Ideasicle Podcast

By Will Burns

As we enter the Ideation Age, ideas have never been more important. But seemingly never as elusive as they are today. Join Will Burns as he relentlessly untangles the mysteries of the elusive idea b... more

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FAQs about Ideasicle Podcast:

How many episodes does Ideasicle Podcast have?

The podcast currently has 38 episodes available.

Ideasicle Podcast episodes:

August 05, 2013Kat Gordon Asks 'Where Are All The Donna Drapers?' - Episode #37
There's a problem out there in idealand. It's a social problem, a political problem, and a gender problem. But more importantly it's an idea problem. Only 3% of all creative directors in the United States are women.
3%.
Where are all the Donna Drapers? Today we are talking with the founder of an organization that aims to change that percentage, Kat Gordon. The organization is called the 3% Conference, and we got some time with Kat to discuss this important issue.
SHOW NOTES:
We begin with Kat explaining what the "3% problem" is, exactly, and what her "3% Conference" is doing about it.
Kat describes a moment in time during a pitch at the agency she was working where the light bulb went off. She never forgot that moment. And it all led up to this movement she's started.
Kat has a great way of convincing men why her movement matters. It's called the "Birthday Gift Test," and she explains that test in detail.
We then get into specifics as to how the "3% problem" affects advertising agencies' work. She even gives a great example of work that was insightful, but executionally a disaster for women.
Kat then helps us understand how we got here. Was it creative women having babies? Was it the good ole boy networks that can dominate agency life? Was it inertia?
We wrap up by discussing ways we can all help fix this problem. From small things to big things, including details on the next 3% Conference coming up in San Francisco this October (2013).
BIO:
Kat Gordon is the founder and creative director of Maternal Instinct, an agency of creative problem solvers for marketing to moms. Kat is also the creator of a content/community startup called The 3% Conference. Started as a passion project to spotlight a huge business opportunity in advertising -- the lack of female creative leadership and its impact on connecting with an overwhelmingly female marketplace -- the 3% Conference has grown exponentially since its 2012 launch. Prior to that she was a writer at agency, Hal Riney and Anderson Lembke.
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32min
July 10, 2013Pete Favat Says Your Brand Needs An Enemy - Episode #36
When you think of an interesting story, there’s always a protagonist and an antagonist. There’s the good guy and the bad guy. Often in graphic relief to each other. But what about brands? Do brands need enemies?
Today, we’re talking to Chief Creative Officer of Arnold Worldwide, Pete Favat, about exactly that concept, one he introduced to a packed house at Cannes this year.
SHOW NOTES:
We begin the interview with Pete talking about his speech at Cannes with Shepard Fairey about this "enemy" concept. Apparently brand storytelling was all the rage this year.
Pete believes human beings are wired to find contrasts in the world. Yet most marketing shoots right down the middle. That's why brands need to create an enemy. Otherwise they're like the movie "Jaws" without the shark.
The concept of having an enemy sounds polarizing (and it is), but that does not mean it will limit your audience. Pete talks about how tension is what gets attention.
Examples: Apple's "1984" TV spot, Nike's "Just do it" tag line, and Coke's "I'd like to teach the world to sing"
Pete then goes into some detail on how you can find your brand's enemy. It's part culture, part zeitgeist, with a dash of brand truth.
A very interesting point as to how having an enemy positively influences the motivations of the creative teams: he says it makes the work a team sport.
Finally, we end with Pete giving us his view on what creativity is and how he stays sharp.
BIO:
Pete Favat graduated from NYC’s School of Visual Arts in 1984 and was immediately hired by his teachers. As Creative Director and Partner at Houston Herstek Favat, Pete created the most successful state anti-smoking campaign ever, put Converse sneakers on the map, and grew the agency to $200M and 150 people. Arnold acquired Houston in 1999. And since then, Pete has kept the streak alive, creating the truth® brand - the most successful national anti smoking program ever - and expanding their client portfolio to brands like Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises, Progressive Insurance, Timberland, ESPN and Volvo. Pete was appointed Chief Creative Officer in 2006.
