Call To Action (Giles Edwards)
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| Pub. Date | Title | Duration | |
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| 08 Feb 2019 | 1: Author of The Choice Factory, Richard Shotton, tells us how to apply findings from behavioural science to advertising | 01:03:28 | |
In our maiden episode we catch Richard Shotton. Increasingly known as the author of The Choice Factory, a best-selling book on how to apply findings from behavioural science to advertising, Richard also operates as a consultant, speaker and trainer. A choice choir of industry legends have collectively sung praise for his book, most notably Rory Sutherland, Dave Trott, Mark Ritson and Phil Barden, with the latter referring to it as “catnip for the industry”; which explains why one of our Account Managers likes to rub it all over himself when he arrives every morning. ///// Richard Shotton: Twitter: @rshotton Buy The Choice Factory on Amazon Mumbrella Brand Purpose Article 14 Books on Behavioural Science that Marketers Should Read Behind the Scenes in Advertising, Mark III: More Bull More Irrationality: The enemy within Paperback by Stuart Sutherland Gasp: Gasp Agency Website Contact/submit a question to the Show: hello@calltoaction.co Our articles on Brand Signalling and Online Reviews Bob Hoffman's blunt, yet superb, definition of Signalling ///// | |||
| 22 Feb 2019 | 2: "Strategy first, tactics later, brand always" with JP Hanson | 00:57:09 | |
Hot on the heels of our maiden podcast, we collar JP Hanson. He is the CEO and co-founder of Rouser, an international strategic consultancy firm headquartered in Stockholm, where he works making client brands better, not just bigger, and stresses that his singular goal is to build client profit. If this wasn’t enough, he contributes to outlets such as The Drum and the IPA’s EffWorks, and is increasingly delivering entertaining, no-nonsense talks across the globe, as well as being a qualified lawyer. The Rouser Manifesto, built on; ‘Strategy First, tactics Later. Brand Always’, is something we regularly dive and dip into at Gasp, so we are box-of-frogs excited that our kindred spirit is on the podcast. ///// JP Hanson: Twitter: @RouserJP The Rouser Manifesto: A Proposal for How to Get Marketing Back to the Boardroom The Drum His methods still matter – a response to ‘David Ogilvy must die’ The Halo Effect by Phil Rosenzweig How Brands Grow by Byron Sharp Eat Your Greens by Wiemer Snijders The Long and the Short of It by Les Binet & Peter Field Gasp: Gasp Agency Website Causing Mayhem. What Does it Take to Create a Great Advert? ///// | |||
| 08 Mar 2019 | 3: Using lollipops to deal with noisy clubbers and more stories from the Met Police 'Problem Solving Unit' with Stevyn Colgan | 01:26:11 | |
We’ve caught award-winning author, artist, public speaker and former QI head elf Stevyn Colgan for our latest podcast. Stevyn’ career started with 30 years in the Met Police Service, where he quickly landed up in the intriguingly named, ‘The Problem Solving Unit'; using lollipops to deal with noisy, rowdy night-clubbers was but one ingenious (and highly effective) idea he introduced. An expert problem solver, he’s given TED talks on this subject, amongst other top gigs, including the Edinburgh Festival, Latitude and Ogilvy’s behavioural science centrepiece Nudgestock. ///// Stevyn Colgan: Stevyn’s Website Twitter: @StevynColgan Why Did the Policeman Cross the Road TED talk Perfect Pitch Nudgestock 2017 The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives by Leonard Mlodinow Problem-Oriented Policing by Herman Goldstein Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness by Richard H Thaler Gasp: Gasp Agency Website Sending Scrumpled Up Balls of Paper delivers >6000% ROI for global Learning client, Skillsoft Hitting Golf Balls into People’s Gardens wins International Ads of the World Best Direct Mail award ///// | |||
| 22 Mar 2019 | 4: Amy Kean on neuromarketing and publishing a modern-day illustrated fairy tale | 00:49:15 | |
Published author, poet, public speaker and Starcoms’s Head of Strategic Innovation, Amy’s led media and marketing strategies for some of the world’s biggest brands, including the BBC, Unilever, and Nando’s. Her first foray into writing, with the modern-day fairy tale, The Little Girl Who Gave Zero Fucks, was a stonking success; storming to the top of the charts on Amazon. Amy’s also been listed as one of the most influential and innovative people in UK digital media by the likes of The Drum, while her career has taken her to Asia and back again, and she is rightly a vocal champion for smashing gender inequality in our industry, and beyond. ///// Amy Kean: Twitter: @Keano81 The Little Girl Who Gave Zero Fucks Website The Little Girl Who Gave Zero Fucks (Amazon) The Chimp Parodox by Prof Steve Peters Amy's Shots Column Selling to the Subconscious: Should more markers use 'Dreamvertising'? The Drum article Gasp: Dreams. The Final Advertising Frontier? ///// | |||
| 05 Apr 2019 | 5: The Dunning-Kruger effect and how to save marketing with Eaon Pritchard | 01:10:45 | |
This week’s podcast guest Eaon Pritchard was a tough catch, seeing as he is based in Melbourne and all, but that didn’t stop us collaring him for a chat. He’s a self-proclaimed ‘advertising douchebag’, but that does him a disservice, as Eaon has worked as an ad creative and planner for over 20 years, firstly in London and now over in Oz. He also lectures, consults, and writes regularly for WARC and other ad industry publications, while his spectacular and highly-praised book on advertising, ‘Where Did it All Go Wrong?’ caused R/GA’s Head of Strategy Rob Campbell to declare; “Eaon is funny and insightful. I hate him.” ///// Eaon Pritchard: Twitter: @eaonp Where Did It All Go Wrong - Adventures At The Dunning Kruger Peak Of Advertising The Stupidity Paradox: The Power and Pitfalls of Functional Stupidity at Work by Mats Alvesson The Triumph of Emptiness: Consumption, Higher Education, and Work Organization by Mats Alvesson Business Bullshit by Andre Spicer Intuition Pumps And Other Tools for Thinking by Daniel C. Dennett The Adapted Mind: Evolutionary Psychology and the Generation of Culture by Jerome H. Barkow ///// | |||
| 19 Apr 2019 | 6: Meet one of the best copywriters in the business, Tone of Voice expert, Vikki Ross | 00:55:14 | |
Catching Vikki Ross was no mean feat; she's here, there and everywhere. One of the best copywriters in the business, Vikki specialises in Branding and Tone of Voice, running workshops all over the globe, and creating voices for some of the UK’s biggest brands, including The Body Shop, Sky, ITV, and Virgin Media. She dedicates time to mentoring budding copywriters and is a very vocal champion of the art of copywriting itself. Vikki says; “Copywriting will take you further than you imagined – into people’s homes, onto high streets and on shoots around the world…” ///// Vikki Ross A Big Life in Advertising Mary Wells Lawrence How To Write Better Copy by Steve Harrison Persuasive Copywriting by Andy Maslen Hey Whipple, Squeeze This! by Luke Sullivan The Copy Book by D&AD Ali Hanan / Creative Equals / Creative Equals Conference @VikkiRossWrites #CopywritersUnite #CopySafari Gasp (The Blogfather) | |||
| 03 May 2019 | 7: Marketing strategy, brand purpose and the problem with online advertising with Fredrik Hallberg | 01:13:15 | |
After traversing lakes, vast boreal forests and glaciated mountains, we finally caught up with the charismatic Fredrik Hallberg. Being born in the most boring town in Sweden, Köping, propelled Fredrik to leap into the world of computers, and ultimately the internet, just to find something interesting. Fast forward in time, and he is now a seasoned Marketing Strategy Director and Management Consultant with more than 20 years of experience consulting Fortune 500 companies, digital start-ups, tech giants and domestic brands. A popular speaker at many public seminars and lectures, Fredrik has also just taken a brand spanking new position as a Partner at The Commercial Works alongside Wiemer Snijders, curator and editor of the brilliant ‘Eat Your Greens’. He talks to us on marketing strategy, brand purpose, the problem with online advertising, how important David Hasselhoff was to him in early life and a whole lot more! ///// Books by (Amazon Links): ///// | |||
| 17 May 2019 | 8: Glenn Fisher is a copywriter adept at persuading people to act. Listen to his tips on how you can do the same. | 01:01:53 | |
Armed with a fishing pole and a tasty bait of Hemmingway, we caught none other than Glenn Fisher. Arguably the most famous person to be born in Grimsby (by default), Glenn became a copywriter after a number of years working in the local council. For over a decade he worked with Agora, a multi-million pound international financial publisher, as Head of Copy. He is now freelance, focussing on coaching aspiring copywriters, and has recently published his first book, The Art of the Click, which explores direct-response copywriting, which has received glowing endorsements from some of the best… including previous Call to Action guests Vikki Ross and Richard Shotton. ///// Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder The Art of the Click by Glenn Fisher History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell Great Leads: The Six Easiest Ways to Start Any Sales Message by John Forde Books by Dave Trott, Milan Kundera and Paul Auster ///// | |||
| 31 May 2019 | 9: A great definition of strategy with Murray Calder | 00:58:12 | |
Listen to how we nearly lost one of the finest strategic minds in the industry to the ski instructing game. Murray Calder learnt his craft managing internationally renowned Scotch Whisky brands like Macallan, Highland Park, and The Famous Grouse, and his first job in the industry saw him do everything EXCEPT marketing, giving him a great grounding and a fundamentally important first lesson.
He’s been with MediaCom Edinburgh since 2006, where he is currently Strategy Director, and numerous honours bestowed on his bonce include a period as Chairman for the IPA in Scotland. He also now dabbles in wood block printing and typesetting, so plenty to lend your ears to. Listen and enjoy.
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| 14 Jun 2019 | 10: The Dutchman with a famous banana, Wiemer Snijders talks on how the scientific approach is helping to turn around marketing | 01:11:30 | |
This week we’ve caught Wiemer Snijders. A Dutchman with a famous banana, Wiemer is one of the most prominent figures at the forefront of Marketing Sciences.
Currently a Partner at The Commercial Works, he recently published Eat Your Greens: Fact-Based Thinking to Improve Your Brand’s Health, which features contributions from 35 of the world’s top marketers, including the likes of Byron Sharp, Mark Ritson and Bob Hoffman. Listen to him talk on how the scientific approach is helping to turn around marketing, the possible root causes of the lack of long-term strategic thinking in the industry, and a whole lot more. ///// Wiemer's Links: Twitter: @wiemersnijders Eat Your Greens by Wiemer Snijders The Mind Is Flat by Nick Chaker
Bad Science by Ben Goldacre
It’s A Little More Complicated Than That by Ben Goldacre
Economics Facts And Fallacies by Thomas Saul
Factfulness by Hans Rosyln
Progress by Johan Norberg
The Consuming Instinct by Gad Saad
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| 28 Jun 2019 | 11: An hour of Rory Sutherland on all things advertising, marketing, and psychology [Part 1 of 2] | 01:00:36 | |
This week we’ve caught Ogilvy UK’s and Behavioural Science’s finest, Rory Sutherland. It’s an hour of Rory. What do you expect? If it’s a jam-packed, entertaining chinwag on all things advertising, marketing and psychology then come tuck in.
For those for whom this will be a first dose of Rory, he is a copywriter-turned-behavioural science expert and torch-bearer, and Vice Chairman of Ogilvy UK. He’s been President of the IPA, Chair of the Judges for the Direct Jury at Cannes, and has entertained millions via his unrivalled TED Talks. Rory writes regular columns for The Spectator, and is the author of two books: The Wiki Man and the recently published Alchemy, The surprising Power of Ideas which don't make Sense. He talks to us on a ton of topics, including; Direct Marketing, Measurement, Efficiency V’s Effectiveness, the state of the modern Ad Agency, Harry Potter, and the need to establish marketing as its own form of unique science. ///// Rory's Links (complete version available in Part 2 to follow) Twitter: @RorySutherland Alchemy: The Surprising Power of Ideas That Don't Make Sense by Rory Sutherland Gasp Links Signalling by The Blogfather ///// | |||
| 12 Jul 2019 | 12: Tips for those who dream of being a writer with multi-talented author, poet, and podcast host Giles Paley-Phillips | 00:55:57 | |
This week we’ve caught the uniquely and multi-talented author, poet, and podcast presenter, Giles Paley-Phillips. Giles is the award-winning author of children’s books including The Fearsome Beastie and Little Bell and the Moon, and talks to us on his motivations for writing, how he got published, and also some tips for those who have their own dreams of being a writer.
He delves into his role as a co-host on the British Podcast Awards nominated ‘Blank’ podcast alongside comedian Jim Daly, where stellar guests have included Gary Lineker and Louis Theroux. He also very generously and openly talks about his childhood, how his career developed, and his time on the road in a rock band, including a performance at the Glastonbury festival. Go listen and enjoy! ///// Episode Links Twitter: @eliistender10 BLANK podcast One Hundred and Fifty-Two Days by Giles Paley-Phillips The Fearsome Beastie by Giles Paley-Phillips Little Bell and the Moon by Giles Paley-Phillips So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed by John Ronson
A Game of Thrones Series by George R.R. Martin
Mentors by Russell Brand
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| 26 Jul 2019 | 13: Psychologyical hacks for parents with the don of Behavioural Economics, Rory Sutherland [Part 2 of 2] | 00:50:00 | |
This episode is the most eagerly anticipated ‘Part 2’ since The Godfather movie series, as we resume our chat with The Don of Behavioural Economics in 2019; the one and only Rory Sutherland.
Rory Sutherland is a copywriter-turned-behavioural science expert and torch-bearer, and Vice Chairman of Ogilvy UK. He’s been President of the IPA, Chair of the Judges for the Direct Jury at Cannes, and has entertained millions via his unrivalled TED Talks. Rory writes regular columns for The Spectator, and is the author of two books: The Wiki Man and the recently published Alchemy, The surprising Power of Ideas which don't make Sense. He talks on subjects even more wide ranging than Part 1, including: Nudgestock, Shakespeare as a behavioural economist, Psychological hacks for parents, Comedy, The Pratfall Effect with Vicars, Sloe Gin, and a whole lot more. ///// Rory's Links (complete version available in Part 2 to follow) Twitter: @RorySutherland Alchemy: The Surprising Power of Ideas That Don't Make Sense by Rory Sutherland Nudgestock 2019 speaker videos Complexity and the Art of Public Policy by David Colander & Roland Kupers Success and Luck by Robert H. Frank The Darwin Economy by Robert H. Frank Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Nicholas Taleb The Naked Jape by Jimmy Carr & Lucy Greeves The Mating Mind by Geoffrey Miller Genes in Conflict by Robert Trivers River out of Eden by Richard Dawkins Gasp Links Signalling by The Blogfather Effectiveness by The Blogfather Be Different by The Blogfather ///// | |||
| 09 Aug 2019 | 14: One of the most talented designers around, Lee Davies talks on Behavioural Science, Signalling and Sheffield | 01:06:07 | |
This week we’ve caught The King in the North. Nope, it’s not Jon Snow, but one of Sheffield’s finest, Lee Davies. OK, he may not actually rule the North, but he’s certainly one of the most talented designers and creative directors in any part of
He modestly calls himself ‘a right mess’, but growing up in a cultural backwater in Cheshire didn’t hinder him rising up to design great work for the creative brand communications agency Peter & Paul for 12 years, where clients have included the likes of Channel 4, Unilever and the V&A. He lets us know all the details about his way of working, what makes for an effective creative process as a designer, brand identities, his passion and talent for writing, Behavioural Science, Signalling, Sheffield and a whole lot more. Any budding designers, or anyone who simply wants their company or agency to produce better creative work, should bend their ear hither now. ///// Instagram Peter & Paul Twitter Peter & Paul Twitter Lee Davies How To by Michael Bierut Made To Stick by Chip & Dan Heath Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull A Technique for Producing Ideas by James W. Young The Anatomy of Humbug by Paul Feldwick ///// | |||
| 23 Aug 2019 | 15: The world's ONLY global tech ethnographer Tricia Wang | 01:03:18 | |
This week we’ve caught the world’s only Global Tech Ethnographer and the woman that made Qualitative Data sexy; Tricia Wang.
She created that job title herself, as part of always looking to question then smash convention throughout her career. Her fieldwork has featured in publications such as TechCrunch, Wired and The Guardian, she’s worked with Fortune 500 companies, and is a go-to keynote speaker, having stolen limelight at the likes of IBM, Proctor & Gamble, Nike and TED.
