Series Three

In this episode of #TheNewAbnormal, I interview Giana Eckhardt, Professor of Marketing and Vice Dean at King’s Business School, King’s College London. 

A leading expert in the field of consumer behaviour, consumer culture, consumer ethics, branding and the sharing economy, she publishing regularly in journals such as Harvard Business Review. She is co-author of The Myth of the Ethical Consumer (Cambridge University Press) and co-editor of Handbook of the Sharing Economy.  

Her research has won awards and been featured in outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, The Atlantic, Fortune, Vogue, Scientific American, The BBC, and on National Public Radio. Giana has presented her work at top institutions and conferences around the world, inc the United Nations CSR Global Forum, Brand Week, Future of Brands, and the Global Women’s Forum. 

So, we discuss the above, and her forthcoming book 'In Praise of Inconvenience'. 

Series Three

This episode of #TheNewAbnormal podcast features DuBose Cole, Co-Founder & Managing Partner at We Are Rival - a consultancy that helps businesses change (not just challenge) markets by being smarter about how they build brands, products and go to market strategies. He's a strategist that's worked across various disciplines, from media to creative to consulting, with a background in technology and psychology. In this interview, we discuss the latest #RivalSpark brand purpose research from the consultancy, which is currently causing something of a social media storm just prior to the Cannes Lions, where they'll be presenting the findings of their US/UK research. Without giving too much away, let's just say it appears that marketers shop more purposefully...

Series Three

This episode of 'The New Abnormal' podcast features Maurice NDiaye, Founder and CEO at Descartes & Mauss, the first Stratech and a new breed of AI-powered consulting firm.

Maurice has devoted his career to using artificial intelligence to solve the most complex business challenges: with a dual professional background as an Ecole Polytechnique Engineer and a Columbia University business graduate, he's convinced that technology can, and should, enable companies to be both more efficient and more virtuous. 

After starting his career at McKinsey, Maurice spent about a decade designing AI-based capabilities and services to help companies grow faster. The company he founded and runs today, Descartes & Mauss, is the result of these years of research and consulting. 

So, we discuss how he basically measures the immeasurable i.e. making tangible what has not yet happened in order to build instability-proof action plans. Modelling the future is his obsession, especially in a world that has become more unstable than ever, and I really enjoyed listening to his illumination of this fascinating subject.

BTW - please note that a tech issue means the sound quality is poor on this episode. Apologies! 

Series Three

In this episode of #TheNewAbnormal, I interview Rob Hopkins,  cofounder of Transition Town Totnes and Transition Network,  and author of numerous books including 'The Transition Handbook, The Power of Just Doing Stuff, and most recently, From What Is to What If: unleashing the power of imagination to create the future we want'.  

He presents the podcast series 'From What If to What Next'  which invites listeners to send in their “what if” questions and then explores how to make them a reality.  

Rob was voted one of the Independent's top 100 environmentalists and was on Nesta and the Observer's list of Britain’s 50 New Radicals. 

He's also appeared on BBC Radio 4, in the French film phenomenon 'Demain'  and its sequel 'Apres Demain', and has spoken at TEDGlobal and three TEDx events. 

In 2020 he was a member of the Cambridge Sustainability Commission on Scaling Sustainable Behaviour Change. (And in his - presumably minimal - spare time, he sometimes makes lino prints.) 

So, in this dynamic interview, we discuss his views on all of the above, and along the way, issues such as Buddhism, punk, permaculture, the climate & ecological emergency, the decline of play vs the rise of screens, the great reskilling, citizen assemblies, positive change, speculative fiction, and The Fall...

Series Three

In this episode of The New Abnormal,  I interview Stefan Rollnick, Head of The Misinformation Cell at Lynn, a consultancy who believe that when you inject behavioural science into communications, you can build campaigns that do what’s important: create the behaviours needed to positively change the world.  

With a background in politics and campaigns, Stefan has provided strategic consultancy to the World Economic Forum, World Health Organisation, UK and Welsh Government, national health agencies, and more. 

In our interview, we discuss a world where choices are everywhere, cognitive overload is at maximum, the stakes of our decisions are higher than ever, and it’s harder to trust what we see and hear. 

Hence, audiences need the communications industry to do better. That's why the Misinformation Cell provides a unique service dedicated to helping clients with the growing threat of online hate and misinformation so they can cut through the noise, build resilience within their online communities and together, achieve positive societal change...