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29min
June 04, 2013Justin Brady, The Creative Environment - Episode #35
We have all walked into businesses or ad agencies and seen the tell-tale signs of creativity. You know, the ping-pong table, the pool table, the rooms specially designed to force people to run into each other. But are these just gimmicks from non-creative companies? Or are they the result of an already-creative culture?
We’re going to get answers to these questions and more from Mr. Justin Brady, author of Wall Street Journal article, "Some Companies Foster Creativity, Others Fake It." In that article, Brady outlines his "LET" process - listen, empathise, and trust.
Show Notes:
We begin by discussing what, exactly, creativity is - messy, chaotic, even disgusting.
Even those who are known to be creative reak of failure - from DaVinci to Apple.
Justin talks about the "gimmicks" of the creative environment and whether they create creative environments or are a result of them. Some great examples. Quote: "Gimmicks don't do squat."
We discuss how to motivate employees to create, in general, and look to the child for inspiration.
Justin doesn't believe the environment plays much of a role in creativity at all. It's all about leadership. Just look at all the lovely garages that start-ups star up in.
The "LET" process:
Listen - it's about NOT finishing other people's sentences in your head (think about it). Oh, and everyone can tell when you aren't listening.
Empathise - putting yourself into someone else's shoes. Beyond listening, here we're talking about questioning your own world view in order to truly respect what others are saying/believing.
Trust - with trust, leaders must take risks. They must believe in their employees enough to let them go, and do. And when they fail by trying, celebrate, do not punish.
We wrap up with a few examples of really good leadership in the business world.
Bio:
Justin Brady is a creativity cultivator (http://justinbrady.me/) and is the owner of Test of Time Design, a goal-oriented design agency. He has been quoted in numerous publications and has written for CommPro.biz and the Wall Street Journal. He founded the Iowa Creativity Summit, has an Emmy nomination and recently contributed to best selling author, Matthew E. May's newest book The Laws of Subtraction.
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44min
February 07, 2013Mark Ray, Dave Allen, North Advertising - Episode #34
Music in advertising is something valued by the insiders. But what is it about music that can "make" a TV spot? How do you choose the right artist? What brands are using music in powerful ways, and what brands aren't?
These are the questions I put to the music experts at North Advertising, Mark Ray and Dave Allen. Both are musicians first and advertising executives second. Which makes their brand of advertising special. I was fortunate to get some time with them both.
Note: the musical breaks are from Dave's band, "Gang of Four." The first is from the song, "Outside The Trains Don't Run On Time"; the second is from "Ether." Both are from Gang of Four's "Entertainment" album. Great stuff. They're on Spotify.
SHOW NOTES:
We begin by talking about North, the agency, and how music has been at the core of the culture there since the beginning.
We discuss the parallels between composing music and "composing" advertising.
Mark talks about the importance of execution (production) in creating both music and advertising.
We talk at length about one of my favorite campaigns, North's the Deschuttes Brewery "River Recordings" campaign. Music was the centerpiece, of course. Great example of "Channeling the Brand."
Mark and Dave talk about how music is the "great uniting language" in our culture, and brands should be taking advantage of that fact.
We talk about great examples of brands using music: VW "Pink Moon," Coke "I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing," Fidelity and Paul McCartney with "This Is Paul."
The great examples respect the artist and what the artist needs to get out of the partnership, and the artist is used to create a vibe, and not for a convenient lyric in a song.
But we also talk about the misuse of music in advertising. Like Nike using the Beatles' "Revolution," and John Lennon's "Instant Karma," or even Microsoft's use of the Rolling Stones' "Start Me Up."
And we wrap up with some great tips when considering music, not the least of which is that, according to Mark and Dave, every brand should have, along with their visual identity (e.g. logo, color pallette, etc.), a sound identity as well. What is your brand's sound identity?