She chats very openly to us on her early career, Ethnography, Big and ‘Thick’ Data (that’s the sexy part), her now-infamous period at Nokia, the current state of marketing, diversity and inclusion, and a whole lot more! Go listen, as this podcast redefines the term ‘unmissable’. ///// Social @TriciaWang Twitter @TriciaWang Instagram Slack Ethnography Hangout Book Recommendations So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo How to deconstruct racism, one headline at a time by Baratunde Thurston Mismatch: How Inclusion Shapes Design by Kat Holmes Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez New Dark Age Tech by James Bridle Coders by Clive Thompson Non-Bullshit Innovation by David Rowan Leadership and the Art of Growing Up by Jerry Colonna Talks The human insights missing from big data by Tricia Wang, TedxCambridge The End of an Error: How Marketing Mistook Clicks for Customers (and how we can get them back) by Tricia Wang, at Nudgestock 2019 The ABCs of Breaking Bias by Dr Stefanie K. Johnson, at Nudgestock 2019 Article Marketing Research. Make some time for it. It needn’t be costly, you just need the right approach by The Blogfather, Gasp. ///// | |||
| 06 Sep 2019 | 16: What3words CMO Giles Rhys Jones talks on how 3 simple words can save lives, deliver pizza and transform the Mongolian postal service. | 00:44:18 | |
This week we’ve pinpointed the exact location of what3words CMO Giles Rhys Jones for a good chinwag. Awarded the Cannes Lion Grand Prix for Innovation, Giles talks at length about this amazing global addressing phenomenon that is used by entities as diverse as pizza delivery companies and emergency services, as well as some of the world’s largest automobile companies like Mercedes and Audi.
Giles also reveals nuggets of interest from working agency side at Saatchi & Saatchi and Ogilvy, where clients included HP, Unilever and British Airways, as well as what it takes to set up an agency, the secret for getting good press coverage, and a whole lot more. Go listen, sit back and enjoy. ///// Company what3words Books The Messy Middle by Scott Belsky Alchemy by Rory Sutherland Giles Gymnasium LinkedIn Profile Instagram Profile Article What3words: The app that can save your life (BBC) The Blogfather discovers W3W in June 2015 ///// | |||
| 20 Sep 2019 | 17: Tips for writing magic copy with The Word Man, Dave Harland | 01:07:14 | |
This week we’ve snuck up The Mersey, Viking raid style, to nab Liverpool’s finest anti-bullshitcopywriter, Dave Harland. Having massive fingers hasn’t held back Dave from writing magic copy. He talks to us on how he made the bold move to working freelance after a 10-year stint at Park Group Plc, (ending up as Head of Copy), his early job as a football reporter, how his fascination with writing persuasive copy developed, his key tips for writing good copy and plenty more besides.
A massive fan of Liverpool F.C, Alan Partridge and Scrabble, as well as being a talented poet, the podcast includes a stunning reading of Dave’s poem ‘Dogs’, written for his Nan when he was aged just 13. Lend us your ears. You won’t be disappointed.
///// Dave Harland Links: Twitter @wordmancopy Dave’s LinkedIn Dave’s website Dave Plugged: Tom Albrighton’s website #copywritersunite Dave's Books: One Plus One Equals Three by Dave Trott Creative Blindness by Dave Trott Predatory Thinking by Dave Trott Now Try Something Weirder by Michael Johnson ///// | |||
| 04 Oct 2019 | 18: Cool dude and professional hell-raiser, James Victore wants you to have a “God damn opinion” | 00:52:40 | |
This week we’ve gone over The Pond to catch Designer, Author, Speaker, Teacher and all-round cool dude and professional hell-raiser, James Victore. Part Yoda part Darth Vader, his often-controversial yet striking work is exhibited all around the world, including at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and has appeared on the covers of Esquire and Time Magazine.
He’s also worked for clients such as Adobe, Mailchimp and Moet & Chandon, and recently captured all his learnings in his new book, Feck Perfuction. He talks to us on his early career, designing posters, designing book jackets, his influences, his creative Texas retreat, his workhorse typefaces, what to do with shit clients, having a "God damn opinion", and a whole lot more, so go have your ears bent now (in a good way). ///// James Online: Instagram @JamesVictore
Twitter @JamesVictore
James Links/Books:
Victore or, Who Died and Made You Boss? by James Victore
Feck Perfuction: Dangerous Ideas on the Business of Life by James Victore
Consider the Lobster by David Foster Wallace
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| 18 Oct 2019 | 19: Stories from ad land's heyday in Australia with Jane Evans | 00:54:59 | |
We’ve tracked a trail from London to Sydney and back again this week, to catch our latest podcast guest Jane Evans. Many are billed as being ‘brutally honest’, but Jane wrote the rule book on “not giving a f*ckery.” Jane has worked for some of the biggest agencies on the planet, including JWT and Ogilvy, before setting up her own agency Giant Leap, where clients included Revlon, Maserati and a bevy of beer breweries.
But arguably her greatest work is being done now, running Janee; a part-advertising agency, part-activist organisation that is fighting for gender equality and diversity in advertising and society, and giving a voice to a new breed of superwomen. She talks to us candidly on this, the heyday of the Ad Industry in Australia, how Martin Sorrell then f*cked it all up, what makes great ads work, why modern beer ads don’t work, being a Mum, and a whole lot more. ///// Jane and Uninvisibility: Jane on Twitter Jane's Website The Uninvisibility Project Instagram @Uninvisibility Twitter @Uninvisibility
Uninvisibility on Facebook
Jane Evans on LinkedIn
Book Recommendation:
Business As Unusual by Anita Roddick
Jane dedicates her show to the amazing Verna Wilkins, founder of Tamarind Books. Here is one of the publications that the pioneering Verna wrote herself. ///// | |||
| 01 Nov 2019 | 20: How to brief agencies and more client side tips with B2B marketing's self styled Yoda, Brian Macreadie | 00:55:24 | |
This week we’ve travelled to a galaxy far, far away to ensnare Brian Macreadie; B2B Marketing’s self-styled Yoda.
Brian’s stellar career includes a period as Marketing Director for Media and Sport at Getty Images,marketing communication roles at large telecoms companies such as AT&T, and over 12 years’ experience as head of marketing at several international law firms. More highly decorated with medals than Ryan Giggs, Brian has over 60 prestigious B2B industry awards,and is so highly thought of that he often sits on the judging panels themselves, including being 3-times judge at the B2B Marketing Awards.
He talks to us on his time in the Defence sector, his move to Marcoms, the pressures faced working in B2B, his encounters with the Sith (Digital Snake Oil Merchants), tips on how to write B2B marketing emails the B2B client-side impression of agency side, tips for briefing agencies and a whole lot more.
///// Brian's Links: Brian on LinkedIn
Brian on Twitter
Brian's Website
Archived article What do client side marketers look for when working with an agency? The 4 brand lessons I learned from 19 topless northern men by Brian The Undercover Economist by Tim Harford With thanks to our good friend, the supremely talented Ollie Mines for his golden toned recital. ///// | |||
| 05 Nov 2019 | 21: SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT | 00:05:18 | |
This week we’ve only caught a cold (well, it is that time of year), but much more excitingly we’re putting out a bite-size Call to Action pod blast to exclusively announce details of our very first live Call to Action podcast event. It’s like a cranked-up Question Time, taking place in a pub to booze-fuel the debate and replacing the politicians with talented peeps who aren’t afraid to tell it like it is.
Join us for a riotous and fun night for our first-ever live event. It will be a cocktail of much-loved regular Call To Action pod features alongside lively debate of hot 2019 topics in the marketing and advertising industry, all in an amazing and intimate venue. We’re laying on a pub-grub buffet and a couple of free drinks, all covered under the cost of a ticket, while everyone also gets a Call To Action goodie-bag to take away too. Think you have a question to stump our panel? They’re well up for a challenge, so submit questions by emailing hello@calltoaction.co or dropping us a message on the usual Call To Action channels. The panel in need of questions to get stuck into is: Vikki Ross The forthright and exceptionally talented copywriter and founder of #copywritersunite, Vikki travels the world telling businesses how to talk. Paul Mellor Notoriously mouthy, Paul is a professional rule breaker and co-founder of the agency Mellor&Smith and creator and compère of the Take Fucking Risks events. Brian Macreadie One of the best and most vocal B2B Marketers in the country. Brian has over 12 years’ experience as a head of marketing, has worked for Telcom giants like AT&T and has nabbed over 60 Industry Awards. Kirsty Montgomery A remarkably honest jargon destroyer, Kirsty is a Director of CRM who has worked for the likes of Staples, Sky, Hilton and Hunkemöller, giving the panel further client-side chops. Ryan Wallman Known as Dr Draper in the Twittersphere, Ryan is a master Creative Director and Head of Copy who specialises in healthcare, and will be making a Jedi Force ghost style cameo. For tickets, and full details, head over to the Pubcast event listing. ///// TIMINGS ///// Doors open at 6:00pm. Time to grab some grub and a drink and settle in. No admittance after 6:30pm, no matter how hard you bang on the door. There will be plenty of time at the end for a mingle or ‘networking’ if you want to call it that. | |||
| 15 Nov 2019 | 22: A Guiness-fuelled industry mickey-take with Paul Mellor of Mellor&Smith | 01:01:32 | |
This week we’ve laid bait of Guinness and Rosé to snare the man who launched his agency from his front room whilst sitting in his pants, the day after he called his old boss a ‘cock’. It can only be Paul Mellor.
Taking the piss out of the industry whilst on the piss with our podcast host Giles, it’s a wonder how they actually finished with a fully recorded episode. Paul takes us on a riotous ride on how he went from working in a coleslaw and potato salad factory (yep, you heard that right) to running one of the best brand and ad agencies in London. Topics and targets rattled through also include; why advertising is shit and how it can be better, Pot Noodles, how brands can achieve genuine stand out by risk taking, and the wildly successful ‘Take Fucking Risks’ speaker series Paul founded, with guests like Bob Hoffman, Dave Trott, Cindy Gallop, and Grace Dent.
The first Call to Action podcast to require a health warning, the fumes from this episode alone could damage your liver whilst also serving as a slap about the face to start you smashing up anything bland and beige, and to just start taking some fucking risks.
///// Paul: You can follow him on LinkedIn. And his agency Mellor&Smith on the Twitter. And we’ll give you their website for a full house. Book Recommendation:
Life’s A Pitch – Then You Buy by Don Peppers
Creative Blindness by Dave Trott One Plus One Equals Three by Dave Trott Creative Mischief by Dave Trott Damn Good Advice by George Lois Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t by Steven Pressfield ///// | |||
| 29 Nov 2019 | 23: How businesses can improve diversity and inclusion with Dr Stefanie Johnson | 01:05:27 | |
This week we’ve got our large sea-going vessel out of dry dock once again to go across the pond to catch Dr. Stefanie K. Johnson; author, speaker and professor of Management at the University of Colorado Boulder’s Leeds School of Business.
Stefanie has come a long way since discovering in her first jobthat a children’s ball pit is the most disgusting place on earth. She is now one of the world’s leading authorities on improving diversity and inclusion in business and has published over 70 journal articles and book chapters for the likes of Harvard Business Review and Journal of Applied Psychology.
Stefanie has achieved stellar coverage with media giants such as The Economist, The Guardian, Time and CNN, while her learning partners on diversity and inclusion include Netflix, Starbucks and P&G, amongst many other household brand names.
She talks to us on defining bias, the ABC’s of how to break it, how businesses can improve diversity and inclusion, leadership, her life as a professor, swing dancing at a Mexican wedding and a whole lot more.
///// Stefanie: Follow Stefanie on LinkedIn. On the Twitter. And on Instagram. You can pre-order her new book Inclusify. Watch Stefanie's brilliant talk at Nudgestock 2019. Stefanie’s website. Book Recommendations: The Person You Mean to Be by Dolly Chugh Good to Great by Jim Collins Alchemy by Rory Sutherland ///// | |||
| 13 Dec 2019 | 24: Want to know more about creating a genuinely special workplace culture? Listen to Di Wilkins | 01:04:10 | |
This week we dug out our knickerbockers and legged it up the fairway to catch an ex-golf pro with one of the strongest drives in the industry, Di Wilkins. She joined the agency Critical Mass 21 years ago and never left. As CEO, Di has created a genuinely special work culture rooted in Canadian values and best showcased by an avalanche of industry accolades this year, including Best Agency to Work For and Employer of the Year.
Di explains that what she lacks in polish, she makes up for in heart. And we guarantee that after this episode there’ll be a queue of Call to Action listeners from here to Canada vying to be her friend. You can listen to her talk candidly on the benefits of being “absolutely clueless", the silliest thing she’s done with a JPEG, pioneering customer-centricity before it was vogue and a whole lot more. ///// Di: Follow Di on LinkedIn. Critical Mass:
Book Recommendations: She’s also recommended a few of the 100+ books a year she reads for you to enjoy: The Great Alone Kristen Hannah
The Three Year Swim Club Julie Checkoway
I heard you paint houses Charles Brandt
*Di dedicates her show to a rock-star of Critical Mass, Isabella Rodrigues. Di would love Isabella to know that thousands of Critical Massers are behind her, as is everyone here from the Call to Action team.* ///// | |||
| 24 Dec 2019 | 25: Meet one of the most controversial voices in the industry, Bob Hoffman, Ad Contrarian | 01:01:55 | |
We’ve lurked in the waters of San Francisco Bay to catch arguably the most outspoken and controversial voice in the industry; the bullshit detecting bulldog, Bob Hoffman.
He is the acerbic wit behind the highly popular ‘Ad Contrarian’ blog, named one of the world’s most influential marketing and advertising blogs by Business Insider, and is the author of four Amazon Number 1 selling books about advertising. Bob’s commentary has appeared in the likes of BBC World Service, The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times and Forbes. He talks to us on his early career as an adult fiction writer (!!!), ad fraud, his experience of client and agency side, the great danger of tracking and surveillance in online advertising, the de-valuation of creativity, his writing of a new book and so much more. ///// Bob Links: Follow Bob on LinkedIn
On the Twitter
Here is his AdContrarian blog
And his website
You can also check out the details on his 4 published books here
Book Recommendations:
The Anatomy of Humbug by Paul Feldwick
The Choice Factory by Richard Shotton
One Plus One Equals Three by Dave Trott
Predatory Thinking by Dave Trott
The Big Book of Rants by Rich Siegel
Everybody Lies by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz
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| 24 Dec 2019 | 26: The value of education in marketing with Ireland's greatest marketer, Colin Lewis | 01:04:37 | |
We sneaked up the river Liffey in a Viking long boat and kidnapped arguably Ireland’s greatest marketer for a natter; Colin Lewis.
Colin’s vast experience and multiple industry awards come from a career that includes working at iconic brands like BMI, 118118, Thomas Cook and CityJet, and from working all over the world, from Australia to Hong Kong, Japan, and the UK and Ireland. He’s also a speaker, lecturer and teacher, educating brands such as Unilever, Facebook, Ryanair, and Heineken.
This pod is packed with nuggets of golden insight as Colin talks to us on strategy, friction, robot car racing, the value of teaching and education in marketing, how to truly be market orientated, turning into a grumpy old man, and lots more.
We also assume he has an exclusive membership for The Long Room Library at Dublin’s Trinity College, as he is one of the best-read people we’ve ever spoken to, and he’s shared tonnes of tomes below.
///// Colin Links: Follow Colin on LinkedIn
And on Twitter
Read his Marketing Week articles
And check out his website
Book Recommendations:
Good Strategy Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt
How Brands Grow by Byron Sharp
The Creativity Code by Marcus Du Sautoy
Vanished Kingdoms by Norman Davies
Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind by Al Ries, Jack Trout, Philip Kotler
Deep Work by Cal Newport
Competitive Strategy by Michael E. Porter
Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
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| 24 Dec 2019 | 27: Metrics, short-termism and selling Ribena to the North of England with Tom Goodwin | 01:19:43 | |
We’ve put a tasty worm on our line and cast it into the Big Apple to catch Zenith Media’s Exec VP & Head of Innovation, Tom Goodwin.
The best thing to come out of Sheffield since Sean Bean, Tom has worked with a list of clients that reads like the FTSE 100, including Microsoft, BMW, FOX and Emirates, and he is also the bestselling author of the ground-breaking book, Digital Darwinism.
Tom talks to us on tonnes of topics, including the evolution of tech and what excites him, his experience working at TBWA, metrics & short-termism, programmatic, selling Ribena to the North of England and a whole lot more.
