Call To Action

This week, we opened spoof copywriting dojo Cobra K-AI to sweep the leg of the scammer-scammer, Dave Harland. Copywriter and messabouter with massive fingers. Dave helps businesses and brands speak to people with more personality, via the medium of the alphabet. His favourite part of it all is “getting paid to be silly”. Tune in for an exclusive on his brand-new copywriting agency. Plus we chat about betting on illegal hedgehog duels, a size 5 Mitre Delta casey, what he’s been up to the last 1400 days, going all in on the funny stuff, positioning himself against our diligent robot overlords, confusing scammers, Uncle Tony’s underpants, where the most memorable ideas come from, Professor Henry Gremlin and tons more.  ///// Listen to his first Call To Action foray in 2019.  Follow Dave (and the tales of Uncle T) on LinkedIn and Twitter. Here’s his website.  Sign up to The Word for tips, stories, silliness, and updates on his new agency. He’ll be at  The Marketing Meetup Liverpool and CopyCon.  And once he

Following eyewitness reports of stolen genius, we hurtled down the highway to catch ad land’s own Bonnie and Clyde; it’s Rosie and Faris Yakob.  Together they form Genius Steals, a nomadic creative consultancy helping brands, agencies, and rebels find the awesome at the intersection of new communication ideas, new product concepts, and new ways of thinking.  They give us the low down on life on the run road, how Rosie earned $10,000 babysitting, ‘Ask Faris’, US vs UK education system, the lack of industry practitioners as professors, engineering moments of in-betweenness, K-shaped recovery, Blair Enns, charging for what you know (not what you do), entertainment as the cost of admission to someone’s brain, the key to creative effectiveness, and a whole lot more.  ///// Here’s Genius Steals  Follow Rosie on Instagram  And follow Faris on Twitter (yes, he’s still on there) For our chinwag with Blair Enns, hear here  Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen) by Baz Luhrmann  Timestamps (01:44) - Quick fire quest

We had to drag Giles away from Chick King to catch Spurs royalty and exceptionally talented business brain Chris Paouros this week.  Broadcasting from the bench to the boardroom, Chris spends her time solving hugely complex, often highly emotive problems that are rooted in everything from corporations to communities.  She talks to us on her first job in a video shop, making covered buttons, what working in retail teaches you, social justice, Eric Cantona and meaningless distinction, building businesses, running a political campaign, being a pain in the arse with compassion, Pride in Football, why belonging at work is so important, and a whole lot more. So go have your ears bent now (in a good way). ///// Follow Chris on Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram  Hear her sing a little song on Guardian Women’s Football Weekly  And check out her website  Timestamps (02:19) - Quick fire questions (03:53) - First job in a video shop and what a grounding in retail can teach you  (12:31) - Doing the original “Mickey Mo

This week we’re leading the frontline charge against agencies not advertising themselves by catching and conscribing long-serving ad man, David Moore.  A creative director and copywriter living in the land of beef and corn, he’s written ads for dog wormers, mainframe computer channel extenders, and $1000 dollar steaks. He even named the tallest, fastest roller coaster in the world.  Lauded on LinkedIn for sharing ads for advertising agencies, David is dead set on reminding us all that agencies have an obligation to advertise themselves, yet inexplicably few do.  Lend us your ears for a caffeine-fuelled chinwag on writing 500 TV commercials in 3 years, why agencies won’t advertise themselves, winning and losing a client in 24 hours, how to retain creative talent when your clients aren't big sexy brands, cover songs, why you shouldn’t be afraid to lean on precedent, and a shed load more. Plus, Giles somehow manages to crowbar in Richard Cheese. ///// Follow David on Twitter and LinkedIn  Here’s Kingswood

Wi-re-du doo doo push pineapple shake the tree as we catch the messaging expert helping brands sing with a hula melody. This week, it’s Diane Wiredu (doo doo*).  Founder of Lion Words, Diane is laser focused on customer research and brand strategy. She’s a top writer getting SaaS and B2B companies to simplify their message, attract more perfect-fit customers and get better results from their marketing. She roars to us on her favourite Dave, her penchant for hotel lift music (and people with pointy ears), the legendary Jacqueline Wilson, stacking shelves, her love for languages, a pandemic pivot to copywriting, fighting the ‘fluff’ in B2B and SaaS, approaching and justifying research, putting buyer personas in the bin, the “so what?” test, over preparing, and a treasure trove more.  *Good luck getting that one out of your head.  ///// Follow Diane on LinkedIn  And check out Lion Words  Timestamps (01:54) - Quick fire questions (05:35) - First ever job (07:22) - Studying languages and her pandemic pivot