BIOS:
Mark Ray:
Currently principal owner and executive creative director of NORTH, a boutique creative brand agency in Portland, Oregon, working to bring real and lasting brand value to purpose-driven companies including Clif Bar, Keen, Yakima, Deschutes Brewery and Subaru of America. Formerly Managing Partner and Executive Creative Director Arnold Worldwide, leading global, award-winning creative efforts from the Boston and St. Louis offices for brands including Jack Daniel's and Volkswagen.
In my musical life, he was the founder of the Undertow Music Collective, started in 1996 as an independent record label and artist management firm, dedicated to supporting independent artists with a ground-breaking business model that shared half of all net revenues with artists. One of the first indie labels to be invited in Apple's iTunes launch, Undertow abandoned the physical distribution model in favor of a digital platform in 2006. Undertow has released over forty records, launched careers, managed tours and brokered career-enhancing licensing for artists including Jesse Harris, David Bazan, Will Johnson and Centro-matic, Vic Chestnutt.
Dave Allen:
Professional musician - Gang of Four, Shriekback. Label owner, record producer. Early adopter to the web - first indie label to have a website in 1993, first label to have an artist broadcast live on the Internet with IUMA. Early member of the eMusic.com team, world's first paid download company. Biz dev director, Intel Corp. 12 years in the Portland advertising and tech world as Interactive Strategist Adjunct lecturer at University of Oregon and Pacific Northwest College of Art Serial blogger and Director of Interactive Strategies at North.
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48min
January 10, 2013Jim Harold, Host Of The Paranormal Podcast - Episode #33
Okay, have you ever thought about creativity in a spiritual way? That at least some ideas are the result of divine, or some other, inspiration? Well, I know I have. And we’re going to talk to a bonafide expert on all things paranormal to find out what he thinks.
Jim Harold is the host of The Paranormal Podcast and Jim Harold's Campfire.
SHOW NOTES:
We begin by discussing what's real about the paranormal. Is it all real? Is some of it?
Jim then gives us some incredible stories that could indicate where creativity comes from.
He talks about a book called "The Wreck Of The Titan," which was written in 1898, yet almost perfectly describes the building and demise of the Titanic, which didn't set sail for years following the story.
And Jules Verne's novel, "From Earth To The Moon," written in 1865 and describes almost perfectly the Apollo Mission of the 1960s. The parallels are truly amazing. Was it telling the future? Divine inspiration? Lucky guess?
We then talk about ways to jujitsu the cosmos in a way to take pressure off of you, creatively, and discuss the possibility that creativity is actually a way of telling the future.
What are angels? Real beings that can communicate with us? Or just a way of explaining that "aha!" moment?
Is it possible that all of our thoughts, collectively, are connected together somehow?
And Jim talks about technological innovation over the last half century and the dramatic increase that is totally unexplained and unprecedented.
BIO:
A life long interest in the paranormal, combined with his love of broadcasting and technology, resulted in the most successful podcasts of their type to date. He holds a Master’s Degree in Applied Communication Theory and Methodology and is accredited as a Certified Digital Media Consultant by the Radio Advertising Bureau. Jim has also taught at the university level.
Jim is a published author. His September 2011 New Page Books release Jim Harold’s Campfire: True Ghost Stories is available at Amazon.com and at bookstores nationwide.
Jim says he won’t dress up in alien costumes and doesn’t plan on buying that $19.99 Super Official Ghost Detector off of late night TV but believes there is more to life than what meets the eye.
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35min
December 13, 2012Mitch Joel, President of Twist Image, Social Media Master - Episode #32
I've been following Mitch Joel for years now. His first book, "Six Pixels of Separation," was a huge inspiration to me when I started Ideasicle. Mitch studies the digital and social media space constantly, always learning, always helping us learn.
SHOW NOTES:
We begin by discussing whether the "act" of creativity has changed in the digital age of marketing. It's different when you can do anything.
Mitch tells us about the nuances of blogging. Before writers would hold back and save the big ideas for the book. No longer. Now the blog actually helps formulate those big ideas.
But he warns that blogging is a rope, one that you can hang yourself on if you're not careful.
We talk at length about branding in the digital age. How it's the same. How it's different now.