///// Links: Follow Tom on LinkedIn
On the Twitter
And here is his website
Book Recommendations:
Re-imagine by Tom Peters
Disruption by Jean-Marie Dru
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| 10 Jan 2020 | 28: What Morph is really like with Director and Designer at Aardman Animations, Gavin Strange. | 01:14:07 | |
This week we’ve packed our plasticine and carried out a search of The Avon to pick up Bristol’s finest maker of noise, Gavin Strange. By day, Gavin is Director and Designer at the beloved Aardman Animations, the Academy Award winning studio behind Wallace & Gromit, and by night he indulges in passion projects, drenching them in fizzy, fuzzy energy as he morphs into his alter-ego Jam Factory.
A serial tinkerer whose capacity for fun bursts through his beanie, Gavin is also an author, toy inventor and speaker. He talks to us candidly on this, having car parts thrown at his head, pixels, plasticine and what Morph is really like, the unlikely crossover of Maya Angelou and Dragon Ball Z, why we need more wonky things, and a whole lot more. Embrace your fizz and fuzz. Listen and you won’t be disappointed. ///// Gavin/JamFactory Links: And visit his website. (https://www.jam-factory.com/)
Gavin’s directorial debut, The Amazing Maya Angelou
Animation Recommendations:
Adobe Creative Cloud (with student discount)
Or for more fizzy, fuzzy energy… listen to the audio version
Feck Perfuction by James Victore
Draplin Design Co: Pretty Much Everything by Aaron Draplin
Why? How? What? The First Big Book of Art by Brosmind
Cabinet of Curiosities: My Notebooks, Collections, and Other Obsessions by Guillermo del Toro
Anything and everything by Shepard Fairey
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| 24 Jan 2020 | 29: Vice President of Islamic Marketing at Ogilvy, Shelina Janmohamed, has a theory on the social healing power of chips | 00:44:08 | |
This week we’ve snuck up the Thames to Ogilvy’s offices to catch Shelina Janmohamed; the bestselling author of Love in a Headscarf (a memoir about growing up as a British Muslim woman), and the Vice President of Islamic Marketing at Ogilvy- The world's first bespoke consultancy for building brands with Muslim audiences.She also, somehow, still finds time to write for the Daily Telegraph, The Guardian and the BBC, and was named one of the UK’s 100 most powerful Muslim women.
She talks to us on how brands and agencies can understand the Muslim population better to create better ads and comms, writing books, how writing ‘Be Nice’ on her index finger helps her be a better person, how being a mother has improved her efficiency x10, the social healing power of chips, working on the iconic Motorola RAZR and more.
///// Follow Shelina on LinkedIn On Twitter On Facebook Her books/reports are: Love in a Headscarf by Shelina Generation M by Shelina The Great British Ramadan from Ogilvy. Book Recommendation: Alchemy by Rory Sutherland ///// | |||
| 07 Feb 2020 | 30: Big agencies vs small agencies with Kerry O'Connor | 00:56:52 | |
This week we’ve rowed up the Thames with a wine-laced bait to catch Kerry O’Connor, Co-Founder at Tonic Creative Business Partners. Kerry has many specialities, including marketing strategy, PR, and belting out power ballads to huge crowds for charitable causes. She’s mostly worked agency-side for the likes of Ogilvy, Publicis, Imagination and Dragon Rouge, yet also has client-side chops from a stint with what is now Virgin Media.
She talks to us on a vast array of information nuggets, including: working at Ogilvy (where accounts included Ford and IBM), overcoming stigma to get into the industry, big agencies Vs small agencies, client side Vs agency side, business development & strategy, positioning, the pitch process, defining growth and singing as part of a Queen tribute act in the Islington Assembly Hall to over 900 people! There’s so much packed in, it’s a veritable sardine can of an episode. Enjoy. ///// Follow Kerry on LinkedIn Tonic’s LinkedIn Page Tonic's website Book Recommendation: The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz ///// | |||
| 21 Feb 2020 | 31: What makes a good comedy actor with West End and Broadway star of The Play That Goes Wrong, Charlie Russell | 01:13:35 | |
We’ve lurked by the theatre stage door this week to catch Charlie Russell; the West End and Broadway star of the smash hit show, The Play That Goes Wrong. Together with her long-standing friends in the Mischief Theatre company, she has appeared in a hit parade of great shows, including The Comedy About A Bank Robbery and Groan Ups, while Mischief Comedy have recently aired their first TV show on the BBC; The Goes Wrong Show.
Charlie talks to us on a huge repertoire of subjects; getting into drama school, the beginnings of Mischief Theatre, how Improv theatre works, what makes a good comedy actor, how pain is integral to great comedy, the difference between performing on TV and theatre, taking the show to Broadway, and what it was like to meet and work with the Hollywood director JJ Abrams. So, exit stage left pursued by a bear and go listen. ///// You can follow her on Twitter. And check out all the Mischief Theatre shows.
And the BBC’s The Goes Wrong Show.
Which is now available on Amazon.
Her agent is Chloe Brayfield at AHA (Amanda Howard Associates).
She has also appeared on Griefcast.
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things by Jon McGregor
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë
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| 06 Mar 2020 | 32: Decoded author Phil Barden with some unmissable insight for brand managers | 01:07:41 | |
This week we’ve muscled past the marketing mafia to shakedown the Don of decision science; Phil Barden. His client-side chops cover working for T-Mobile, Unilever and Diageo, until a run-in with two Germans and a flash mob flung him headfirst into the world of neuroscience and understanding human behaviour. As MD at decision science consultancy DECODE Marketing, he’s written 'Decoded: The Science Behind Why We Buy', a best-seller with stacks of praise from the likes of Rory Sutherland.
Phil gives us the lowdown on why he got into decision science, Tropicana’s failed redesign, the emotional side of Cillit Bang, scoffing Jaffa Cakes straight off the production line and tonnes more. There’s unmissable insight for brand
/////
Follow Phil on Twitter.
And on LinkedIn.
Or drop him a line.
And check out DECODE Marketing.
Decoded – The Science Behind Why We Buy by Phil Barden.
The Blogfather sunk his teeth into the Mouldy Whopper debate last week with help from Phil’s WARC article on the putrid patties.
Book Recommendations:
How Emotions Are Made by Lisa Feldman Barrett
Copy, Copy, Copy by Mark Earls
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| 20 Mar 2020 | 33: From selling blouses on Petticoat Lane to consulting brands like British Airways & Ford, Nicole Yershon is someone to listen to. | 00:59:57 | |
This week we’ve landed in the docklands of London to catch the baby-faced assassin and CEO of NY Collective, Nicole Yershon, who ignites fires of change consulting huge brands like Ford, British Airways and Pizza Hut.
Heralded by The Drum as one of the 25 most influential women in the British digital industry over the last 25 years, she talks to us about her early career and how she went from selling blouses from a stall on Petticoat Lane to working with industry legend Dave Trott at GGT.
But that’s not all. She also dives into her time at Ogilvy & Mather and a rather ingenious way of generating R&D budget for their London Digital Innovation Lab that involved pimping out Rory Sutherland, her Fearless Manifesto, the work of The NY Collective, her best-selling Amazon book Rough Diamond and a whole lot more.
///// Follow Nicole on LinkedIn. On Twitter.
On Facebook.
And on Instagram.
Find out all about the NY Collective.
And Nicole’s best-selling book.
Book Recommendations: 21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari
One Plus One Equals Three, Creative Blindness, Predatory Thinking and Creative Mischief by Dave Trott
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| 03 Apr 2020 | 34: Former Viz Cartoonist Nick Parker on helping brands like PwC & Spotify define their Tone of Voice. | 01:02:14 | |
This week we’ve laid bait of tempting language to snare the exceptionally talented writer and founder of the language strategy agency That Explains Things, Nick Parker.
A one-time creative director, magazine editor, keynote speaker, children’s book author, Viz cartoonist and crystallised-piss-on-door-hinges remover, Nick now helps fellow copywriters, agencies and brands like BT, PWC, Tesco and Spotify define brand tone of voice.
He talks to us on a treasure trove of topics, including his first paid job creating a cartoon strip for Viz, tips for writing, useful words, authoring child fiction, how to define tone of voice, how to run a good workshop and more. You’d be a fool not to let us bend your ear ‘ere.
///// Follow Nick on LinkedIn. And his ‘find your own tone of voice’ kit, Voicebox.
And Nick's book The Exploding Boy and Other Tiny Tales.
Book Recommendations: Made to Stick by Chip & Dan Heath | |||
| 17 Apr 2020 | 35: Thinking of making a move from figure skating to strategic consultancy? Then you need to listen to Liana Dinghile | 00:56:08 | |
We’ve cut a cheeky round hole in the ice to catch former figure skater and strategic consultant and business leader Liana Dinghile, this week.
A proud Londoner with a mix of Sicilian and Scottish heritage, Liana works with Tonic Creative Business Partners, having previously been at Siegel + Gale and Dragon Rouge. She has helped guide some of the world’s most successful organisations, working with the likes of Bayer, Sainsbury’s, British Airways and Hewlett Packard.
She talks to us on her early career as a figure skater, how she got into the industry with TUI, making the move from client to agency side, what makes a good strategy and examples of brands that nail it, positive work cultures, her love and knowledge of wine, and barrels more.
///// Follow Liana on LinkedIn And her agency, Tonic
Here is Tonic’s website
Liana is also a member of the BIMA Mentoring Council
Book Recommendations: Laws of Simplicity by John Maeda Rise by Gina Miller ///// | |||
| 01 May 2020 | 36: Ten principles of customer experience to follow with Matt Watkinson | 01:11:46 | |
We’ve masqueraded as a waiter with dreams of Hollywood this week to catch LA’s finest CX designer Matt Watkinson.
Matt is co-founder and CEO of Methodical and an internationally renowned author, speaker, and consultant on customer experience and business strategy, speaking at events for the likes of Microsoft, Salesforce, American Express, and the FBI. His first book, The Ten Principles Behind Great Customer Experiences, won CMI’s Management Book of the Year, and his second book, The Grid, was shortlisted for 2019’s Management Book of the Year. He talks to us on his very unique early career path (he has never actually been employed), how designing an award-winning website for Argos launched him into the UX and ultimately the CX stratosphere, 10 CX principles to follow, his books, his frustrated dreams of being a pianist and so much more. Go gorge and enjoy. ///// Follow Matt on LinkedIn. And on Twitter.
Here is Methodical’s website.
Watch Matt's COVID-19 Business Battle Plan and support ISOLATEDTalks.com. Matt has written two books:
Book Recommendations: Thinking in Systems by Donella H. Meadows The Nature of Technology by W. Brian Arthur Financial Intelligence by Karen Berman Mastery by Robert Greene ///// | |||
| 15 May 2020 | 37: Listen to Richard Chataway reveal a great Behavioural Science idea from Norwich City F.C. | 01:07:10 | |
We’ve laid an intricate trap of clever beer and wine based nudges this week to catch Richard Chataway, Vice President of the BVA Nudge Unit UK, founder of the Communication Science Group (CSG) and quite simply one of the most talented behavioural science practitioners in the world.
He chats away (sorry) on a load of topics, including an early temping job at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists’s examinations (written, ahem) department, direct marketing, behavioural science and how it can help in the Coronavirus crisis, the writing of his new book ‘The Behaviour Business’, his past roles for the UK and Australian governments, ethical issues around nudging and tonnes more interesting stuff. And his passion for Ipswich Town.
Go listen now and discover why stellar brands like IKEA, Google, Sainsbury’s and Starbucks have looked to him for behavioural science guidance.
///// Follow Richard on LinkedIn. And on Twitter.
Here is the Communication Science Group’s website.
And the BVA Nudge Unit website.
Here is his book, The Behaviour Business.
Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely
Decoded by Phil Barden
The Art of Choosing by Sheena Iyengar
Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
Where Did It All Go Wrong by Eaon Pritchard
The Choice Factory by Richard Shotton
/////
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| 29 May 2020 | 38: What the world of medicine can teach marketing with Delusions of Brandeur author Ryan Wallman | 00:40:14 | |
An internationally acclaimed copywriter and author who is partial to some wolf nipple chips (who isn’t?), Ryan Wallman is Creative Director and Head of Copy for Wellmark, a Melbourne-based creative agency specialising in healthcare.
He has written for numerous industry publications, including Marketing Week, and is a co-author of the bestselling marketing book Eat Your Greens. More recently, Ryan smashed out his own masterpiece; The Drum Roses award-winning satirical scalpel that is Delusions of Brandeur; a hilarious, piss-taking how-not-to-guide for getting on in the marketing industry.
Praise for the book has been knockout:
“I love this book. Anything I spend my time on, I either have to learn something or be entertained, with this book I get both.” – Dave Trott
“Not only is this a marvellous book – but no one but Dr. Wallman could have written it.” – Rory Sutherland
Ryan chirps to us on the origins of Delusions of Brandeur, rumours of a sequel, what the world of medicine can teach marketing, the work of the Wellmark agency and the vital role Twitter played in his career change. His claims of being a world-class whistler are also put firmly to the test. Get your ears out and listen.
///// Follow Ryan on LinkedIn. And on Twitter.
Here is his agency Wellmark’s website.
Check out his book, Delusions of Brandeur, including some top merch and a Monty Python inspired video of supreme silliness.
The ISOLATED Talk from Gem Higgins.
The Choice Factory by Richard Shotton
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| 12 Jun 2020 | 39: A masterclass in measuring and managing distinctive brand assets with Jenni Romaniuk, Associate Director at the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute | 01:02:01 | |
We’ve cast a net off the coast of Adelaide this week to catch one of the globe’s greatest researchers and Sci-Fi fans, Jenni Romaniuk. Jenni is Research Professor and Associate Director (International) at that conveyor belt of marketing stars, the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, where she has advised many of the world’s biggest brands.
She is the author of two must-read books; Building Distinctive Brand Assets and How Brands Grow Part 2, co-authoring the latter with industry legend Professor Byron Sharp, as well as being an engaging and entertaining keynote speaker at global industry conferences.
She chinwags to us on her first job as a talented mixologist in a football club bar making fruit cups, her two books, how to build mental availability, best practices for managing and measuring distinctive brand assets, and tonnes more. You’d be a fool not to fill your ear canals up.
///// Follow Jenni on LinkedIn. Check out her books: Building Distinctive Brand Assets and How Brands Grow Part 2.
Here is the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute’s website.
Book Recommendation:
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| 26 Jun 2020 | 40: How businesses can measure and monitor happiness with Friday Pulse founder Nic Marks | 00:53:04 | |
We’ve laid down lures of cool Friday drinks to catch the ‘Pharrell Williams’ of statistics; happiness expert Nic Marks.
Nic is the CEO and Founder of Friday Pulse, helping organisations understand employee wellbeing, as well as being a leading statistician and TED speaker, and is arguably best known for his work in creating The Happy Planet Index; the first global measure of sustainable well-being. He’s worked with The British Government and The Kingdom of Bhutan and has been featured in publications including The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian and Wired. He talks to us on the drivers of happiness, how businesses can measure and monitor happiness, Aristotle, shining toilet brass, tips for managing teams during the pandemic, how to have a good Zoom call, neuroscience and loads more. It’s packed like a pandemic second date picnic hamper (too soon?) so go consume until your ears are content. ///// Follow Nic on LinkedIn And on Twitter
Check out his personal website
And the website for Friday Pulse which helps companies measure happiness, and is free for all organisations with under 1000 employees during the COVID-19 crisis.
Nic’s book recommendations are:
21 Letters on Life and its Challenges by Charles Handy
Becoming Myself & Love’s Executioner by Irvin D. Yalom
The Strange Order of Things by Antonio Damasio
Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
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| 10 Jul 2020 | 41: What the business leader learnt from the stripper with entrepreneur and former burlesque dancer Paulina Tenner | 00:45:00 | |
We’ve lurked in the wings of the Café De Paris, Piccadilly to catch the hugely successful entrepreneur and former burlesque dancer Paulina Tenner this week.
Paulina is the founder of Grant Tree, an open culture company that pioneered an open salary scheme to help tech start-ups navigate the complex world of government funding.
She talks to us on her ‘vomit edit’ writing process for her new book; ‘What the Business Leader Learnt From the Stripper’, Open Culture and Holacracy, how she got into burlesque and what it brought to her business chops, why today’s leaders need to be more of a C.U.N.T., blagging a position as a company director when barely out of UCL and tonnes more. Put your fishnets on, boys and girls, and have a listen.
///// Follow Paulina on LinkedIn On Twitter And she’s also on Instagram Here is her website & book And her ISOLATED Talk Watch Freddie Mercury and Queen perform The Show Must Go On Paulina’s book recommendations are: Reinventing Organisations by Frederic Laloux In Over Our Heads by Robert Kegan ///// | |||
| 24 Jul 2020 | 42: Find out why the Queen of GIFs & talented writer, Gem Higgins, is the marketing industry's cheerleader. | 00:51:59 | |
We’ve lurked stage left disguised as a Victorian wench to nab musical theatre fan and exceptionally talented writer gem Higgins this week.
