Jocelyn S. Lai has been identifying and recruiting talent for a long time. She joins Adam to discuss the ways the needs of both the market and the talent have changed. Her role has shifted from agency recruiter to building a team at Duolingo, providing a broad perspective.
Emmett Shine’s shop, Gin Lane was doing amazing brand work for companies you have heard of and probably have in your home. But something wasn’t right. The partners and staff decided to reform Gin Lane into Pattern, a company focused on the very issue they hoped to address – making their lives feel more whole.
Jen Bonhomme carved out some time from her work at VMLY&R to talk about what makes an impact in our minds. We are exposed to dozens (hundreds?) of digital experiences on a daily basis, so that our minds are kept from wandering. Is this harmful in the long run? Are younger people who have grown up tethered to a screen better or worse off than those who pine for the days where they were more free the day dream? We aren’t sure either but we explore it together.
Neil Barrie of 21st Century Brand looks at how incumbents think about disruption and how they can disrupt themselves
I recently had the chance to talk with owner of Brown & Browner Advertising, Derek Walker. We looked at his well-constructed view on why agencies fail, how they succeed and what the future might look like. It’s an insightful talk from someone who’s been on the agency and brand side of the desk, as well as run his own shop for a decade.
Adam had the pleasure of chatting with my old friend Chris Sietsema of Teach to Fish Digital. He saw what agencies looked like, how they were viewed by clients and figured out his own path. We talk about how individual tactics build the brand. His perspective is a valuable way to understand how our traditionally disconnected tasks get us to our goals.
Special bonus for listeners of The Strategy Inside Everything. Use the promo code ADAM50 to save $50 on your tickets for Internet Summit 2019 being held Raleigh, NC, November 12-14.
Ian Schafer founded Kindred as an antidote of sorts. Exhausted after building agencies, he put his focus on building connections for people and companies trying to make positive impacts on the world. In this chat, we look at brand purpose, and makes impact and intent real. Ian has a clear point of view on how to generate action and motivate more to take part.
The brilliant Grant Owens joins Adam today to talk about turnover in brand. How the fail fast mantra has changed the way brands are approached and built by corporations, and the way they are considered or received by their intended customers. Finally an episode that didn’t start as a Twitter thread! Grant joins us from Critical Mass where he is Chief Strategy Officer.
Author Nir Eyal brought us Hooked, a look at how to design digital products that keep us coming back. Now he’s written Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life. He’s been paying attention (no pun intended) to the ways we give in to tech and make excuses for it. This book gives us a practical plan for getting back to the real world.
Defy Ventures is a different kind of organization. They are working with the incarcerated to help them hone their entrepreneurial skills and provide themselves and their communities with hope. CEO Andrew Glazier joined Defy with a pragmatic, business vision and is translating that with action. You will find this episode inspiring, trust me.
Today we get back to basics to talk about some fundamentals of brand. Derrick Daye from The Blake Project and Brand Strategy Insider joins us to talk about what separates companies from brands, and the limits some just aren’t willing to cross.
Shann Biglione has a point of view. The head of strategy at Zenith USA believes that the choices you make with money feed or starve what you support. If you’re chasing profits at the cost of your beliefs, you’re not building, you’re subtracting.
Hurrah’s Angela Natividad made time on the Fourth of July to chat with Adam about how esports are blowing up, and what outsiders misunderstand. This is easily one of our favorite conversations of the season.
Jasmine Bina made time in her day (evening, actually) to talk about how people develop trust. She is the CEO of Concept Bureau. Oddly, we lived this out as I (tried to) earn Jasmine’s trust in real time during this chat. It’s both a wide-ranging and extremely focused talk that you are going to play more than once.
On this episode, we welcome VCU professor Kevin Rothermel. He’s at the front lines with students of advertising and seeing the challenges, the growth and the promise. In this conversation, we look at how strategy is taught, and what breaks through.
This episode was a real treat. I was joined live and in person for a conversation with Shannon Pfeffer, Lead Brand Strategist at Midnight Oil. She is one of the few guests that I didn’t find on Twitter. In fact, I saw her post an open offer to listen to people who felt they were in need of mentoring on LinkedIn. In speaking with Shannon, I learned she is doing much more than that.