Mitch believes that Apple has multiple personalities, for example. And that's a good thing.
Brands need to be both passive and active in order to be vital.
I pushed Mitch to be a futurist for us. What's next? He brought up new technologies (ideas) like Uber, the new way to order a ride from here to there. And crowdfunding, as a category, as examples of optimizing people's lives. That's the future.
Lastly, he gives us advice on staying sharp, creatively: read, write, and attend. Great explanation here, and great advice for us all.
BIO:
Mitch Joel is President of Twist Image, an award-winning Digital Marketing and Communications company.
Marketing Magazine dubbed him the "Rock Star of Digital Marketing" and called him, "one of North America's leading digital visionaries." In 2006 he was named one of the most influential authorities on Blog Marketing in the world. In 2008, Mitch was named Canada's Most Influential Male in Social Media, one of the top 100 online marketers in the world, and was awarded the highly prestigious Canada's Top 40 Under 40. Most recently, Mitch was named one of iMedia's 25 Internet Marketing Leaders and Innovators in the world.
His first book, "Six Pixels of Separation," named after his successful blog and podcast is a business and marketing bestseller. And his second book called “CTL ALT DEL” is coming out in May.
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37min
November 11, 2012Sally Thornton, Founder of Forshay and Expert on Better Working - Episode #31
Today we rethink work, and the act of working. Creativity is hard work. We all know that. But maybe there are things we're doing and cultural conventions companies are following that, if looked at differently, might not only yield better work, but happier creative people.
SHOW NOTES:
Sally begins by giving us an overview of her company, Forshay, a very modern recruitment company. You'll see why the psychology of working is important to her.
Then we turn her sights to creativity.
Sally debunks the myth that more work is better. It's not necessarily true. Even if you think working all hours makes you look better politically.
She describes the "ideal worker" as described by many unenlightened companies - and those are people with no lives who can devote themselves to the job. And then contrasts that convention with what makes for creativity. And it's not this so-called "ideal worker."
Did you know that Ford established the 40-hour work week because Henry found that any more than that, productivity dropped off. Similarly, and more modernly, software companies that add software developers to a project hoping it'll get done more quickly are often disappointed that productivity decreases.
She describes a fascinating concept called "predictable time off" and how it can help increase team productivity.
GAP piloted a new way of working in response to losing their best people - they loved their jobs too much. So they tried an experiment - a results oriented workplace.
Autonomy, mastery, and purpose, are what workers really want. Companies, take note.
Sally gives us some tips - workers and the bosses - that can help us all be more creative. Like work more than 60 hours in a week and you'll start acting drunk (reference, the anchors covering the presidential election, Diane Sawyer), or the 90 minute rule, or the weakness of multi-tasking vs multiplyers, and many more.
And, get this, the legal industry, by which the ad business built its compensation model (hours), might be the one paving the way to a new, value-based compensation model.
BIO:
Sally Thornton is the Founder + Chief Curator for a company called Forshay. Forshay is a new talent company that uses an on-demand model, providing ‘just enough’ structure to support their best work, or through direct-hire opportunities. Sally has extensive experience addressing the unique talent needs of the Bay Area’s most remarkable companies, having worked with iconic leaders such as Genentech and Levi Strauss, rapid-growth start ups including ngmoco:) and Sonos, and radically creative companies like Method Home and IDEO. As a thought leader on work and talent, Sally has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, KQED radio, Forbes, NBC11 News, ABC7 News, Entrepreneur.com, ABC’s View From the Bay, and BNET.com.
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37min
October 02, 2012Dr. Bob Deutsch, CEO Brain Sells, The Alchemy of Difference - Episode #30
He's back. Dr. Bob Deutsch challenges us to consider his theory on "The Alchemy of Difference."
PROGRAMMING NOTE: Dr. Bob removes a piece of paper from his microphone at about 13 minutes in and it sounds way better. So hang in there.
SHOW NOTES:
We live in a "world of too" - too much, too complex, too everything.