A creative problem solver and a strong mental health advocate, gem rules ‘The Twitters’ with her unrivaled gift of creating the perfect GIF for any moment. She can also read an entire book in one bath soak (one can only imagine how wrinkly she would get if she took War & Peace into the tub).
She talks to us on the inspiration behind her hugely popular ‘Sit Fucking Still’ donation to the ISOLATED Talks fundraising campaign, paper cutting as an artistic medium, Twitter as a community, her mental health and dealing with exceptionally tough times, the writing process, papier-mâché turds, how shit Slack is and so much more. So run a nice hot bath, listen, get wrinkly, and enjoy.
///// Follow gem on LinkedIn On the Twitters
And Instagram
Here is her Medium profile
And her ISOLATED Talk
Check out her website
Where you can specifically see how she likes to stick googly eyes on things
gem’s book recommendations are:
Consider This by Chuck Palahniuk
Unleash the Power of Puerility by Mark Denton
The Cost of Living & Hot Milk, both by Deborah Levy
The Lonely City by Olivia Laing
Once More We Saw Stars by Jayson Greene
Rootbound by Alice Vincent
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| 07 Aug 2020 | 43: One half of the Wellness & Leadership power couple Alex Jamieson and Bob Gower has been Oscar-nominated. Find out who. | 00:59:22 | |
This episode is a Call to Action first as we’ve landed a supersized bumper catch; the power couple Alex Jamieson & Bob Gower.
Alex was one of the co-creators and co-stars of the Oscar-nominated documentary Super Size Me, and is also the best-selling author of 5 books, a highly-sought-after wellness expert and success mentor, and has also been interviewed by Oprah.
Bob is the amazing author of Agile Business: A Leader’s Guide to Harnessing Complexity, as well as an in-demand speaker and consultant, working with leaders at huge multinationals like Chanel, Ericsson, and Ford. They talk to us on their early careers, how they met, their new book Radical Alignment, what it was like to work together, the writing process, behavioural change work with people and organisations, their All-In Method, and more.
/////
Check out Alex & Bob’s book Radical Alignment (out August 11th)
And the Radical Alignment website
Read more on John Gottman's Four Horsemen
Alex and Bob's book recommendations are:
The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron
Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss
Systemantics by John Gall
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| 21 Aug 2020 | 44: Brush up on your Survival Skills for Freelancers with copywriter Sarah Townsend | 00:52:18 | |
This week, armed with a first-aid kit and copy of Bushcraft 101 we head through the hinterlands of Gloucestershire to catch Sarah Townsend for a chinwag.
As a freelance copywriter, Sarah has over 20 years’ experience traversing the tumultuous territory of self-employment and now she’s written the book on it. Boasting over 100 5-star Amazon reviews, Survival Skills for Freelancers provides practical advice on the nuts and bolts of freelance work.
She chats to us on a load of topics, including the struggles of freelancing before (and after) social media, how to avoid isolation, burnout, the dreaded ‘comparisonitis’, the importance of boundaries, tips for working from home and tonnes more. Plus, there’s talk of copywriters who charge by the word and how a tomato could be your secret productivity weapon.
Pause Man vs Wild, fire up the Trangia and enjoy.
///// Follow Sarah on Twitter
And LinkedIn
Here’s her book Survival Skills for Freelancers
Pick up a copy on Amazon
Check out Sarah's copywriting website and sign up for her newsletter
Sarah’s book recommendation is:
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| 04 Sep 2020 | 45: Nailing your diversity strategy with ad land's most disruptive Diversity Officer, Doug Melville | 00:59:04 | |
This week we’ve trawled and traversed all 50 US states in a 27-foot-long hot dog to catch former male cheerleader, Assistant Tour Manager to Britney Spears, mentee of Magic Johnson & ad land’s most diverse and disruptive Diversity Officer; Doug Melville.
Another chapter of his remarkable CV tells us that as the first-ever Chief Diversity Officer of TBWA\North America, Doug has driven TBWA’s supplier diversity efforts to over $250 million in spend with female and diversely owned-and-operated businesses in the creative space…and still found time to interview Snoop Dogg.
He talks to us on that giant wiener (!!), studying at the University of Magic Johnson, touring with the Princess of Pop, nailing your diversity strategy, valuing progress over PR, how brands can take a stance on social issues, and loads more.
Anyone who simply wants their company or agency to produce better, more diverse work should bend their ear hither now. ///// Check out his diversity platform One Sandbox
And delve into any of his 3 brilliant TEDx Talks:
And why not? Here’s Britney’s ...Baby One More Time
Doug’s book recommendation is:
Think And Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
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| 18 Sep 2020 | 46: One of advertising's biggest fish, George Tannenbaum, vents eloquent fire on the state of the industry [Part 1 of 2] | 00:40:17 | |
We’ve pulled a network agency worm out of the Big Apple and used it as topic-bait to catch one of advertising’s biggest fish this week; the one and only George Tannenbaum. One of the most highly awarded, revered and talented copywriters and creative directors on the planet, George is a freelancer who was previously Executive Creative Director and Copy Chief at Ogilvy for over 10 years.
George has worked with huge brands like IBM, Boeing, PayPal, and General Motors, writes a hugely influential marketing blog called Ad Aged, and has a charming if alarmingly deluded French alter ego called ‘Le Agency Holding Company CEO’ who holds up a satirical mirror to the holding company era.
Listen to George chat and vent eloquent fire on a variety of subjects such as his family’s settlement in the U.S, his early career, working and learning from Ron Rosenfeld and Len Sirowitz, the NY agency scene in the 80s and 90s, what the industry has become, ageism, his time at Ogilvy, why he hates the Yankees, and tonnes more. So much more, that this is the first of a two-parter.
And the whole thing kicks off with an unmissable cameo from Le Agency Holding Company CEO. So what you waiting for? Go listen.
///// Follow George and Le Agency Holding Company CEO on LinkedIn George is on Twitter
Here is his Ad Aged Blog
And his Website
George’s book recommendations:
The Saddest Words by Michael Gorra And the rest will be in Part 2, so be sure to listen in 😉 ///// | |||
| 02 Oct 2020 | 47: How to write a good headline with one of the most highly awarded copywriters on the planet George Tannenbaum [Part 2 of 2] | 00:44:03 | |
They say you should leave an audience wanting more, but sod that, as this week we are giving you a huge double helping of more, as it is part 2 of our chat with George Tannenbaum.
One of the most highly awarded, revered and talented copywriters and creative directors on the planet, George is a freelancer who was previously Executive Creative Director and Copy Chief at Ogilvy for over 10 years, and has worked with huge brands like IBM, Boeing, PayPal and General Motors.
Allow your ears to be bent by George’s blissful yet biting NY tones, as he talks on subjects such as the state of copywriting, what he would do if he was Joe Biden, rediscovering his love for advertising, what he would banish from the industry, his time at Ogilvy including his last assignment working on the Boeing account, clickbait and how to write a good headline and more. Go tune in, you lucky, lucky people.
Oh. And that’s not to mention a perfectly timed comedic cameo from his wife.
///// Follow George and Le Agency Holding Company CEO on LinkedIn George is on Twitter
Here is his Ad Aged Blog
And his Website
George’s book recommendations:
The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
Caste by Isabel Wilkerson
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| 16 Oct 2020 | 48: "Should ads be more expensive?" with Andrew Spurrier-Dawes | 00:52:52 | |
This week, we fired up the big screen and laid bait of a reminiscing watch of Wales’ glorious 3 – 1 Euro 2016 victory over Belgium to catch the best thing since sliced Bara-Brith; MediaCom’s Global Digital Director, Andrew Spurrier-Dawes.
Arguably Wales’ finest export since Huw Edwards, ASD has worked with stellar brands like Mars, Sky, Tesco and eBay. Described by Rory Sutherland as ‘MediaCom’s polymath’, he still finds time to be an IronMan, Campaign 30 Under 30 winner, co-host of two successful podcasts, keen photographer and family man.
He talks to us on missing a McDonald’s armed robbery by 30 seconds, why his first boss called him a c*nt, why ads should be more expensive, advice for onboarding clients, why the internet is f*cked, clicks, China, his struggles with mental health, and loads more. You’d be a fool not to fill your ear canals up. Iechyd da.
///// Follow ASD on Twitter He also co-hosts two successful podcasts; Connected, where he talks to the greatest names in marketing, technology and beyond, and Echoes of Glory, a podcast dedicated to Tottenham Hotspur
ASD’s book recommendations are: 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene The Hero with A Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell Undisputed Truth: My Autobiography by Mike Tyson Sweat the Technique by Rakim ///// | |||
| 30 Oct 2020 | 49: Why the smartest people ask stupid questions with strategist Zoe Scaman | 01:01:47 | |
Wielding a witch’s wand, we hot-footed aboard the Hogwarts Express for a magical chat with Founder of Bodacious and strategy’s own Severus Snape, Zoe Scaman, this week.
Zoe’s love for sci-fi and strategy has sent her searching around the world for the next shiny thing, working for the likes of Droga5, Ridley Scott Creative Group, and Adidas. She’s developed a TV series for a huge fashion label, branded a celebrity or two, and is the go-to-guru for expertise on brand planning and entertainment strategy.
In this episode, she adds magic and mojo to topics like avoiding university, Sydney’s strategy scene, PPC for porn sites, agencies ‘sausage factory’ problem, world-building and what-if planning, fetishizing frameworks, why the smartest people ask stupid questions, and a treasure trove more.
And check out her Substack
Here’s Bodacious
Her out of this world ISOLATED Talk
And her article on breaking our non-fiction addiction
Zoe’s book recommendations are:
Hollowpox Trilogy by Jessica Townsend
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
Daring Greatly by Brené Brown
Dare to Lead by Brené Brown
Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
Uprooted by Naomi Novik
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
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| 13 Nov 2020 | 50: Stories from 19 years at JWT with Shekhar Deshpande, Head of Strategy at Meta | 00:57:48 | |
This week, marking our Half Century 50th episode (not out), we’ve caught and bowled Facebook’s Head of Strategy, and cricketer, Shekhar Deshpande.
One of the world’s great strategists, Shekhar spent nearly two decades at the creative agency J Walter Thompson, across Bangalore and London, prior to joining Facebook. He’s had work awarded at Cannes, performed judging duties for the Effies, and worked with clients including Nike, Unilever, Shell, Diageo and Mondelez.
Shekhar shares stories of his 19 years at JWT, running away from and towards things, how a cricket match in Guildford helped change his life, working at Facebook, the importance of expressing your feelings and the future of strategy.
If that wasn’t enough, in the final over, he knocks us for 6 with career advice from Calvin & Hobbes, delivers a glorious googly on why he detests pitches, and loads more. Howzat?
And on Twitter
Watch ‘Being the Best Strategist You Can Be’ on ISOLATED Talks
Here’s his WARC article on the Future of Strategy
Shekhar’s book recommendations are:
Roots by Alex Haley
The Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan
Illusions by Richard Bach
Born a Crime by Richard Noah (Audiobook)
We Need to Talk About the British Empire by Afua Hirsch (Podcast)
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| 27 Nov 2020 | 51: The story behind the world’s most boring advert for a sex toy client with Halo co-founder Nick Ellis | 01:16:12 | |
This week, armed with the promise of sex and drugs and How Brands Grow, we’ve waded our way through gaggles of groupies to catch ex-rock star, pitch addict and award winning creative, Nick Ellis.
A respected strategic thinker and pre-watershed sex toy advert pioneer, Nick is Creative Partner & Co-Founder of Halo, a Design Week UK Top 100 independent brand agency based in Bristol. He has over 20 years’ experience working on significant global projects for clients including Jack Daniel’s, SEAT, BT, Live Nation, Ticketmaster, and Diageo.
He talks to us on his failed career as a rock star, running an agency, why he’s ashamed of his “womb room”, tips on creative briefing, the importance of account management, making the world’s most boring advert for a sex toy client and loads more. Tune up, plug in and enjoy.
///// Follow Nick on Twitter And on LinkedIn
Check out his agency Halo
Watch Wow How Now: A Creative Pitch Technique on ISOLATED Talks
And check out the slides from his ZeeMelt talk on Account Management
Hovering Art Directors on Tumblr Nick’s book recommendations are:
How Brands Grow by Byron Sharp
Paid Attention by Faris Yakob
Delusions of Brandeur by Ryan Wallman
Strategy is Your Words by Mark Pollard
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Slade House by David Mitchell
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| 11 Dec 2020 | 52: How Gillian Rightford is ridding the world of bad advertising | 00:50:45 | |
We’ve laid the Table (Mountain) with a bountiful Binet and Field feast to snare Cape Town’s creativity champion and industry agony aunt, Gillian Rightford, this week.
Gillian is Founder of Adtherapy, a management, skills development and communication consultancy ridding the world of bad ads using her simple equation; Better skills = better relationships = better results. Previously, Gillian honed her craft at agencies across South Africa, culminating in an impressive stint as Group Managing Director at Lowe Bull.
In this episode, we tuck into tasty topics like why loads of creative work is so mediocre, tips for marketers and agencies to get the best out of each other, the Bill she can’t live without (clue: it’s either Bernbach or tong?), the importance of account leadership, creativity, risk, cats, astrology and loads more. Go forth and gorge.
And on LinkedIn
Check out Adtherapy
Watch The Cracks in Things Let the Light Shine In on ISOLATED Talks
And here's her talk from Nedbank
Gillian’s book recommendations are:
Anything from the BBH World Cup of Advertising Books
The Choice Factory by Richard Shotton
Drive by Daniel Pink
Madison Avenue Manslaughter by Michael Farmer
Delusions of Brandeur by Ryan Wallman
Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
Predatory Thinking by Dave Trott
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| 08 Jan 2021 | 53: How to design for accessibility with Tommy Mason | 00:38:53 | |
This week, by order of the Peaky Blinders, we’ve slipped into Small Heath and taken up a table at The Garrison to catch the best Brummie Tommy since Tommy Shelby, Tommy Mason.
An exceptionally talented designer, Tommy is Founder and Lead Designer of Studio Mason, a digital and branding studio based in Birmingham. An experienced creative specialising in UX, UI and branding, he was nominated for The Drum’s Young Designer of the Year 2018, and more recently nabbed himself one of their Chip Shop Awards.
Tommy talks to us on tonnes of topics, including doing a design apprenticeship, function over form, designing for accessibility, going freelance, why self-branding is b*llocks, the creative scene in Brum and a whole lot more.
///// Follow Tommy on Twitter
And on Instagram
Check out Studio Mason
Here are the Accessibility Tools mentioned
Tommy’s recommendations are:
Interface Lovers Magazine
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| 22 Jan 2021 | 54: An exclusive look at the controversial Castlin Manifesto with JP Castlin | 01:13:39 | |
This week we’ve laid bait of fried chicken and Guinness to snare the recently rebranded Stockholm strategist who now has a new name and manifesto, JP Castlin.
JP is an independent strategy and complexity management consultant who shares his views on strategy in Marketing Week, The Drum, the IPA’s EffWorks, his own no-nonsense talks across the globe, and his hugely popular annual manifestos.
The imminently available Castlin Manifesto promises to be more provocative than ever, so we’re first in line to fill our plate and stuff our faces with a scintillating smorgasbord of JP’s most controversial opinions.
We tuck into deliberate and emergent strategy, why context is king, complexity theory, experimenting, marketing in “praxis”, A/B testing and porn, the effectiveness shaped elephant in the room, challenging context-free rules in a context specific world and loads more.
///// Follow JP on Twitter
Listen to his first Call to Action episode here
Catch Chapter 1 of the Castlin Manifesto on ISOLATED Talks
JP dedicates this episode to the magnificent Murray Calder:“As good as he is a marketer, he’s an even better person.” Follow Murray on Twitter too.
JP is offering Call to Action listeners the Castlin Manifesto for absolutely nada. Simply email hello@rouser.se and ask nicely. It won’t be free forever, so get your grubby paws on it pronto.
JP’s book recommendations are:
The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning by Henry Mintzberg
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| 05 Feb 2021 | 55: Learning how to fail with Harriet Minter, founder of The Guardian's Women in Leadership section | 01:03:45 | |
We’ve gone all in with a pair of Jacks to bluff and catch journalist and broadcaster Harriet Minter this week.
