The Idea

Nick is joined by Joanna Peña-Bickley, Head of Research & Design, Alexa Devices at Amazon, and Michael Yavonditte, CEO, Yieldmo to explore where digital advertising and marketing is now, and where it is going next. The current state is complex, and in places messy. The next chapter may involve going back to the future in order to deliver positive change. The result promises to be creative digital marketing that people actually welcome.

Marc Nohr, Group CEO of Miroma agencies, Becky Holland, Founder and MD of BH & P, and Leigh Baker, Founder of We@LeighBaker join Nick Moore to discuss how advertising will recover in a post pandemic world.  While their views differ on how much will change, and how quickly, there is a sense that, far from being a disaster, this might be a moment of reinvention and opportunity.  Please note: the interviews were recorded before the death of George Floyd.

Nick Moore explores the impact of Covid19 on healthcare industry marketing with the help of Becky Chidester, CEO of Wunderman Thompson Health, Ian Haworth, Global Creative Lead at WPP and Gary Scheiner, Executive Creative Director of CDM Princeton.  With the pandemic initiating an intense focus on health and healthcare, how are brands and companies responding?  Is this a breakout moment that will change our relationship with our own health, or will we all revert back to business as usual in a few months?  Plus, why visiting a bank will never be the same.

Nick Moore explores the impact of Covid 19 on marketing and advertising with Tom Goodwin of Publicis, Jason Mayo, MD / Partner of Bonfire, Greg Hahn, CCO of BBDO NY and Darren Moran, CCO of Keurig Dr Pepper.  What's it like to work from home?  What should brands be doing now.  What's going to happen next?  Will things go back to normal when isolation ends?  Are some things going to change for good?

Why don't digital and advertising agencies sell their products like other businesses?  Is selling beneath them?  Or are they so close to their clients that they just don't need to bother. Nick is joined by leaders from client-side and agency-side to explore how ideas are sold and bought.   And as project-based arrangements supplant traditional AOR relationships, Nick suggests that now is a good time for agencies to sharpen up their sales skills.

In this episode, Nick explores one of the industry's hot topics - lack of diversity - in the company of Chase's Chief Brand Officer, Susan Canavari, Benita Conde of Create Radical Love, and a host of agency Creatives.  We look at how the issue manifests itself, why it happens, and we ask what can be done.  It's a deep and complex subject and unsurprisingly we do not resolve it!  But we do reach a conclusion.  In the end, the issue of diversity comes down to a simple question - do you want to have the best talent, making the best work?  If you do, you should be working to build a broad-based team.

Award Shows are in the news.  Publicis Groupe is boycotting Cannes 2018 and WPP is considering its participation.  So we go back to basics and ask where did award shows come from and do they really add value?  Or are they just self-indulgent?  Contributions come from Mat Zucker of Prophet and Brandon Hampton of Moxie, as well as regulars Steve Harrison and Patrick Collister of The Zoo, EMEA.  Listen for a lively discussion and the worst pun you will hear this year!

Everybody agrees that a great brief is a great idea, but it seems that few people are happy with the briefs they are writing, receiving or approving.  This episode explores the current state of briefing and asks if there is a better way to capitalize on today's climate.  Nick is joined by LinkedIn star Tom Goodwin, Zenith and Moxie CEO, Sean Reardon, and Moxie ACD Brandon Hampton.  Plus additional contributions from Lori Hamilton, Nancy Vonk and Steve Harrison.

In this episode, Nick explores the role of the Creative Director in the company of Nancy Vonk, one of the Creative Directors who gave us Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty, Steve Mykolyn, former CCO of Taxi, Patrick Collister, ECD of The Zoo at Google EMEA, Steve Harrison, founder of HTW, Bob Lukasik, ECD at IBM IX, and Lori Hamilton of Prosperity Productions.   Together they discuss what the CD does and whether CDs deserve their sometimes mythic status.  We ask why nobody trains CDs, and we consider how the role is evolving as technology impacts our industry.  Finally, we note the lack of diversity in the world of Creative Direction and Nick promises to revisit the topic in a future episode.

This is the first episode of The Idea.  In it, we explore what an idea is and we ask whether technology is changing our understanding of ideas.  We hear about the range of ideas from traditional advertising to new conversational UI platforms such as Siri and Alexa.  We hear the views of a range of smart people including Steve Harrison, one-time Global CCO of Wunderman and founder of HTW, Patrick Collister, Executive Creative Director of The Zoo at Google, Lori Hamilton of Prosperity Productions, Bob Lukasik of IBM Interactive Experiences and Steve Mykolyn, the former CCO of Taxi. And Nick tells a funny story.