Tim Malefyt has an amazing ability to make the familiar strange.

He does this by doing deep, ethnographic research, helping brands uncover hidden consumer truths through a combination of carefully constructed activities and thoughtful conversation. 

As a business anthropologist, Tim’s research methodologies and key findings have helped re-energize a number of big name brands across multiple categories, including Campbell’s, Gillette, FedEx, HBO, Revlon, PepsiCo, Cadillac, Crayola, and New Balance.

For Tim, context is everything. 

If you want to understand a person’s behavior, you have to talk to them in the right context. That means getting them out of the focus group room, putting away the interrogation pad of paper,  and talking with people in the environment where the behavior in question naturally takes place. 

Because as Tim puts it, “It is in the doing, in the action, that the ‘knowledge of the body’ starts to come through.”

Some of my favorite aha moments talking with Tim include:

• Reframing Campbell’s “dinner dilemma” into something more creative and communal
• The surprisingly social nature of driving and the challenge that poses for self-driving cars
• Different metaphors one can use during interviews for more meaningful truths
• How to check for and overcome gender bias in research projects 
• The way Tim’s experience as a ballet dancer has influenced his approach to research

Show Notes:

Below are links to books, and other inspiring ideas that came up during our conversation.

Tim’s favorite recent book: The Overstory by Richard Powers

Another great book: Metaphors We Live By by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson

Dan Cohen loves a good challenge.

Tell him he can’t say something in a campaign headline and he’ll find a creative way around it, to the delight of clients and customers alike.

Over the past thirty years, Dan’s creative, collaborative approach has helped a wide variety of brands in commoditized categories, including Bounty (paper towels), Charmin (toilet paper), Pampers (diapers), Pepto-Bismol (digestion), and Puffs (facial tissue).

He’s also worked on the other side of the advertising spectrum, re-energizing luxury brands like Rolex, DeBeers, and Bentley. 

No matter what he’s working on though, Dan always manages to find those aha moments hiding in plain sight - in data points, personal experiences, and in casual conversations with his creative teams. 

Some of my favorite aha moments talking with Dan include:

• The data point that became a powerful springboard for Bounty’s latest campaign 
• How to build awareness for brands in commoditized categories
• Charmin’s creative activations in unexpected places like Pottypalooza and Times Square
• How Gen-Z has upended the traditional approach to linear storytelling
• The summer job Dan had in college that taught him a valuable lesson

Show Notes:

Below are links to campaigns, books, and other inspiring ideas that came up during our conversation.

Wingmen Gronk & Julian Edelman Spill the Sauce on Their Patriot Days

Lions - Bounty Wingtracker Campaign | The Work

Charmin Restroom Activation in Times Square

Charmin Rollbot at the Consumer Electronics Show

Charmin Toilet Tunes - TikTok

Charmin Toilet Tunes - Spotify

Heinz Tilted Ketchup Label

Dan’s Favorite Recent Book - James by Percival Everett

A great magic trick, like a great creative briefing, begins long before everyone gathers in a room.

To the general public, Mike Jacobson may be best known for his magic show performance on America’s Got Talent in 2023, but for the past decade in the business and advertising world, Mike has brought his unique methods to strategic briefings and creative campaigns for a wide range of clients, including Oreo, Subway, Comedy Central, Paramount, and other MTV Networks.

Some of my favorite aha moments talking with Mike include:

• The surprising overlaps between magic, mentalism, and marketing
• How to take a simple card trick (and a creative briefing) to a level 10 engagement
• Mike’s terrible interview at 72andSunny and how he turned it around to get his first job in advertising
• The secret to priming your audience to be more receptive to your message
• How to get and hold people’s attention in an era of shrinking attention spans
• The importance of confidence and mystery in modern marketing

Show Notes:

Below are links to campaigns, books, and other inspiring ideas that came up during our conversation.

Mike’s performance on America’s Got Talent

The Last Barf Bag - Dramamine

Steve Martin Documentary Trailer on Apple+

Sascha Mayer knows what it’s like to be invisible. 

Like so many new moms nursing their children, if she wanted to nurse or pump when she was away from home, her options were often limited to a bathroom stall, an unattended room, or a parked car.

But it was around Labor Day weekend in 2006 that an article in the New York Times and a confluence of other events inspired a question that would change her life’s trajectory.

“Why are these women who are so visible to me so invisible to everyone else?”

That question - and the answers that followed - led Sascha and her co-founder Christine Dodson on a seven year journey to create Mamava, a revolutionary lactation pod for on-the-go moms (and dads) who need a clean, comfortable space for nursing, pumping, or bottle feeding.

From the first location in 2013 at the Burlington International Airport to more than 5,000 Mamava locations today, Sascha has channeled her bodacious optimism for mission-driven brands into the Mamava ecosystem, transforming a topic that was once invisible into something that is now highly visible, approachable, and welcoming.

Some of my favorite aha moments from our conversation include:

• The process of coming up with a memorable name and provocative logo for Mamava
• Breaking down barriers and raising awareness around the topic of lactivism 
• Finding key partners and “pollinators” to help carry the message and mission of Mamava 
• Sascha’s favorite Mamava pod location and why it’s special to her
• The importance of expanding the Mamava ecosystem from physical pods to a user-friendly app
• The critical branding and ethnographic research lessons Sascha learned while working for Bernie Sanders and brands like Seventh Generation and Burton Snowboards

Show Notes:

Below are links to campaigns, shows, and other inspiring ideas that came up during our conversation.

