168 Things

This is a short bonus episode to follow the one about briefs. I found the brief I wrote for this podcast series, and here we have a look at it. The briefing format is unusual, but rather excellent. It was shown to me by Lu Dixon, a creative titan, and I found it very stimulating. Listen and hear about the format, and then the actual brief I wrote - and let me know if you think we've delivered on the brief. Warning - as I wrote the brief, and the client was Kitcatt and Croke, the language is a little less formal than it would have been for most clients. A bit sweary at times.

If you have to write briefs for creative people to work from - or if you're a creative person, who gets briefed - you will know what a battleground it can be. Is a brief ever good enough? How much blood, sweat and tears goes into writing them? Is it worth the effort? Yes, it is, because a good brief is the first creative act, and from it, brilliant ideas can flow. In this podcast, we share our thoughts and experience from many years of grappling with briefs, and give advice on how to ease the pain and even enjoy the whole process. We talk about what to include, what to leave out, what makes a good proposition, and how to work with your clients to get briefs written that lead to fame and fortune for all involved. Thanks to Jon Brain, a former colleague, for asking us to make this podcast.

Winning a pitch is only the first step towards what will, you hope, become a wonderful relationship between client and agency. But have you ever analysed how to get there? How trust can grow, and be nurtured? What you all need to do to make it work? 
Angus Crowther and his team at Alchemists have. Their report for ISBA on this subject came out towards the end of last year. In this podcast, we interview Angus about it, and he gives useful advice on what both client and agency need to do to reach the goal of the best possible relationship, leading to consistently excellent work together.
We also ask him about his highly successful vineyard, producing award-winning wine from the fields of Essex. Cheers!

'Do you have any idea how ****ing busy I am?' Yes, because you have a ridiculously long 'to do' list, and it's crushing you. Not in a good way.

You need an alternative - and here it is, together with the reason why you need to do one thing right now.

I started out in this business as a trainee copywriter, and it was thanks to an introduction from a remarkable woman called Fiona Ross. We're going to make podcasts specifically to help people who want to learn more about how to be a creative thinker, a writer, an art director, a strategist, a leader, and more, but today I'm going back to my own beginning, to talk about a principle that benefitted me, and that I've tried to apply - to pay forward - over the years. And I owe it to Fiona Ross (Fiona Godwin Brown after she married), to whom this podcast is dedicated.

Please email questions and comments to [email protected]

We'll be running agony aunt and uncle sessions soon - send us your problems and we'll try to help!

Everyone who works in marketing has met him - or her - the obsessive, tyrannical perfectionist who picks apart every idea, tells everyone they're rubbish and then burns the midnight oil reworking other people's efforts until they no longer resemble their original author's intents. But perfectionism isn't necessarily destructive and disempowering - it's a driving force for success and for some of the most memorable and influential creative and strategic campaigns. What does healthy perfectionism look like, and where's the dividing line beyond which things get painful and counter-productive? 

The latest episode of 168 Things features an interview with Marc Nohr - here's a taster

In this episode, Paul Kitcatt interviews his former business partner, Marc Nohr. Together with Vonnie Alexander and Jeremy Shaw, they founded Kitcatt Nohr Alexander Shaw, one of London's most successful creative agencies. In this interview, we talk about how we did it, and what the future looks like for others trying for similar success. 

Lazar Dzamic is one of the leading strategic thinkers in digital marketing - or indeed, any kind of marketing. We worked together at Kitcatt Nohr Alexander Shaw; from there he went to Google; and now he's home in Serbia, for a while. He recently published 'The Definitive Guide to Strategic Content Marketing', (with Justin Kirby, publ. Kogan Page) a book that fully delivers on its title. I spoke with him via a video link between Balham and Belgrade.
We discussed the future of brands, in the light of the continuing development of digital technology, and of the economic consequences of the pandemic. His observations are pithy, thoughtful and challenging. He picks up on themes from the previous podcast in this series, and develops them, urging brand owners to do the necessary work to move away from 'the glamorous monologue' of old-school advertising thinking (you'd think by now they'd have understood, but no), and enjoy the excitement and freedom the digital revolution offers them. 
It's more than thought-provoking - he also gives practical advice on what to do, right now. Brand owners and agencies alike will find this interview stimulating and useful.

Storytelling is all the rage, and has been for a few years now. But how can your brand compete with all the other stories out there? Netflix and Amazon have built vast empires from selling stories - and then there are all your competitors, vying for people's attention. It's not enough to let your agency make up some nonsense and plaster it at great expense all over the media. You need to dig deeper to find a satisfying and interesting brand story. In this podcast, we talk about how. We look at story structure, brands with compelling stories, and how you can find yours.