This week, we said pspspsps to tempt and catch the c̶a̶t̶ man behind US Ad Agency of the Year, Mischief, Greg Hahn. Dubbed a “legend who deserved to be a legend” by George Tannenbaum, Greg has produced creative work that works for decades, winning pretty much every award in the ad land arsenal in the process. But, more importantly than that, he’s one of our most important industry voices, talking the talk as Mischief walks the walk.  He talks to us on his first job knocking on stranger's doors, why he sacked off journalism, cutting his teeth in print and out-of-home, how to deal with the pressure to perform, saying no to work, bringing the joy back to ad land, why his agency Mischief meows, finding the most interesting problem, the story behind Tubi’s Super Bowl hijack, 80s hair metal, and more. ///// Follow Greg on LinkedIn Check out his agency Mischief Here’s why Mischief meows And make sure to watch that Tubi Interface Interruption Super Bowl ad Timestamps (01:45) - Quick fire questions (02:43) -

When life gives you Lemon, make lemonade. So, this week, we catch and squeeze a glass full of tasty topics from creative super brain, Orlando Wood. Chief Innovation Officer at System 1 group and author of Lemon and Look Out, Orlando is dead set on delving deep into the links between advertising, psychology, and the creative arts. He talks to us on interviewing unsuspecting passengers on the Eurostar, advertising as a barometer to society, art history, how a dazzling artform became a dreary science, left and right brain hemispheres, whether advertising is changing for better or worse, legends like Gossage, Bernbach, and Bullmore, humour, his favourite painting, what he thinks of ‘content’, and more. ///// Follow Orlando on LinkedIn Get your mitts on his books Lemon and Look Out And, if you’re an IPA member you can get a wedge off by buying directly from them (Lemon and Look Out) This month we’re supporting the award-winning School of Communication Arts to make the very best creative education availab

This week, we tracked a trail from Tilehurst to Tinseltown to catch one of Reading’s finest exports, Matt Watkinson, where he was, and remains, in LA. An internationally renowned author, speaker to a whole host of brands, and consultant on all things CX, product and business, Matt’s latest tome, Mastering Uncertainty, explores and advises how to turn this inherent source of anxiety into an advantage. 3 years and almost 100 episodes since his first Call To Action chinwag, Matt talks through a ton of topics; his new book, the fertile void of COVID, piling rice one grain at a time, Rafael Nadal, serendipity, luck surface area, fear of failure, affordable loss, asking yourself ‘what’s my downside?’, Hungarian expletives, and a treasure trove more.  ///// Follow Matt on LinkedIn Here’s his website (“idiotic” side projects included) Check out his three books: Mastering Uncertainty, The Grid, and The Ten Principles Behind Great Customer Experiences And go gorge on our first Call To Action chinwag with Matt he

This week, we opened wide and said 'aaaah-nd welcome back' as we once again caught Better Brand Health author, Jenni Romaniuk. Research Professor and Associate Director at that conveyer belt of marketing minds, the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, Jenni has advised many of the world’s biggest brands and authored what’s now a trilogy of true industry bibles. 3 years and 1 new book better, we snared Jenni for a second Call To Action chinwag on penning Better Brand Health, pomegranate trees, marketer’s frustrations around brand tracking, shiny new metrics, brand rejection, attributes, memory, charming condiments, healthy cars, a rant on Net Promoter Score, $3 hot dogs, a salacious soft p*rn novel, and a quick fire question she answered with a third alternative which was to gouge her eyes out with a spoon... ///// If you haven’t already, you’d be a fool not to fill your ear canals up with Jenni’s first cameo on Call To Action, here. Find Jenni on LinkedIn Get your grubby mitts on a copy of Better Brand Health

This week, we thought Phuket and sailed the Thai seas to catch marketer and problem solver, Lisl MacDonald. With over 30 years of experience in the business, Lisl cut her teeth in London with BT, Virgin, and Ogilvy, before her sense of adventure and curiosity took her to Asia to set up her own consultancy. Obsessed with interrogating ideas, she is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and chairs judging panels for the prestigious MSS Star Awards. Lisl talks to us on her unusual upbringing on a tiny Scottish island, her ‘white coat and condom’ phase, learning whilst doing at BT, moving to Asia, what kept her in Thailand, finding her job being advertised in The Sunday Times, being the only backpacker with Estee Lauder sun cream, realising that you are not the cultural baseline, her experience as a woman in the industry, ego, complacency, solving oddly shaped problems, and tons more. We also wade through a shedload of overwhelmingly good listener questions we had in (including one from Call To Action alumn