Swehl Campaign in Times Square featuring Molly Baz

The Rehearsal - Trailer

Frida - The Motherload of Labor and Recovery Must Haves

The Bodacious Optimist Podcast

Heavyweight Podcast - Episode 24 - Jimmy and Mark

There are a lot of strategy documents in the world. Briefs. Decks. White papers. Books. According to Alex M H Smith, most of them are full of shit. Impenetrable, calcified, piled-high bullsh*t.

That’s because, despite all their words and charts and graphs, these so-called strategies fail to inspire action.

And that’s what Alex wants to change in the world of strategy. With his book (No Bullsh*t Strategy) and his consultancy (BasicArts.org), Alex is on a mission to help brands differentiate themselves through bold, decisive action.

Some of my favorite aha moments talking with Alex include:

• The difference between a bullshit strategy and a no bullshit strategy
• How to redefine your competitive set to create a category of one
• The surprising lies that most marketers believe when it comes to targeting 
• How to maintain differentiation when when copycats come in with commoditized claims 
• How to reduce your strategy down to just one word

Show Notes:

Below are links to campaigns, books, and other inspiring ideas that came up during our conversation.

No Bullsh*t Strategy - Alex M H Smith

Atomic Habits - James Clear

Grenade Protein Bars - UK

Alex’s favorite recent good book - The Matter with Things by Iain McGilchrist 

For over two decades, Shobha Sairam has worked on a wide variety of brands at a number of agencies around the world, including Leo Burnett, Mother, Deutsch, and The Community among others. 

Most recently, Shobha has led strategy at 22 Squared Inc, based out of New York, where she and her team have breathed new life into brands like Baskin Robbins, Party City, Publix, and Toyota. 

Over the years, Shobha’s research for different brands has exposed her to a variety of sensitive and challenging subjects, including sexual wellness, banking, and the American Dream, and her process for getting to the heart of people's feelings around such complicated subjects is inspiring.

Some of my favorite aha moments talking with Shobha include:

• The surprisingly complex reasons people have sex and how those reasons led to the evolution of the K-Y brand
• Moving beyond the classic problem-solution formula that most brands adhere to 
• The impact Gen Z has had on brands and storytelling across multiple categories  
• Re-framing the banking industry away from the standard idea of “financial freedom” toward something more poignant and provocative
• Transforming “What is” to “What If” in creative briefings and client work sessions to consistently get to more effective, engaging work

Show Notes:

Below are links to campaigns and other inspiring ideas that came up during our conversation.

Oatly - Forced Perspective Campaign

Shobha’s most recent favorite book - The Sword and The Scimitar

Most ad agencies have clients. That’s not exactly the case with Bullish Inc. 

Started in 2015 by Michael Duda and Brent Vartan, the co-founders of Bullish asked a provocative “what if” question that re-envisioned what an agency could be to help maximize a new brand’s success.

Their question: “What if we invested in early stage brands by providing actual money along with world-class strategic and creative services?”

That question and their counterintuitive approach to brand-building has led to some impressive results for brands like Warby Parker, Harry’s, Casper, Peloton, Hu, Care/of, Nom Nom, and many more.   

Some of my favorite aha moments talking with Brent include:

• Exploring immutable human desires like family, honor, idealism as key starting points for brand-building.
• The role of vengeance as a rallying cry for brands and consumers 
• How chasing after the lowest cost per acquisition is not always the best way to grow a brand 
• The evolution of ecommerce to consultative commerce 
• Brent’s secrets for getting consumers let down their guard during research

Show Notes:

Below are links to campaigns, books, and other inspiring ideas that came up during our conversation.

Jolly Rancher and the Jolly Rancher

Sunday Lawns - The Old Way Campaign Spot

The Psychology of Columbo

Brent’s favorite recent book - Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss

Curiosity, conviction, and a desire to get out of one’s comfort zone - these are just a few of the characteristics that Seth Gaffney and Marika Wiggan look for in strategic candidates at Preacher, and it’s this non-traditional approach to finding talent and building campaigns that has led to Preacher’s continued success, winning them Small Agency of the Year for four of the last five years.

Some of my favorite aha moments from our conversation include:

• Discovering the very different ways Seth and Marika broke into the world of advertising
• Scrappy techniques for learning about customer pain points and mapping out the customer journey 
• The way Preacher is leveraging AI in their strategic work 
• Funny and insightful stories from their work on Tommy John, Tecovas, Favor, WeTransfer, Sport Clips, and Foot Locker    
• The personal advice from parents that have shaped their approach to the work they do every day

Show Notes:

Below are links to campaigns, books, and other inspiring ideas that came up during our conversation.

Clipper Confessions - Tashanee Williams and Zachary Stubblefield understand from first hand experience with focus groups that bad research environments lead to bad answers which result in bad learnings and bad representation. So they took focus groups out of the focus group facility and into the Barbershop with Rich “Smash” Payne. Questions include: “What’s the dopest thing about black culture?” and “If a CEO was sitting in the shop right now, what advice would you give them to better support black people?” The answers are nuanced, rich, and revealing.

A few campaigns from Preacher:

Tommy John Campaign - No Adjustment Needed

Vital Farms Campaign - Bullsh*t Free Eggs

Tecovas Campaign - Don’t Go Gently

Favor Campaign - How Texas Orders In

Foot Locker - The Heart of Sneakers

A few campaigns that Seth and Marika admire:

IKEA - Proudly Second Best

Amazon - Spend Less on Your Kids

Capri Sun - Wireless Kid-Noise Canceling Technology 

Favorite Books

Marika’s favorite recent book - Big Swiss

Seth’s favorite recent book - Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to a Tribe Called Quest

Introducing Any Insights Yet? with Chris Kocek.