Podcasts about Scouts Canada

In today's episode, we discuss the case of Wayne Hannan and Scouts Canada. Mr. Hannan had been a dedicated volunteer with Scouts Canada for 65 years, when he was unexpectedly rejected by the organization after his annual application to volunteer. Listen in as we talk about proper policy development for volunteer organizations to avoid such lawsuits. Subscribe to our podcast today to stay up to date on employment issues from law experts worldwide.Host: Mark Alward (email) (Taylor McCaffrey LLP / Manitoba)Guest Speaker: Jeff Palamar (email) (Taylor McCaffrey LLP / Manitoba)Support the showRegister on the ELA website here to receive email invitations to future programs.

Girl Scouts celebrate Taylor Swift, WOSM appoints a new Secretary General...and Scouts Canada looks for a hero.News StoriesTaylor Swift childhood photo revealed by Girl ScoutsScouts to celebrate 110 years with biggest ever Garden FeteScarf on a bicycle: Romanian Scouts lead a national movement for sustainable mobilityHow Barbados Scouts are building environmental leadership through hands-on trainingDavid Berg appointed as 11th Secretary General of World ScoutingCalling All Young Creators: Design Canada's Next Superhero!SubscribeFollow Us and SubscribeSupportHit the Tip Jar | Scouting Stuff StuffSend FeedbackEmail Us | Leave Us a Voice Message | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Discord | Telegram | Leave Us a ReviewMusicUpbeat Rock (Good News), by Alex GrohlPack Light, Dream Big, by Jamboree Powell

Scouts Canada has launched a new podcast of their own, featuring interviews with notable Canadians.Podcast TopicsKaelem Moniz from Scouts Canada joins Scouter Ken to discuss the new Profiles in Canada podcast that the national organization of Scouts in Canada has just launched. Each episode features an interview with a notable Canadian, some of who were even involved in Scouting in their youth!Guests to date include astronaut Chris Hadfield, former Justice Minister Allan Rock, and former Supreme Court Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin.Check out Profiles in Canada on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or find it on the Scouts Canada website!Shout-OutsKaelem has several shout-outs to offer, including:The Scouts Canada Marketing & Communications teamAll of the Profiles in Canada guests to dateAnd all of the podcast's viewers and listeners.SubscribeFollow Us and SubscribeSupportHit the Tip Jar | Scouting Stuff StuffBe Our GuestRegister as a GuestSend FeedbackEmail Us | Leave Us a Voice Message | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Discord | Telegram | Leave Us a ReviewMusicUpbeat Rock (Good News), by Alex GrohlPack Light, Dream Big, by Jamboree Powell

Scouts Canada's financial woes, Scouts in the UK look ahead...and one Scout's project gets bigger than expected.News StoriesScouting's future in the UK is driven by young people22 youth-led projects in 4 regions supported through Youth Empowerment FundBoy Scouts organization defeats appeals over $2.46 bln sex abuse settlementBeyond 2025: Preparing Our ResourcesBarrie teen earns top Scouts Canada award for cyber-safety projectSubscribeFollow Us and SubscribeSupportHit the Tip Jar | Scouting Stuff StuffSend FeedbackEmail Us | Leave Us a Voice Message | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Discord | Telegram | Leave Us a ReviewMusicUpbeat Rock (Good News), by Alex Grohl

Scouts Canada is piloting a new “Early Years” section starting this September: Chipmunks!Podcast TopicsScouter Ken is joined by Heather Ferguson and Ruchi Manikthala from Scouts Canada to discuss the recently-announced Chipmunk Scouts, which is now the official name of the “Early Years” program offering that Scouts Canada will begin piloting this September.Building off of what The Scout Association did with Squirrel Scouts, Chipmunks will welcome youth 4-5 years old into an introductory Scouting program, involving parents and – hopefully! – driving more recruitment of both youth and adult volunteers.Learn More: All About ChipmunksMarch 1st, 2025 11:30 AM EST - Register 11:30 AM PST - RegisterMarch 7th, 2025 6:30 PM EST - Register 6:30 PM PST - RegisterAnd if your group wants to volunteer to run one of the pilot Chipmunks sections, express your interest using this form.SubscribeFollow Us and SubscribeSupportHit the Tip Jar | Scouting Stuff StuffBe Our GuestRegister as a GuestSend FeedbackEmail Us | Leave Us a Voice Message | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Discord | Telegram | Leave Us a ReviewMusicUpbeat Rock (Good News), by Alex Grohl

Scouts Canada announces “Chipmunks”, Scouts in France spot fires...and UK Scouts hike, hike, hike.News StoriesThe Early Years Pilot ProgramBig News for Little Adventurers: Introducing Chipmunks!Scouts on Watch: 45 Years of Partnership with Firefighters to Fight Wildfire RisksDunbartonshire Scouts see record-breaking year for membersScouts from Haringey complete extreme Challenge EventScouts from Croydon complete 30KM challenge eventScouts from Islington and Highbury complete extreme challenge eventBerkshire Scouts complete 30km challenge hikeScouts from Bristol complete 50KM Challenge EventScouts from Enfield complete extreme Challenge EventSubscribeFollow Us and SubscribeSupportHit the Tip Jar | Scouting Stuff StuffSend FeedbackEmail Us | Leave Us a Voice Message | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Discord | Telegram | Leave Us a ReviewMusicUpbeat Rock (Good News), by Alex Grohl

How Venturer Scouts from the 23rd Nepean Scout Group kept their heads during the Jasper wildfire evacuation. Podcast Topics Scouter Ken is joined by Cadence James (National Youth Commissioner for Scouts Canada, and a Rover Scout with the 23rd Nepean Scout Group), Molly Prevost (another Rover Scout with the 23rd), and Foster Millett (a Venturer Scout with the 23rd) to discuss their trip to Jasper National Park...which saw them arrive just prior to the massive wildfire that devastated much of the area. It's a story that Scouts Canada has retold in a few places already, highlighting the resilience of the youth and the attitude of preparedness that Scouting equipped them with. All of that comes out in the conversation, as does the value of being able to find the good in a crisis situation. Programming Note: The podcast is going to shift its production schedule a bit for 2025. There will probably be just one full-length episode per month, with shorter news & PSA episodes filling in the other weeks. Shout-Outs Cadence's shout-outs include Lucas Normandeau and Krystal Reid (both with Cascadia Council), Willa Holmes (from Northern Lights Council), and all the Venturers and Scouters who came on the trip. Molly and Foster's shout-outs include all the Scouters who came on the trip: Mike Hubbard, Brian Bezaire, John James, and Devin Morrison. Subscribe Follow Us and Subscribe Support Hit the Tip Jar | Scouting Stuff Stuff Be Our Guest Register as a Guest Send Feedback Email Us | Leave Us a Voice Message | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Discord | Telegram | Leave Us a Review Music Upbeat Rock (Good News), by Alex Grohl

John Carpay discusses his new book, Corrupted by Fear: How the Charter was betrayed, and what Canadians can do about it. The eBook is now available for pre-order on Amazon. Though John has been publishing opinion pieces and columns for decades, this is his first book. He gives us some insight into what inspired him to write it. He then reads the Introduction, which describes the plan and purpose of the work. And finally, we talk about the book's last section, entitled, "Defeating Modern Fascism."Amazon.ca: Corrupted by Fear: How the Charter was betrayed, and what Canadians can do about it by John CarpayEpoch Times, Dec 11, 2024: 1 in 3 Canadians Say Government Overreacted to COVID Pandemic: SurveyToronto CityNews, Dec 2, 2024: Scouts Canada survey reveals concerns about social skills of COVID-era kids"In 2023-24, the government is expecting to record expenses to the tune of about C$16.4 billion related to Indigenous contingent liabilities and C$4.7 billion related to the COVID-19 pandemic, which pushed its deficit figures higher, the fiscal update said."Reuters via MSN, Dec 16, 2024: Canada overshoots deficit target by C$20 billion as finance minister resignsCTV News, Jan 24, 2023: 'We were looked upon as monsters': COVID-19 vaccine policies at Ont. hospitals keep health workers from filling staff shortagesTheme Music "Carpay Diem" by Dave StevensSupport the show

Guest host Syd Smith is joined by Mike Eybel, Scouts Canada.

Artificial intelligence is finding its way into many aspects of our lives these days, including healthcare. Ann Rohmer is joined by Dr. Kristy Prouse, Chief Medical Officer at Regenalife to explain A.I.'s role in medicine and what it could mean for our healthcare in the future.Shaliza Bacchus is with Sarah and Emily Dahlgren, two sisters who founded the Bradford Christmas, a registered charity that raises money for charities across Ontario.Coding for Veterans is an inspiring organization that helps Canadian veterans retrain for life away from the military. Jim Lang sat down with the Coding for Veterans Executive Director Jeff Musson.Scouts Canada has recently completed a survey on the state of Youth in Canada. Kaelem Moniz joins Glenn Perkins with the findings.According to an October government report that tracks physician and patient counts here in Ontario, there are approximately 2300 family physicians at or over the age of 60 who are serving 3.1 million patients. These patients are at risk of losing their primary care physicians due to retirement in the next 5 years. Ann Rohmer discusses this situation with Dr. Dominik Nowak, President of the Ontario Medical Association.Shaliza Bacchus is with Martha DeClerq, director of the York Harmony Chorus, an all female a cappella group.The Unionville Men's Hockey Club is a dedicated group of men and women who have been playing hockey for a lot of years and they do a lot of good in the community with their Hockey with Heart initiative. Jim Lang speaks with Brad Fletcher with the details.

South Korean opposition parties begin impeachment of president Yoon Suk Yeol over martial law imposition. France's government holds non-confidence vote today, after prime minister tries to push through budget bill without vote.  An employee of Scouts Canada is suing the organization.