The Lannisters send their regards this week as we catch Game of Thrones and After Life actor, Tim Plester, for a right royal chinwag.  All-round stellar chap (off-screen anyway), Tim is best known for selling drugs to Ricky Gervais in Netflix’s After Life and slitting Cat Stark’s throat in Game of Thrones. But alongside his film and TV exploits, Tim has made documentaries capturing the weird-and-enduring folk customs of our Sceptred Isle, won the National Student Playwright of the Year Award and featured in over 70 adverts. Yes, that’s right, he was once one of the 118-118 runners.    Tim doesn’t sell Giles any drugs, but does talk to us on stealing comic books, Nativity plays, having an interesting face, ads bleeding into culture, Nobby’s (and Rowan’s) nuts, writing versus acting, getting the role in After Life, dipping his toe into ad land, his Morris dancing journey, why the Red Wedding stunk, and tons more.  ///// Here's Tim’s website Follow him on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram Check out Way of

This week Glover’s in the air(waves), everywhere I look around, as we catch Joe from The Marketing Meetup for a positively lovely chinwag.   The kind of guy who gives marketing a good name, Joe Glover is the smile behind a growing community of marketers that’s currently 25,000 strong. At weekly events, his community hears from Oscar nominees, disabled rights champions, and marketing heroes such as Ritson, Rory, and many of the world’s best-known marketers. Lend us your ears as we talk Cantona, self-worth, salary, “inventing” the marketing funnel, how growth enables impact, why he never gives advice, shooting for the States when he should’ve shot for the moon, building a brand with love and kindness at its core, how he built the most welcoming community in marketing, and so much more. ///// Follow Joe on Twitter and LinkedIn Check out The Marketing Meetup Join their online or in person events And get your grubby mitts on their newsletter  Here’s Joe’s choice cut of TMM Talks to treat yourself to:

This week, we took one giant leap to catch aspiring astronaut turned account manager, Faizan Ali.   Currently Account Director at VMLY&R, Faizan is a loud and proud advocate for account managers worldwide. Having cut his teeth at Saatchi, JWT, and Hogarth Worldwide, he shares stellar advice on LinkedIn on how to calm storms, massage egos and help sell the work.  Tune in for an out-of-this-world chinwag on all things account management; why it’s both extremely hard and very simple, the qualities of a good client partner, what to do when s**t hits the fan, why agencies need to realise what added value it brings, the best way to deal with client briefs, the wording of the job title itself, having a point of view, timesheets, job specs, ego and tons more.    ///// Follow Faizan on Twitter. And on LinkedIn for a choice cut of stellar account management advice.  Here’s a few to whet the appetite:  3 QUESTIONS IN 3 MINUTES As Account Managers, we wear many hats Listening is an Art GOOD ACCOUNT MANAGER vs GR

This week, we used a puff of smoke to catch pricing magician Blair Enns performing his favourite trick; making RFPs disappear.   Founder of Win Without Pitching and Author of The Win Without Pitching Manifesto and Pricing Creativity, Blair is dead set on getting creative businesses to price their work properly, single-handedly saving those who sell ideas for a living from giving them away for nada.  We pulled a ton of topics out of a hat including his early years in account management and new business, pitching and RFPs, generalist vs specialist agencies, value-based pricing, why your agency should have a portfolio of pricing models, pricing creatively, how to raise your prices with current clients (and not p**s them off in the process), search consultants, hissing cockroaches and loads more.    ///// Follow Blair on Twitter and LinkedIn  Check out Blair’s website  Get his books Pricing Creativity and The Win Without Pitching Manifesto Here’s the 2Bobs podcast  And listen to Blair’s new show 20% The Mark

This week, we put pedal to the metal and found a new top gear, a Walter Geer III.    Sport-bike racer, track and field All-American, and seriously impressive fella, Walter is Chief Experience Design Officer at VMLY&R HEALTH, bridging tech, storytelling, design, and user experience to create innovative design solutions to health.  Walter hits top speed talking on a ton of tantalising topics like the lies he told people in awful suits, his early rich media roles at The New York Times and Myspace, why the best creatives are inquisitive, ethics around wearables, why chatbots are s***, being the second penguin in the water, why more brands need to understand that screwing up is OK, a tirade on timesheets and more.    ///// Follow Walter on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram  Call To Action alumni Derek Walker was kind enough to link us up with Walter to record this episode. Go give his episode some kudos.  Thank you to everyone who has lent their ears and their brains for over 100 episodes of the Call To Ac

