Sweathead With Mark Pollard

This Sweathead episode is a live workshop in front of a virtual audience of about 60 people. Working with the team at TEACH, we try to crack a strategy to get more people with bachelor's degrees to consider teaching STEM in high schools around the USA. You'll hear Jen Cooper (Senior Director of Content), Teresa Alexandru (Director of Growth Marketing), and Nancy Sylvan (Director of Programs) workshop with me, Mark. We sort of got somewhere. But perhaps it's the messiness that makes the most sense. You can find out more about TEACH here: http://www.teach.org ** The Sweathead Do-Together will take you through ten hours of strategy conference October 18-20, 2022. The Sweathead Strategy Accelerator is 4 weeks of lively strategy training and starts Oct 25, 2022. Find out more at http://www.sweathead.com. **

Ever felt creative but uncertain about how strategic you were? What about the other way around? In this episode, we get into both of these situations. We'll discuss small shifts creative minds can take to become more strategic and help the strategy-inclined to understand their creativity. We also answer strategist questions: 1. How can I sell strategy without design? 2. What to do if your creative crew isn't capable of translating your strategy into a digital concept? 3. How do you convert a campaign pitch to a brand strategy pitch? 4. Tips for someone transitioning from a strategy doer into a strategy leader? To find some of this on Instagram... "I'm creative but am I strategic?" https://www.instagram.com/p/Ch2ZpGYOo8Q/ Why strategy work is creative work https://www.instagram.com/p/CiA0yYOOkCa/ ** The Sweathead Do-Together will take you through ten hours of strategy conference October 18-20, 2022. The Sweathead Strategy Accelerator is 4 weeks of lively strategy training and starts Oct 25, 2022. Find out mo

Sharing creative briefs with creative teams is intimidating when you're starting out. In this episode, I share some history, including "I didn't write my first creative brief until I was about 28", and at least 15 tips about how to do this.  Listen to this episode with CCO Jill Applebaum and ECD Kieran Ots as they give feedback to strategists: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/creative-bosses-give-4-strategists-feedback-live-and/id1370723809?i=1000571081998 For more Internet content about sharing creative briefs: 1. "I need to give the creative team feedback but I'm scared." https://www.instagram.com/p/Chsnci2J3uY/ 2. 8 Things To Consider When Sharing Creative Briefs With Creative Teams https://www.instagram.com/p/ChXPmUDuGMp/ ** The Sweathead Do-Together conference and our next multi-week accelerator will happen in October, 2022. Podcast listeners can get early-bird tickets to the Do-Together until September 14. Instructions are in this episode. ** Subscribe to our newsletter for updates: ✉️ Newsl

In 2021, Derek Walker lit up our first ever strategy conference The Sweathead Do-Together.  His talk about fear in advertising sent chills through over one hundred souls.  We've heard that some people replay this talk to themselves when they need a kick in the pants. Having just launched this year's Do-Together, we thought we'd share Derek's talk via the podcast. He'll be back this year to light a fire under you. You can find details at http://www.thedotogether.com. You can find Derek here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/derek-walker-8741578/ You can watch this talk here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVeW7xbm1z0 ** Early-bird tickets to this year's Sweathead Do-Together are available until the end of August or until sold out: http://www.thedotogether.com. October 18-20, ten hours of conference, over 20 speakers, plus 3 masterclasses. ** ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 Sweathead is a support group for strategists and account planners around the world. We host conferences, online courses, live events,

In this episode, we discuss mediocrity and why some people need it plus I answer nine questions while walking through New York City. The questions include: 1. What can I do when I feel a lack of interest cause every project looks the same? 2. How to approach building a team for the first time 3. Why are we moving backwards as a country? 4. Are the traditional strategy-creative roles in agencies relevant in the fast-paced digital marketing era? 5. Does the agency world over index with neuro-atypical peeps (spectrum, sociopaths, etc)? 6. I’m frustrated by how the person I report to hardly gives a shit about planning and knows less. 7. What’s the value of strategy? 8. How do you deal with a strategist above yo who won’t get out of your way? 9. Do you know of any good practices or exercises I could use to "derive insights from data"? ** For early-bird tickets to The Sweathead Do-Together and for information about our next strategy accelerator, visit http://www.sweathead.com **

Freelancing can smell like freedom but it can also reek of fear. “I can’t wait to be my own boss…but what if I can’t manage myself?” “I’m so excited about finding my own clients…but what if nobody wants to work with me?” “I can’t wait to choose how I spend more of my days…but what if I spend them in ways that set me back?” In this podcast recording, freelance strategist Lydia Taylor hosts a conversation with Sophie Cross and Howie Chan about specific tips that will make the freelance life feel less scary. Lydia Taylor is a freelance strategy consultant https://www.linkedin.com/in/lydiataylor0/ Sophie Cross is Editor of Freelancer Magazine https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophcross/ Howie Chan is a healthcare brand consultant https://www.linkedin.com/in/howiechaniam/ **