Harriet is an expert in female leadership, working from home and accidental autoerotic asphyxiation. After a hugely successful stint at The Guardian, founding a first-of-its-kind Women in Leadership editorial section, Harriet’s latest foray into writing, Working from Home: How to Build a Career you Love Outside the Office, is a bullshit-free guide to the new flexible workplace.
We up the ante and chat on her first (and worst) job at The Lemon Tree café, ditching university for Ocean Road, working at The Guardian, finding a safe space to fail, winning a £15,000 handbag in a poker tournament, managing remote teams, proceeding until apprehended and loads more.
///// Make sure to pre-order Harriet’s book here
And watch both her brilliant TEDx Talks; What yoga taught me about business, bravery & bras and Proceed until apprehended
Harriet’s book recommendations are:
When the Body Says No by Dr Gabor Maté
The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk
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| 19 Feb 2021 | 56: Why ROI is rubbish with top data dog Andrew Willshire | 01:02:35 | |
We lurked in the waters of Loch Lomond to catch Strathclyde’s top dog in data for a natter; independent analytics consultant, Andrew Willshire.
Andrew is the Founder of Diametrical, a Strategic Analytics Consultancy. He has over a decade of experience in media analytics and his expertise includes marketing mix modelling, media optimisation, segmentation and market analysis.
This pod is packed with nuggets of golden insight as Andrew talks to us on his work with JP Castlin (and their argument over mint sauce), the state of analytics in media, data problems in The Long and the Short of it, murky metrics on Facebook, why ROI stinks, Christopher Nolan, Franz Ferdinand, Ferrari, and lots more.
///// Follow Andrew on Twitter
Check out Diametrical
And enjoy his Marketing Week articles
ROI is Dead: Now Bury It by Tim Ambler
If Russ Ackoff had given a TED Talk video
Remember, JP is offering Call to Action listeners the Castlin Manifesto for nothing. Just email hello@rouser.se and ask nicely.
Andrew’s book recommendations are:
How to Measure Anything by Douglas W. Hubbard
Management F-laws by Russel L. Ackoff & Herbert J. Addison
Everything Is Obvious: Once You Know the Answer by Duncan J. Watts
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| 05 Mar 2021 | 57: "Is advertising in danger of becoming a hobby for rich people's children?" with strategist Will Humphrey | 01:01:10 | |
This week we’ve laid bait of a pint and picture round to snare sharp thinker, pub quizzer and Strategy Director at Wunderman Thompson, Will Humphrey.
A lifelong problem solver with experience across Advertising, PR, CRM and Digital, he’s devised award-winning strategies for the likes of O2, Budweiser, NatWest and Land Rover and is a huge advocate for mentoring junior folk in the industry.
He talks to us on a treasure trove of topics including ad land as a walled garden, binding machines and nappies, asking Londoners to find Coventry on a map, empathy, educated guessing, planning from within, what’s special about Robbie Earnshaw, hippos, custard creams and lots more. You’d be a fool not to let us bend your ear ‘ere.
///// Here's his advice for junior strategists/planners
And keep an eye out for future Getting In & Getting On events
Will proudly dedicates his episode to @sarahspoon, give her a follow too
Will’s book recommendations are:
The Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan
Saki, The Complete Short Stories by H. Munro
Viral Marketing: The Science of Sharing by Karen Nelson-Field
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| 19 Mar 2021 | 58: "Research is creative as much as it is scientific" with Planning Director Sarah Benson | 00:52:39 | |
We’ve taken cover in the jungle and laid bait of some intriguing research in the wild to snare planner, pattern spotter and people watcher, Sarah Benson, this week.
Currently a Senior Planner at adam&eveDDB, Sarah is an exceptionally talented strategic mind with 12 years’ experience making telly ads, creating brands and finding out what people really think.
She chats to us on being fired from her first job at IKEA, tackling industry biases, why planners should pay attention to the mundane, pattern spotting, research in the wild, cracking on, hard pants and lots more. Plus, a bonus pitch story of power, corruption and blueberry cheesecake.
///// Follow Sarah on Twitter Sarah proudly dedicates this episode to @izzihays, give them a follow too
Check out her film recommendation The Florida Project
Sarah’s book recommendations are:
The Optimists Telescope by Bina Venkataraman
Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino
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| 02 Apr 2021 | 59: Red Bull alumni & Formula 1 social media pioneer David Granger on his days in the Paddock | 00:52:52 | |
It’s lights out and we’re off with Red Bull Racing alumni, David Granger, in the driver’s seat, this week.
David got his wings managing the international digital and social strategy for Red Bull, its Formula One teams and for companies in aviation, fashion and music including the Wu-Tang Clan.
So protect ya neck as David brings da ruckus on reading ‘F1 for Dummies’ (twice) before joining Red Bull Racing, pissing off Fernando Alonso, owing his career to Leo Sayer, taking pole position ahead of other F1 teams on the socials and using it to deal with feuding fans…badly. Oh, and after a quick pit stop to chat AR in sports, find out what Giles really thinks of Pokémon Go.
///// Follow David on Twitter
You can enjoy his columns for iSPORTCONNECT on Medium
And David proudly dedicates this episode to Katherine Chan
David’s book recommendation is:
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| 16 Apr 2021 | 60: The story behind the Mouldy Whopper with Fernando Machado, ex-Burger King CMO | 00:39:43 | |
We’ve posed as a jester in the throne room of the Burger Kingdom to nab the recently abdicated and most influential CMO and brand genius in the industry; the mind behind the Mouldy Whopper, Fernando Machado.
A global marketer with enough Lions to rival Joe Exotic, Fernando has recently tucked into a new role as CMO at Activision Blizzard. At the time of recording, Fer was CMO at Restaurant Brands International, serving up great creative work for Burger King, Popeyes and Tim Hortons.
So, pull up to the next window and pick-up Fer’s final flame-grilled interview* pre-abdicating. We chat on his obsession with creativity, how to make the case for creativity, the role of the CMO, why Mouldy Whopper was never a risk, brand heritage, cancel culture, Bill Bernbach, Dads in Briefs and the cliff divers of Acapulco.
Do you want fries with that?
*probably
///// Follow Fernando on Twitter
Check out The One Club for Creativity
BGH Air Conditioners: Dads in Briefs
Fernando’s book recommendations are:
Bill Bernbach's Book by Bob Levenson
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| 30 Apr 2021 | 61: Getting creatives to talk about mental health with Laurel Stark Akman, Creative Director at The Sims | 00:58:34 | |
We snuck aboard a streetcar and cruised down Castro Street to catch the Bay Area’s finest Creative Director and Pitch 100 Superwoman, Laurel Stark Akman, this week.
Laurel leads creative marketing efforts for The Sims at EA and is the mind (and heart) behind “world changing” and “industry bettering” work, including mental health initiative, Our Silent Partner, and diversity boosting portfolio competition, Next Creative Leaders.
She adds smarts and sass to tons of topics including going to ad school to make her right-brained parents happy, why thrashing in the undergrowth makes you a better creative, her own mental health journey, finding her voice, creating a space for the parts of her the industry didn’t celebrate, mentorship matchmaking and lots more.
///// Check out her website
Sign up for Mentorship Matchmaking
And go support Laurel’s brilliant initiatives, Our Silent Partner and Next Creative Leaders
If you are interested in shadow work, have a look at:
Laurel’s article for The Rosie Report
Pick Me by Nancy Vonk and Janet Kestin
Darling, You Can’t Do Both by Janet Kestin and Nancy Vonk
Herding Tigers by Todd Henry
Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May
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| 14 May 2021 | 62: How to write a creative brief you love with Richard Huntington, CSO at Saatchi & Saatchi | 00:56:40 | |
This week we’ve cast a spell to catch one of the most talented strategists in
A high-octane brand strategist, Richard has been leading his merry band of creatives and hobbits to the edge of The Shire for nearly 30 years. Richard is currently Chairman, Chief Strategy Officer, and part of the furniture at Saatchi & Saatchi.
He talks to us on being interesting versus being right, the lost art of salesmanship, why you must join a choir, wild swimming, how buying a dog grooming magazine will make you a better strategist, and finally, if there really is one brief template to rule them all.
You’d be a fool of a Took not to fill your ear canals up.
///// Follow Richard on Twitter
Here’s his blog, Adliterate
Richard kindly dedicates this episode to Marie Benton so make sure to check out the wonderful work of The Choir with No Name
Richard’s book recommendation is:
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| 28 May 2021 | 63: Why everyone hates marketers according to one of the most maverick marketers on the planet, Louis Grenier | 00:58:13 | |
This week we’re leading the frontline charge against marketing B.S. by catching and conscribing the fiery Frenchman and frère from another mère, Louis Grenier.
Quite simply one of the most maverick marketers on the planet, Louis’ mega-successful marketing podcast, Everyone Hates Marketers, has over 1 million downloads and interviews industry giants like Seth Godin and Mark Ritson.
Lend us your ears for a riotous rendezvous on why everyone really hates marketers, being radically different, how to up your Tinder game, the problem with looking at your own belly button, misquoting Richard Shotton, psychographics, and a bike shed load more. Plus, find out what on earth Marcelo Bielsa and Daft Punk have in common.
///// You can follow Louis on Twitter
Learn to stand the f*ck out by signing up for his newsletter
Listen to his podcast Everyone Hates Marketers (after this one, of course)
Watch Louis’ talk for The Marketing Meetup
And here’s what Russell Davies has to say about “bikeshedding”
Louis’ book recommendations are:
Purple Cow by Seth Godin
ZAG by Marty Neumeier
Different by Youngme Moon
Eat Your Greens by Wiemer Snijders
How Brands Grow by Byron Sharp
Building Distinctive Brand Assets by Jenni Romaniuk
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| 11 Jun 2021 | 64: Why a good craftsperson isn't always a good manager with designer turned strategist Izzi Hays | 00:46:41 | |
We’ve masqueraded as a bellboy and snuck into the G-Suite to catch freak in the (Google) Sheets and designer turned creative strategist, Izzi Hays, this week.
An awfully loud introvert, Izzi Rascal is bonkers for a tricky problem and is currently breaking industry moulds and bolstering their strategy chops at MultiAdaptor.
They chinwag to us on their accidental shift from design to strategy, empathy, bullsh*t job titles, why a good craftsperson isn’t always a good manager, research in the wild, what living in 10 countries has taught them, building diverse teams, pancakes, what they’d be doing in a world without brands and tonnes more.
///// You can follow Izzi on Twitter
Check out MultiAdaptor
Here’s One Sandbox
With the subtlety of a bulldozer, we manage to plug our episodes with: Zoe Scaman, Doug Melville, Nick Ellis, Andrew Willshire and Sarah Benson. So go forth and gorge on those too.
Izzi’s book recommendations are:
The Art of Innovation by Tom Kelley
Real Life by Brandon Taylor
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| 25 Jun 2021 | 65: A masterclass on how to do better virtual keynotes with Marcus John Henry Brown | 01:03:34 | |
This week we’ve laid bait of crisp apple strudels and schnitzel with noodles to snare Munich-based performance artist, Marcus John Henry Brown, to talk on a few of his favourite things.
Hisüber-talented creative chops have conjured up “performance hacks”, a keynote format that disrupts conference proceedings, delighting and shocking audiences across the world.
Marcus gives us the lowdown on the best (and worst) Batman, hacking business conferences, creating Blade Runner with PowerPoint, hanging in there as an artist last year, audience obsession, ideas, your left buttock, and tonnes more.
Plus, there’s an unmissable masterclass on how to do better virtual keynotes. Danke schön.
///// You can follow Marcus on Twitter Here’s his website
Check out his performances and tips to make better virtual keynotes here
His beloved ISOLATED Talk Hanging in There is well worth a watch too These are his speaking terms and conditions
Marcus’s book recommendations are:
Anything by Mark Earls
Anything by Eaon Pritchard
Anything in the future by Vikki Ross (So keep an eye out here)
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| 09 Jul 2021 | 66: How to win your first client with Freelancer Magazine Editor Sophie Cross | 00:46:33 | |
We’ve set tripwires to snare the Jimmy Choo’s of the freelance community’s very own Anna Wintour, the editor of Freelancer Magazine, Sophie Cross.
An OG freelancer with over 15 years’ marketing experience, Sophie launched her very own 100-pages of glossy printed freelance goodness earlier this year.
She talks to us her first cheese-related jobs, thinking she wasn’t creative enough for marketing, sausage and mash business plans, launching a magazine, her ‘Kevin from Home Alone’ moment, starting before you’re ready, the immensely supportive freelance community, how to get your first client and more. Ears this way please.
///// Check out Sophie’s website
Follow her on Twitter
Issue 2 ‘Community’ of Freelancer Magazine is out now
Watch Start Before You’re Ready on ISOLATED Talks
Listen to the stunning rendition of Dave Harland’s poem ‘Dogs’
Sophie kindly dedicated this episode to @thatcontentshed
Sophie’s book recommendations are:
The Artists Way by Julia Cameron
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| 23 Jul 2021 | 67: Industry legend Steve Harrison on writing “the most provocative advertising book in years” | 01:10:53 | |
We flogged an old, precious ad book on Amazon for three grand and just about covered a one-way ticket t’Blackpool (cheers privatisation) to nab one of the most outspoken voices in ad land: copywriter, Creative Director and author, Steve Harrison.
He’s bagged more Cannes Lions in his discipline than any other Creative Director in the world, and his book “How to do better creative work” became the most expensive ad book ever sold. His new, updated version of "Can't Sell, Won't Sell: Advertising, Politics and Culture Wars" has turned up the heat and promises to be “the most provocative advertising book in years”.
He not only shoots the breeze, but scary Birds, the big problem with big agencies, the juggernaut band-wagon of social purpose, class and the diversity conversation, and the vanity and entitlement of our industry to think we can set a cultural agenda. In fact, we had to stop and reload a few times to take aim at industry leaders, publications, Soho pub-goers, and Peter Crouch. What an episode.
///// Bung the updated version of Can’t Sell, Won’t Sell in yer’ basket
Check out How To Write Better Copy
Here’s his biography on Howard Gossage
And here’s How to do better creative work (but good luck getting your mitts on it!)
Here’s his pod with Dave Dye And the talk we mention by Hans Rosling
Factfulness by Hans Rosling
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| 06 Aug 2021 | 68: "What's the noose around too many marketer's necks?" with ...Gasp! founder Giles Edwards & JP Castlin | 01:09:12 | |
There’s a Freaky Friday/Trading Places film vibe to this episode, as JP Castlin puts the boot very much on the other foot to volley a tonne of tough posers to the outspoken founder and Creative Director of Gasp, and this show’s usual host, Giles Edwards.
A “wonderful overachiever”, he’s also the creator of ISOLATED Talks and has collaborated on two #1 best-selling books. He believes in “proper (timeless) Marketing” and its vital role in the boardroom and usually rants about this, and more, with esteemed guests on this podcast. But today, it is him who is in the hot seat.
He talks to us on almost becoming Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons, learning Serbo-Croat and the fundamentals of communication, what he set out to do with Gasp, media neutrality, the noose around the neck of many marketers (aka the billable hour), awards, behavioural economics, stand-up comedy, and Wu-Tang Clan. Plus, find out why the front page of an Indonesian newspaper dubbed him “Mr. Cheater” after an ill-fated spelling bee…
///// You can find Giles on Twitter and LinkedIn. Enjoy all 67 episodes of Call to Action so far.
Check out and support ISOLATED Talks.
Don’t Be Brave, Be Right by Giles Edwards and Ryan Wallman.
Here’s the Hans Brinker ads, the Party Cannon logo, and Gasp’s award-winning crumpled up letter campaign.
A huge thank you to a friend of the show JP Castlin who, not being content with being on this podcast twice already, humbly invited himself to be a guest host. You can listen to both his episodes of Call to Action here and here.
Giles’s book recommendations are:
Delusions of Brandeur by Ryan Wallman
Copywriting Is by Andrew Boulton
How to Make Better Advertising and Advertising Better by Vic Polkinghorne and Andy Palmer
A Smile in the Mind by Beryl McAlhone and David Stuart
Sync by Steven Strogatz
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| 20 Aug 2021 | 69: ADHD as a creative advantage with designer Victoria Rosselli | 00:43:35 | |
This week we’ve ditched the Dolmio and danced across the pond to sniff out Brooklyn’s master meatball maker and talented designer, Victoria Rosselli.
Victoria is a freelance Art Director and Designer based in New York. She’s also a Pitch 100 Superwoman and co-founder of Our Silent Partner, a collection of crowdsourced work designed to give voice to the silent mental health struggles of creatives.