The world has shifted from the world of choice ("or") to a world of "and." It's a much more complext world.
Like tradition AND modernity. How can we take that seeming paradox and make it innovative? A new concept in which a person lives.
We discuss this paradox as it relates to politics. A leader achieves emanence by being familiar AND mythic, accessible AND the one who knows the way. Being a leader is already a paradox.
Famous people are paradoxes. Elvis - sacred and profane. Marlon Brando - tough and tender. Each of us is a "democracy of disparate voices" - we live in paradox, it's our self-narrative.
Marketing makes a mistake - it tries to slice up existence so small that in that place and time is predictable and linear. But it's not reality. We think about people as "consumers." That's absurd. They are not stimulus/response machines.
Dr. Bob interviewed jazz great, Wynton Marsalis, about improv. Great story. The role of trust, curiosity, openness, sensuality, and large doses of "directed serendipity."
Creativity - you have to do it through your own self-system. Creativity is not about what you know. It's about passing what you know through the sieve of who you are. Wow.
"There is no one alive who is youer than you" - Dr. Seuss
We even get to the meaning of life. Did we crack it? That's up to you.
It's about the co-authoring of you. Bob Dylan: "I was born very far away from where I was supposed to be born. I'm always on my way home."
We discuss Bruce Springstein's SXSW speech. Dr. Bob has watched it 25 times it's so great. Here's a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWbv0SUVQjM
We discuss how brands can help people expand their conceptions of themselves in the world. Before you make money, you have to make magic. The goal is for customers to see your brand as a venue for their own self-expansion. Brands are not an end point. You are a venue.
You Tools - Dr. Bob's upcoming new book about this entire topic.
BIO:
From contributing to Military Review magazine to portraying a college professor in a McDonald’s commercial, cognitive anthropologist Dr. Bob Deutsch (founder of consulting firm Brain Sells (www.Brain-Sells.com), Boston, MA), breaks the mold.
Bob has worked in the primeval forest and on Pennsylvania and Madison Avenues. His focus, since the mid-’70s, when he was living with pre-literate tribes and chimpanzees, has been understanding how ideas take hold in cultures. Since opening Brain Sells, in 1990, he has applied this understanding to how people attach to products, persons and performances. He is fond of saying, “Reasoned judgment about attributes is not the issue. The brain evolved to act, NOT to think.” Bran Sells’ retail clients include: TJ Maxx, Marshall’s, Home Goods, Radio Shack, Sephora, Verizon stores, McDonalds, Dunkin Donuts, and Toyota.
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44min
August 31, 2012Mark St. Amant, Founder Grenadier, Author - Ideasicle Podcast #29
We kick off this Labor Day weekend 2012 with one of the founders of new Boulder agency, Grenadier, Mark St. Amant. This guy's creative track record is impressive. He's creative directed at Arnold, Crispin and Sterling-Rice. He's written two books, one about Fantasy Football ("Committed: Confessions of a Fantasy Football Junkie"), and another about his attempt to play semi-pro football ("Just Kick It: Tales of an Underdog, Over-Age, Out-of-Place, Semi-Pro Football Player"), and plays guitar at Christmas parties. I've seen him.
He has a great sense of humor and some wise advice about creativity.
SHOW NOTES:
We begin by discussing Mark's new agency, Grenadier. His motivation in starting it and the role serendipity played in making it all happen.
We talk about Barkley, the employee-owned agency and partner to Grenadier, and how being independent affects creativity in a positive way vs. the holding companies.
I asked Mark flat out why all these agencies are spinning off CPB (Crispin) - first Goodness, then Victors & Spoils, then Made Movement, now Grenadier. Is something in the Boulder water? Or is Crispin a special place that is more of a creative incubator than anyone really knows? Listen and find out.
We talk about the benefits of having a passion outside of advertising. In Mark's case, sports and Fantasy Football. But also how such a passion can actually help you in advertising to get a job.
We discuss how creativity has changed over the years - Mark believes "the idea" needs to be bigger now. Bigger than just one medium. Related to that, Mark talks about Mark Moll's brilliant idea he's doing in Chicago, by himself, to build awareness for keeping pets safe in the summer heat.
