Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast Grow Op

Dunc Urquhart has billed themself as "the ultimate diversity hire," and for good reason. They have a Metis and Caribbean background, was raised in a Muslim and Christian household, studied English Lit (w/ a minor in cultural studies) and started a Masters of Divinity at UofT before graduating from Seneca's ad program.

Dunc is an outsider wherever they go and that has made them a master at talking and relating to different kinds of people, all while keeping an open mind and chameleon-like adaptability. Find out how they have turned these skills to their advantage as they moves through the advertising industry in our third episode of the series, Outsiders Get In.

You can learn more about Dunc and how they seamlessly switch between codes and cultures here. You can also listen to Dunc's own podcast, Cast Without Trace, where they covers another passion of theirs: Dungeons and Dragons as both a game and as a collaborative storytelling method.

On the second episode of our Outsiders Get In series, hear how Rica Cabanog has thrived by routinely pushing herself outside her comfort zone. Prior to joining Per Se Brand Experience as a Creative Intern, she spent 15 years client side marketing at Nestle.

And since moving to Canada from the Philippines, she has thrown herself into Canadian way of life by polishing up her camping skills and making friends from all over the world.

Rica's adaptability, adventurous spirit, and resilient attitude are what makes her thrive as an outsider in the advertising industry.

Rafik Belmesk is CSO at Dentsu and early in his career, he lived and worked abroad in Singapore at Ogilvy. Get his perspective on what makes strategic planning in Canada different and what a Canadian style of strategic planning may have to offer the industry.

Andy Macaulay has been associated with some of Canada’s most successful agencies including Rethink, Zig, CPB Canada and more recently, The Garden. And some of that success, I believe, must at least in part be due to culture. You can’t do good work without good people. So today we’re talking about culture and how you build one post, or arguably even still during a global pandemic.

No matter how junior or seasoned you are as a strategist, it seems we all suffer from imposter syndrome. So perhaps it’s no surprise that when I suggested it as a topic, I didn’t get just one person raise their hand to talk about it, I got four. Being cast as the smartest person in the room can be a lot to live up to apparently.

So this week, we’re catching up with Sarah Thompson, Julien Coulter, Fanny Chabot and Helen Androlia on imposter syndrome.

Just as a good dynamic between strategist and creative can be a predictor of stand out work, so too can a strong relationship between strategist and researcher.  So this week, we sat down with Shane Skillen, CEO at Hotspex, who shared his Top 5 tips on how to be a great planner.

If you’ve ever watched speakers on the TedTalk stage, you know they often are the best storytellers. But they don’t always start out that way.

Andrea Sampson, CEO and Executive Speaker Coach, has worked with some of the most highly accomplished scientists, entrepreneurs, and dreamers in the world. She helps them find and tell the why in what they do.

On this week’s episode, Andrea shares her top 5 tips on how to tell the story of me.

The temptation to go out on your own is a feeling that many of us have had at some point or another. But having the bravery to do it can be hard.

In this week’s episode of Grow Op, we spoke to Ute Preusse, co-founder of Will, who shared her top 5 tips for starting your own agency.

There are few agencies that have been as successful as Rethink and while Rethink’s creative reputation is well known, a massive part of their secret sauce actually lies in their client management. It’s not hard to have great ideas but selling them in is entirely another thing.

In this episode, we spoke to Caleb Goodman, Rethink’s National Managing Partner and COO, about how to be a better client whisperer.

Empathy, compassion, and vulnerability. These are increasingly sought after skills in leaders. And contrary to being seen as a weakness or sign of submission, these qualities are recognized as powerful demonstrations of confidence, courage, and authenticity.

In this week’s episode of GrowOp, we sat down with Lisa Kimmel, Global Managing Director, Chair & CEO of Canada & Latin America and Global Women's Equality Network Chair at Edelman to share her top 5 tips on being a more inspiring leader.

Freelance has been an enticing proposition for many, for years. And for some, COVID seemed to turn its appeal into overdrive. The opportunity for remote work and the strong need for on-demand talent have been at least two key reasons for its growth amongst not only industry veterans as has been the norm within strategy, but amongst more junior to mid-weight talent as well.

In this week’s episode of GrowOp, we sat down with Trent Fulton, Chief Collaboration Officer at Yes&, a business which connects clients and agencies in need of project based strategic planning with the most experienced battle tested freelance talent in the country, to find out whether freelance is the future of strategy.