Finding opportunities to meet Scouts from around the world. Podcast Topics Scouter Ken is joined by Ethan Coudenys, a Scouter and Rover from Paris, Ontario, and the Head of Contingent for the Scouts Canada group heading to the 17th World Scout Moot, which will take place in Portugal in mid-2025. In addition to discussing the Moot and other larger international events, though, Ken and Ethan discuss how to do international Scouting at a more personal level, both online and when traveling abroad. (Bring extra neckers!) Links 17th World Scout Moot Canadian Contingent Expression of Interest Form Scouts Canada International Events Shout-Outs Not so much shout-outs as apologies to Zane, Ryder, and Si...all of whom put in requests for stickers. They're in the mail! Subscribe Follow Us and Subscribe Support Hit the Tip Jar | Scouting Stuff Stuff Be Our Guest Register as a Guest Send Feedback Email Us | Leave Us a Voice Message | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Discord | Telegram | Leave Us a Review Music Upbeat Rock (Good News), by Alex Grohl

Scouts Canada CEO Liam Burns offers his thoughts on “Youth Led”, the Canadian Path, badges, and more. Podcast Topics Scouts Canada CEO Liam Burns joins Scouter Ken for a discussion about...well, a number of things. Although it was Liam's blog post about Scouts Canada's badge program – which rightly called out some of the shortcomings of the new badge program ushered in under the Canadian Path initiative – that precipitated this meetup, the actual conversation ranges over a variety of topics. From Squirrel Scouts to the concept of “youth led”, badges to program frameworks, and keeping Scouting going through the pandemic, it's a wide-ranging conversation! Subscribe Follow Us and Subscribe Support Hit the Tip Jar | Scouting Stuff Stuff Be Our Guest Register as a Guest Send Feedback Email Us | Leave Us a Voice Message | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Discord | Telegram | Leave Us a Review Music Upbeat Rock (Good News), by Alex Grohl

Canadian professor known as "Godfather of Artificial Intelligence" jointly wins Nobel Prize for Physics. Hurricane Milton is now a strong Category 4 storm barreling towards Florida's western coast. Ontario Judge rules long-time volunteer with Scouts Canada was wrongfully dismissed.

If you were in Scouts or Guides, you remember their motto: "Be prepared." With that in mind this summer, Scouts Canada has launched a helpline of pre-recorded messages that you can call called Camptastic. Emma Savic Kallesoe is a rover scout and a leader with Scouts Canada, and also shared details of a survey to see how well Canadians know how to camp. She spoke with Bernice Hillier.

Philippine Scouts respond after a typhoon, Scouts Canada launches a helpline...and Italian Scouts take Vespas to Norway. News Stories Hope After the Storm: The Philippine Scouts' Relief for Typhoon Survivors Hope After the Storm: Donate Solidarity on Wheels: Italian Scouts' Vespa Expedition to Norway A Scouts Canada day camp is back in action and introducing a whole new group of kids to outdoor activities Scouts Canada Launches the Camptastic Helpline Just In Time For Camping Season Province investing $52,000 to support restoration of critically endangered Oak Savanna Boy Scouts Help Save a Man's Life When He Goes Into Cardiac Arrest Mid-Flight After fleeing Jasper wildfire, Ottawa scout group now home safe Subscribe Follow Us and Subscribe Support Hit the Tip Jar | Scouting Stuff Stuff Send Feedback Email Us | Leave Us a Voice Message | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Discord | Telegram | Leave Us a Review Music Upbeat Rock (Good News), by Alex Grohl

If camping is on the horizon this summer but you have questions, Scouts Canada has created a camping tipline to help newbies survive camping. The number is 1-844-SCOUT-10Julianne Hazlewood talks with Mike Eybel, a spokesperson with Scouts Canada.A Creemore resident says she's received notice that public workers are coming to mow down the flowers she planted for the bees.Julianne Hazlewood speaks with Brenna Lattimore about what she's heard from Clearview Township.After this week's eviction of homeless folks on city property, and confusion at city hall, we try to get some answers.Julianne Hazlewood speaks with Peterborough councilor Alex Bierk. 

If you need help starting a campfire or staying safe in bear country, and you don't want to just trust whatever you see on social media, you can now get expert advice through Scouts Canada's toll-free hotline. It opened on Monday, 24/7, for the entire summer. Host Jeff Douglas is joined by Matthew Coe, a volunteer and long-time scouter.

Ken Connors hosted today's Andrew Carter Morning Show on CJAD 800. Ken's guests were Dr. Christopher Labos, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations Gary Anandasangaree, entertainment reporter John Moore, Scouts Canada's Brittiny Catalano, CF Montreal's Pat Leduc, Home Equity Bank financial commentator Pattie Lovett-Reid and Backstreet Boy AJ Maclean!

Scouts need (more) volunteers, Bear Grylls steps down...and Mali joins WOSM. News Stories Scouts Canada sidelines 700 in York Region because volunteer shortage puts children and youth on wait list Volunteers urged to step up for Scouts Canada in Barrie Scouts Canada Seeks Volunteers and Business Support in Kingston Scouts Canada urgently needs volunteers in Burnaby Scouts Canada highlights Prince George as area needing volunteers Scouts Canada says more volunteers needed in 17 B.C. cities, including Kamloops Scouts send SOS over ‘volunteer crisis' Scouts Canada: Volunteer Information Scouts issue statement after reports Bear Grylls standing down following Russell Brand baptism Bear Grylls history with the Scouts explained amid Russell Brand baptism controversy World Scouting recognised for youth-led humanitarian efforts in UN report on youth, peace, and security Massive flooding in Sri Lanka: Scouts call for relief support Sri Lanka Flood Relief Donation Association des Scouts et Guides du Mali joins as 175th Member of World Scouting Subscribe Follow Us and Subscribe Support Hit the Tip Jar | Scouting Stuff Stuff Send Feedback Email Us | Leave Us a Voice Message | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Discord | Telegram | Leave Us a Review Music Upbeat Rock (Good News), by Alex Grohl

Scouts Canada plants trees, Scouts BSA pilots co-ed troops...and UK Beaver Scouts hunt for the Gruffalo. News Stories Launching the Canadian Climate Challenge Applications for the Scouts Canada Scholarship Program are now open! Combined Troop Pilot Scouts honor veterans by placing flags at Appleton cemetery ahead of Memorial Day Ely Scouts Gruffalo hike for Cambridge Search and Rescue Subscribe Follow Us and Subscribe Support Hit the Tip Jar | Scouting Stuff Stuff Send Feedback Email Us | Leave Us a Voice Message | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Discord | Telegram | Leave Us a Review Music Upbeat Rock (Good News), by Alex Grohl

A candid conversation with Liam Burns, the new and first ever 2SLGBTQIA+ CEO and Executive Commissioner of Scouts Canada. We discuss the changes within the organization and the work being done to support youth across Canada. Plus! New music from Allen Miller, De'Antwon, dyl~, Martina Armour, MOONBEAN, Ralphy Grey, and Romeo Harp. ⚡️CONNECT WITH THE Q⚡️ Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.curatedbyq.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⚡️FB/Instagram/Twitter @theqreviews ⚡️YouTube.com/@QCreativeNetwork⚡️Apparel Shop https://qreview.threadless.com ⚡️Theme Music provided and performed by UK DJ and producer Hectic @hectictracks on Instagram⚡️

What is the Better Programs Initiative? Let's find out! Podcast Topics Scouter Ken is joined by Scouter Alicia, who is one of the representatives of Scouts Canada's new Better Programs Initiative, a knowledge-sharing forum where Scouters can share (and find) ideas on how to run a top-tier Scouting program. Visit this episode's page at our website to find QR codes for the initiative and the Scouts Canada Network. Subscribe Follow Us and Subscribe Support Hit the Tip Jar | Scouting Stuff Stuff Be Our Guest Register as a Guest Send Feedback Email Us | Leave Us a Voice Message | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Discord | Telegram | Leave Us a Review Music Upbeat Rock (Good News), by Alex Grohl

Youth between the ages of 14 and 17 can also volunteer as Scouters, at least in Scouts Canada. Podcast Topics In their first in-person sit-down session of the year, Scouter Ken and Scouter Colin discuss Youth Scouters. This is an extension of the volunteer apparatus within Scouts Canada that allows minors (between the ages of 14 and 17) to go through the training and interview process that adult volunteers must complete to become Scouters. Youth Scouters count toward ratio requirements as long as at least two adult Scouters are also registered with the section (apologies: Ken said one Scouter in the episode; it should be two). Importantly, however, Youth Scouters do not count on the “youth” side of a section's ratio; they count as Scouters, and so do not have to be interacted with according to the Two-Scouter Rule. Youth Scouters can be a great way for Venturers to give back to their groups, accruing volunteer hours as they do. And for groups who are strapped for volunteers, Youth Scouters might just be what's needed to allow a section to run its program for the year. Shout-Outs A shout-out to Emily who wrote in regarding Episode 88, which concerned orienteering: "Just listened to Episode 88, Orienteering (2019). You mentioned don't get your compass near a big, powerful magnet — guess what? I absent-mindedly put my compass into a zipped breast pocket during a break at land navigation training, RIGHT ON TOP OF MY SMARTPHONE. When I went back out on the course, I was totally baffled: suddenly, I couldn't orient myself. I'd been doing so well!!! I couldn't find the objectives or identify drainages, and I couldn't pass the field exam. Embarrassing! I was mystified. It took a couple of days for it to dawn on me that I had demagnetized my compass by putting it in my pocket lying atop my smartphone. It was completely useless, and pointed in random directions!! Live and learn." Subscribe Follow Us and Subscribe Support Hit the Tip Jar | Scouting Stuff Stuff Be Our Guest Register as a Guest Send Feedback Email Us | Leave Us a Voice Message | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Discord | Telegram | Leave Us a Review Music Upbeat Rock (Good News), by Alex Grohl

Scouts Canada has partnered with Busy Minds and Little Yogis Academy to help bring mindfulness into program content. Podcast Topics Scouter Ken and Scouter Mike are joined by Michelle Faber, the founder of Busy Minds, for a live discussion mindfulness, its importance to mental health, and the ways in which Scouts Canada is partnering with Busy Minds (and Little Yogis) to add mindfulness exercises into group programming. Learn more: Busy Minds Little Yogis Mindfulness apps discussed in the episode: Calm Headspace Hallow And again: this episode is a recording of a live event that was done on the Scouts Canada Discussion Group on Facebook, and on Workspace/The Network. Shout-Outs A big thank you to Scouts Canada and Mike Eybel for facilitating this episode, and to Kate Larkin for being the inaugural guest! Subscribe Follow Us and Subscribe Support Hit the Tip Jar | Scouting Stuff Stuff Be Our Guest Register as a Guest Send Feedback Email Us | Leave Us a Voice Message | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Discord | Telegram | Leave Us a Review Music Upbeat Rock (Good News), by Alex Grohl

The first ever LIVE episode of Scouting Stuff, and an introduction to Scouts Canada's “Sasquatch Seekers” event. Podcast Topics In the first of what will become a series of LIVE episodes, Scouter Ken is joined by Kate Larkin - the Director of Program & Volunteer Services for Scouts Canada - to discuss the Sasquatch Seekers challenge. This is a series of four weekly challenges for Scout Groups across Canada to complete, exploring a variety of activities and skills all themed around the hunt for Canada's most elusive megafauna. (There's also a leaderboard, by the way. With prizes.) Mike Eybel - the Associate Director of Communications for Scouts Canada, and an occasional guest of the podcast - also makes an appearance or two. And again: this episode is a recording of a live event that was done on the Scouts Canada Discussion Group on Facebook. Shout-Outs A big thank you to Scouts Canada and Mike Eybel for facilitating this episode, and to Kate Larkin for being the inaugural guest! Subscribe Follow Us and Subscribe Support Hit the Tip Jar | Scouting Stuff Stuff Be Our Guest Register as a Guest Send Feedback Email Us | Leave Us a Voice Message | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Discord | Telegram | Leave Us a Review Music Upbeat Rock (Good News), by Alex Grohl