We tuck into tons of topics including the benefits of an early internship at FCB, mental health in the advertising industry and why she chose to leave it altogether, hustle culture, imposter syndrome, freaky flashbacks of Gary Vaynerchuk, using ADHD as a creative advantage, Our Silent Partner, and, most importantly, the Rosselli family secrets for a winning meatball are revealed. Buon appetito.
///// You can find Victoria on Twitter and Instagram. Go support Our Silent Partner.
Here’s her Campaign article on mental health and working in advertising.
Watch Mental Health and Creativity by Victoria Rosselli and Laurel Stark Akman. Enjoy the Mental Health Matters Clear Channel Event. Victoria kindly dedicates this episode to Becky Brinkerhoff. Give her some love too.
And, most importantly, has Victoria finished redoing her portfolio yet?
Victoria’s book recommendations are:
The Secret Lives of Colour by Kassia St Clair
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| 03 Sep 2021 | 70: Living under a false name & skirting death (more than once) with one of the all time copywriting greats, Drayton Bird. | 01:04:34 | |
Summer is over, so we’re migrating south (well, to Bristol) to catch a Bird not afraid to ruffle some feathers: one of the all-time greats in the world of copywriting, Drayton Bird.
A man who could fill The British Library twice-over with his stories of mayhem and misadventure, Drayton was dubbed the man who “knows more about direct marketing than anyone in the world” by David Ogilvy and, at 85 years old, still writes great copy every day.
He chirps to us on what makes a great copywriter, reading, what he learned from David Ogilvy, applying his principles to Airbus planes and Peppa Pig, living under a false name for 7 years, why despair is the route to success, skirting death (more than once) and a treasure trove more.
///// Follow Drayton on Twitter and LinkedIn Here’s his website
And sign up for his mailing list (if you're brave enough)
If you want to learn from the man himself, check out Ask Drayton
Get a free copy of Scientific Advertising Drayton’s book recommendations are:
Ogilvy on Advertising by David Ogilvy
Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins
Tested Advertising Methods by John Caples
How to Write Sales Letters that Sell by Drayton Bird
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| 17 Sep 2021 | 71: Meet Thomas Kolster the brand purpose expert who thinks Patagonia is full of sh*t | 00:59:51 | |
This week we’ve got our longship out of dry dock and nipped North to Nyhavn to snare Danish marketing activist and author, Thomas Kolster.
Hell-bent on making businesses put people and the planet first, Thomas is a branding and sustainability professional, the founder of the global Goodvertising movement, and the author of two books, Goodvertising and The Hero Trap.
He talks to us about joining the industry with dreams of helicopters and Ogilvy’s Chateau, frustration, getting brand purpose all wrong, the problem when megalomanic brands try to do good, Simon Sinek’s self-glorifying exercises, dinosaurs, what he really thinks of Patagonia, consuming Carlsberg and playing Lego (simultaneously, of course), where to get an evasive cheap pint in Copenhagen and bucket loads more.
///// Follow Thomas on Twitter and LinkedIn Here’s his website
Check out his books:
And if you’re gasping for a pint in Copenhagen, but don’t fancy paying through the nose for it, Thomas recommends Det Lille Øresund, Oehlenschlægersgade 41, 1663, Copenhagen.
Thomas’s book recommendation is:
Spørge-Jørgen by Kamme Laurents and Robert Storm Petersen
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| 01 Oct 2021 | 72: The art and science of data driven marketing with Molly Baker, Ex-Ben & Jerry's & Founder of Indie Consulting | 00:51:32 | |
This week we’ve laced up our hiking boots and traversed the trails of North Carolina to track down Founder and CEO of Indie Consulting, Molly Baker, for a chinwag.
Molly is a digital marketing pro both client-side and agency-side chops, including a tasty stint at Ben & Jerry’s. Over the past 3 years she’s built a fully remote team of boffins around the world who agree that nothing is more valuable than people’s time and thoughts.
She gives us the lowdown on her first job as a “supreme babysitter”, why her mum had her filling out cost sheets at 14-years-old, studying abroad in Perugia, what she’s learnt building a remote team, how to avoid Zoom fatigue, the art and science of data driven marketing, accountability and ethics when using data, her counterargument to Byron Sharp’s POV on brand loyalty, her approach to client services, building trust and tons more.
///// Follow Molly on LinkedIn and Instagram Check out Indie Consulting and sign up for their newsletter
Fight off Zoom fatigue with advice from her ISOLATED Talks donation
Molly’s book recommendations are:
The Great Client Partner by Jared Belsky
The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
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| 15 Oct 2021 | 73: Why creatives don't do well in captivity with copywriter Andrew Boulton | 00:58:30 | |
All it took was a curly-wurly and a whiff of Hooblahoo to snare bumbling, bestselling author, Andrew Boulton, this week.
A senior lecturer on copywriting and creative advertising at the University of Lincoln, Andrew has over a decade’s scribbling experience writing for big brands, tiny brands, and even a man who carved dolphins out of cheese.
Andrew talks to us on tonnes of topics, including being robbed by Roy Keane, teaching, why copywriting makes you a better creative writer, Umbongo, a cartoon toilet brush, his terrible radio play, wandering, words with no consonants, the inspiration behind Adele Writes an Ad, and a whole lot more. You’d be a fool not to let us bend your ear ‘ere.
///// Follow Andrew on Twitter and LinkedIn His book Adele Writes an Ad might be just the thing for ad parents struggling to explain what they do to their children
There’s also a free audiobook version narrated by gem Higgins
And for a glimpse into what life as a copywriter is like, here’s Copywriting Is
Andrew’s book recommendations are:
Read Me by Gyles Lingwood
Junior by Thomas Kemeny
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| 29 Oct 2021 | 74: The man behind some of Britain’s most famous ads & author of Anatomy of Humbug, Paul Feldwick | 00:54:32 | |
This week, baited by a Bedouin birthing blanket, we caught big thinker and bestselling author, Paul Feldwick.
The man behind one of our favourite all time ad campaigns, Paul worked at the legendary agency BMP on some of Britain’s most famous brands for over 30 years. His latest book ‘Why Does the Pedlar Sing?’ explores why selling and entertainment go hand in hand and was described by Rory Sutherland as “possibly the book I would most highly recommend to anyone in marketing”. Paul talks to us on tonnes of topics, including BMP, being the world’s worst account manager, clowns, talking to real people, what brands can learn from Snow White, Jeremy Bullmore, PT Barnum, fame, shame, purpose, Mrs Brown’s Boys, whether ads need to be "liked", Martin Boase, and a whole lot more. Tuck in. ///// Check out his website Follow Paul on LinkedIn We implore you to read both of his fabulous books: Why Does the Pedlar Sing? Anatomy of Humbug And here’s that famous Barclaycard ad with Rowan Atkinson Paul’s book recommendations are: How Brands Grow by Byron Sharp Building Distinctive Brand Assets by Jenni Romaniuk ///// | |||
| 12 Nov 2021 | 75: Should your business have a 25 year plan? Consultant & mentor Jess Gregson weighs in | 00:55:25 | |
We’ve lurked in the long grass by the canal and nabbed consultant, mentor, and music-geek Jess Gregson for a chinwag as she visits her houseboat this week.
An optimistic, pragmatic, and friendly soul from Sheffield, Jess is the founder of Extra Brain, where she uses her experience to help business leaders come unstuck. She is also the founder of Open to everyone. Closed to racism, an initiative getting businesses to take a stand against racism, and also hosts themed social listening party #Sunday7social every other Sunday on Isolated Talks radio.
Tune in to hear Jess talk about her first job working with Unilever as a client, her priceless experience of both agency and client-side, why she set up her new business Extra Brain, common business problems and themes that go across all sectors, the highs and lows of living on a boat and tonnes more.
/////
Read more on her new consultancy business, Extra Brain
Get involved with Open to everyone. Closed to racism
Check out the #Sunday7Social hashtag on Twitter and get listening to her bi-weekly Sunday radio show on Isolated Talks.
Jess’s book recommendations are:
Utopia for Realists by Rutger Bregman
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| 26 Nov 2021 | 76: Behind the strategy for some of Haribo's most talked about ads with Rania & Trevor Robinson, Quiet Storm | 00:50:07 | |
We’ve sent out our largest trawler into the (Quiet) Storm and landed ourselves a bumper super catch this week as we snare ad land power couple Rania and Trevor Robinson OBE.
Rania and Trevor are the CEO and ECD respectively of Quiet Storm; a creative marriage of ad agency and production company. Rania has worked magic on accounts and strategy for some of the world’s biggest brands, including Haribo, Mercedes, Google and Coca Cola, whilst Trevor is the creative force of nature behind some of the most talked about advertising of our era, including You’ve Been Tangoed and Haribo’s Kids Voices adverts.
Tune in for an epic and topical tale that takes us through working as a court illustration artist, the benefits of working in a small independent agency, how to direct a great TV advert, How the Haribo ads were created, their Create Not Hate initiative, balancing running an agency together with life as a married couple and a net full of more nuggets.
///// And Rania on Twitter
Here is their agency, Quiet Storm
And their recently rejuvenated Create Not Hate initiative that you can get involved with and support.
Trevor’s book recommendations are:
The Catcher in the Rye, J.D Salinger
Auto Da Fé, Elias Canetti.
And Rania's book recommendations are:
Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman.
The Chimp Paradox, Professor Steve Peters
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| 14 Jan 2022 | 77: Why everyone is BOTH right AND wrong about loyalty with John Lyons | 01:03:58 | |
This week, all it took was a blue tick and the gall of a Gary Vee groupie to lure our latest guest from the shadows. It’s a man with a brilliant marketing brain and alarmingly dirty mind, John Lyons.
John has shed loads of experience in marketing strategy, campaigns and promotions for agencies, start-ups, and huge brands. And he’s currently living the miniature brick-building dream as Senior Loyalty Proposition Manager at a certain Danish toy company.
Listen to John chat rant on his all-access pass to the Houses of Parliament, what being an architect taught him as a marketer, tactics, strategy, and why one is not better than the other, promotions, loyalty, the Batwing, James Blunt and tons more. Plus, he doth tip his Twitter famous hat to Jerry Daykin, gem Higgins, Mark Ritson and Tom Goodwin.
///// Find John on LinkedIn
Follow the #AdventuresofHat on Twitter
John’s book recommendations are:
Eat Your Greens by Wiemer Snidjers
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| 28 Jan 2022 | 78: Using game theory to make better decisions with strategy & risk expert, Andrey Ivanov | 01:13:06 | |
We’ve commandeered a (now) irate New Zealander’s fishing trawler to poach the strategy and risk expert Andrey Ivanov for a right royal chit chat this week.
A podcast host in his own right, Andrey fronts the popular and educational Business Games podcast, where he applies game theory to help leaders overcome uncertainty.
Go press play and unleash a huge catch of informative piranhas, including why Andrey thinks business people should consider stand-up comedy, why poker is a good analogy for life, game theory, economics, how to make good decisions, and more.
///// Follow Andrey on LinkedIn And his podcast show on Twitter
Andrey has a request if you have time; to complete his survey over on Business Games
And this episode is dedicated to Alexei Domorev
Andrey’s book recommendations are:
The Art of Strategy by Dixit, Avinash K., Nalebuff, Barry J.
The Rule of Benedict by Benedict
The Expanse Series by Corey, S. A.
/////
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| 11 Feb 2022 | 79: Hey Whipple, Squeeze This author, Luke Sullivan, on writing THE creative bible | 00:54:45 | |
We’ve sailed on the waters of the U.S coast to catch the Moby Dick of advertising this week; the one and only Luke Sullivan.
A man whose book ‘Hey Whipple, Squeeze This’ is so iconic it’s coined by many as the creative bible, Luke is one of the most talented blokes in the business, having spent 33 years in adland at shops like Fallon and The Martin Agency.
Join us for a raucous and riotous voyage across topics including the importance of mentors, the soon-to-be-released and updated 6th edition of his book, the state of global creative education, how do you create and define a good idea, and the value of advertising awards.
That’s not to mention finding out what he fervently sees as the bane of the advertising industry…
///// Follow Luke on LinkedIn
And on Twitter
Here’s his website
Here are his books:
Luke’s book recommendations are:
Junior: Writing Your Way Ahead in Advertising by Thomas Kemeny
Chew With Your Mind Open by Cameron Day
The Belief Economy by David Baldwin
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| 17 Feb 2022 | 80: ‘Loyalty programmes; a complete waste of time?’. Jake Sanders, Derek Walker and Lee Woodard fight it out. | 00:34:42 | |
Let’s get ready to rumble! Grab your ringside seat for the first episode in a new special heavyweight series; They Might Be Right. It’s the boisterous brother of Call To Action that breaks up bundles in the pithy playground of Twitter.
Named in honour of Bill Bernbach’s famed jacket pocket card, we invite our challengers into the octagon of debate for a verbal slugfest, whilst being mindful and welcoming to the opinions of others.
This week’s motion is ‘Loyalty programmes; a complete waste of time?’
And our challengers are:
Jake Sanders. The man whose tweet started this particular brawl, and not content with only being a great marketer, Jake is also a Grammy-nominated musician and host of his own out-of-this-world marketing-sci-fi podcast show, Outbound.
Derek Walker. A truly great copywriter who makes writing an art form, Derek runs the successful advertising agency brown & browner.
Lee Woodard. One of the best Digital and Marketing consultants around, Lee is Founder of Nomi Digital and the Co-Founder of Privacy Experience Agency.
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| 25 Feb 2022 | 81: Professor Karen Nelson-Field schools us on all things attention | 00:42:59 | |
We stuck a fake shark fin on our back and lurked in the waters off Adelaide to catch the attention of one of the industry’s most respected researchers, Prof. Karen Nelson-Field, this week.
Hell-bent on fighting the broken media ecosystem as founder and CEO at Amplified Intelligence, Karen is also an author and alumni of the world-renowned Ehrenberg-Bass Institute. When she’s not binge-watching Home & Away (yes, she’s still a fan), Karen’s research into the measurement of attention has made her a global authority on media effectiveness.
Tune in to a show packed like sardines in a tin, as Karen talks on her 10 years at Ehrenberg-Bass, skateboarding cats, myth-busting Facebook likes, going viral, seeing dead people patterns, why attention is an important metric, how to measure it and more.
And strap in as Karen finally answers the red-hot question of whether our attention spans really are becoming shorter than a goldfi-
Oh, look, some links…
///// Follow Karen on LinkedIn
And on Twitter
Here’s her website
And, Karen kindly dedicates this episode to the bullshit-detecting bulldog himself, Bob Hoffman Grab yourself her books:
Karen’s book recommendations are:
Play Bigger by Al Ramadan, Dave Peterson, Christopher Lochhead & Kevin Maney
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| 11 Mar 2022 | 82: One of Britain's most awarded copywriters, Nick Asbury, dismantles brand purpose | 01:12:06 | |
This week, we laid bait of lofty vision statements and years of intricate tax dodging, to lure one of Britain’s most-awarded copywriters from the shadows. Locked and loaded to lob a few volleys at brand purpose, he’s Nick Asbury.
A brilliant writer and a thoroughly good bloke to boot, Nick crafts witty and charming words for branding and design.
Pile your plate high as Nick talks to us on how a poem about the England football team got him in real trouble, differentiating between writing for design versus writing for ads, Paul Newman’s salad dressing, using wit (properly), a Friends NFT, why the Innocent imitators in packaging copy need to cut it out, and his plans to dismantle brand purpose. You won’t be disappointed.
///// Check out Nick’s Substack
Especially his blog Start with why, end with wire fraud
Follow him on Twitter
He’s one half of Asbury & Asbury
Alongside, Sue Asbury, whose ace paintings you should check out here
Read The Nations Prayer poem that got him in real trouble
Buy the Perpetual Disappointments Diary
Here’s Realtime Notes
Clive James on Desert Island Discs
And the brilliant Ends Fri Friends ad
Timestamps
(02:05) - Quickfire questions
(05:22) - First-ever job
(13:31) - Writing for design versus writing for advertising
(18:50) - A Smile in the Mind
(22:05) - Use of wit in advertising and design
(27:05) - Brand purpose (🔥)
(54:54) - Listener questions from Paul Bailey and Andrew Spurrier Dawes
(1:02:26) - 4 pertinent posers
Room for more? In this episode, we plugged a choice cut of Call to Action episodes for you to get your chops around.
Nick’s book recommendations are:
Nonzero by Robert Wright
A Smile in the Mind by Beryl McAlhone, David Stuart, Greg Quinton & Nick Asbury
In Pursuit of the Common Good by Paul Newman & A.E. Hotchner
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| 25 Mar 2022 | 83: Stopping ad agencies becoming the least creative places on earth with Laura Jordan Bambach, Chief Creative Officer at Grey London | 00:54:47 | |
This week, we whizzed back to the 90s and stuck out our thumb on the side of the information superhighway, hoping to catch a ride with award-winning creative and digital pioneer, Laura Jordan Bambach.
