Most modern marketing is obsessed with data, and "data-driven" marketing has often been pegged as the future of our industry (and generally, still is). But there have been many voices clashing with this certainty that being data-driven was the only way forward for our practice. As a matter of fact, could this be the hill on which marketing loses one of its superpowers?

In the last two decades we've seen a huge acceleration of the number of specialists in marketing, to the point where being a generalist is often described as a "master of none". This has been a problem because we often end up with siloed views and practitioners that fail to understand how their field inserts itself in the grand scheme of things. The question is whether being a generalist is still possible, or even valued?

Founding a business is equally scary and hypnotic. In this episode, Rachel and Shann share their impressions after starting new companies, and what it's been like pivoting from head of strategy type positions.

Very special guest this week with JP Castlin, self-proclaimed strategy nerd and one of the most interesting voices in our community. The question that got us started led us to discuss many big tickets, from the definition of strategy to the ways complexity limits the potential of strategic planning, and even talking about the similarities with evolutionary theory.

Since the mobile phone, we haven't had much in the way of hardware tech that has transformed the way we interact with the world. As a matter of fact, it's kinda hard to imagine we're going to see something as disruptive anytime soon. In this episode, Rachel and Shann discuss what technologies they see potentially impacting experience design, and what excites them about these. Tune in for an unusual episode of The Overthinkers, taking a little bit of a science-fiction tangent.

Clearly having a purely objective strategy is an impossible task, but it does beg the question - what role can objectivity play in strategic planning, and what benefits are there from its subjective counterpoint?

Consumer segmentation can be a dangerous exercise - get it wrong and your strategy could completely fall apart, going after the wrong kinds of consumers or simply impractical. Coupled with digital means of targeting, and it can also lead businesses to buying against the wrong people in media. This week, we're joined by Anil Malhotra from ad-tech company Bango, exploring the virtues (and limits) of purchase based segmentations.

As we see the accelerated decline of linear TV leadership, leading voices of our industry are quick to equate that with the decline of brands, unable to access the means through which they were built. Is that really happening? And isn't there a case for that reality to actually reinforce the brands able to stand out?

Somewhat ironic question for a podcast called The Overthinkers... But often a real issue for strategists, who can easily get trapped in always wanting to add nuance to their thinking - sometimes at the cost of action. In this episode, Rachel and Shann discuss how they try to stay in control of it, and how they try to manage it with others.

Let's be honest, the daily grind doesn't often feel like a massive win. Dealing with failure is something most of us have to learn to do at some point in our careers, and it can easily bleed into our overall happiness. So what can we do to better deal with those feelings, and how can we stay upbeat when all goes to shit?