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. ///// Follow Carolyn on Twitter and LinkedIn Check out her website And Kingswood & Palmerston Follow K&P on Twitter and LinkedIn too 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: …Gasp! Turns 13 Life. Be in it. Slip! Slop! Slap! Backbone by Young & Rubicam TDA Advertising & Design 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 Junior by Thomas Kemeny /////
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 Follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn 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 Metropole by Ferenc Karinthy /////
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. ///// Follow Dave on Twitter and LinkedIn. Check out his website, which is also a good place to see his upcoming events around the world. Her...
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 Management in 10 Words by Terry Leahy /////
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. ///// Follow Rob on TikTok, LinkedIn, and Instagram He gets his awesome jumpers from Rowing Blazers Check out comedian Jessica Kirson And hold onto your spaghetti hoops, here’s the infamous Instagram account @ohmybeiges 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 Write Right by Vikki Ross 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 /////
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 Listen Up by Andy Nairn on ISOLATED Talks 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 Go Luck Yourself by Andy Nairn /////
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 ...
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 /////
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 Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami /////
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. Andrew Spurrier Dawes Thomas Kolster Steve Harrison Paul Feldwick 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 The Anatomy of Humbug by Paul Feldwick /////