The New Abnormal

Series One This episode features a masterclass in luxury branding advice from Alex West (co-founder of Maker London), a consultant who is renowned for being at the epicentre of the luxury sector.  He discusses his viewpoints on areas ranging from quality control and consumer touchpoints, to brand actions and communication reflecting the authentic values of the brand in question.  Alex also illumin...

Series One This episode of #TheNewAbnormal featured Gideon Wilkins, Head of Research at McCann Central.  (Part of McCann Worldgroup, who have an integrated network of advertising agencies in over 120 countries).  Prior to joining McCann's, Gideon was the Global Brand Guidance Director at Kantar Millward Brown, based in Shanghai.  In this podcast, he discusses the findings and implications of...

Series One  In this episode of The New Abnormal, I interview Kate Shepherd, Director and Co-founder of The Future Collective.  She specialises in strategic design direction and cultural intelligence, based on 25+ years experience in the design industry where her clients ranged from Rolls-Royce to adidas to P&G.  After working for leading agencies inc Imagination, Checkland Kindleysides, and Fi...

Series One In this episode of 'The New Abnormal' I speak with a truly inspiring individual, Kevin Braddock; who has 25 years' experience as a writer-editor and consultant, leading storytelling projects from conception into reality.  He was Features Editor of The Face, Contributing Editor (GQ, Esquire) and Editor-in-Chief (Sleek) and well as being the founder & publisher of Torch...

Series One This episode of #TheNewAbnormal podcast features a deeply interesting individual...  Michael Cohen, based in New York, is a developmental psychologist and the President of MCG NYC, He has a great international reputation, partly due to his immense experience at dealing with crises: ranging from Chernobyl to 9/11. For example, in the aftermath of the 9/11 World Trade Centre attacks, he c...

Series One In this early episode of #TheNewAbnormal I interviewed Katrina Dodd, Editor at Large, Head of Trends and a writer at the mighty Contagious.  She's also a former consultant at Contagious Insider, and has worked on diverse projects for clients inc BBC Worldwide, Universal Music, Louis Vuitton and Diageo.  Katrina was also the launch editor of Contagious FEED, a bespoke intelligence s...

Series One  In this reposted episode, I interview Carsten Beck, who heads up research at the famous Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies (CIFS).  I've known him for years, and we've given speeches together in various parts of the world over the last decade. He also kindly gave highly insightful quotes for my books.  CIFS specialises in scenario planning, trend analysis and risk manag...

Series One  In this episode, I interviewed the dynamic Joanna Catalano.  Her cv is daunting - President of Dentsu Aegis Network Asia Pacific / Board Member of WGI Worldwide / Advisor to Enrupt / the D&AD Impact Council / and President of the Female Founders - Singapore Chapter.  Previously, she spent several years as a Regional Head at Google, and she has an MBA from NYU Stern School of Busine...

Series One In this episode of The New Abnormal, I interviewed Stephen Hayward, an anthropologist and historian.  After completing his PhD at the Royal College of Art, he's worked as a consultant on a number of exhibitions, and has been published widely on design history and theory.  For nearly twenty years, he's been responsible for the critical context element of MA design programmes at...

This episode of The New Abnormal podcast was recorded soon after the Russian attack on Ukraine, and features the serial social entrepreneur Mark Hanis, who co-founded the Ukraine Corporate Index, which tracks corporate stance re: Putin's Russia in the aftermath of its invasion.  He also co-founded two startups: Inclusive America (a nonprofit to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion in gov...

Hi there – this is an introduction to ‘The New Abnormal’ regarding me (your host), the sponsors and the background to the series. I’m Sean Pillot de Chenecey from the independent foresight/strategy /innovation consultancy Brand Positive, who specialise in #NowNextWhy projects for clients ranging from corporates to agencies to NGO’s, on a national and international basis. My podcast was set up at t...