If you are a woman in advertising or marketing looking for someone to listen, Shannon wants to try to help you. Schedule a chat here
Founder of The Ready and two-time author joined Adam to talk about his insightful new book Brave New Work. He’s helped large and small companies develop plans for becoming more productive, faster or whatever they felt they needed to become to create companies that satisfy their teams, customers and stakeholders.
*if they want to survive In the 1900s Sears ruled what we now call DTC marketing. Their catalog came straight to American homes, bursting with products to be chosen by the customer and delivered. How dominant was the Sears catalog as a business? They sold houses. In the catalog. That Read more…
Ana Andjelic is a formidable thinker on brands, retail, digital and as a doctor of sociology, behavior. She also has an amazing understanding of the luxury market having spent years working in and studying luxury categories and consumers. She joins Adam today to talk about the confluence of digital, retail, luxury and brand when behavior is swirled together.
Julian Cole is just back from a year-long sabbatical from strategy. He spent the time traveling around the world with his fiancé, exploring different cultures and thinking about what he wants to do next. The answer will excite you.
Brad Kim has been studying memes for a decade. He’s seen a lot of change in formats and in the way ideas spread. In this fun chat, we explore the way the internet has evolved for better and not so better. As editor-in-chief of Know Your Meme, Brad is someone who understands the internet better than most. And loves it. Warts and all. Follow Brad on Twitter or read more here: Know Your MemeYour intrepid host, Adam Pierno has written his second book. It’s also kind of about the internet. You can buy it here on Amazon.
All day long, I see social posts from people who are telling me they just did something just, or right. Low level virtue signaling. You know what, though? It is better to do the right thing than the wrong thing. That’s cool. But if I may paraphrase Chris Rock: You Read more…
Taylor Lorenz, a staff writer at the Atlantic who covers internet culture, joins Adam to discuss the speed of the internet, memes and more. You should follow Taylor on Instagram.
Jack Appleby, Director of Creative Strategy at Midnight Oil, chats with Adam about the importance of transparency.
Ben Rock, co-writer and director of Video Palace, sits down with Adam to discuss the myth of The Blair Witch Project and more.
Brittany Hill leads Catalist, a company designed to make sense of the purpose movement. She talks with Adam about the strategy she and her team employ with brands to apply purpose where it makes sense, and when to opt out. Listen here: https://specific.substack.com/p/brittany-hill-matching-cause-with-703?r=n6j6&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&utm_source=copy Transcript: Adam Pierno: All right. Welcome back Read more…
Gareth Kay of Chapter joins Adam today to talk about the way planning has changed from its introduction. His perspective on planning from both sides of the Atlantic (and some on the Pacific as well) frames up this discussion very well. He takes Adam to school. Enjoy. *Note: If you haven’t heard Rachel Mercer’s episode, you may want to listen first. She makes light of how we have augmented English planning which was the impetus for this conversation with Gareth Kay.*
I was blown away by this talk with the fantastic Rachel Mercer of RGA. Like many of us in strategy, Rachel came from a different discipline; in her case, design. She discusses what she learned in design that she brought forward in her strategy work and some of the bigger lessons she’s learned and taught.*NOTE: Some joking comments Rachel made at the end of this episode about the change to English planning spurred the topic for the next episode of The Strategy Inside Everything with our guest Gareth Kay of Chapter. Tune in to hear the spiritual sequel that was recorded the next day.*
Adam Singer is extremely observant. That’s what’s made him an expert on Google’s tools for marketers, but also what makes him an interesting follow on Twitter. He’s been outspoken on the challenge the young face in booming places like San Fransisco.
Eric Thomas, Senior Partner at Detroit’s Saga MKTG, posted a thought to LinkedIn that we were killing our creative people. Though he and Adam had never met, Eric agreed to come on the podcast and discuss this issue. His perspective on the ever-tightening timelines and expectations placed on creative people and knowledge workers is stunning. Enjoy this conversation.
Jay Baer has been figuring out how to get people talking about brands for a long time. His book Talk Triggers dives deep into the psychology of what makes brands and products worth talking about and what makes people actually talk – and not just take note. This is a fun chat with an interesting guest. Also, Jay admits that host Adam Pierno is his-and we quote- “inspiration.”
Former Creative Director has made a lot of changes as the industry has changed around him. He’s now the Chief Marketing Officer at RPA in LA – working with a new perspective. Tim and Adam sat down for a chat about how the ad world has changed since they both got started and what lessons Tim has learned about strategy. Enjoy!