Currently President and Chief Creative Officer at Grey London, Laura is a total ad land powerhouse, dishing out truly creative work for some of the world’s biggest brands.
Topics covered in this episode somehow span; zombies, Nine Inch Nails, industrial quantities of chicken breast, fixing tractors, the “Geekgirl” hyperzine, the early days of the net, how we can prevent agencies from becoming the least creative places on earth, an infinite robotic knitting machine, a deep dive into service stations, and why her mum has a pixelated clitoris hung on the wall. Dial-up the World Wide Web and listen. Bee-bee-bee-dsshhhh.
///// You can find Laura on Twitter Check out She Says
Find out more about Grey
Laura will be speaking very soon at TBD Conference
Spot the #SheepMask in the Macmillan Infi-Knit campaign
Read Laura’s article on “Preventing agencies from becoming the least creative places on earth”
And here’s some of the ground-breaking art from Linda Dement
Timestamps
(02:00) - Quick fire questions
(04:41) - First ever job
(11:20) - Getting into digital art and the early days of the web
(18:17) - Starting her own agency and living in an art commune
(25:37) - Have we relied too much on tech at the expense of creativity?
(31:12) - Preventing agencies from becoming the least creative places on earth
(36:00) - Listener questions (including one from Nick Ellis)
(44:02) - 4 pertinent posers
Laura’s book recommendations are:
Mr. Eternity by Elizabeth Meyers and Roy Williams
Hard Boiled Wonderland by Haruki Murakami
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| 08 Apr 2022 | 84: How to adopt a 2-speed strategy with professional services marketer, Lee Grunnell | 01:11:49 | |
Fix up, Look Sharp* because this week we’ve lured Lincolnshire lad and the Rascal of professional services marketing, Lee Grunnell, for a chinwag.
A top marketing director and fellow Ritson fanboy, Lee is obsessed with applying the latest thinking from marketing leaders like Binet, Field, and Sharp to professional services.
He talks to us on picking brussels sprouts, the Grunnéll vs Grunnell debate, why advertising is like Voldemort, how marketing in law firms isn’t as different as you’d think, and tons more. Plus, he’s got practical pointers for adopting a two-speed strategy, getting buy-in from skeptical partners, and applying the work of Ritson, Sharp, and Wiemer Snijder's banana to professional services.
*A copy of How Brands Grow is compulsory
///// Follow Lee on Twitter
See his smarts on Medium Read his article On Bananas (or Why Professional Services isn’t as Different as You Think) And check this out to see how we somehow got 30-odd partners in a law firm to agree on an advertising campaign
Timestamps
(01:55) - Quickfire questions (03:52) - First-ever job (11:16) - Getting into business development and marketing at EY (18:00) - Do professional services have a problem with advertising? (23:54) - Why marketing in professional services isn’t as different as you think
(38:38) - Applying the laws of How Brands Grow in his career
(45:31) - Tips for adopting a 2-speed strategy (Listen up Mini MBAers🔥)
(48:37) - How to get buy-in from skeptical partners in professional services
(56:13) - 4 pertinent posers
Lee’s book recommendations are:
That Will Never Work by Marc Randolph
Wolf Hall Trilogy by Hilary Mantel
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| 22 Apr 2022 | 85: TBWA/Chiat/Day's Chief Creative Officer, Amy Ferguson, on how to hack the Super Bowl | 00:58:09 | |
This week, armed with duty-free’s finest Yo Ho Ho’s and a bottle of rum, we’re in the Big Apple to rub shoulders with the pirates at TBWA\Chiat\Day New York and catch their Chief Creative Officer, Amy Ferguson, for a chinwag.
Amy describes herself as a chronic exaggerator. Yet, her reputation as a creative renegade and rule rewriter needs none of that. She’s got the pencils, Lions, Clios and pieces of eight to prove it.
So, listen up landlubbers as Amy chats to us on a treasure trove of topics including her favourite pirate, melting things, leaning into humour in recent Mountain Dew ads with Charlie Day, the trick to get punters to forgive the giant logo at the end of your ad, cracking TikTok, hacking the Super Bowl, why pitches are bananas, why agencies should hire more mums, and more.
Follow Amy on Instagram
Here’s an old blog we wrote on Allstate’s Mayhem ads
This is the second Call to Action episode dedicated to Captain Rob Schwartz, George Tannenbaum got there first here in a cracking 2-parter (Part 1 and Part 2)
Ads to watch:
MTN DEW - A Really Short Ad
MTN DEW - Blatant Product Placement (NBA Execution)
MTN DEW - Major Millions (Super Bowl 2021)
Nissan - Thrill Driver (Super Bowl 2022)
MTN DEW – The Shining (Super Bowl 2020)
Timestamps
(01:55) - Quickfire questions
(03:14) - First-ever job
(07:45) - Young Bloods experience
(14:42) - Mountain Dew campaign with Charlie Day
(26:36) - What goes into making a great Super Bowl ad?
(33:59) - Her “do good work, have fun, go home” philosophy
(38:54) - Being a working mum of 3
(41:47) - Favourite classic TBWA ads
(44:00) - How she makes sure work at TBWA\Chiat\Day stays true to the creative standard they’ve set
(46:07) - 4 pertinent posers
Amy’s book recommendations are:
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
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| 06 May 2022 | 86: Why you can't sell tea bags in Sudan (and other lessons from a career spanning four continents) with marketer Keerti Nair | 01:03:51 | |
This week, we’ve masqueraded as a cartoon tiger and talked our way into Kellogg to catch truly gr-r-reat marketer, Keerti Nair, for a chinwag.
Hell-bent on bridging the gap between commerce and creativity, she’s Marketing Effectiveness and Digital Transformation Lead at Kellogg and has cut her teeth in the industry over 16 years, 4 continents and 2 recessions.
She talks to us on going from engineering to marketing, selling Coca Cola products door-to-door, relentless learning, why selling tea bags wouldn’t work in Sudan (and other lessons from a career spanning four continents!), tips to take advantage of the golden age of media planning, KFC, tacos, why we should be proud to be marketers and tons more.
You’d be a fool not to snap, crackle and pop it in your ears, pronto.
///// Follow Keerti on Twitter Here’s KFC’s FCK campaign
And check out Keerti’s side of the debate around consumer habits & demands since the start of the pandemic
Timestamps
(01:55) - Quick fire questions
(04:26) - First ever job
(06:54) - Going from engineering to marketing
(14:31) - Being a relentless learner
(17:19) - Experiences & learnings from working across 4 continents
(25:58) - The unsexy boring bits of marketing (retail, promotion, distribution, pricing)
(30:50) - How you can take advantage of the golden age of media planning
(39:37) - Who is doing purpose well? And who’s lying?
(44:17) - What she looks for in an agency partner
(47:39) - Campaigns she wishes she’d done
(49:41) - Go-to recipe
(53:38) - 4 pertinent posers
Keerti’s book recommendations are:
You’re Not Listening by Kate Murphy
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| 20 May 2022 | 87: TikTok sensation Rob Mayhew on how to win at LinkedIn | 01:00:23 | |
This week, we’ve laid 57 varieties of bait to snare Salad Cream sommelier and TikTok star, Rob Mayhew, for a chinwag.
Currently Head of Influence at Fleishman Hillard, Rob has over 20 years’ experience working at some of London’s top agencies with big brands like McVities, Krispy Kreme, and Lacoste. His sketches send Jenny’s, Gavin’s, and Tara’s across agency land into hysterics by holding up a mirror to our decidedly dumb behaviours. Rob talks to us on a ton of topics, including being a salad cream superfan, the comedian Jessica Kirson, booking a meeting room to nap, what he loves about TikTok, how to grow on LinkedIn, his sketches as a love letter to the industry, enthusiasm, why every workplace needs a Becky and a whole lot more. Get stuck in.
*Seriously Heinz. Give this man the pale, yellow, emulsified brand deal he deserves, pronto.
///// He gets his awesome jumpers from Rowing Blazers
Check out comedian Jessica Kirson
Rob’s a big fan of Call to Action alumni Zoe Scaman and Vikki Ross. Check out the talks they kindly donated to ISOLATED Talks here:
Is Sci-fi the next frontier for strategists? by Zoe Scaman on ISOLATED Talks
Timestamps
(02:44) - Quickfire questions
(03:37) - An ode to Salad Cream
(08:57) - First-ever job
(12:00) - His role at Fleishman Hillard
(15:19) - Why he loves TikTok
(19:14) - TikTok versus Stand-Up
(22:38) - How to win at LinkedIn
(30:54) - His love letter to the industry
(38:49) - Where he gets his jumpers
(39:37) - Real-life Rob versus TikTok Rob
(49:46) - 4 pertinent posers
Rob’s book recommendations are:
Eating the Big Fish by Adam Morgan
Easily Distracted by Steve Coogan
Sick in the Head by Judd Apatow
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| 03 Jun 2022 | 88: Why there's never been a more exciting time to be a media planner with Rich Kirk, Zenith | 00:57:17 | |
Health and Safety went ballistic when they got wind of this week’s guest being both a Blades fan and one of the sharpest strategic minds in media. Safety goggles on folks, it’s Rich Kirk.
Rich is currently Chief Strategy Officer at Zenith UK. Named the UK’s second-best media planner in 2021 by Campaign, Rich, like Avis, clearly tries harder, contributing to Zenith winning work from Lloyds, Halifax, Uswitch, Confused, Zoopla, and Nestle last year.
This episode covers a sharp showdown (Billy vs Byron), his early interest in how stuff got sold, the volatile and ever-changing media market, media planning’s pandemic shake-up, how on earth you quantify reach, risk, the world cup, corporate inertia, word soup, and more. Open your ears and let the smarts pour in.
///// Follow Rich on Twitter and LinkedIn Or pop into The Broadcaster at White City
Listen to us talk attention metrics with Prof. Karen Nelson-Field here
Timestamps
(01:53) - Quick-fire questions
(03:37) - First-ever job & getting into Google Ads
(13:04) - The volatile media market
(19:15) - How the pandemic shook up media planning
(26:01) - Quantifying effective reach
(36:19) - Why media planners should get excited about FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022
(42:29) - The barriers to clients taking on the best strategy
(49:43) - 4 pertinent posers
Rich’s book recommendations are:
Changing the World Is the Only Fit Work for a Grown Man by Steve Harrison
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| 17 Jun 2022 | 89: Why discounts destroy brands with "revenue architect" Dave Wakeman | 01:17:28 | |
We’ve gone bar crawling in Washington DC and laid bait of Tanqueray & tonic to lure and lubricate the writer, teacher, speaker and “Revenue Architect” Dave Wakeman this week.
Clients call him a “shot of adrenaline”, and his work has taken him around the world working with some of the world’s biggest brands like American Express, Google, Coca-Cola, Nike, and the Boston Red Sox. He’s also the host of the number 1 podcast in the world for folks marketing and selling sport, theatre, and experiences: The Business of Fun.
Join us for a proper session that takes us through his unique route into marketing via nightclubs, how gin taught him about customer experience and pricing (hic), leveraging Eddie Vedder, the vital choices faced when considering your strategy, The key P pricing, why discounts destroy brands, the meh metaverse and loads more.
/////
Check out his website, which is also a good place to see his upcoming events around the world.
Here’s the amazing EB Research Partnership Dave worked with.
Two useful resources: a LinkedIn article on value-based pricing and an article on the 10 core strategy principles.
Timestamps
(2:30) - Quick Fire Qs
(07:45) - First ever job
(11:30) - Falling into Nightclubs
(18:50) - Price
(19:40) - Going from Nightclubs to Marketing
(22:35) - Different challenges with different types of live experiences
(26:20) - Route into and learnings on marketing
(30:10) - Gaining confidence and adding value to marketing
(31:40) - Eddie Vedder Story
(37:00) - Listener questions
(59:25) - 4 Pertinent Posers
(59:30) - Advice to younger self
(1:02:05) - Banish one thing from the industry
(1:04:30) - Recommended books
Dave’s book recommendations are:
A New Way to Think by Roger L. Martin
Managing for Results by Peter F. Drucker
Underworld by Don DeLillo
The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
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| 01 Jul 2022 | 90: Why your ad being EXPENSIVE and IGNORED might be a good thing with strategist Alex Murrell | 01:03:24 | |
This week, we laid out hordes of Humbugs* to catch the Bah-rilliant Bristol-based strategist and Paul Feldwick fan, Alex Murrell.
He is currently Strategy Director at brand agency Epoch. Supplying strategic simplicity to the world’s biggest FMCG brands.
Alex talks to us on tonnes of topics, including making the jump from graphic design to strategy, efficiency vs effectiveness, why an ad being expensive and ignored is a good thing, what the Superbowl and a peacock’s plumage have in common, Darwin, Derren Brown, the pitfalls of purpose, Eastern European dystopian fiction, and a whole lot more.
*The book, not the mint. But we have those too if you’d like one.
///// Here’s Alex’s website
You’ve got to read his articles “Errors of Efficiency” and “The Pitfalls of Purpose”
Here’s a baby-faced Derren Brown tricking ad-people with adverts
Ads Don’t Work That Way by Kevin Simler
And listen to our #CTAPod chinwags with the ridiculously smart Prof. Karen Nelson Field and Paul Feldwick too
Timestamps
(01:50) - Quick fire questions
(03:00) - First job in graphic design
(10:10) - The jump from design to strategy
(15:50) - Efficiency versus effectiveness
(18:50) - Signalling
(23:30) - Error 1 - Mass media is wasteful because it is untargeted
(27:34) - Error 2 – Mass media is wasteful because it is ignored
(38:22) - Error 3 - Mass media is wasteful because it is expensive
(42:06) - Listener questions on brand purpose and favourite marketing book
(47:29) - 4 pertinent posers
Alex’s book recommendations are:
Anatomy of Humbug by Paul Feldwick
How Brands Grow by Byron Sharp
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
The Trial by Franz Kafka
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| 15 Jul 2022 | 91: How studying songwriting makes you a better copywriter with Carolyn Barclay | 00:53:52 | |
We flagged down a Big Yellow Taxi and rode it all the way to Melbourne to catch copywriter and Joni Mitchell mega-fan, Carolyn Barclay, this week.
A stubbornly strategy-first copywriter, Carolyn helps brands sound like actual humans instead of soulless robots sent from the future to bore us to death. She’s also co-founder of Kingswood & Palmerston, a creative consultancy solving marketing puzzles for B2B and making ads for ad agencies.
She talks to us on selling cheap suits to men who call them straitjackets, Bob Dylan, writing great copy by studying song writing, outspending versus outsmarting, why ordering ten blogs with a side of social is rarely the right thing to do, Eaon Pritchard, making ads for ad agencies, why rappers are good copywriters, whether AI robots really will take our jobs and a shed load more.
///// Check out her website
Here’s David Moore’s collection of Ads for Ad Agencies
Carolyn recommends Eaon Pritchard’s Back to Basics course
Read Carolyn’s blog “How my failed songwriting career helps me write better copy”
When Writing Sings by Gary Provost
To Leave Something Behind by Sean Rowe
Ads we chat about:
Backbone by Young & Rubicam
Timestamps
(01:45) - Quick fire questions
(03:12) - First job selling cheap suits
(07:50) - First marketing job organising Avon’s Bargain Bin catalogue
(13:51) - Writing great copy by studying song writing
(18:46) - Why she’s a stubbornly strategy-first copywriter
(23:59) - Kingswood & Palmerston
(27:57) - Ads for ad agencies
(34:07) - Listener Questions from John Lyons, Louis Lucente, Kate Taylor, and David Moore
(34:29) - Why rappers make great copywriters
(39:20) - Thoughts on AI copywriting
(44:39) - 4 pertinent posers
Carolyn’s book recommendations are:
Santaland Diaries by David Sedaris
Anything by Margaret Atwood
Miracle and Wonder: Conversations with Paul Simon by Malcolm Gladwell
Writing Better Lyrics by Pat Pattison
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| 29 Jul 2022 | 92: Industry legend Cameron Day on writing his Advertising Survival Guides | 01:09:15 | |
Carpe Diem. Seize the day. The Cameron Day. This week we’ve snared industry legend, author, and birthday boy, Cameron Day, for a chinwag.
Creative Director, writer, and chainsaw enthusiast, Cameron has been crafting ads and shape-shifting brands for over thirty laps around the sun.