Beaver Scouts (at least in Canada) is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2024. Podcast Topics Scouter Ken and Scouter Colin - finally, only two months into 2024! - sit down (virtually) to discuss Beaver Scouts. Despite a popular Canadian legend that the program for “younger than Cub Scout” youth was developed in Canada and exported to the world, the actual history of it goes back a bit further...to Northern Ireland, in fact. But half a century ago, Scouts Canada officially launched its Beaver Scouts section, and is planning on celebrating that this summer. Is your group ready? Is your council? By the way, if you want to see what different Scouting NSOs call their sections, here's a lengthy list. Subscribe Follow Us and Subscribe Support Hit the Tip Jar | Scouting Stuff Stuff Be Our Guest Register as a Guest Send Feedback Email Us | Leave Us a Voice Message | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Discord | Telegram | Leave Us a Review Music Upbeat Rock (Good News), by Alex Grohl

Two brothers - twins, at that! - discuss their introduction to Scouts Canada and the roles they've served in therewith. Podcast Topics Scouter Shayne and Scouter Sheldon rejoin the podcast for another episode, this time to discuss their respective Scouting journeys with Scouter Ken. Though they came to the organization in different ways (and at different times), they both ended up serving as Group Commissioners for two different Ontario Scout Groups at the same time. Also: camp cooking. We talk about camp cooking. Subscribe Follow Us and Subscribe Support Hit the Tip Jar | Scouting Stuff Stuff Be Our Guest Register as a Guest Send Feedback Email Us | Leave Us a Voice Message | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Discord | Telegram | Leave Us a Review Music Upbeat Rock (Good News), by Alex Grohl

What is the rangemaster role within Scouting, and how do you become one? Podcast Topics Scouter Ken is joined by Scouter Sheldon, the program director for Camp Everton in Ontario (and, coincidentally, the brother of Scouter Shayne from Episode 144). Much of the discussion in this episode focuses on the role of the rangemaster, which within Scouts Canada is a specifically-trained person who can run archery, pelletry, and even axe/tomahawk-throwing. Subscribe Follow Us and Subscribe Support Hit the Tip Jar | Scouting Stuff Stuff Be Our Guest Register as a Guest Send Feedback Email Us | Leave Us a Voice Message | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Discord | Telegram | Leave Us a Review Music Upbeat Rock (Good News), by Alex Grohl

A successful musical fundraiser, Scouts Canada apologizes...and Scouts in Brazil get crafty with plastic waste. News Stories Aberdeen Explorer Scouts invited to Scottish Parliament to mark fundraising efforts Scouts Canada issues apology for role in ‘historical harm' on Indigenous Peoples The Girl Scouts are discontinuing a cult-favorite cookie Moment cub scouts as young as seven dodge traffic on dark country lane after getting lost on map reading exercise that was only supposed to be one mile MUTECO from Trash to Treasure: How Scouts Turned Plastic into Change Subscribe Follow Us and Subscribe Support Hit the Tip Jar | Scouting Stuff Stuff Send Feedback Email Us | Leave Us a Voice Message | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Discord | Telegram | Leave Us a Review Music Upbeat Rock (Good News), by Alex Grohl

Explorer Scouts fundraise with an album, and Scouts Canada launches a helpline. News Stories Straight Outta Mannofield Scouts Canada launches free helpline for all your camping calamities Subscribe Follow Us and Subscribe Support Hit the Tip Jar Send Feedback Email Us | Leave Us a Voice Message | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram| Locals | Discord | Mighty Networks | Leave Us a Review Music Upbeat Rock (Good News), by Alex Grohl

A presentation given on Scouts Canada's Workplace site, detailing how to say yes to youth waiting to join your Scout Group. Podcast Topics This week's episode comes from a presentation given on Scouts Canada's new Workplace site (Workplace is Meta's business product, essentially Facebook for work teams) by Tim Blair of the 11th Seymour Scout Group. The title of the presentation is "Can you say yes to your waitlist?", and deals with strategies for bringing more youth into your Scout Group even when your registration rolls are currently full. Subscribe Follow Us and Subscribe Support Hit the Tip Jar Send Feedback Email Us | Leave Us a Voice Message | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram| Tik Tok | Discord | Leave Us a Review Music Slow Burn, by Kevin MacLeod

Michael Nebesny is a youth Scout commissioner.

Youth Scout Commissioner Michael Nebesny tells us all about the new Scouts Canada free 24-hour camping help line. That's 1-844-SCOUT101.

Scouter Andrew returns with another discussion of Scouts Canada’s “Big Opportunity”. Podcast Topics Scouter Andrew from the 4th Elks Triwood Scout Group (based in Calgary, Alberta) is back this week with another group discussion. In mid-March, Scouters from across Canada met in Ottawa for a weekend workshop about The Big Opportunity, the grassroots volunteer recruitment and encouragement initiative that the podcast has been covering over the last few episodes. After this workshop, Andrew sat down with a few Scouters he met there – Emma, Alicia, and Anna – for another discussion of The Big Opportunity and how to make it work. Subscribe Follow Us and Subscribe Support Hit the Tip Jar Send Feedback Email Us | Leave Us a Voice Message | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram| Tik Tok | Discord | Leave Us a Review Music Slow Burn, by Kevin MacLeod

Another discussion of Scouts Canada's Big Opportunity, this time from a Group-level perspective. Podcast Topics Scouter Andrew with the 4th Elks Triwood Scout Group (based in Calgary, Alberta) sat down with a number of his fellow Scouters for a lengthy discussion of Scouts Canada's Big Opportunity, how it applies to their Group, and how they're already making some of its aims a reality. The entire conversation was recorded, and Andrew generously provided the discussion to serve as an episode of the podcast. So if, after Episode 130, you find you have some questions about how The Big Opportunity can apply to your Group, or what it even looks like to be implemented at a Group level, the discussion that forms the core of this episode might offer some insight...and some ideas. Shout-Outs Scouters Andrew, David, Stacey, Lindsey, and Peter of the 4th Elks Triwood Scout Group for the insightful discussion and their agreeing to share it with the wider Scouting world. Subscribe Follow Us and Subscribe Support Hit the Tip Jar Send Feedback Email Us | Leave Us a Voice Message | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Discord | Leave Us a Review Music Slow Burn, by Kevin MacLeod

A once-in-a-generation opportunity to reach more Canadian youth! Podcast Topics Ken flies solo this week, and discusses Scouts Canada's new volunteer-focused initiative, which they're calling the Big Opportunity. Subscribe Follow Us and Subscribe Support Hit the Tip Jar Send Feedback Email Us | Leave Us a Voice Message | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram| Tik Tok | Discord | Leave Us a Review Music Slow Burn, by Kevin MacLeod

“Already know you, that which you need.” Podcast Topics Ken and Colin close out the year with some reflections on the concept of doing a good turn, and how Scouts Canada -- in its efforts to find new ways to reach out to prospective members — might well have everything it needs already. Is it a question of pivoting the movement in some way, or is it a question of re-emphasising the values the movement already seeks to inculcate in its members? Shout-Outs We'd like to give a shout-out to One Movement Media, formerly Scouting Radio. We're not sure if they're still re-broadcasting our episodes, but even if not, they're doing great work bringing Scouting to their internet audience. Subscribe Follow Us and Subscribe Support Us Hit the Tip Jar Send Feedback Email Us | Leave Us a Voice Message | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Discord | Leave Us a Review Music Slow Burn, by Kevin MacLeod

Antigua and Barbuda join WOSM, Scouts help those in need...and another Scouts Canada property closes (for a while, at least). News Stories Antigua & Barbuda Scout Association becomes 173rd WOSM Member | WOSM Scouts help Cianjur's earthquake victims | WOSM Scouts' youth-led response supports over 800,000 Ukrainian children and families with humanitarian assistance | WOSM Romanian Scouts rush to borders, offering immediate relief and support to refugees from Ukraine | UNICEF Europe and Central Asia Scouts step up to cook Thanksgiving meals for their community | WPBN Sunshine Coast Scouts Camp Byng closed 'until further notice' | Coast Reporter Subscribe Follow Us and Subscribe Support Hit the Tip Jar Send Feedback Email Us | Leave Us a Voice Message | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Discord | Leave Us a Review Music Unexpected Hoedown in Bagging Area, by Doctor Turtle

Scouter Ken will be at the Kander100 Jamboree! Announcement Scouter Ken has been selected as the Contingent Lead for the Scouts Canada delegation that will be attending Kander100, the mini-jamboree being held to celebrate the centenary of Kandersteg International Scout Centre. Thirty Scouts and Scouters (in total!) from Canada will be attending the event. If you're curious, the Canadian Contingent website is here: KANDER100 JAMBOREE And yes, this likely means that there'll be an episode or two recorded at (and published from) Kandersteg next year. Subscribe Follow Us and Subscribe Support Hit the Tip Jar Send Feedback Email Us | Leave Us a Voice Message | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Tik Tok | Discord | Leave Us a Review Music Baltic Levity by Kevin MacLeod

Scouts hailed as heroes, champion youth empowerment, and win funding for big adventures. News Stories Algerian Scout champions youth empowerment and rights | WOSM Leaders from National Scout Organizations Convene in Nairobi for the 18th Africa Scout Conference | WOSM Appleton Boy Scouts receive Heroes Award for aiding after Amtrak crash | CBS 3Duluth County to buy Girl Scouts camp, create park, save Rocklands | Miami Today 70 Scout Groups win big adventures with funding from Hydro One and Scouts Canada's Grizzly Den | Cision Subscribe Follow Us and Subscribe Support Hit the Tip Jar Send Feedback Email Us | Leave Us a Voice Message | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Tik Tok | Discord | Leave Us a Review Music Unexpected Hoedown in Bagging Area, by Doctor Turtle

It turns out a lot can happen when you don't cover the news for a couple of months! News Stories Say hello to the new scout.org! | WOSM Scouts in Vietnam to install solar lights for ethnic community | WOSM Scout highlights Messengers of Peace work during Dalai Lama visit in India | WOSM Scarf Day for scouts | Whanganui Chronicle News - NZ Herald Romanian Scouts rush to borders, offering immediate relief and support to refugees from Ukraine | WOSM Kenyan Scout supports teens through pregnancy, motherhood | WOSM New development could displace historic totem pole at Ottawa's Scouts Canada headquarters | CTV News Resolute works with Scouts | TBNewsWatch.com Scouts Canada declares Jasper as Canada's ‘most epic' camping destination – Jasper's source for news, sports, arts, culture, and more | The Fitzhugh Boy Scouts Ruling Threatens $250 Million Abuse Deal With Mormons | BNN Bloomberg Ambassador Kennedy thanked Solomon Scouts who saved her father | Solomon Star News Tunisian National Olympic Committee set for Scouts collaboration | InsideTheGames Popular Boy Scouts camp in Mass. forced to close | WWLP Subscribe Follow Us and Subscribe Support Hit the Tip Jar Send Feedback Email Us | Leave Us a Voice Message | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Tik Tok | Discord | Leave Us a Review Music Unexpected Hoedown in Bagging Area, by Doctor Turtle