This week, we twiddled our Poirot-Esque moustache and put our egg-shaped heads together to track down and catch ad industry titan, Sara Tate, for a chinwag.   Sara is former CEO of TBWA London and, alongside Anna Vogt, penned The Rebuilders, a guide to building resilience and turning obstacles into opportunities. She talks to us on TV detectives, working in a teabag factory, being a nosy ninny, struggling early on in her strategy career, courier-related mini-mega cringes, writing about setbacks and resilience, the commonalities between our personal and professional lives, dealing with your mental inbox, moving into a leadership position, and tons more for your little grey cells to devour.  ///// Follow Sara on Twitter and LinkedIn  Pop a copy of The Rebuilders in your basket  And pour the pod version into your ears, pronto   Thank you to everyone who has lent their ears and their brains for over 100 episodes of the Call To Action® podcast. It’s a real privilege. Please share and review the podcast to he

This week, we’re up all night to get Lucky General, Andy Nairn.   One of the world’s most respected brand strategists, Andy is a founder of one of the UK’s most successful agencies, Lucky Generals, and author of Go Luck Yourself. Boasting a client roster including Amazon, Virgin Atlantic and Yorkshire Tea, they’ve been shortlisted for Campaign’s Agency of the Year five years in a row.  Andy chats to us on manipulating the UK music charts, chopping thistles and weeding wild oats, working for David Abbott, giving out really bad legal advice, the early days of Lucky Generals, the rainbow laces campaign, defining, acknowledging and creating your own luck, why he hates big tables, and loads more. Feeling lucky? Click play.  ///// Follow Andy on Twitter and LinkedIn  Here’s Lucky Generals  Stack the odds in your brand’s favour with his book Go Luck Yourself  Or wait for the soon-to-be-released deck of cards version by emailing luckycards@luckygenerals.com Support Commercial Break  Listen Up by Andy Nairn on IS

We laid traps of tactics before strategy to lure Mark Ritson (and Ritdad) as he was reintroduced to mainland UK to unleash his Tasmanian devilish take on the industry, for Call to Action’s 100th episode.   He’s spent 25 years working as a marketing professor, has been a columnist at Marketing Week for over a decade, is a world-class speaker and has built, presented, and demolished marketing plans for some of the world’s biggest brands. Through his Mini MBA courses in Marketing and Brand Management, Mark has trained nearly 30,000 marketing marsupials across 60 countries, including 83.7% ish of …Gasp!     Mark chirps on being the rarest breed of marketing professor who loves (and actually does) marketing, getting aroused at Wacker Drive, being lured to la Maison LVMH, how the Mini MBA became his AirPods, what to do with woolly briefs, planning cycles, Pot Noodle’s purpose, pricing, and more, before piling on praise for the grumpy Byron Sharp in our feast of listener questions. So get your ears out and listen i

Ahead of our 100th episode next week, one of the most outspoken and brilliant voices in ad land, Steve Harrison, dropped by …Gasp! HQ and tore up our usual script for a special bonus episode of Call to Action.   Copywriter, author, and great friend of the agency, Steve stuck the boot very much on the other foot and snared Giles to shoot the breeze on all things …Gasp!, with an extra dose of eloquent fire for good measure. It is Steve after all.  We chat on why we’re called …Gasp!, art director heroes, being a bunch of creatives who excel a strategy (and vice versa), turning down pitches and firing rude clients, turning 13, abusive voicemails from Sophie, the confidence crisis amongst agencies, our work for Langleys and Zen Internet, setting fire to the Leo Burnett offices, getting sued, selling the agency and tons more.  Tune in next Friday for our 100th episode with an extra special guest. It’s going to be mega. Ritson Mark my words.  ///// Follow Steve and Giles on Twitter  See what happened when …Gasp

Let’s get ready to rumble! Grab your ringside seat for the second episode in our battle royale-style heavyweight series; They Might Be Right. It’s the boisterous brother of Call To Action that breaks up bundles in the pithy playground of Twitter.   Named in honour of Bill Bernbach’s famed jacket pocket card, we invite our challengers into the octagon of debate for a verbal slugfest, whilst being mindful and welcoming to the opinions of others.   This week’s motion is ‘Client-side or agency-side; a proper marketer could do both?’   And our challengers are:   Lee Grunnell. The top marketing director whose tweet sparked all this off, Lee is obsessed with applying the latest thinking from marketing leaders like Binet, Field, and Sharp to professional services. Gillian Rightford. Creativity champion and industry agony aunt, Gillian is Founder of Adtherapy, a management, skills development, and communication consultancy.   Tom Lewis. A Commercial Performance Improvement advisor to businesses, Tom, is ex-adland a