Frank Speiser is the founder of Social Flow. He also happens to be an old friend of host Adam Pierno. In fact, Adam was Frank’s RA at Boston University. This episode is two old buddies catching up and talking media, one of them is an absolute expert. (Hint: It’s Frank.)
Melanie Deziel, Founder of StoryFuel talks about her training in journalism and how she uses the tenets she learned in J school to solve problems for brands. She’s seen the change in media first hand, and come from the ever-shrinking newsrooms with some insights. Listen here: https://specific.substack.com/p/melanie-deziel-has-got-a-story-for-61c?r=n6j6&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&utm_source=copy
Professor David Carroll of Parsons – yes, that Professor David Carroll comes on to discuss how he got embroiled in an international lawsuit with Cambridge Analytica that has far reaching implications for Facebook, marketers and our privacy. He sees all the facets to the issue as a former entrepreneur and professor of media design.
Darien LaBeach of Huge and Strtgst talks about the challenges of community? What do people want from one? What brings them together? What keeps them from sticking? He’s done the research and now putting his efforts into building a strategy community.
We were lucky enough to catch Richard Shotton just before his fantastic book The Choice Factory won BBH’s World Cup of Advertising Books (well deserved, though I was pulling for Decoded). He’s got so much information that our talk moves all over the board as it relates to decision making – but we sink our teeth into the pratfall effect and how we see it playing out in every day life; well beyond advertising.
Mike Monello visits with Adam Pierno to talk about storytelling. Stop, don’t leave. Not storytelling in the cliché marketing way. Mike and his team at Campfire have an approach that is more about getting a person who hears the story to want to learn more or retell it. He’s been Read more…
Listen here: https://specific.substack.com/p/kevin-holesh-makes-a-habit-of-understanding-96f?r=n6j6&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&utm_source=copy Moment: https://inthemoment.io/
I had the pleasure of sitting with Rob Schwartz, CEO or TBWA NY for a back-to-back pod session. He was interested in learning about what inspired me to write Under Think It, and made some time to tell me how his experience solving creative problems has equipped him to be a CEO in these wild times.
Talking with RGA’s Tom Morton to hear what they have learned about biases through their work on the Ad Council’s Love Has No Labels campaigns.
We’ve finally stopped hearing about how the ‘consumer has won’. Admit it, you missed that battle cry. While I don’t believe the consumer has actually won anything, and never viewed it as a contest, choice has been unlocked. Which is why choice creates emotional challenge for brands. People get extremely Read more…
Had the great fortune to speak with Kit Krugman, Chief Curator at co:collective and President and Chair of the Board at WIN: Women in Innovation (hat tip to Brian Dell for the intro). Kit walks me through how recruiting and team building has changed and how to build an organization with diversity and balance built into its core. Used the opportunities to take a lesson for future recruiting for guests on the show and talent at Santy. This is one of the best conversations I’ve had hosting this show.
What if you were asked to write a book and genuinely had no intention to do so? As we discuss Tom’s approach to the giant task of writing a book, you’ll quickly learn that he has little to no filter, which makes his book a must read. Adam and Tom share insight on creativity and on getting things done. We had an absolutely delightful conversation with Zenith Head of Innovation Tom Goodwin.
It’s never been easier to blend in. For a brand, for a person. It’s never been this easy to figure out what is going on at a given moment – a given second – and hide in that micro trend. Look at letter boards. Last spring, one brand got the Read more…
Everyone loves Netflix. From Wall St. to the bus stop on Wall St. everyone is watching Netflix. I’m a subscriber and in fact loved the service so much when I got my first envelope in the early 2000’s that I immediately bought stock. At about $15. I almost can’t believe Read more…
Founder of Sparrow Advisors and all around brilliant Ana Milicevic joins Adam today for a talk on the future of work. Ana’s background around all different parts of the tech, entertainment and marketing complex gives her a unique perspective on what it’s all building towards.
UM Head of Strategy, and author Eaon Pritchard discusses applied evolutionary psychology with Adam. How does everything come back to a basic desire or fear humans have always felt. Fun to learn about Eaon’s unique pathway to strategy from life as a DJ. Eaon’s also written a wonderful book called Where Did It All Go Wrong that we discuss a bit.