James Miller, II is a Board Director and CEO who works in partnership and collaboration across diverse groups of people to set strategic direction, foster cross-functional consensus, enable transformation, and attain mission success. Merging extensive C-level leadership experience with a broad and diverse Board Director background,  James guides companies and their leaders in achieving strategic growth.  James has served in numerous C-level roles, as well as mid- to senior-level positions, across diverse industries where he has garnered extensive experience in multi-unit management/ownership, strategic brand positioning, business growth/transformation, product development, M&As, and marketing in domestic and international markets. He has also served on 15 Boards of Directors as Chairman, President, Parliamentarian, Sergeant at Arms,  Secretary-Treasurer, and multi-board liaison for private, public, and nonprofit sectors, both international and domestic, including Subway (Corporate and Franchisees), Westin Resorts, Vistana Signature Experiences, and  Marriott. In all roles, James works in partnership with all board members and company leaders, creating and launching forward-thinking strategies that create highly competitive market leaders.  Beginning his career with Weaver Popcorn as Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Revenue Officer, James was selected right out of college from 1,200 applicants to spearhead a $20M division. In 1996, James was recruited by Nesco, a highly specialized utility equipment company in international telecom and fiber optic as their first  Chief Marketing Officer of North America, adding the title of Chief Sales Officer of North America one year later.  In these roles, James turned around the business, securing status as a Top 3 largest global supplier in the industry and positioned the company for successful acquisition, and was awarded Recipient of Award from CEO for the  Highest Sales Transaction in Company History.  In 1998, James founded Vision Investment Group, where he served as a Chief Executive Officer and Chief  Marketing Officer of Subway Multi-unit Franchising, where he initially acquired two Subway Franchises with 20  employees and led the company through startup to strategically position his Subway franchise business to grow to today's “Top 25 largest franchisees globally” (50+ locations; 1,200 employees). He grew revenues from $250K  to $20M+ by acquiring 38+ businesses and building 14 new locations from the ground up.   Within the Subway family, James is most proud of generating $3.8B in sales as Board Liaison working with Subway marketing team by creating and launching a $5 Footlong promotion in recessionary 2008. This campaign achieved a #1 Fast-Food Brand ranking in multiple categories worldwide and is recognized as the highest revenue-generating promotion in company history (recorded in Smithsonian's Institute of Marketing). James has also received additional awards that include Franchisee of the Year, Best Advertising and Promotions of the Year (2X),  Most Improved Operations, Highest Sales Growth (multiple), and Manager of Year (multiple), among others.  James Miller is a strategic, game-changing visionary who brings about the revolutionary and constructive change that positively impacts profitability. Leading from the front, he builds highly cohesive environments and teams.  Throughout his career, he has forged and delivered numerous multimillion-dollar partner relationships with companies that include Coca-Cola, Frito-Lay, Subway, Sprint, NASCAR, NFL, Disney, Twitter, Google, Westin Hotels, and Resorts, American Heart Association, and Walmart, among others. James is recognized for merging an open mind, an engaging personality, and an out-of-the-box leadership style to uncover new opportunities, improve brand positioning, significantly enhance operational efficiencies, and quickly resolve business challenges.  An accomplished speaker, James has presented to audiences of up to 2,500 people and has served in an advisory/mentoring role for various fundraising efforts and companies that include Dancer Concrete, Subway  Franchisees, Steak ‘n Shake, Mr. Brews Taphouse, Umi, and the Subway Executive Leadership Team. James also served as the Advisor to the Boy Scouts of America/Scouts Canada, where he was awarded the “men's necktie”  worn by Prime Minister of Canada, Jean Chrétien, for exemplary service to Scouts Canada. James attended  Milligan University where he received his Bachelor of Science in Marketing, Computer Science, and Team Labor. 

Sea Scouts lose their boats, Scouts BSA adjusts joining requirements...and Scouting in the UK sees a membership surge. News Stories Scout Numbers Surge BBC Breakfast - Part 3 30 April 2022 | BBC Canadians lack basic outdoor skills, Scouts Canada survey shows | National Post Florida woman charged with stealing $10K from Boy Scouts | NYPost Update to Scouts BSA joining requirements opens the door to more young people | Scouting Magazine Pareidolia Brewing Company Host Adult Pinewood Derby to Benefit local Boy Scouts of America | Sebastian Daily Sea Scouts Will Fundraise To Replace Boats Lost In Shed Fire | Falmouth News Subscribe Follow Us and Subscribe Support Hit the Tip Jar Send Feedback Email Us | Leave Us a Voice Message | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Tik Tok | Discord | Leave Us a Review Music Unexpected Hoedown in Bagging Area, by Doctor Turtle

Terry Grant, popularly known as “ManTracker” is a 25-year veteran of the Alberta Foothills Search and Rescue Team, Chief Scout of Scouts Canada, an expert in utilizing clues such as footprints, probable path and other signs of human presence to track prey. To join a Mantracker ride can go to anchord@anchord.com To learn tracking from Terry and take a course: go to grantt@xplornet.com Watch on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3opNURn - - - - - - - - - - - - SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS Good F*cking Design Advice - 10% off with code UNITY - www.gfda.co Combat Flip Flops - 25% off with code UNITY - https://combatflipflops.com Brass & Unity - 20% off with code UNITY - http://brassandunity.com Daisy May Hats Co - 15% off with code BRASS - https://daisymayhats.com - - - - - - - - - - - - - SHOP B&U Jewelry & Eyewear: https://brassandunity.com - - - - - - - - - - - - - Follow #brassandunity - - - - - - - - - - - - - CHARITY Honour House - https://www.honourhouse.ca Vet Solutions - https://vetsolutions.org Heroic Hearts - https://www.heroicheartsproject.org Warrior Angels Foundation - https://warriorangelsfoundation.org All Secure Foundation - http://allsecurefoundation.org Four Seasons Fighters - https://www.fourseasonfighters.org

What are the Sustainable Development Goals, and how can we incorporate them in Scouting? Podcast Topics Siobhan Ward, a Youth Program Specialist with Scouts Canada, joins Scouter Ken to talk about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), and how Scouts Canada has chosen to incorporate these into the Scouting program, Scouts Canada SDG Resources: Scouts for Sustainability Overview Scouts for Sustainability Badge Requirements Sustainability Badge Requirements Scouts for Sustainability Program Resources Shout-Outs Siobhan would like to shout out the Scouts for Sustainability volunteer committee, and the Scouts for Sustainability Youth Advisory Panel, both of whom contributed to the creation of the SDG badge program. And, as always, a big thank you to the folks at Scouting Radio for rebroadcasting Scouting Stuff episodes to their worldwide Scouting audience. If you're listening to us on Scouting Radio right now, let us know; reach out and get in touch. We'd love to hear from you. Subscribe Follow Us and Subscribe Send Feedback Email Us | Leave Us a Voice Message | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Discord | Leave Us a Review Music Slow Burn, by Kevin MacLeod

Scouts Canada has a new, themed competition for its members...starting this month! Podcast Topics This week, Scouter Ken is joined by Scouts Canada National Communications Director Scouter Mike (why yes, he's back!) and Scouter Sandra, from Scouts Canada's Program Support Team, to discuss the upcoming Claim the Flame competition. This is yet another competition that Scout groups within Canada are encouraged to participate in; its emphasis will be getting youth to think about how to keep active and find adventure in winter...and how to do so safely. Which, handily, ties in to the Winter Skills Outdoor Adventure Skills badge. Shout-Outs Scouter Mike would like to thank Tim Fountain, Rubene Desousa, Joe Vautour, Ann Carr, Anita Bergman, Anissa Stamboli, and Svetlana Kurmeleva for all of their assistance in bringing Claim the Flame to fruition. Scouter Sandra, meanwhile, would like to thank Ginger Greenwood, Kerry Radey and Laura Flett for all their hard work as members of the Program Support Team. And, as always, a big thank you to the folks at Scouting Radio for rebroadcasting Scouting Stuff episodes to their worldwide Scouting audience. If you're listening to us on Scouting Radio right now, let us know; reach out and get in touch. We'd love to hear from you. Subscribe Follow Us and Subscribe Send Feedback Email Us | Leave Us a Voice Message | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Discord | Leave Us a Review Music Slow Burn, by Kevin MacLeod

Scouts Canada appoints a new Chief Scout, Scouts were amazing in 2021...and as they sell trees, Scouts also collect them. News Stories Scouts Canada appoints adventurer Les Stroud as Chief Scout | Blackburn News Former South Surrey Scouts leader sentenced in child pornography case | Surrey Now-Leader London, Ont. crash: 8-year-old girl dies, Girl Guides of Canada members among pedestrians hit | Global News Boy Scouts bankruptcy case: Insurer agrees to pay $800 million | USA Today Central Oregon Scouts BSA set to begin Christmas tree recycling fundraiser | KTVZ 7 ways Scouts amazed us in 2021 | World Scouting Bronze Wolf awarded to Malcolm Tan, Peter Blatch and Roger Mosby for lifetime of service to Scouting | World Scouting UNICEF Belize recognizes the Scout Association as the Champion of Children-NGO | World Scouting Brazilian Scouts awarded as the country's most relevant NGO for Education | World Scouting Dundas Scouts get new group crest from local business | Scouts Canada Scouts Canada will Continue to Monitor the Roll-out of Vaccines to Children 5- to 11-years-old | Scouts Canada Subscribe iTunes | Google Play | Spotify | Android | TuneIn Radio | Stitcher | Anchor | YouTube Send Feedback Email Us | Leave Us a Voice Message | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Tik Tok | Discord | Leave Us a Review Music Unexpected Hoedown in Bagging Area, by Doctor Turtle

Scouts Canada appoints a new Chief Scout, Arab and Asia-Pacific NSOs meet and greet..and yes, Scout groups still need volunteers. News Stories Arab and Asia-Pacific hold first-ever International Commissioners Gathering | World Scouting Scouting for leaders: Scouts BSA seeking adult volunteers | Heraldrepublican Mooresville Cub, Boy Scouts collect food for FeedNC | Mooresville Local News Wyre Scouts - As you'll know, recently we tragically lost one of... | Facebook Scouts Canada - "With you, I would like to help put forth the... | Facebook Twitter Spaces Subscribe iTunes | Google Play | Spotify | Android | TuneIn Radio | Stitcher | Anchor | YouTube Send Feedback Email Us | Leave Us a Voice Message | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Tik Tok | Discord | Leave Us a Review Music Unexpected Hoedown in Bagging Area, by Doctor Turtle