Pile your paper plate high with topics including the influence of his father Guy Day (of Chiat/Day), writing his Advertising Survival Guides, hiring the quietest person in the room, patience, jargon, trying to pitch a naked lady ad, and tons more.
And the icing on the cake is a side-splitting story involving a power cut, an unfinished joke, winning the Land Rover account, too much sushi, and a fart that nearly brought down a plane. Party on.
///// Check out his website
Here’s his interview with Luke Sullivan, David Baldwin, Thomas Kemeny and Nancy Vonk
Cameron’s Advertising Survival Guides
Timestamps
(02:06) - Quick fire questions
(03:20) - First ever job
(06:32) - How his dad, Guy Day, influenced his decision to go into advertising
(15:49) - Why he’s never tried to prove himself because of his dad’s name
(18:27) - His experience of big versus small agencies
(21:42) - Writing his Advertising Survival Guides
(26:43) - Why it’s so hard for creatives to leave work on time
(30:17) - Spittin’ Chiclets
(34:38) - Cameron’s disaster story that’ll leave you in stitches
(43:37) - Pitching a naked lady ad
(46:00) - Listener Questions (including one from Luke Sullivan)
(55:46) - 4 Pertinent Posers
Cameron's book recommendations are:
Junior by Thomas Kemeny
Hey Whipple, Squeeze This by Luke Sullivan
The Belief Economy by David Baldwin
Pick Me by Nancy Vonk
| |||
| 12 Aug 2022 | 93: Meet Marc Lewis, the man behind the world's most awarded ad school | 00:54:36 | |
Lots of girls and lots of boys, lots of smells and lots of noise, playing football in the park, we caught baggy trousered Marc. We’ve snared the Dean of the world’s most awarded ad school, Marc Lewis, for an hour of masterly Madness.
A seriously impressive creative mind perched atop the industry’s finest pantaloons, Marc is the man at the helm of School of Communication Arts. He’s dead set on delivering the very best creative education to the very best talent, endeavouring to have at least one third of their students on scholarships.
Point your ears this way as Marc talks Tango Orange Man, getting expelled and fired, his scholarship to SCA, Ferraris, reciprocity, reopening SCA, an exclusive scoop on the future of SCA, social mobility, stopping charity shop shoplifters, unpacking diversity, inspiring creativity, self-tanning chocolate bars, gratitude, why Steve Harrison is our industry’s Plato and a whole lot more.
///// Follow Marc on Twitter
Check out School of Communication Arts And book a call with Marc to chat about joining or supporting the school A Message to Anyone Considering University During Covid on ISOLATED Talks Here’s the work of Professor Richard Wiseman Read a couple of articles written by Marc too: Impact of Purpose-Led Advertising AdAge article is an insult to our trade
Timestamps
(02:20) - Quick fire questions (05:07) - First ever job (06:58) - Being an outlier (and why that got him expelled and fired) (08:20) - Getting a scholarship to SCA (13:32) - Reopening SCA in 2010 (14:40) - Reciprocity is one of the most powerful things in the world (17:45) - An exclusive on the future of SCA (23:14) - Our industry jumping on the bandwagon of diversity (30:22) - Inspiring creativity in the school (33:48) - Listener Questions from Matt Sibley and Dave Birss (34:08) - Importance of practicing gratitude (43:26) - 4 Pertinent Posers
Marc’s book recommendations are:
Ideas: A History from Fire to Freud by Peter Watson Watching the English by Kate Fox Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath Anything by Steve Harrison ///// | |||
| 26 Aug 2022 | 94: Top strategist Tom Roach on why siloing creative, strategy, and media is NONSENSE | 01:01:44 | |
This week all it took was a tasty tipple of classic TV ads to trap tenor turned top strategist, and alliteration aficionado, Tom Roach.
Currently VP of Brand Planning at Jellyfish, Tom has worked at some brilliant acronyms agencies like AMV BBDO, Leo Burnett, BBH, and adam&eveDDB, creating pitch-perfect campaigns for McDonald’s, Sainsbury’s, and the BBC to name a few.
He gets vocal on a ton of topics, including his early days as a choral scholar, his first agency job, what account people and snow ploughs have in common, The Guardian Points of View ad, why funnels getting flack is unfair, whether advertising will ever die, freedom within a framework, why media, strategy and creative shouldn’t be siloed, a dedication to Les Binet, and more.
///// Follow Tom on Twitter and LinkedIn
Here’s his blog Make sure to read: Most marketing is bad because it ignores the most basic data Why advertising will never die The sales funnel is wrong but it’s here to stay, so let’s fix it. And his Marketing Week column Check out Jeremy Bullmore on Plonk and Placebos If you enjoyed this episode, please do share and review the pod and help more marketers feel better about marketing.
Tom also asks that you check out the brilliant work of Dr. Grace Kite (who’ll be on Call to Action very soon) and CTA alumni Professor Karen Nelson-Field.
Here’s your starting point:
Timestamps
(01:59) - Quick fire questions (04:23) - His beginnings as a choral singer (07:19) - First proper job in an agency (09:41) - Why account people are often unsung heroes (17:51) - What makes Jellyfish different from other agencies? (20:41) - His adapted sales funnel and adopting freedom within a framework (23:29) - Why media, strategy and creative shouldn’t be siloed (32:40) - Advertising will never die (36:49) - Incredible value of brands (38:20) - Listener Questions from Jonny McGrath-Smith, Nick Ellis and Will Humphrey (48:55) - 4 Pertinent Posers | |||
| 09 Sep 2022 | 95: How to explain data in a way people ACTUALLY understand with Dr Grace Kite, Econometrician | 00:48:25 | |
We picked a card, any card, and drew the econometrics Ace and Founder of magic numbers, Dr. Grace Kite.
Grace has over 20 years of number crunching experience across all the main advertising buying categories and is dead set on helping marketers make the most of their data.
Tune in as we pull a ton of topics out of a hat, including her first job at a bingo hall, her fascination with real people, why data people need people skills, explaining analytics to clients like they’re a mate in the pub, whether ROI is higher when advertisers commit more budget, strategies for marketing effectiveness in a recession, and loads more.
Open sesame your ears and let the smarts pour in.
///// Follow Grace on Twitter and LinkedIn
Check out magic numbers And follow them on Twitter and LinkedIn too Read all Grace’s Marketing Week articles This episode talks about these two in particular: When it comes to marketing payback, words matter just as much as numbers Advertisers need to get over their fear of commitment Timestamps (01:48) - Quick fire questions (03:23) - First ever job at a bingo hall (06:26) - Similarities between her insurance and marketing jobs (09:26) - magic numbers and what they do (14:38) - Why words matter as much as numbers in data analysis (18:18) - Findings around annual marketing budget versus ROI (28:41) - Listener questions (including one from Dave Wakeman) (35:20) - 4 Pertinent Posers | |||
| 23 Sep 2022 | 96: Loud, proud critic (and lover) of the ad industry, Derek Walker, reveals what ad agencies REALLY fear | 01:12:35 | |
Life’s a peach, this week, as we soak up the sun in South Carolina to snare a man who can sniff out agency B.S. a mile away. Here to vent eloquent fire, it’s Derek Walker.
Chief instigator, janitor, secretary, and mailroom person for his tiny agency brown and browner, Derek is a stellar copywriter and a loud, proud critic (and lover) of the ad industry.
He talks to us on his “late start” in advertising, agencies flat-out refusing to hire him because he’s black, what he learned from Pizza Hut, going agency side, why you should always read the employee manual, what agencies fear most, why there’s a problem with so many DE&I roles, the confidence crisis in advertising, and a ton more.
This episode is so good it's ridiculous. In fact, we should charge you for it. But we aren't going to. Partly because we can't work out how to. And partly cos you couldn't afford what it's worth.
///// Follow Derek on Twitter and LinkedIn
Watch The Advertising Industry Is Working Scared And This Isn’t A Winning Strategy Listen to him talk about advertising, client relationships, and advice for copywriters here Check out The Boondocks And treat yourself to some Marvel comics from the 70s and 80s
Timestamps
(01:51) - Quick fire questions (03:19) - First ever job (04:19) - His “late start” in advertising (09:54) - Jump from client side to agency side (20:26) - Why you should always read the employee manual (26:39) - What agencies fear & the confidence crisis in advertising (35:50) - Listener questions (41:44) - The problem with DE&I roles & how to make them better (57:57) - 4 pertinent posers (1:00:11) - Why more ad people should read The New Testament
Derek’s book recommendations are:
Damn Good Advice by George Lois How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie From Those Wonderful Folks Who Gave You Pearl Harbor by Jerry Della Femina Anything by Stephen King ///// | |||
| 07 Oct 2022 | 97: Beating quick fix mentality through psychedelics with Stefana Bosse & Jennifer Tessler | 00:58:16 | |
We took a trip in a boat on a river, with tangerine trees and marmalade skies, to catch two girls with kaleidoscope eyes, Stefana Bosse and Jennifer Tessler, this week.
Stefana and Jennifer’s own personal experiences with psychedelics and inner work inspired them to found Alalaho, a series of psilocybin-assisted retreats offering a safe, legal environment for a psychedelic journey.
Join us in the sky with diamonds as we explore tasty topics like mushrooms or truffles, their favourite Beatle, what Stefana’s dad thought of her taking a job in psychedelics, Alalaho and their psilocybin-assisted retreats, the benefits of doing inner work, the restorative role of psychedelics, being in a group versus a solo journey, the quick fix mentality, creativity, and a whole load more.
///// Follow Stefana and Jennifer on LinkedIn
Check out Alalaho’s website for more on their safe and legal psychedelic retreats And sign up to their newsletter here Stefana dedicates this episode to Rafia Morgan and Turiya Hanover and urges you to check out The Path of Love She also wants to shout out Rick Doblin from the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS)
Timestamps
(01:58) - Quick fire questions (06:13) - Stefana’s first job in political activism (07:53) - What her dad thought of her taking a job in psychedelics (08:40) - Jen’s first job and how they started working together (10:35) - What is Alalaho and inner work? (12:26) - Whether inner work always requires a retreat of sorts (16:51) - The role of psychedelics in inner work (20:17) - The collective group vs a solo journey (26:41) - Can you stop people from falling back into learned behaviours? (34:46) - The quick-fix mentality (45:35) - Listener questions (50:15) - 4 pertinent posers
Their book recommendations are:
Awakening the Buddha Within by Lama Surya Das The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible by Charles Eisenstein ///// | |||
| 21 Oct 2022 | 98: ‘Client-side or agency-side; a proper marketer could do both?’. A verbal slugfest with Lee Grunnell, Gillian Rightford & Tom Lewis. | 00:32:40 | |
Let’s get ready to rumble! Grab your ringside seat for the second episode in our battle royale-style heavyweight series; They Might Be Right. It’s the boisterous brother of Call To Action that breaks up bundles in the pithy playground of Twitter.
Named in honour of Bill Bernbach’s famed jacket pocket card, we invite our challengers into the octagon of debate for a verbal slugfest, whilst being mindful and welcoming to the opinions of others. This week’s motion is ‘Client-side or agency-side; a proper marketer could do both?’ And our challengers are: Lee Grunnell. The top marketing director whose tweet sparked all this off, Lee is obsessed with applying the latest thinking from marketing leaders like Binet, Field, and Sharp to professional services.
Gillian Rightford. Creativity champion and industry agony aunt, Gillian is Founder of Adtherapy, a management, skills development, and communication consultancy.
Tom Lewis. A Commercial Performance Improvement advisor to businesses, Tom, is ex-adland and now cuts his teeth in law and Private Equity. It’s a judge's decision and YOU are the judge. Vote for the winner (or a split decision). /////
Here’s the Twitter spat that kicked it all off
And the piece Lee wrote up to summarise it all; I’ll be Your Mirror (or What you Should Know if you’re Thinking About Joining an Agency) Check out Gillian’s new offering to grow marketing & advertising talent, together; The School of Thought Tom wants to share a couple of summaries of Michael Farmer’s book: Agencies don't know what they are selling and don't know how to price it Madison Avenue Manslaughter And here’s the WFA talent research Gillian mentions
Timestamps
(01:56) - Reminder of today’s motion (02:18) - Opening statements (06:10) - Royal Rumble (06:42) - Agencies stifled by their own operating model (08:10) - Fun things in ad land squeezed out by lack of commerciality (12:06) - Lack of commercial skills underpins everything (14:18) - Clients turning off the creative tap (15:18) - The system is dysfunctional (21:15) - Making the briefs better (23:58) - Specialists vs generalists (28:00) - Closing statements ///// | |||
| 28 Oct 2022 | 99: Steve Harrison & Giles Edwards vent eloquent fire on agencies, pitches, rude clients & the story behind ....Gasp! | 01:13:36 | |
Ahead of our 100th episode next week, one of the most outspoken and brilliant voices in ad land, Steve Harrison, dropped by …Gasp! HQ and tore up our usual script for a special bonus episode of Call to Action.
Copywriter, author, and great friend of the agency, Steve stuck the boot very much on the other foot and snared Giles to shoot the breeze on all things …Gasp!, with an extra dose of eloquent fire for good measure. It is Steve after all.
We chat on why we’re called …Gasp!, art director heroes, being a bunch of creatives who excel a strategy (and vice versa), turning down pitches and firing rude clients, turning 13, abusive voicemails from Sophie, the confidence crisis amongst agencies, our work for Langleys and Zen Internet, setting fire to the Leo Burnett offices, getting sued, selling the agency and tons more.
Tune in next Friday for our 100th episode with an extra special guest. It’s going to be mega.
///// Follow Steve and Giles on Twitter
See what happened when …Gasp! turned 13 Check out our work with Langleys and Zen Internet Here’s Jonathan Barnbrook Watch Giles’s talk on breaking away from billable time Over 80% of our team has completed at least one of Mark Ritson's Marketing & Brand Management Mini MBAs
Timestamps
(02:54) - Why we’re called …Gasp! (04:46) - Art Directors and creative heroes (09:30) - …Gasp!’s focus on strategy over tactics (13:23) - Working for big shops or little shops? (19:32) - Turning down pitches and firing clients (32:00) - Moving away from the billable hour (35:45) - Confidence crisis amongst agencies (44:42) - A social purpose campaign that works for Zen Internet (52:10) - Setting fire to the Leo Burnett office; have we lost rock and roll creatives? (59:00) - Our work, that worked, with Langleys (1:08:43) - Would Giles sell the agency?
Giles & Steve’s Book Recommendations
A Smile In the Mind by Beryl McAlhone and David Stuart The Art of Looking Sideways by Alan Fletcher Can’t Sell Won’t Sell by Steve Harrison ///// | |||
| 04 Nov 2022 | 100: Mark Ritson unleashes his devilish take on the marketing industry for our 100th episode | 01:10:32 | |
We laid traps of tactics before strategy to lure Mark Ritson (and Ritdad) as he was reintroduced to mainland UK to unleash his Tasmanian devilish take on the industry, for Call to Action’s 100th episode.
He’s spent 25 years working as a marketing professor, has been a columnist at Marketing Week for over a decade, is a world-class speaker and has built, presented, and demolished marketing plans for some of the world’s biggest brands. Through his Mini MBA courses in Marketing and Brand Management, Mark has trained nearly 30,000 marketing marsupials across 60 countries, including 83.7% ish of …Gasp! Mark chirps on being the rarest breed of marketing professor who loves (and actually does) marketing, getting aroused at Wacker Drive, being lured to la Maison LVMH, how the Mini MBA became his AirPods, what to do with woolly briefs, planning cycles, Pot Noodle’s purpose, pricing, and more, before piling on praise for the grumpy Byron Sharp in our feast of listener questions. So get your ears out and listen in. ///// Follow Mark on Twitter and LinkedIn
Become a better marketer with the Mini MBA in Marketing and Brand Management Read Mark’s Marketing Week column Here’s the Tone of Voice work …Gasp! did for the Mini MBA series Thank you to everyone who has lent their ears and their brains for 100 episodes of the Call To Action® podcast. It’s a real privilege. Please do share and review the podcast to help more marketers feel better about marketing.
Timestamps (02:21) - Quick fire questions (05:50) - First ever job (08:45) - Professor or Marketer? (11:10) - Getting aroused at Wacker Drive (13:30) - Landing the role at LVMH (17:49) - Is marketing changing for the better? (23:15) - Marketing Twitter vs the silent majority (27:34) - Problems in marketing academia (36:19) - Why he isn’t really Mr Anti-Purpose (37:54) - How to plan your marketing (49:52) - Listener questions (57:53) - A masterclass in pricing (1:00:22) - 4 pertinent posers | |||
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