For this episode of Sweathead, VMLY&R's Kevin Brockenbrough collects a few of his favorite minds to share their experiences as black strategists working in advertising in the USA: Simone Pratt (Ogilvy), Deadra Rahaman (Huge), and Emanuel Basnight (Power Twist). This episode is from a live recording. Kevin was due to host the whole session but had some technical challenges so you’ll hear his powerful voice at the start and then towards the end when he rejoined us. Big thanks to Simone for taking over as the session’s center of gravity. The guests’ details and links are as follows: Kevin Brockenbrough - Group Director, Strategy & Insights, VMLY&R https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinsbrockenbrough/ Deadra Rahaman @DeadraRahaman - VP Brand Strategy, Huge https://www.linkedin.com/in/deadrarahaman/ Emanuel Basnight @elbj - Creative Strategy and Content Lead, Power Twist https://www.linkedin.com/in/emanuel-basnight-5079223/ Simone Pratt @simoneisis1913 - Brand Strategy Director, Ogilvy https://www.link

Sharing a creative brief with creative teams can be scary, right? Well, how about presenting strategy to a Chief Creative Officer and an Executive Creative Director? Four Sweathead students recently did this with Wunderman Thompson CCO Jill Applebaum and Leo Burnett ECD Kieran Ots.  This is a rare public experience that's often full of trepidation and excitement in equal measures. You can find Jill here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jill-applebaum-4280a96/ Kieran is here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kieranots/ Big shoutouts to our students for being brave enough to go on public record: - Dulce Vazquez: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dulcevazquez/ - Eric Pattillo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-pattillo-0053813b/ - Kaitlin Carpenter: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaitlincarpenter/ - Kris Kennedy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kriskennedy/ ** The Sweathead Do-Together conference and our next multi-week accelerator will happen in October, 2022. ** Subscribe to our newsletter for updates: ✉️ Newsletter: http://ee

Maria Van Buskirk is Head of Strategy at Media by Mother. Mother is notorious for its creativity. So you'd expect Media by Mother to be notorious for its creativity in media.  But how does it all work, especially in a city like New York that can make creativity feel so corporate and where big budgets and a fetish for efficiency can dull many creative spirits? In this episode, Maria shares with us how media thinking can help ideas before they happen and when to bring a comms planner in to play. You can find Maria here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maria-van-buskirk-01317540/ ** The Sweathead Do-Together conference and our next multi-week accelerator will happen in October, 2022. ** Subscribe to our newsletter for updates: ✉️ Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dscjW5 **

For details about the Sweathead Strategy Summer Camp, go to: http://www.Sweathead.com

We all want to feel good about our work but does some of the marketing industry take itself too seriously? In our personal pursuit for meaningful work and a sense of nobility, can we completely overshoot the whole point of marketing? What if marketing doesn't need to be noble? What if "brand purpose" isn't a useful concept? What if marketing is just to sell? These are questions that Anthea Foyer (Sector Development Officer, City of Toronto), Julie Ng (Marketing and Business Development Consultant), and Radovan Andrej Grezo (Creative Director, Somebody&Somebody) discuss with us in this live panel recording of Sweathead. You can find Anthea here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthea-foyer/ Julie is here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julieonvancouverisland/ Andrej is here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/radovangrezo With thanks to Dot Jarantilla for making this happen. ** Find out about our 4-week virtual summer camp at http://www.sweathead.com. It starts on July 21, 2022. ** 

Nathan Brown is Global Chief Strategy Officer for UM in New York. We worked in the same building on William St in Sydney about 15 years ago. Nathan was a breath of fresh air. He built teams that expected to do creative things with their clients’ media buys. He was a good coach and easy to collaborate with. He’s still all of these things. But many years have passed since we worked together so I wanted to see how a coach-oriented, creative thinker was faring in the high-stakes game of media planning in New York. We discuss a lot of C-words: - Creativity in media planning, - Media buying as a commodity, - Being a CEO of PHD Media, - Being a CSO, - Culture, - Collaborating with advertising agencies, - Clients, and - Whether Nathan is a company man at heart :) You can find Nathan here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathan-brown-8115153/ ** Find out about our 4-week virtual summer camp at http://www.sweathead.com. It starts on July 21, 2022.  **

Jo Lepore is Global Foresight Leader at Mars Wrigley. She moved to the USA about a year ago and works out of Hoboken, New Jersey. In this episode of Sweathead, Jo takes us through how she approaches her work, the work of a snack futurist. This kind of work might be of interest to a few agency strategists and Jo helps us understand how to make it work that the rest of a business will want to engage with rather than ignore or just use as lunchtime entertainment. Jo also publishes her own podcast. It’s called Looking Outside. You can find out more here: https://www.looking-outside.com/ ** Find out about our 4-week virtual summer camp at http://www.sweathead.com. It starts on July 21, 2022. It's for our annual members. **