BGBS 042: Ron Tite | Church + State | Everyone Loves a Funny Business GuyWith experience writing books about branding and creativity, founding Church+State, and headlining his own comedy show, we think it's safe to say that Ron Tite is a well-rounded guy. Luckily for us, he doesn't stop there. Ron has written, produced, and performed a hit play, been a creative director for some of the world's most respected brands such as Volvo and Intel, and created a branded art gallery. Ron also inspires us with the skillset to blend his experience with art and commerce to speak all over the world. As we sit down with Ron, we touch on how Church+State unifies the worlds of content and advertising and why agencies shouldn't compromise the soul within it all just for scale. Working in an ever-changing industry, it comes as no surprise to us that Ron is all about redefining and adapting to change. We learn that at the precipice of each great decision, Ron asks himself, “How can I pursue this feeling?”, motivating us to do the same. In this episode, you'll learn…The name Church+State comes from the fact that the worlds of content and advertising used to be kept separate—like the separation of church and state—and they are now being unified within this agency With the low cost of content production and distribution, the result is the “expression economy” where anyone can express themselves, thus challenging large media companies to make a disruption and stand out from the average person With startup culture, it's all about the pivot. The industry is moving too quickly to always know if a strategy is going to work, so you need an agency that may not know all the answers, but is committed to getting it right Ron's company wasn't always called Church+State, but he decided to spend his weeks building the business and letting the name come over time rather than finding the perfect name from the start Ron originally went to university to complete a degree in physical education and later become a teacher At 17-years-old, Ron got a job at a camp with no experience of ever going to camp as a child. This was his first exposure of ever doing things on his own The way Ron's family would tell these amazing, animated stories with the same beats and energy every time is what inspired his love of comedic storytelling Ron's first-ever stand-up comedy set was 45 minutes long because he produced the show and made himself the headliner One of the most powerful moments that Ron ever had on stage was not of uproarious laughter, but during the silence of strategic thought and emotion among the audience There is an aspect of advertising that is “assembly-line driven”, but you need to add original thinking and “soul” to keep up with the changing tides of humanity ResourcesRon Tite Website The Coup Podcast Church + State Website Ron Tite Instagram Ron Tite Facebook Quotes[32:02] There's a rule in comedy and it's either they laughed or they didn't…I love that it's the ultimate accountability. [37:57] I think that we have to be greedy with our chasing emotions, as opposed to chasing ego. [38:16] Nobody wants to listen to a comedian who knows about business. No one believes that guy because comedians don't know about business. But everybody wants to listen to a funny business guy. [44:44] Consumers go to a website, they look at a pair of shoes, and the pair of shoes follow them around for the next month. I mean, it's just constant pitch-slapping from every angle, and we just have to be better than this…We can't lose the soul of this. Podcast TranscriptRon Tite 0:02And so what I did was I just kind of thought, let's start from birth. And I started there, you know, as you start to go through the bits, then you end up going or what links the bits like, “What's the thread that goes through all this?” And so it was really about my life growing up quite poor. And then the name of the show was Captain Crunch flashback. So it was really just about growing up in a hand me down clothes kind of environment in a blue-collar town. And my mom was there. It was, which was amazing that my mom got to see it, because it really it's kind of a backhanded homage to my mom who is an incredible woman. Marc Gutman 0:46Podcasting from Boulder, Colorado. This is the Baby Got Back story Podcast, where we dive into the story behind the story of today's most inspiring storytellers, creators and entrepreneurs. I like backstories and I cannot lie. I am your host, Marc Gutman, Marc Gutman, and on today's episode of Baby got backstory. We are talking with Founder and Chief Creative Officer Ron Tite from the advertising agency, Church and State out of Toronto, Canada, where to cool name Church and State. A best selling author, speaker, producer and entrepreneur, Ron Tite has always blurred the lines between art and commerce. And he has been an award-winning advertising writer and creative director for some of the world's most respected brands including Air France, Evian, Fidelity, Hershey, Johnson and Johnson, Kraft, Intel, Microsoft, Volvo and many others. If you're listening now, do you recognize any of those brand names? I'm sure you do. Those are all heavy hitters. He is founder of Church and State, host and executive producer of the hit podcast The Coup and publisher of This is That travel guide to Canada, a best selling an award-winning satirical book. He has written for television, penned a children's book, wrote, produced and performed a hit play, created a branded Art Gallery, then was executive producer and host of the award-winning comedy show, Monkey toast. If that's not enough, he's an in-demand speaker all over the world. And Ron speaks to leading organizations about leadership disruption, branding, and creativity. All topics that we are going to cover on today's episode. Ron's first book, Everyone's an Artist, or At Least They Should Be, which was co-written by Scott Kavanaugh and Christopher Novice was published by HarperCollins in 2016. And his most recent book, Think Do Say: How to Seize Attention and Build Trust in a Busy, Busy World hit store shelves in October of 2019. Hey, now, if you like and enjoy the show, please take a minute or two to rate and review us over at iTunes. iTunes uses these as part of the algorithm that determines ratings on the Apple charts. And we like ratings. So please, if you haven't rated us or if you know someone who's listening who hasn't given us a good five-star review, please hop on over there and do that. It is a tremendous help to the podcast. Back to Ron Tite. I had a lot of fun with this interview. Ron is well, A funny guy, and he's made a career out of what I've longed to believe the secret recipe, blend two things that you're good at that aren't necessarily related. And Ron's case, he took advertising and his love for stand up comedy in the stage and combined it into a creative career, leading him to work with some of the world's biggest brands. Let's not waste any time and let's get right into it. with Ron Tite. So I'm here with Ron Tite, the founder and Chief Creative Officer of Church and State out of Toronto, a creative agency up in Toronto, Canada. And so Ron, thanks for coming on the show. And if you could just launch right in. Let's not waste any time watch it tell me about Church and State what is Church and State and what makes you so interesting? Ron Tite 4:20I'll leave it for your listeners to decide whether I've interesting or not. But thank you, Mark, thanks for having me on. And yeah, well, let's just jump right into it, church and state and I feel like I should go into this like scripted elevator pitch kind of thing. Church and State is a multi-dimensional cross solution provider of dissolute Asia… This is what we are. We think that, you know, the worlds of content and advertising used to be separate and kept separate. It was the separation of church and state and we think that those worlds are now unified. And so we have unified the worlds of content and advertising in convenient agency form. And so we do it, you know, stuff that can be defined as pure pure pure-play content, stuff that can be defined as pure play advertising. And as we all know, most of this stuff is kind of somewhere in the middle. And so we work with large global clients like Walmart and Doordash. And we just want scouts, Scouts Canada, and we do some work with Microsoft and to shield insurance and a whole bunch of other friendly lovely people. Marc Gutman 5:34That well I love that the tie in of your positioning to your name, church and state and your worldview on how you're approaching brand and marketing and communications. I mean, how did that come about? Like, you know, that is a little bit? You know, there has been a shift, you know, I mean, there, there was content, there was advertising, there's all these different, you know, disciplines within brand and marketing, but now, it's all kind of blending and it's all it's all and we never know like where does one start? One does? One does, where does one leave off? You know, when do you stop bleeding into another discipline or area or department of marketing or brands? So how did that all come about for you? I mean, it's I find that really intriguing, really awesome. Ron Tite 6:19Yeah, well, thank you. It started when I was so I was before I started Church and State I was Executive Creative Director at an agency called Havas, in Havas Khanna Havas Toronto. And I would it started with me but you know, I was at a shoot in Montevideo, Uruguay, and kind of looked back and saw this crew shot of all these people. And it was like, Hi, that how the hell and we said like it literally turned on producer and said, How the hell are we still doing that? Like, how are we so flying halfway around the world to shoot 15 seconds, for medium that fewer and fewer people are watching. And so it started there. And then and then I realized, like, I gotta I gotta quit. So I quit. I just resigned to figure it all out. And what I as I dug into it, and I started, I thought that nobody was talking to the entire ecosystem. There were some people who were saying, oh, the national newspapers and the TV networks, those people are dead. And other people saying, oh, the big cpgs and big traditional marketing companies, they're dead and other using a big agencies are dead. But nobody was looking at the interplay between all those things. And that, while completely different ecosystems are both completely different worlds of, you know, the worlds of television content, and television advertising. They were completely dependent on one another. And I thought that all of those worlds were being disrupted, and no one was looking at it. And when you look at you know, the lower cost of production meant anybody could produce content, the relative ease of global and immediate distribution meant that anybody could distribute content. A nd when you combine, you know, low cost of content production with low cost of content distribution, you end up with this dynamic where, you know, it's something that I called the expression economy, which is like, Well, everyone is just expressing themselves. And that the large media companies have to disrupt themselves just as much as the large marketers and large agencies. So I wrote this line that was just about to succeed, brands need to act like media properties and media properties need to act like brands. And then I thought, well, what the hell is that? That's a great line. I don't know what it meant. So I just need to just roll up my sleeves and figure it out. But what did that actually mean? And how would one go about solving that problem? And I thought, I'm gonna solve it on my own. And so I started the tight group first. And I call it the tight group, because I wasn't exactly sure what problem I was solving. I wasn't exactly sure whether I was gonna solve that as a consulting firm or as an agency or as a production company. I didn't know I just wanted to solve the problem the best way possible. So I started out called the tight group and then eventually, like, three years into it, it was like, Oh, this is what we do. This is the perspective we have that name no longer matches with what we do. We need to we need to rebrand Marc Gutman 9:24and so about when was it when you kind of had this epiphany of what this new era was going to look like, as I heard you speaking like I don't want to say like it's happened overnight because you know, we've been a part of this sort of movement where like you said everyone's a content creator. I mean, what we can do with the phone in our pockets amazing like you don't need you know, huge television crews and I don't think you know this about me when I came out of the movie industry. I worked in the movie industry. Yeah, first first part of my career so very familiar with at all and but I but I also as I heard you talking I was kind of chuckling to myself because I remember not that long ago. I want to say maybe my memories like, like rough for myself. But maybe 5, 6 years ago, I thought to myself, wow, I probably will never cut the cord. I love my direct tv and my sports and things like that. And now like I sit today and like I watch no tell it like traditional television and if i do i watch it as a streaming device. My children don't even know what cable is they watch YouTube and everything else and TikTok so like, like for you? When was this like revelation? Like, when did you like really see it in Ron Tite 10:291968? No. It was in 2011. Marc Gutman 10:36So yeah, I mean, that's that's like still nine years ago. I mean, that's like crazy to me that that's really visionary in terms of making a bet. On where you think this is all going? Ron Tite 10:46Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think and I didn't know, I know. It's just like, I think this is where things are going. And I know, why isn't anybody talking about this? And one of the things I that that really solidified it for me, I remember turning on the television