Series Two

This episode of #TheNewAbnormal features Gustav Martner, Head of Creative (Nordics) at Greenpeace.  Having worked with numerous leading agencies (inc being Exec Creative Director , EVP (Europe) and MD (Sweden) at CP+B ), he's also been a member of numerous award juries, including The ONE Show, Art Directors Club, Cannes Lions, D&AD, and NY Festivals.  Gustav has also been the Chairman of the Swedish Association of Communication Agencies and a featured speaker at conferences such as Eurobest, Web 2.0 Berlin, Hong Kong Kam Fan Awards and the TechCrunch50 in San Francisco. In addition, he's been an advisor for the Swedish government in regulatory issues related to digital media ,and co-founded 'Refugee Phones'. However, today, Gustav is Head of Creative at Greenpeace (Nordic) and you'll no doubt have seen / heard / read about his activity at the #CannesLions2022, which we discuss in this episode along with his perspectives on a wide range of issues impacting campaigning and activism, and his viewpoints on the future...

Series Three

In this episode of #TheNewAbnormal I interview Alex Quicho,  Head of Cultural Intelligence at Canvas8. Her research into identity, ethics, and technology has been published widely, including in Wired, Bookforum, and a monograph for Zero Books. She is an associate lecturer in speculative futures at Central Saint Martins and holds a master’s degree in cultural criticism from the Royal College of Art. In this episode we discuss how Canvas8 'find better ways to understand the world' and Alex illuminates their recent reports into Chaotic Communities re: how to create meaningful connections and why fragmentation is at a tipping point, etc. We also discuss the right roadmap for business in 'inflationary times' along with issues such as social insulation, squad goals, next-door communities, partisanship, Tropical Futurism (which reimagines a different relationship to the earth) and why futurism has failed. Therefore, why it's time for an alternative... 

Series Two

This episode of 'The New Abnormal' features Brooklyn-based John Seabrook, a staff writer at The New Yorker since the 90's as well as being the author of a range of superb books including 'The Song Machine: Inside the Hit Factory' / 'Nobrow: The Culture of Marketing—The Marketing of Culture' / 'Deeper: My Two-Year Odyssey in Cyberspace / 'Flash of Genius, and Other True Stories of Invention' . 

In the interview we discuss his views on all of the above, along with a range of his other recent articles for the New Yorker. 

Therefore, his viewpoints take us on a fascinating path as we discuss issues inc artificial intelligence & smart composition, counter-surveillance strategies & fashion innovation, a robopop perspective on the record label of the future, social hierarchies in a commercialised culture, and social fragmentation in the post-digital / post-Covid age. 

Plus, of course, his take on 'Hope  / Community / Resilience' which link all of #TheNewAbnormal podcasts...

Series Three

This reposted episode of #TheNewAbnormal podcast features James Hurman 'a creative person from Auckland, New Zealand'. He founded and continues to lead Previously Unavailable, an innovation studio that provides innovation and CX consulting and new product, brand and business design and development.

James is also a co-founder and director of Tracksuit, a SAAS business that provides brand tracking at a fraction of the normal cost and operates across New Zealand, Australia, the UK and US. 

In addition, he's the author of 'The Case for Creativity' and 'Future Demand'. The first is about the data showing that when businesses are more creative, they’re more successful. The second is about why building your brand among tomorrow’s customers is the key to start-up success.

We talk about all of the above in this really interesting discussion - where James also discusses the furore at the Mi3-LinkedIn B2B Next conference in Sydney. 

Where, as anyone even vaguely associated with adland knows, it kicked off in a big way re: Sharp apparently / supposedly skewering Binet and Field… 

Series Two 

In this episode of #TheNewAbnormal podcast, I interview Jon Cohen, the author of "Asking for Trouble: understanding what people think, when you can't trust what they say".  The aim of the book is to enable the development of more creative concepts, braver public policy and more compelling marketing communications through a better understanding of response.
He's also the Managing Partner of the award-winning Kindling Research, who have an outstanding record of helping clients develop ideas that challenge the status quo. In this episode, we discuss all of the above, clarify why 'the language of asking' only has six rules, discuss democracy vs meritocracy (in the context of research), debate why 'asking is an art' and give a shout-out to the gone (but not forgotten) HHCL.  Jon also outlines the 'Golden Triangle of Intelligent Response'. The interview starts with the observation that one constant theme has dominated his life: 'Asking is easy. The hard part is knowing what to do with the answer...'