Sweathead, A Strategy Podcast

Are marketers allergic to creativity? How do bold ideas thrive in huge international companies? How can creatives work within a systematic, data-driven company or agency? All these questions and a lot more are answered in this Sweathead episode with Karl Isaac, who also talks about his experience working on some of the most popular brands worldwide. For over 20 years, Karl’s been giving brands chi...

A brief word about resilience while walking Central Park. Plus a bunch of questions from Instagram answered: What's a creative strategist? What skills will a strategist need in the future? What are neglected strategy skills? Should you work in a network agency or an indie shop? And more. (Apologies if this episode has appeared a couple of times in your feed––we had some technical issues). Find me...

A quick episode about how strategists mature. But also a brief chat about sleep and exhaustion. ** Find us at http://www.sweathead.com @sweathead: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead More posts about briefs @markpollard: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard

In this Sweathead episode, Heeru Dingra talks about the challenges she has faced as a CEO managing three agencies in the midst of a global pandemic. She also discusses her experiences of being a woman in a highly male-dominated culture and professional landscape. Heeru also shares her life lessons and wisdom about how to be an effective leader. Heeru Dingra is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of...

In this Sweathead episode, Sara Tate talks about her experience as the CEO of TBWA\London and the valuable lessons that she learned from being the head of one of the top 10 marketing and communications companies in the UK. She also discusses how disruption, collaboration, and collective spirit can take a company to the next level. Sara was most recently the CEO of TBWA London and had a very long s...

In this Sweathead episode, Lydia Taylor talks about the many places where strategy lives -- may it be in agencies, within startups, on the client side, or at a social media platforms, to name a few. Lydia also lets us know what she thinks are the hottest places that a strategist can work at right now.  Whilst Lydia has done her time at the big agencies, she's not a traditional agency strategi...

In this Sweathead episode, Ben Mburu takes us behind the scenes of several of his small businesses in Kenya. An account planner by profession, Ben believes that owning a small business helps him validate his ideas and gain insights he can use in his client work. He also shares his experiences of the ups and downs of being a small business owner during a global pandemic.  After 14 years in acc...

How do you start a new job without showing your impostor syndrome? How can you grow into a strategy director at an agency? How can you work in another country without having to start from scratch? These questions and more. From you. Answered. Right here. Right now. *** Don't forget to sweat that Subscribe button and share this episode with your strategy friends. ** For information about the Sweath...

In this episode, Jane Cunningham and Philippa Roberts talk about marketing to women–how it's historically been and how it's been changing. We discuss sexism in marketing, corporate feminism, fempowerment and femvertising, and the narratives of women in the marketing and advertising world. Jane and Philippa worked for many years in advertising agencies DDB and Ogilvy.  Fifteen years ago they l...

A brief and gentle episode about the privileges of a strategy career.  If you'd like this episode as an Instagram post, it's here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CU58pAbgQ-b/ *** If you enjoy these short monologues, let me know.  Don't forget to sweat that Subscribe button and share this episode with your strategy friends. ** For information about the Sweathead Strategy Accelerator, visit h...

Over on Instagram, we often do strategy together. I'll ask for suggestions of brands and audiences. Then we'll run through some simple exercises to arrive at a Four Points.  It's playful and it tries to shine a light on the messiness of our work. Sometimes, we get somewhere worth getting but, often, we don't. And that's okay. A few days ago, Minal Jadeja gave us the challenge of selling IKEA...

In this Sweathead episode, Tatiana Peck voices what many of us have been experiencing in this pandemic—burnout, mourning the loss of self and identity, and being plunged into totally different routines. She shares with us how she has bounced back from these emotions and found joy in her work again. Tatiana also takes us through her journey from working in an agency to being a creative strategist a...

Massive thanks for helping us reach one-million listens. Yes, it's just a number but it sounds good and you can say "one million" like the bad guy in Austin Powers. Thank you to everyone who's let me into their heads–guests and listeners. In this episode, I discuss how there's no such thing as a "right" way to do strategy and how frameworks like the 4Cs, Get/To/By, and the Four Points can work tog...

What is your greatest fear? What is your most marked characteristic? Who are your heroes in real life? In this Sweathead episode with Parker Mason, we discuss the Proust Questionnaire and how Parker applies it to strategy projects. Parker has travelled the world doing strategy for big agencies. Now he's in Vancouver helping agencies win business and start-ups get their start. Find Parker on: Insta...

Amanda Rue is a business consultant, facilitator, and the founder of The Shift Work Shop, a human resource consultancy offering consent-forward sexual harassment prevention and training. With over ten years in the advertising industry, including Vice Media, Anomaly (Ace Content) and Team One, Rue is a former brand strategy director turned founder and independent consultant with the mission of invi...

What role does linguistics play in strategy work and in everyday life? What exactly is a problem? Is there really a right or a wrong way to deal with a problem? We are discussing all these and more with Rodrigo Maroni, the Head of Strategy and Data at Crispin Porter + Bogusky Brazil. He currently serves as President of the Board at Grupo de Planejamento, the professional organization that represen...

Inspirations on strategy can come from surprising places. In Asha's case, it's stand-up comedy and rap. She takes us through the power of words and fast wit, and how her experiences as a comedian and former rap music artist have helped shape her career in strategy. Asha Davis co-hosts and produces The Disruptor Series podcast, and is also an Integrated Strategy Director at TBWA\Chiat\Day New York....

We are about to reboot. New interviews are coming. Sweathead is now on Instagram here: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead And if you’d like to find out more about our first strategy conference The Sweathead Do-Together take a look at http://www.thedotogether.com

Also I answer 15 questions from Instagram stories (@markpollard), tell you about The Sweathead Do-Together and give you four book recommendations. I hope you’re doing okay out there. Find us at http://www. Sweathead.com

What do you learn from interviewing some of the world's best advertising strategists and account planners about their agency's best work? Fergus O'Carroll hosts the On Strategy Showcase podcast. He focuses on one thing–the stories behind incredible advertising campaigns. In this episode, I gently encourage Fergus (joking, I totally forced him) into a list of ten things he's taken away from tens of...

In this episode, I download you about the first three findings from the recent Sweathead Feelings Check-In Survey. These are: 1. They appreciate the job and the money but they have questions about this version of capitalism. 2. They are not in a bad mood but they are in a mood to move. 3. They are raring to go but often feel sidelined in their work. 550 strategists responded. You can find the deck...

How do you get the advertising industry and your clients to understand what you bring to the table?  Fabiola Nguembu is an account planner and researcher in Dakar, Senegal. She is one of a handful of planners in sub-Saharan Africa. We discuss what it's like to try to work in an industry that might not want to think too much and in which account planning is relatively new and not yet a major f...

What if your next presentation wasn't fifty slides of numbers followed by fifty slides of tactics? What if you could present your thinking within a story structure? Victor Pineiro knows stories. He made the documentary "Second Skin" about people who play online in different realities, he's written books, and he's helped to create some of your favorite social media brand presences - think Skittles...

How are the insights of outsiders useful and how can outsiders find anything more than a stereotype? Erika Brenner has worked as a planner and insights manager, and now works in marketing for Helly Hansen. Born in Brazil, Erika spent eight years in China after university and is now into her fourth year in Norway. With all this moving around, she has had to explain the value she can bring to local...

How much of the research that brands commission ever gets used? And isn't that the point? Gunny Scarfo and Ben Zeidler set up Nonfiction Research in 2018 to do research in an unafraid way, a way that might just open a soul or two.   We discuss: - Having an "unassailable" research methodology - Unusual experts such as bank robbers - Building a research business like Non-Fiction with a clear se...