back when I had cable, and like you, I've completely cut the cord. But I remember turning in and sometimes was this young child in Detroit, you may have come up to Toronto to watch a Blue Jays game to play your beloved Tigers, see your beloved Tigers play the Blue Jays, well, I turned on the television to watch a sports program. And so I turn on the TV and the show was called primetime sports. Now, Primetime sports was a discussion, sports show. And primetime sports was a radio show, owned by Rogers Communications. And it aired on a radio station called the Fan 590. owned by Rogers Communications. It was- they put a couple of cameras in the corner. And they shot the discussion. And that TV show that was generated out of filming a radio show was owned by Rogers. It was then aired on a national television network called sports net owned by Rogers. And when they cut to commercial break, they advertised cell phones owned by Rogers Communications, the only thing missing was out of that entire ecosystem was the thing that they were talking about. And oh, that was the Toronto Blue Jays owned by Rogers Communications. So the content that was being discussed was owned by the parent company on a platform on television owned by the parent company, on radio owned by the parent company. And when they cut to commercial break, it was products owned by the parent company. And so the pessimists may look at that and go this is corporate greed. This is you know that we've lost the editorial credibility, the optimist or the or those who are biased, would say this is a glorious thing. This is a glorious thing, because the viewer doesn't care. They don't care who owns what, now it does raise some questions. It raises questions around when the when, when that show airs. The top story is of the Toronto Blue Jays. Is it really the top sports story that day? Or is it because they want to drive bumps in the seats? Again, the viewer will decide when they've walked across that line. I just think that it's amazing that a brand is both owning the content and owning the advertising, then the entire revenue ecosystem. And when I saw that I was like, this is a changed game. And why aren't we watching our television news broadcast be the Wall Street Journal news hour? Why is it the CBS Evening News. And it's because the traditional media companies think of themselves as the media in which they are deployed in and they're not their brands, they need to extend into other areas. Marc Gutman 14:03And then so what was your first sort of taste or or use case of how you actually deployed that or saw that work in it in the new era? Ron Tite 14:13I did some consulting before I was it was kind of under the agency banner, but it was really just me and I went into consulting to a radio show. And what they wanted to do was, you know, increase viewership or listenership and stuff. And so I, you know, develop this platform, and it was like, Look, this is you're going to get behind at all conversation, because great things and issues are solved when we just sit down and have adult conversation. That was the brand belief. And then I said, you know, there's a neighborhood in Toronto where there's always a debate as to whether you call the beaches versus the beach, and I said, so if there's a town meeting behind, whether it's called the beaches or the beach, you need to get behind and sponsor that conversation. You need to be there live. And they said, do we go and record it for the radio. And I said, Well, you Maybe, but that doesn't really matter that you're just gonna you're gonna sponsor the live conversation. And they're like, but we're a radio show, you know, they just they didn't get the world of branding that they could actually be something else other than radio if they built the brand. So that was the first thing was like, Oh yeah, this is where I need to extend. And then the first traditional client was a client called AB world foods, which owns pretax Indian sauces and Blue Dragon Asian sauces. And I was like, what could we do for that a really traditional CPG? And what did we do? Of course, we did recipe videos, and we did, we did cookbooks, and we deployed through social media. And it was, you know, the goal of the business was to double in five years, and then we beat that timeline. Marc Gutman 15:46Yeah, then, you know, thanks for sharing that. And I really loved your explanation of how you started the Tite group, and then morphed into Church and State. And so like, I think that's really interesting. I think a lot of people, especially creatives, those that are in this space, think, you know, I have to figure it all out. Before I get into business, I have to have the perfect name, I've got to have the perfect positioning. And what I heard from you is like, you know, you wanted that I'm sure, I'm sure you've wrestled with some of those questions. But at the same time, it was more important to get in business and kind of figure it out, like kind of get your hands a little dirty, and figure out where the problems were and what you were passionate about. And so did I reflect that pretty accurately? I mean, is would you say that that was a good recipe to get to where you are today? Ron Tite 16:33Yeah, I agree with you. I think, I felt a little bit of that pressure, like, oh, what's it gonna be called? And what's it, you know, and I just, I kept telling myself, to push my ego to the side. And because that's what we want, right? We want to go out, the first thing that people see in here is they have this amazing idea where they shower us with, you know, appreciation and confetti. And the reality is, like, I don't know, many businesses that go that way. I mean, we look at startup culture, it's all about the pivot. And so I just wanted to give myself the opportunity to do it, right. And I knew, I even told our client, our AB world foods client, when we first pitch them. And when they say I presented this whole new strategy and this approach, and they're like, Okay, give us some examples of it working. And I suppose I don't have any I've never done it before. And then I said, Look, if an agency tells you that they have all the answers, they're lying, they're just lying. Because stuff is moving way too quickly, for people to have definitive answers. And what you should really want is a partner who's committed to getting it right hundred percent. But who's collaborative in nature since that, because we're all going through a lot of these things from the very first time. And so let's just have that as our, you know, as this core belief that we're gonna figure it out. And we'll be really, really collaborative, but I just, I didn't feel the pressure to have it on day one. And I also gave myself six months, and said, if this doesn't work in six months, I don't see a hint that you know, there's a market for this, I'll just shut it down. I didn't, I didn't care. And then the name the Tite group, because I didn't know what precisely it was going to be. And I thought, I can either spend weeks on coming up with the perfect name, or I can spend weeks on building the business. I'm going to build the business and I didn't have a website at first and I didn't like all that was, I don't know, I just find people. They feel like they've got to have all that promotional stuff. Like what are you promoting, if you haven't figured it out yet? So I just focused on building the business. Marc Gutman 18:38And so did you grew up in Toronto? Ron Tite 18:40Well, similar to you, Marc, I'm not from Detroit. But I originally from Montreal, but I grew up in a city about an hour east of Toronto called Oshawa, Ontario, home to the largest General Motors plant in the country, at least it was at one point, it is no longer. So I grew up a mile down the road from the largest General Motors plant in the country. Marc Gutman 19:04And as a young lad, were you outside the General Motors plant? Did you think that that was going to be more your future? Or were you having early signs? Like, hey, like, I might be into this for advertising/branding/marketing thing? Ron Tite 19:18Yeah, no, I had no, I had nothing to do with marketing advertising didn't know it existed as a profession or anything. I was the first one in my family to go to university. So I didn't, I didn't have that internal mentorship at home to go like, hey, these are all the amazing things you could do with a career. And certainly there are amazing sorry, there are amazing things that one can do without a university education and absolutely amazing things. I was maybe just a little bit more curious about the life that existed beyond the Oshawa borders. And so I know I just I was never really that into it. I didn't feel like I fit in there. I didn't have that as an interest in any way, shape or form. I just went to university because I thought I was going to be a teacher. I did a phys ed degree because I wrestled and I knew, you know, some of my mentors were great coaches and phys ed teachers. And then I got in, I was like, oh, there's a whole bunch of other stuff I could do here. And it was what's really weird was when I was 17. I saw or it may have come beforehand, but I saw the movie meatballs, have you seen the movie meatballs? Marc Gutman 20:26Bill Murray, Rudy the rabbit. Yeah. Ron Tite 20:32Right? So I saw that movie. And I went to my mom. And I was like, What is this? What do you mean, people go to camp? And she's like, well, we could not afford for you to do that. And it's like the people that go and they sleep away in a ca- like, what the hell? What is that? So when I turned 17, I realized I could go and get a job at a camp. I'm like, yep, let me do that. I want to check this out. No history of ever going to camp, no idea what took place there. And I went to camp. And I think that was, I think, the biggest change in my life where I was like, Oh, I could actually do different things and experience different things on my own. And that's actually not that difficult to do. You just have to be willing to do it. And so I did a phys ed degree and then started working in the business school at the University, and then started kind of helping marketing out. And it was this interesting period when the internet had just been created, right. And this is I graduated University in 1993, didn't have an email address my last year of university, but had one my first year of work. So I could immerse myself in that, and know that nobody else knew what to do, because it was so new. So that's what I did. Marc Gutman 21:49And when you say you immerse yourself, like, what, what was going on? What were you immersing into,like? Ron Tite 21:56I liken it a lot to like, you know, like, we could never afford for us to ski grow. I didn't ski I didn't know what skiing culture was. And so in university, I never went on ski trips, because I didn't want to be the idiot who you know, kept falling. You know, people would have to wait for me. But when snowboarding came out, I was like, ah, nobody knows snowboarding. So I'm just going to go and snowboard and I'm going to leapfrog everybody. And so I did that same thing with the internet. Nobody knew about internet marketing, it didn't exist. So I got a job, I put my hand up to be the client on the first ever queens Business School website, we developed that I developed it with a web company. Then I went to work for that web company, and started being an account person who also taught myself a little bit of HTML. So I could now code and like in a really basic level, and then I was like, Oh, you're tech-savvy. And I was like, well, that means I'm not geeky. They're like, No, you understand the internet? And I was like, Ah, yeah, okay, I guess I kinda understand the internet. Marc Gutman 23:01And then what happened? And so like, so you understood the Internet, and then and then what was going on? Ron Tite 23:07So I was at this agency at the time, called sharp Blackmore, and we were the web partner for that agency. And I remember like that company, that web company I was with was just kind of going through a little bit of difficulty, and I just volunteered to leave and I was like, I'm just gonna go. And and they're great, lovely people. And the chairman of the agency goes, I hear you're like, you're leaving, like, why? And he's like, would you ever think of working in advertising? I was like, no. And he's like, well, it's not rocket science. It's basically making a list and checking it off. That's what being an account person in advertising is. And the reason that he made the offer to me was because they knew that I was funny. So I hadn't I wasn't quite doing stand up comedy yet at this point. But I had done a couple of things. And they're like, that guy's really funny. So I'm willing to bet that they made the decision completely to bring me aboard. Not just because I knew the internet and could walk into and manage the Intel business. But because I was funny, and that they saw that I could, I would be a good relationship person and that I would fit well, culturally. But I think my sense of humor had more with me getting that job than my tech-savviness. Marc Gutman 24:28Yeah, and I'd noticed and doing a little pre-research for the interview that you interweave stand up with, when you keynote and things like that, and you refer you you say that you do stand up. Like we're I'd like to get into that like how you kind of discovered comedy and how that kind of pairs with your business. But also like before we get into that, like I like where does your sense of humor come from like, like you said, you were funny. So I'm guessing that you know, throughout you know, your middle school, you know, high school years university like yeah, they're like Ron's a funny guy? Well, you're like, Where did that come from? Like that? Was that- was there humor in your house? Or do you trace that back to you? Ron Tite 25:07It's a great question. And I wasn't the class clown. Like, I wasn't that I wasn't