Archana Mahadevan is VP, Director of Strategy at DDB Chicago. Archana was born in India and came to the United States to attend college. She has been here ever since. While in India, Archana was obsessed with advertising, and wanted to prove to everyone that she could do it. So she combined her need to start over, her desire to work in advertising, and her urge to leave her country and grow professionally to come to the USA. You can find Archana here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/archana-mahadevan-30a21617/ ** Details about our 4-week virtual summer camp are coming: http://www.sweathead.com. It starts around July 18, 2022.  **

Picture this: you have a yearning to do strategy but you’re in an account management role. Maybe a job switch has been promised. Maybe you're simply doing multiple roles. Either way, on your mind is this question: "How do I do strategy full-time?" The transition isn’t always easy. The thing you want can put stress on your current company. But how much of that is a ‘you’ problem versus a ‘them’ problem? In this episode of Sweathead, we speak with these three people who’ve made the leap: 1. Kimberley Upton, Head of Planning at Blue Chip (UK) https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimberley-upton-93112819 2. Chirag Khushalani, Creative Strategist at AKQA (UAE) https://www.linkedin.com/in/khushalani/ 3. Alana Dwyer, Strategic Planner at Goosebump (Ireland) https://www.linkedin.com/in/alana-dwyer-6bb8695a/ **

Within a matter of minutes, the pandemic went from freaking out everybody about keeping their jobs to unfurling a ton of new opportunities. Agencies and brands alike turned to strategists to help them navigate the ambiguity and confusion and frustration. And now many strategists realize they have more options than ever. But what’s a strategy boss to do? In this live session, we ask: 1. What are the most common challenges facing managers of strategists right now? 2. What do managers get wrong? 3. How can managers get more things right? Guests: Lee Maicon – CSO https://www.linkedin.com/in/leemaicon/ Nikita Walia – CEO and Founder of Blank https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikitaontheinternet/ Seth Gaffney – CSO, Preacher https://www.linkedin.com/in/sethgaffney/ ** Find out about our 4-week virtual summer camp at http://www.sweathead.com. It starts on July 18, 2022. **

Rodolfo Estrada is a fresh new planner at BBDO in Guatemala. He recently took The Sweathead Strategy Accelerator, our 6-week strategy course. And I thought his work was worth sharing. In this episode, Rodolfo takes us through his response to a hypothetical brief. The task was to get heavy drinkers to consider Vivitrol as a way to cut down their drinking. Vivitrol is a monthly needle in the butt (although there are pill versions of the drug, too - eg Naltrexone). It claims to turn down the opioid receptors in the brain, to reduce the endorphin rush that heavy drinkers feel after their first few drinks and then chase for the next few hours with more drinks. You can find Rodolfo here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rodolfoaestrada/  ** Find out about our New York City strategy workshop on June 16 here: https://sweathead.com/products/the-sweathead-strategy-workshop/ **

After stints at Leo Burnett and Droga5, Mara Rigney now helps brands work out what to do with Web3 at Accenture Song. "With Web3" is such a...non-specific thing. And, for those of us who've been around through Web 1.0 and Web 2.0, it's hard not to feel a little skeptical. Like, "Oh, here comes another Ponzi scheme." But, in this episode, Mara takes us through some of the fundamental concepts of Web3 and describes how she works with brands to get a handle on it. You can find Mara here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mararigney/  ** Find out about our New York City strategy workshop on June 16 here: https://sweathead.com/products/the-sweathead-strategy-workshop/ **

Austin Powers is currently in Phuket, Thailand. He recently burned out. In Phuket, he hopes to rekindle himself. Austin had been working in Taiwan as a Global Marketing Strategy Director. This was after working in Singapore, Beijing, and Hong Kong. He posted his exit strategy in the Sweathead Facebook Group. Many other strategists related...hardcore. So I decided to talk to him about what he's been going through and how he hopes to put himself back together. You can find his exit strategy here:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/445994692484756/posts/1700175407066672 You can find Austin on LinkedIn here:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/powersaustin ** Find out about our New York City strategy workshop on June 16 here: https://sweathead.com/products/the-sweathead-strategy-workshop/ **

David Snell and Christopher Owens have worked at The Richards Group in Dallas for fifty years. Combined. That's a long, long time.  David is TRG's Head of Brand Strategy while Christopher is Brand Strategy Director. In 2020, The Richards Group hit a crisis. Words said by the agency's founder were reported to the media. The agency lost staff. The agency lost clients. David and Christopher stayed.  In this episode, we discuss how the crisis affected the company and its people, how David and Christopher worked through it, and how they are rebuilding their strategy team.  You can find David here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-snell-9371b9a/ You can find Christopher here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christ0ph3r/ ** Find out about our New York City strategy workshop on June 16 here: https://sweathead.com/products/the-sweathead-strategy-workshop/ **