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. 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. 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 Read more
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 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 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. 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 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.
She barely lifts her head. Lying on her side, she picks up her head and looks over, following me across the room with just her eyes. She waits patiently as I disappeared into the closet. She waits for me to Read more
We welcome Mark Pollard to the show to discuss how he thinks, solves problems and sometimes creates mischief. This is a good one.
Faris Yakob of Genius Steals sits down for a conversation about how fictional universes grip our attention. This chat wanders quite a bit as we chart corners of pop culture and strategy. As usual, Faris makes it worth a listen and a share.
Ian Sohn of Wunderman joins us to talk about his approach to running a marathon despite never running before. It gave him a chance to consider his approach for other endeavors. This is a great one. Get some Gatorade and enjoy.
We spoke with Fitzco’s David Matathia about how to maintain strategic focus when there are just so many distractions. Oh look, a butterfly. Sorry.
The fourth estate has been a protected part of the US since its inception. The idea of protecting free speech was to make people more aware of events around them. Thomas Jefferson said “A well informed citizenry is the best defense against Read more
Authenticity means to do what you say you will do. People use it as a marketing goal. But there’s a much bigger problem. It turns out that holding up authenticity isn’t a job for the marketing team. You’re not executing Read more
Ice Cream For Everyone host and strategist Willem van de Horst joins us for this chat on how games open your mind, your approach to teams and why we play.
There’s a sort of virus that infects social media users. We want to be seen as cool, trend setting, ahead of the curve, smart. This goes to me, too. I am also guilty of editing tweets – rewriting them to Read more
Great conversation with Sr. Brand Strategist Alex Berger who brings the story of a band from New England who have created a loyal fan following that would make most brands jealous.
Very – VERY interesting conversation with Farrah Bostic, founder of The Difference Engine and faculty at Parsons. We don’t usually talk politics, but this look behind the curtain is insightful and engaging. We went overtime because there was so much ground to cover.
Sr. Comms Strategist Hallie Wright walks all the way down the hall (of our old office) for this lively chat on the not so clear strategy Target is employing to fend off Amazon and the retail implosion.
Keith Stoeckeler dropped in via the internet to talk about the changes to sports fandom and celebrity due to the direct access afforded by social media. We get into who is getting it right and who is next in line to leverage this opportunity.
This conversation is all about the way brand culture is built up around a mission, and the single minded drive companies take, until they can’t. Mike Jones of Resound joins and makes many, many great observations about the two cultures and the output to consumers.
We had the long awaited conversation with John Burke to discuss the approach to strategy that he’s learned over his 20 year career in and out of the marketing business. This is a conversation you don’t want to miss. We get into culture and the culture of ideas among other things.