the guy who was like, oh, that guy's gonna go- In fact, when I remember going back and my wrestling team got together. And my wrestling coach showed up a guy named Craig Mathew, who's a wonderful human being. And he just looked at me and goes, a comedian, who would have thought? He didn't even I, you know, wasn't, I think they could say I was funny in high school. But I'm not that traditional class clown sense of funny. But where it came from was my, my mom's side of the family was like half Quebecois, and half Italian. And so I would just sat around the dinner table and heard these stories from my uncles, and my cousins and my aunts and my grandparents. And what I think was really great was that, not only when I hear these great animated, very detailed stories, but when somebody new would come to like a family celebration, and somebody would say, Tell him that story. And even though everybody around the table already heard the story, they would tell the story again, for the new person, but they tell it the same way. All the beats were in there, all the accents were in there, all the specific lines of dialogue. So my family knew the art of working a bit long before I did as an official comedian. Because you know, that's what you do with a bit is you come up with an interesting insight, you build the story, you build the performance. And then when it's, you know, to bring the car life back in. Once it's on the assembly line, you duplicate it over and over and over again. And that I think, was like, oh, that like, they tell the best story possible. And then they retell it and retell it and retail. And that I think is a is a great approach for comedy. Marc Gutman 27:08This episode brought to you by Wildstory. Wait, isn't that your company? It is. And without the generous support of Wildstory, this show would not be possible. A brand isn't a logo, or a tagline, or even your product. A brand is a person's gut feeling about a product service or company. It's what people say about you, when you're not in the room. Wildstory helps progressive founders and savvy marketers build purpose-driven brands that connect their business goals with the customers they want to serve. So that both the business and the customer needs are met. This results in crazy, happy, loyal customers that purchase again and again. And this is great for business. And that sounds like something you and your team might want to learn more about. Reach out @ www.wildstory.com. And we'd be happy to tell you more. Now back to our show. Yeah, and so then when did you actually get into to doing comedy, turning being a natural storyteller into to stand up and I've got a real interest in this. I just published an Instagram carousel the other day kind of relaying my experience about this, but like I, I speak as well. And to be honest, like when I get on stage, I'm like, scared and one of the things I did to overcome that, and I used to write comedy and in the movie business, alright, so like, I, you know, I have that background. But I do not like being on camera or having the mic in my hand. And so I worked with a comedian and I delivered a set in New York City about a year ago. And it was like, the most terrifying thing I've ever done. And I could talk for you know, like, so long about why but I mean, it's a lot of it's your truth and you're putting something out there. You're like, Hey, I think this is funny, not just like, Hey, I think this is a good ad, right? Yeah, you know, it's way different to me and I had a panic attack the night before and pulled it together for the show. And I look back finally is like that's one of the biggest growth experiences I've had as an adult like I really, you know, that really meant a lot to me that I was able to do that. So like When did you get into it? And how did that like fit into your career and you know, you're on this advertising, you know, career path, not a stand-up comedian career path? Ron Tite 29:23Yeah, I had always loved it. I'd always loved the craft of stand up and in grade 10 I got up in front of like, 1000 people and did it it's horrible to say this now a Bill Cosby bit called The Dentist and, and I just did like an impersonation of him, but him doing the bit. And when I did that, and the first time I made the laugh, the crowd laugh. That's pretty powerful. A thousand people laughing at something you did on stage with the spotlight on you. How's that? Oh, I'm more like how do I get that feeling again? Because that's pretty cool. So I kind of always just, I was a fan of stand up. And then I was doing stuff at second city from an improv standpoint. And then I was like, ah, but I'm not an improviser. Like I really want to do stand up. I really want to see the method to the madness. So I went to my friend, Steve, I was like, I want to do stand up. How do I how do I do it? He's like, go to Yuk Yuks downtown, you sign up to do a Monday night, open mic, you do five minutes. You just keep going back every week. And then once your five minutes is good enough, they'll invite you to come on a Tuesday night and do seven minutes as an opener, then you get a midler than a headliner, blah, blah, blah, after 10 years, whatever. So I went down and checked, I was like, I'm just gonna go check it out. So I go check it out. And it was a shit show. It was like, This is not fun. These people aren't funny. That guy lost a bat. That guy's drunk, like Forget it. I'm, I'm already better than this. I know, I'm better than this. I'm not doing it. So I went back. I was like, What else can I do? It's like, Well, the only other thing I guess is you can find a producer who's producing a live show, convince them to give you five minutes, even though you've never done it before. And maybe someone will let you on their show. And then I just thought, Well, why don't I just make myself the producer? And I'll just make myself the producer. So my very first time doing stand up comedy of my own material ever. I would did a 45-minute headlining set, because I produced the show. So I just made myself the headliner, and did 45 and brought in some friends to open up and sold it and gave the money away to charity from the dorm sold out the room. And if you can do a 45 minute stand up set if you're a comedian. So after one night, it was like, Oh, you're a comedian. Okay, so then I people are like, can you come do a 20-minute set? And I'm like, whew, for 20 minutes. Yeah, I can cut it down to one minute set. And then I what's great, and I think was probably behind your panic attack, is that there's no excuses. Like, there's literally no excuse, and you could blame the crowd. And you can blame the environment, everything else. But there's a rule in comedy. And that's either they laughed, or they didn't. And if you can't figure out a way to make them laugh, then that's on you. And there's just there's nowhere to run. It's you and a mic. And that's it, figure it out. And I love It's the ultimate accountability. Marc Gutman 32:18Yeah. And it's so cool. I mean, you know, people want that, you know, people want to laugh, like they're in the club to laugh, right? And so if you can't do it, it is on you, for sure. And within that first set, like, how did you come up with 45 minutes material? Where you, did you like, check out a book at a library? How do you stand up to just read your own jokes, and were some of the jokes that were in there, Ron Tite 32:40I wrote it. And because that what's interesting is as a comedian, then you and you can appreciate this as a speaker, right? That it's very rare for you to get up and go, like, I've got 45 minutes of brand new material that I've never done before. Like, it's usually like, I got five new minutes, and then you just, you know, like sourdough bread or just over the year, you end up duplicating and replacing your material. But I just, and there were no, I didn't want to go to open mic night to test it out. So I just tested this out on my own. And I just kept working the materials, not like I sat down on one sitting, I just kept working the material in my head in the shower, I'd stand up, I deliver it to myself in the mirror kind of thing. Like I would just continue to do the material over and over and over and over and over again. And then you just it gets better and it gets better, it gets better. And so what I did was I just kind of thought, let's start from birth. And I started there, you know, as you start to go through the bits, then you end up going well what links the bits? like what's the thread that goes through all this? And so it was really about my life growing up quite poor. And then the name of the show was Captain Crunch flashback. So it was really just about growing up in a hand me down clothes kind of environment in a blue-collar town. And my mom was there and it was, which was amazing that my mom got to see it. Because it really it's kind of a backhanded homage to my mom who was an incredible woman. Marc Gutman 34:05So you produce your own show. So like, let's kind of catch up with what's going on at this time. You've produced your own show, what's going on in your career? Ron Tite 34:13I was in at that point, I was an account guy running the Intel business. And then I decided the next big kind of pivot was that I decided to wreck take my Standard material and write it into play form. So I wrote a one-man play. And the way to do that is you can take the stand up material as its base, but to make it a play, you have to expose the emotional underbelly that has informed the comedy. But why are you looking to make fun of that situation? What's the emotional reason you're looking for laughter or for justification or for acceptance or whatever? And what does that narrative like? And so I wrote this play called the Canadian Baby Bonus and went out and delivered it at the Edmonton Fringe Festival, which is the largest Fringe Festival in North America. Sold out a bunch of shows and, you know, did this play and it was like a completely different experience. And two things happened in that performance that I think that drastically altered my life. The first is that I was performing and there's a moment in the play where it's a call back to something rather poignant earlier in the play. And it is a silence. You know, it's a line you deliver in silence. And so and the line is, be careful. And so I said, So hey, and the room was silent. And all I heard was this woman in the front row go, Ah, and she knew precisely what the next line was going to be before I said it. And that is the most powerful moment I've ever had on stage, where you've got somebody emotionally in the palm of your hand, and you can take them wherever the hell you want to take them. You could I could have followed up with a joke. And she would have laughed her face off, I could have followed up with something emotional, she would have cried out could have followed up with something direct and poignant. She would have been, you know, we should have stopped to think about it. So that was a really powerful moment, and that I appreciated the emotional feeling that I got from that moment from the silence way more than I did the uproarious laughter, it was way more fulfilling. And so began, like, how do I pursue that feeling? The feeling of Yes, setting them up with the laughter, but silencing them with strategic thoughts, or emotional thoughts? How do I do that? The second thing that occurred was that I was caught in the hotel fire on my final night of the performance, and so mad, I mean, there's somebody that hated this job, that torched the hotel. But I ended up getting plucked from the window by a cherry picker on a fire truck The next morning, and I returned the agency and said, my life flashed before my eyes and accounting services didn't make the final cut. And I'm going to move into the creative department. And, and I did what I wanted my, my comedy life on my advertising life to be more closely aligned. Because I just thought that was, instead of chasing these two things, that maybe actually chase one thing that had complementary skill sets. And so I immediately joined the creative department as a junior copywriter. And I said I would take a pay cut to do it. And to their credit, they told me that I should screw off and never take a pay cut. And then I just, you know, became senior writer, you know, associate creative director, creative director, Executive Creative Director, and then left and started my own thing. Marc Gutman 37:37Yeah, I mean, I'm so fascinated that you had, what, to me sounds like, some real momentum going behind your comedy, behind the play. Why not continue down that path? Why come back to advertising, even in the copywriting realm? Ron Tite 37:56I think that we have to be greedy with our chasing emotions, and opposed to chasing ego. Because I'll be honest with you, like when I, when I started dialing up my comedy in the move to speaking was like, nobody wants to listen to a comedian who knows about business. No, no one, no one believes that guy, because comedians don't know about business. But everybody wants to listen to a funny business guy. So that was the ultimate pivot was to the point that I went to my- the speaker's bureau and said, Never refer to me as a comedian again, because I lose credibility by going and I don't want to be a comedian. I'm a business guy who just happens to be funny. But they'll buy that. And they'll pay more for that than they will for the, you know, the after-dinner entertainment. I didn't want to do that anymore. But the biggest difficulty was the ego difficulty, because man, you know how cool it is to be at a party and somebody say, what do you do? And you say, I'm a comedian. Like, you're suddenly the coolest guy in the room. Marc Gutman 39:01Yeah I've done it once and I've been riding it ever since. Ron Tite 39:06But you have to be honest with yourself. It's like, but what, but in the moment, do you really, really love it? And I loved aspects of