In bringing up how easy it is to execute some of these ideas when social media can magnify everything, we talk about how traditional agencies might be looking at this new trend.
Mark then gives us some of his own tips on creativity - from reading, to living, to avoiding the brainstorm. Quote: "I hate brainstorms."
BIO:
Mark St. Amant is a Creative Director and author living in Boulder, Colorado. He's been in advertising since 1991 and been honored by virtually every awards show in the industry, including CLIO, Cannes, One Show, Kelly Awards, Effies, ADDYs, Hatch, and more. When not "moonlighting" in advertising, Mark has also written two books published by Scribner:
Committed: Confessions of a Fantasy Football Junkie, the top-selling fantasy football book of all-time whose narrative prompted fellow author and pop culture guru Chuck Klosterman to facetiously dub St. Amant "the smartest man who's ever lived";
Just Kick It: Tales of an Underdog, Over-Age, Out-of-Place, Semi-Pro Football Player, called "one of the best sports books of 2006" in a coveted starred review from Booklist.
He's also written for the Sunday New York Times, the New York Times.com "5th Down" NFL blog, NBC Sports’ Rotoworld.com, Salon.com, Boston Globe Magazine, and other digital/traditional publications; and he's appeared on various TV and radio programs from NPR, ESPN, and ESPN Classic, to Sirius XM Radio, Maxim Radio, and more.
After spending most of his career in Boston at Arnold Worldwide, Mark moved to Colorado in 2009 to work at Crispin Porter + Bogusky, but recently started his own shop called Grenadier, in partnership with Barkley, an employee owned agency.
Mark lives in Boulder with his wife and two kids.
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43min
July 31, 2012Court Crandall, Screenplay Writer ("Old School"), Creative Director WDCW - Episode #28
This month we’re taking an about face from last month. Last month we talked to Dr. Sean McDonough about whether creativity was divine and how it was part of god’s plan. This month we are going to talk about the movie Old School, with the screenplay writer himself, Court Crandall.
But Court is much more than the writer of Old School. A creative director, director, writer of a children's book, and a dad. This guy, I was delighted to find out, knows a thing or two about creativity.
Show Notes:
We start at Court's beginning, his childhood. How his dad's creativity (he was also in advertising) influenced Court's creative abilities.
He uses his children's book "Hugville" as an example of his own flavor of creativity, which he describes as "problem solving."
We talk about learned helplessness and how it can defeat creativity if we let it.
I ask Court flat out - what is creativity? And I get an answer I hadn't heard before.
We discuss the childhood effects of the democratization of production tools - like video cameras, editing software, publishing - and what it's doing (good and bad) for childhood creativity.
We shift gears to talk about WDCW, Court's advertising agency in LA, and how "encouragement" is an important ingredient.
Court talks about the "new practicality" in advertising these days, in that it demands much more than clever headlines and art direction.
We get very deep into the writing of "Old School," the challenges of writing a screenplay, dealing with Hollywood, and even the inspiration for the movie (hint: it was a lame wine and cheese party with a harp that Court went to).
We talk about Court's new movie, "Free Throw," and how important it was for him, for the people in the movie and, ultimately, for his agency.
Finally, Court gives us all very tangible advice to improve our own creativity every single day.
Bio:
A partner and Executive Creative Director at WDCW out near LA, Court has both created and shepherded award-winning advertising for a variety of clients including ESPN, Beck’s, Virgin, 2K and the anti-smoking effort for California. He has produced a children’s book called Hugville released by Random House, two actual children (Chase 17 & Zane 14), the Dreamworks movie, Old School, and the independent film, A Lobster Tale. And most recently, through WDCW, he created and directed an independent film called Free Throw that has attracted international PR over the last few months and was recently featured in Bing's "Decisions That Shaped 2011."
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37min

FAQs about Ideasicle Podcast:

How many episodes does Ideasicle Podcast have?

The podcast currently has 38 episodes available.