The Overthinkers

Twitter and Facebook experiencing headwinds, calls to rein in their effect on mental health, declines in ad spend... It's a rough patch for social media platforms. But does that mean we're witnessing its downfall, as someone have claimed? Or is it more of a correction?

A lot of people make the switch from one side to the other. In this episode, Rachel and Shann share their experience working across both sides of the pond - and touch on the blending of in-house agencies.

Free speech or advertising, Elon's gonna have to choose. Considering he first started with an open letter to advertisers, he seems to care, but is he the right person to fix it?

Long working hours are often the norm in ad agencies - not that they're unique in that regard, but one thing people often describe after leaving them is a greater ease to balance things out. Can agencies get better at this - and should they?

It's very fanciful for agencies to introduce themselves to the world with a flashy "planning framework" of their own concoction. But as we basically keep relabelling the same principles over and over, is there really much worth in trying to create their own?

With the recent passing of legendary ad-man and founder Dan Wieden, Rachel and Shann ask themselves what it would take for a contemporary ad-person to leave a mark as big as the likes of Widen and Kennedy did - and whether there even is someone with that profile right now. A chance to discuss how those kinds of legacies are created, and if they're even that necessary in the first place.

Big milestones today: The Overthinkers turns 3 with this 150th episode, and marks its 200,000 listens to date. To celebrate, we bring the man that we pretty much owe this podcast to, Mark Pollard. Not only did he introduce us, he also inspired us to make our own thing. And this will be the topic this week - at some point all of us ask ourselves what life is like beyond the work we do in ad agencie...

Understanding culture - whether to fit in or to define it - is a fairly common exercise in strategic planning. What does that cover? What are the pitfalls? And is it really an obligation to succeed?

Business leaders often struggle to embrace complexity, and certainly have a fear of uncertainty. In this episode, Steve McCrone tells us more about how embracing those could be turned into strategic advantage.

Is paid advertising the mark of unremarkable brands? Or is it an essential step to grow into a big brand?

Words and opinion play an important part in strategy, and it's not uncommon to see strategists writing, recording or presenting their thinking. Many famed strategists are regular contributors, and would qualify as thought leaders. But does that mean thought leadership is part of the job description?

Some accounts are infamous for making it hard to attract or retain talent. In many instances, broken relationships between those and their agencies can lead to job dissatisfaction, burn out etc. Does this mean clients have a responsibility to play in talent retention - and thus should they be held accountable for it?

We've all heard the statement: "we launched without spending on marketing!". And yet you have plenty of marketing activities - just no paid advertising. Marketers equating marketing with advertising media spend is unnerving. But where does it come from, and how can we put an end to this?

We're getting close to raise cycles, so this week we're discussing our recommendations to better get the promotion you think you deserve!

Economics are rarely part of the marketing curriculum. And yet economics inevitably play a role in how the markets we operate in behave. Does that mean marketers should be well tuned to economics (macro or micro)? And if yes, what kind of sources can they tap into to familiarise themselves with economic dynamics?

Access to employee salaries, review of profits, constant pitching, threats to lose an account, looking down on agency staff... There is a long list of realities that seem to have placed agencies at the bottom of the marketing food chain. And in the process, have we lost what made our voices heard?

CMOs are supposed to be at the top of our industry... but are they always? This week we're joined by Seth Matlins, Managing Director at Forbes CMO Network, to discuss whether CMOs have been pushed out of the top leadership of companies - and if they have, how can they reclaim a seat at the big decision making table? Seth's unique perspective as an ex-marketer himself and now interacting daily with...

Brace yourselves! Recessions are rarely good news for marketers. So what to expect as an industry and personally? And should it really be that way, or are there means to "make the most" of a recession?

It's an oft-repeated trope: deep down the strategist is a frustrated creative wanabee. But is that really so common? Or could it be an expression of the tighter relationship between strategy and creative?

We take a question from listener Lexie Perez this week. Creative testing has been the bane of many creatives' existence. Too soon, too biased, too incomplete, too limiting, too vanilla... At the same time, for many companies millions of dollars are at stake, and few would want to take stabs in the dark. So is creative testing (and pre-testing in particular) harmful for great creativity?

Audience definition is a core part of marketing. Unfortunately, in too many cases marketers end up with a poorly or outright wrong definition of their "target". A chance to address the problems with personas, over targeting, and the general lack of actionability behind most targeting exercises.

Sometimes, getting a budget out of a client is like pulling teeth. "Tell us a great idea, and we'll find the budget", we're often told. But in reality, budgets are rarely coming out of thin air, and play an important role in framing what's really possible. Does that mean they're an essential - if not the most important part of the brief?

Recessions have a tendency to burst bubbles. And while the jury's still out, there sure has been a lot of hype around the future of the metaverse or Web3. This week, Rachel and Shann are joined by Zoe Scaman, founder of Bodacious and co-founder of Marc Cuban Experiments (MCX), to discuss whether there is more to the hype, and how companies might separate the wheat from the chaff.

Today, listener Matt Jukes asks us whether the legacy agency structures (suits&creatives, art directors & copywriters etc) was holding back creative work. As ever it likely depends, but coming on the heels of a very inspiring episode with the folks at Maximum Effort, we definitely think it's a question worth discussing.

When Ryan Reynolds got into the world of advertising with Maximum Effort, a whirlwind of exciting campaigns started to pop - starting with his own Aviation and Mint Mobile ventures, or working with client brands like Peloton (recently reacting to the death of Big in record time). We're joined by two brilliant strategists at the heart of the company, James Toney and John Deschner who tell us more a...