it. But I just saw that I was more interested in pursuing a speaking life that used comedy, The said about more important messages. And I thought, I'm gonna be more fulfilled with that, you know, and I've had opportunities where it's like, hey, do you want to host this TV show? It's like, it's a Reno Show. I'm like, now I'm not doing that. It's not I'm just at that point in my career where I know what I need to do to continually get better at the thing that I'm already good at. And these outside things that I maybe would have pursued in my 20s and 30s. Like, I just don't, I don't really do those anymore. I try and live within a tighter circle, if that makes sense. But I think it just comes down to what do you really want to do and I didn't really Want to, here's what I didn't want to do, I didn't want to be a waiter, waiting on tables during the day waiting for my comedy career to take off. Because I had seen people who were brilliantly funny, but who just lacked some other skills, that that and so they never made it. And they're still, you know, kind of doing the same seven minutes. And I don't want to be that person. Now, that's not to say I don't respect that person, I completely respect the person who says, There's only one thing I ever want to do. And I will wait tables all day all night, if that allows me to pursue it. I totally respect that person. I just don't want to be that person. Marc Gutman 40:43Thanks for sharing that. And then so was it really that easy? When you made the jump to copywriting? Was it just like, Hey, I'm going to join the creative department and start writing copy. And away I go, it was it? Was it a little bumpy? Ron Tite 40:56It was it was bumpy. In that I, the writing part, like, you know, my creative director at the time was a guy named Tony Miller. And I still say Tony kind of taught me how to write for advertising. And so the writing part was, was okay. The conceptual development was fine. Obviously, it got better with partners and you know, experience and stuff. But it was about but it was more, the more difficult part was leaving the role, the other aspects of my account roll behind. And so like, you'd walk into a meeting, and I and I, what I should have been doing was like, constantly just taking up ideas like in the meeting, like what do I have an idea for that? Do I have an idea for that, and just keep going and writing lines and everything in the moment, what I was doing initially was like, Oh, I'm getting all the details of the meeting down, because that's what account people did, right. And I had a lot of difficulty shutting my brain off from doing those things that I had done. But what really, really helped was that I knew how to, I could own a room, from my stand up experience. And from my experiences in account person, I can immediately make the client feel at ease. I wasn't coming in as some cool, edgy comedian, who they had to buy into those, you know, I was always a good client-facing creative. And so those skills aren't taught enough to young creatives, and they help you go a long way, they help you sell your thinking. Marc Gutman 42:27Yeah. And so what don't we know about the advertising business? Like what's what's hard about it? Or what's, you know, for those of us on the outside, like, you know, just like, what, what don't we know? Ron Tite 42:38Well, it surely is being redefined and redeveloped from a bunch of different angles, from, you know, basic core marketing, what, what, what's working in the minds of consumers and what isn't working, the integration of data is changing the game, the integration of development and technology, obviously, and how it's applied to consumer behavior is changing things. The players are all changing. I mean, now that, you know, the fourth, I think, largest agency in the world is Accenture. So you know, the Deloitte and Accentures and E wise, and PwC, are all playing in their big holding companies being redefined. Small boutiques are chasing really Nishi areas. So all of that stuff, the business of how an ad gets made, is completely changing. And the dollars around who gets paid to do what is completely changing. So that's all to me really exciting, because we have a chance to redefine it. And then, you know, when you look at man, during a pandemic, like how does that change? It's fundamentally changing everything because people's viewing habits are changing. And their, their consumption of advertising is changing. So there's just a lot of potential to make it what it could be. And it's not there yet. The promise as a guy who used to write a whole bunch of TV commercials, and the promise of digital marketing was about targeting that finally people could you know, see the ad what for what they want, when they want it and how they want to deliver it and all of that stuff. That was the promise. Where are we it's a shit show the whole thing. If people have taken digital and made it about scale, not about targeting, and customization. So now we're just pitched slapped from every possible angle. I can't go into LinkedIn without eight LinkedIn messages pitching me people service asked me to book a time on my calendar for the next day. I get emails pitch laughing as consumers get, they go to a website, they look at a pair of shoes and the pair of shoes follows them around for the next month. I mean, it's just constant pitch lapping from every angle, and we just have to be better than this. We just have to be better. And while data is important, and infrastructure is important and efficiencies are important. We can't lose the soul of this. And that's my biggest complaint is that there are a lot of players within the advertising marketing ecosystem, who have no soul. And those people need to go away. Marc Gutman 45:17And so how do we change this behavior? Because I agree, like, you know, my, my LinkedIn is overrun with, you know, people that don't even like, don't even know who I am, or research who I am. And so they're, they're, they're pitching me stuff that's not even relevant, you know, to talk about, like, not targeting or not being clear. You know, I click on one, one ad for soap, and I'm getting that for the rest of my life. And, you know, I couldn't agree more like I'm, like, fatigued with, with what's hitting me. And there was this promise that I was going to get the ads that I explicitly wanted and deserved, and, and none of that's happening. And so, and I think that we've become beholden to this idea of metrics and impressions and getting it out there and eyeballs. And so like, how do we start to change the script on this thing? And how do we start to redefine what digital is as we move forward? Because I agree, it's completely broken? Ron Tite 46:18Yeah, I think there's, you know, back to our car example, I think there's a, if you look at the car business, there's two parts that manufacturing process, and that one is the assembly line. And on the assembly line, everybody knows specifically what their job is you they've worked at all the inefficiencies, you know, you had you do this spot well, you hand it off to the next person, they do their thing. And when you do that, and it's repeatable behavior, well, then you end up with the same product with the same margin, the same cost and everything at the end of the day. So you guarantee quality, you guarantee a margin. And that's a good thing. And that's where you should make your money is on the assembly line. So there is an aspect of advertising that needs to be assembly-line driven. If you know specifically that this offer with this photo with this headline is what's driving, you know, an acceptable amount of performance, then you need to put that on the assembly line and make it as efficient as possible. But the problem with that is saying, oh, we'll make so much more money on the print than we do on the original, which is true. But if you don't have an amazing original, the prints gonna suck. And so you need to have original thinking. So if that's the assembly line, you need the concept car, you need people who are working on things that have never been done before, that have no benchmarks for performance. Because if all you do is assembly line behave, you're going to lift your head up one day and realize you're out of business, we need to constantly be pushing new things, new thinking, new approaches, and see what that does and see what we can learn. And in the concept car example, it's like, oh, you know, the car is never gonna go into production. But this gas cap works really well, I'm going to move that in onto the assembly line. So I innovate in a really responsible way. So you can do that. And that's, I think, a responsible way to do it, you need to make an amazing original before you start making the print. And I think brands have forgot that, that they're only doing the assembly line work. And they're trying to cheat the system. By going, you know, we found out that a headline with the word click in it performs 76% better, so we're just going to have a bunch of headlines with click in it, and you've completely lost your soul. And by the way, you're using the same benchmarks that everybody else is using. And so it's a law of diminishing returns, you're never gonna, you know, outperform the first person that thought of it. You're just now just a carbon copy of everybody. That's the same carbon copy of everybody else's. So it is that balance between concept car and assembly line. Marc Gutman 48:59I love the car analogy. It's great. It's something that I think everyone can really understand and puts it into perspective. So with the sort of the negative out of the way, what do you love about advertising? Ron Tite 49:09I love that, that this is a business that's been around for a long time. And we're talking about completely redefining it in not so subtle ways in from every possible angle. Absolutely love it. I also love that there's a lot of stuff out there and people just that again, they don't care. They don't care who pays for it where it comes from good shit's good shit. And if it's a six-minute video or a 25-minute video or a three-hour movie, they don't care whether Lego paid for that, or what you know, whether ESPN paid for it, or who good stuff is good stuff. Now when it's not good stuff, and it sucks. Then we look to justify why and often we go like oh it was too pitchy was, it was because of was a brand that did it. No, because there's a lot of television programs that don't have brands behind that suck too. So I just think it's amazing that we can, that we can put things in front of people that inspire and inform them to do things. Marc Gutman 50:17So what are you most looking for forward to next? Ron Tite 50:20Um, a vaccine, would be nice. Marc Gutman 50:25We're all looking forward to it. Ron Tite 50:27Yeah, I'm in lockdown in a home with a baby that was born two days into the pandemic and a two and a half year old. So when you've done that vaccine, If you could send that over, that'd be great. Thanks so much. But I really, you know, we've got some amazing clients and I, the job I'm most excited about is the one I'm working on tomorrow. And, you know, like, whatever the one I'm working on tomorrow, like, we're just, we're like, right now we're working on stuff for scouts, for example. I mean, and that, that has so many interesting angles to it. How do you talk to kids about getting outside again? How do you know, help an organization who has been putting kids forward and developing kids for so many years? How do you help kids reconnect with the great outdoors? How do you help parents who are concerned with their you know, what their kids are learning and socializing? Like all that stuff? I'm really excited about that. But tomorrow, there'll be a different client with a different ask, and I'll be excited about that. That's a lame answer is that's a lame answer. Marc Gutman 51:28We can always give you a chance to restate it. But I liked it. I thought it was. So Ron, like if you could run into that 20-year-old self of yours, that young, that young guy just kind of out there, in his first job in the advertising biz, and he ran into you today? What do you think he'd say? Ron Tite 51:48He'd say, you know, I, my, my friend shared a photo of us at I think at 23 years old. The other day, there were three of us in the photo, and she texted it out. And I said, we're so young, we had our whole future ahead of us. And I wish I knew then how amazing it would be. And so I think my in both, like professionally, I'd never saw being this fulfilled. But also like, I you know, I was, I didn't get married till I was, you know, 40, 43, 42 and so I became a dad like, I'm 50 and I just, you know, my wife and I just had a baby. I didn't expect that to happen. even like as late as 40, Im like this isn't gonna happen. So I don't know. I guess the advice that 20 year old like, just keep at it and don't follow the script, right? Because I've I haven't followed the script on how to get into comedy how to get into advertising or how to be a dad, this isn't the script I'd recommend but write your own script. It's all good. It's all gonna be alright. Marc Gutman 52:57And that is Ron tight. I love the idea of approaching life as an unscripted script. Keep moving, keep reinventing, keep evolving. And a big thank you to Ron and his team for waging the war against pitch slapping. I think the whole world is pulling for you. I know I am. Thank you again to Ron Tite and Church and State for stopping by. And before I go, if you know of a guest who should appear on our show, please drop me a line at podcast@wildstory.com because our best guests like Ron, come from referrals from past guests and our listeners. well, That's the show. Until next time, make sure to visit our website www.wildstory.com where you can subscribe to the show in iTunes, Stitcher or via RSS so you'll never miss an episode. I love big backstories and I cannot lie. You other storytellers can't deny.