The Overthinkers

Let's face it, most of marketing is pretty mediocre. There's a reason people decide it is worth blocking altogether when they have the chance or technical resources. But why is that? Is it a lack of ambition? Guts? Or maybe a remnant of something that might have worked in the past?

Agencies' business model has often been debated, but rarely agreed upon. Is it even possible "radically" change it when virtually everything has been tested yet? This week, Rachel and Shann share their thoughts as agency co-founder and ex-agency people.

Unusual question? Well, apparently it's not an unusual assumption. Sometimes it's even a lamentation from clients: "how come do the people who work for me agency side are paid more than I am?" In this episode, Rachel and Shann discuss whether this thinking has merit, what may be driving it, and also where it may be taking the service industry.

Ad tracking has become one of the most common tools of "modern advertising". But as regulators start legislating more and more against it (and some big tech companies taking stances "protecting" us from it), one has to wonder, what will happen to the advertising industry? Do we go back to the bright ages of creativity? Do small businesses lose a key competitive advantage? Is it all a storm in a te...

While TV isn't dead (at least not yet), there has been a clear trend towards a diminishing inventory and massive changes in watching behaviors. With advertising being so heavily reliant (at least historically) on TV advertising, could that industry survive it, or are we headed towards mostly performance based advertising?

Strategy might be too important to be left to the strategist. Does a "strategist" need them to champion - or even to formulate - it? Or is that more of a shared responsibility anyway? And if not, what would that say about the future of strategy as a profession?

Portfolio schools have proven effective at giving many people the chance to learn practical (and sellable) skills that made them ready to join advertising teams. But in light of the news that Creative Circus will be closing at the end of the year, we asked ourselves whether those curriculums were still relevant, or whether this may be the first domino to fall?

Innovation is on most corporations' agenda, but not on many's list of achievements. This week, we're joined by three exceptional innovation leaders to discuss how companies can better foster a culture of innovation: - Lan Guo, User Research Manager, Business Messaging @ Meta - Mary Catherine Plunkett, Sr Director Customer Success Design @ Autodesk - Leslie Llado Social Enterprise Lead @ Splash Int...

Purpose (the "making society better" kind) has been hailed as a great booster for business. While the practice is likely valuable, do we really see difference between brands that have a strong purpose and those that do not? In this episode, we talk about the way purpose influences reputation, perception, and maybe business results.

Subscription revenues is the new black in the world of business. Investors love them and tend to highly reward companies that can demonstrate not just revenues, but recurring revenues. Subscription markets even follow different loyalty patterns than repertoire markets. But is that really the future of business, and aren't there inherent limits to the model?

Strong leaders/founders can often shape the future of brands - Steve Jobs and Apple, Elon Musk and Tesla etc. In recent years, we've also seen the explosion of major content creators and influencers able to give brands some wings. Is this becoming the new playbook? And with a media world fragmenting and revolving more and more around people, should we expect it to be essential for brands building?

This week we're joined by the lovely Kim Mackenzie, founder of Ladies Who Strategize, a marketing strategist community specifically for women and non-binaries. In the episode, she tells us why she created it after years spent in New-Zealand, the spirit behind her community, what makes is so great and what she wants to see in the future.

On the heels of the Coinbase turmoil that made some waves this week, we ask ourselves what has led us to this position where agencies struggle to get credit for their work - and often struggle to even be seen as a valuable actor in the advertising industry?

Celebrities and advertising have been a love story for as long as most of us can remember. And as Superbowl kicked off, it is clear the trend is not reducing. But do celebrities really make brands stronger? Or is their use just a creative cop-out for when a brand doesn't really have an idea?

Today we're joined by Tattiana Bamba, Comms Strategy Director at Droga5, to talk about comms / connections planning. A chance to discuss what it does and what it doesn't do, as well as what it takes to be a comms planner and what it takes to be good at it. Whether you're eyeing a shit into comms planning or a veteran, we promise you won't miss the chance to hear what Tattiana has to say about it!

Over the last 5 years we've seen a growing trend celebrating "contrarianism". In this episode, we discuss whether this has a positive impact on the industry, whether it's reserved to a certain group of people, and the overall role of critique in moving us forward.

Hint: it's not behind a computer screen. This week, we're delighted to bring you 3 brilliant people from Nonfiction, Lindsey Wehking, Gunny Scarfo and Ben Zeidler. They tell us about their unique approach(es) to getting to more insightful truths, from spending time actually meeting people to making them comfortable to answer unexpected questions. First and foremost, theirs is a call to get out of...

Web 3 has been a buzzword of 2021, and as trends read are being rolled out, will no doubt be a feature of many outlooks. But is too early for brands to look at it, and will it really matter to marketers in the long term? To discuss this topic, we're joined by "technology meets brands" expert Nilesh Ashra, founder at Pragmatic Futurism and ex Director of Creative Technology at W+K.

It's pretty common for brands to use fear in their marketing to motivate purchase. Recently for example, we've seen Apple selling their watch on the premise it can save your life, when in fact 99.999% of use cases are not related to those events. Is there a fine line, or even a line at all that marketers can cross?

Off-the-cuff reactions happening within hours (sometimes minute) of pop culture unfolding are often celebrated in marketing circles. But are those "sparks of genius" really sustainable, or even meaningful to brands'?

NFTs have been making the corporate headlines lately, with the likes of Nike and Adidas taking big swings. Is this the beginning of the grand "mainstreamization", or just peak bubble?

Every strategist is familiar with the importance of "the deck". Often, the expectation is that the strategy is basically only expressed in slideware. Is that a good or a bad thing for strategic planning, and are there ways for us to make the most of those softwares without being enslaved to them?

Marketers have a core task of growing a company's market. Our mindset is always one about getting more value. But is that an aspiration the world needs? This week we're joined by Katie Dreke, ex-Nike / Droga5 / W+K, and independent consultant helping brands figure out how to survive longer term challenges.

Explosion of the number of channels, huge diversification of skillsets, slow death of effectiveness measures... A lot has been said about marketing being harder than ever, but is that true? Are we not simply "tactifying" our profession while forgetting the enduring fundamentals?

At some point in one's career, you'll be lucky enough to help mentor someone else. In this episode, Rachel and Shann share their experience and approach to mentoring others as they try to navigate the next phases of their career.