and conferences. ** Subscribe to our newsletters here: https://sw...

@Agencyprobs is crushing it on Instagram. With over 110,000 followers, the meme account helps everyone in advertising laugh and cry a little at the career that's chosen them. In this anonymous and debut interview, I speak with one of the founders and minds behind the account. We discuss what the ad industry creator lifestyle is like and we discuss some of the industry problems that cause the most...

Simon Kemp is founder of Kepios, a business consulting firm that helps organizations worldwide make sense of people's digital behaviors. He's been investigating digital trends for a very long time. This means that he knows what I mean when I ask, "Yeah but is any of this useful?" So, in this chat, Simon points our attention to the digital trends worth our attention. You can find...

Elisabeth Bromberg recently set up a consultancy. It's called Mildred Mae. Her focus is on empathy. In this episode, we discuss the three kinds of empathy as well as what it's like to set up a consultancy in these times. You can find Elisabeth here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elisabethbromberg/ You can find Mildred Mae here: https://mildredmae.com/ ** Next strategy events: Masterclass wit...

I wrote a thing today. It features Musashi, a sick samurai. He was probably sick in all the ways by today's terms but I try to connect what you're going through to what he once went through. This is especially relevant to anyone trying to work out their place in their company right now. We're launching a new weekly newsletter called For Friday's Sake. You can subscribe here: https:...

Andrew Roth runs dcdx, a research firm that focuses on Gen Z. In this episode, we discuss whether the term is even useful as well as some of dcdx's recent research reports into how Gen Z spend their time and what they're up to on TikTok.  You can find Andrew here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-roth43/ ** Next strategy events: Masterclass with Mark Pollard - How To Find Your Strategy Voic...

Picture this: you're on a plane. An airplane. You land in Austin, Texas, for SXSW. And as you get off the plane you realize you've just lost your client Silicon Valley Bank and a chunk of your savings are at risk in another bank that might go under. Well, that's what happened to Jason Harris, CEO Mekanism, last week. You probably know his agency and his work and his accolades. But that's not what...

Christine Villanueva has had massive strategy jobs at UM, McCann, Ogilvy, and Walton Isaacson. She's had jobs you might have your eyes on. But, as a seasoned strategist, Christine knows you can't shortcut your way into a leadership role. So, in this episode, we discuss sensible ways to speed up your career, a career that might only last 10-20 years if you're lucky.  You can find Christine her...

In this episode, we discuss two sets of agency-client dysfunctions and ways to deal with them–too many revisions and your strategy getting props but not your creative. Download our new career planning toolkit here: https://mailchi.mp/sweathead/career-planning-toolkit ** Next strategy events: Masterclass with WundermanThompson CSO Rodrigo Maroni (March) The Sweathead Strategy Accelerator (March) WT...

Nish Shah has just set up a company focused on helping companies to pitch. It's called Pitch Factory. Like Hit Factory. You know, that studio where hundreds of pop music hits were once made. In this episode, we discuss Nish's philosophy "Pitch With Joy" as well as some practical tips for Young Lions about to head over to Cannes to compete. You can find Nish here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hellon...

Rodrigo Maroni is CSO of WundermanThompson in New York. He's managed strategy teams at Weiden+Kennedy and Crispin Porter & Bogusky too. And back in Brazil, Rodrigo led Brazil's Account Planning Group or Grupo de Planejamento.  Rodrigo is my kind of strategy leader–he wants his teams to grow, to take risks, and to thrive.  But this isn't the experience of all strategists out there. Some bosses aren...

Archana Iyer is a culture junkie, trend spotter, and strategic storyteller. But she recently learned that she's also on the autism spectrum.  In this episode, we discuss how Archana became aware of being on the spectrum and how it affects her strategy work. You can find Archana here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arkkane/ ** Next strategy events: Masterclass with WundermanThompson CSO Rodrigo M...

David Tiltman likes to get around effectiveness. You could say he's really into effectiveness stuff. Like, it's his thing. And it better be because David oversees all of the ideas and words at WARC and WARC is slowly taking over Cannes. I said that. David did not. A few years ago, the company that bought the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity also bought WARC. They're called Ascential. They were...

Five years ago this week (February 25, 2018-2023), I published the first episode of Sweathead. Richard Shotton was my first interview. So I've called him back for two episodes this week.  In this episode, we discuss Richard's new book "The Illusion of Choice: 16 1/2 Psychological Biases That Influence What We Buy". You can find Richard here: https://www.astroten.co.uk/ **  Next strategy training:...

Five years ago this week (February 25, 2018-2023), I published the first episode of Sweathead.  I was doing talks up the West Coast of the USA and I was trying to work out what to do with the next phase of my life. Yes, I was 39 at the time.  I interviewed Richard Shotton about his book "The Choice Factory" from a hotel room in Los Angeles. It was all very raw. I published it unedited. I...

Jon Evans is a CMO at System1 in the UK. But he also runs a podcast called Uncensored CMO in which he discusses the trials and tribulations of being a CMO in public. In this episode of Sweathead, Jon shares some of the things he's learned from speaking to CMOs. Call them "secrets" if you like. You can find Jon here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/uncensoredcmo/ ** Next strategy training: Lucky Genera...

Andy Nairn is running our first masterclass of the year.  On February 23, he'll spend 3 hours helping play with your planning superpowers. And Andy should know. He's been the UK's Planner of The Year several times, he's Co-founder of Lucky Generals, an agency that TBWA bought into 5 years ago and an agency that's made four of the five most-watched ads in the past five years. Seems like some s...

In this episode, R/GA's Siona Singletary interviews me, Mark, deploying questions that strategists in Sydney most want answers to. We recorded an event in December in Sydney but the audio didn't turn out well so we decided to do it again. We cover: - Moving to New York - Mental health - The strategist's career You can find Siona here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sionasingletary/ ** Next strategy t...

To start 2023, we're running a fast series on trends worth paying attention to in The Sweathead Trend Bender Series. Over five episodes this week, you'll get to hear 25 trends that people who get paid to find trends are highlighting for their clients. In this episode, Quick Study Cofounder Rob Engelsman lays down one big trend for marketers: A Return To Practicality. And we discuss the dynamics le...

To start 2023, we're running a fast series on trends worth paying attention to in The Sweathead Trend Bender Series. Over five episodes this week, you'll get to hear 25 trends that people who get paid to find trends are highlighting for their clients. In this episode, EssenceMediaCom's Chike Ume takes us through The Great AI Experiment, Anti-Establishment Is The New Establishment, and Hedonism (f*...