The Overthinkers

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?

Getting the right talent is critical for an agency business. But it seems incredibly harder for them to attract and retain talent. In this episode, Rachel and Shann discuss whether agencies can pay and reward their talent in a way that is competitive and attractive, but also some of the ways in which they could be a more talent centric approach to the way their do their business.

Strategists tend to love their processes. Some even use them (wrongly) to define their work in the guise of "frameworks". Meanwhile, others tend to avoid them like the pest, preferring more chaotic and unstructured approaches. Of course the answer often lies in the middle, but how do we define this middle, and what should strategists keep in mind to make the most of them, without becoming slave to them?

Pitches are the daily life of agencies. While the world of media tends to see longer term contracts, many creative and activation pitches are on a project by project basis. Is that a healthy practice for the advertising industry? Does anyone profit from it more? Or does everybody lose in the long term?

This week we're joined by the awesome Minjae Ormes, CMO at Visible (part of Verizon) and one of the hottest telco brands in the US, to discuss the way a company's culture can influence its marketing department. A chance to discuss the ways in which the culture of the business can make or break its marketing output, some of the models we look up to, and what Minjae has brought to influence one of the largest companies in the world!

CX planning has become very fancy in advertising circles, but is often badly used or even misunderstood. This week, Rachel tells us more about how she sees the role of strategy to deliver better customer experiences.