For years we’ve been lamenting the death of the traditional agency model. Yet for all our complaining, there are few agencies that have actually tried to do something different. Then along came Oliver. Oliver is the world's first and only company to exclusively design, build, and run bespoke in-house agencies and marketing ecosystems for brands. It has an enviable client list including Unilever, Google, Adidas, and many more. In 2021, they were named Adweek's fastest growing large agency for the second consecutive year. With 183% growth, their success is pretty hard to argue with.

What’s really interesting about Oliver isn’t that they’ve just disrupted the agency model but that they are continuing to reinvent themselves. Whereas most agencies have barely changed in 50 years, their model is still evolving. Find out what Dave thinks is next for the industry, why clients and employees can’t get enough of the model, and where Oliver will go next.

Sometimes having great ideas is not the hardest part. It’s selling them in. And while it’s easy for agencies to blame clients for not buying brave work,  don’t agencies have a responsibility in making the work buyable? Lori Davison, CMO at the Royal Ontario Museum, was one of the key architects behind Sick Kids Vs, one of Canada’s most awarded campaigns. And prior to Sick Kids, Lori spent the majority of her career agency side. We couldn’t think of anyone better to provide a perspective on how to sell brave work to conservative clients.

Back in 2017, Erin Brittain, Group Strategy Director at Publicis, moved to London for some adventure. While there, she deepened her brand planning expertise and after a couple years abroad, she came back to Canada. On this week's episode, of GrowOp, we get her take on how strategic planning in Canada is different from the rest of the world and what a Canadian style of strategic planning can offer the industry.

Advertising is not an easy profession: long hours and weekend work are all too common. No wonder so many of us get completely burnt out. But the narrative is changing. Many of us are no longer willing to accept these conditions but part of that needs to start with ourselves. Cat Wiles, CSO at Cossette, has achieved the upper echelons of our industry but not without learning how to prioritize her own mental wellness along the way. Get her top 5 tips for how to stay sane in advertising.

Some teams like Jay Chaney and Carlos Moreno of Broken Heart Love Affair,  seem to have a partnership that allows them to hit it out of the park time and time again. So what’s their secret? How do they do it?  Find out from the best what makes for a great strategy and creative partnership work and what doesn't.

You can connect with Jay Chaney on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jay-chaney-44924241/

You can connect with Carlos Moreno on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlos-moreno-4835977/

When research is done well, it really has a life of its own. Listen to the inaugural episode of our new podcast show, Grow Op, where we give strategic thinkers and creative tinkerers opportunities to grow. In this episode, Daniel Berkal of The Palmerston Group shares his Top 5 Tips on Creating Research that Doesn't Suck.

We've almost completed our APG Canada at 10 series. In episode #9, Richard Fofana, EVP Strategy at UM shares his reflections on how strategic planning in Canada has changed over the last 10 years and what might be in store for the next.

Katee was born and raised in Hamilton but early in her career she moved to London. After more than 10 years in the UK with a focus on purpose, social impact and sustainability strategy, she returned to Toronto and is now Senior Director, Client Strategy at Public. Get Katee's perspective on how strategic planning in Canada is different from the rest of the world and what a Canadian style of planning might have to offer the industry.

"What makes strategic planning in Canada different from the rest of the world and what might a Canadian style of strategic planning have to offer the industry."

Could the answer be empathy?

Have a listen to Daniel Cameron, VP Strategy at Cossette, and get his perspective on why he thinks Canadian strategists are particularly well armed for the craft.

This week, we are taking a short break from our APG Canada at 10 series with the launch of the first episode of our Canada VS series, a continuation of the event we hosted last month at Publicis.

Have a listen to our conversation with Tim Hopkins, National Strategy Lead at The & Partnership. Tim came to Canada some 6 years ago from London. In this episode, he reflects on what makes strategic planning in Canada different from the rest of the world and what a Canadian style of strategic planning might have to offer the industry.

This week, we're shifting our gaze (and ears!) to the West coast to hear what Jack Dayan, Partner and Head of Strategy at Full Punch, has to say about the last 10 years of strategic planning in Canada and what might be in store for the next 10.

Umar Ghumman is the Chief Experience Officer at WT. Get his perspective on how strategy in Canada has changed over the last 10 years and what might be in store for the next.

If anyone might have a perspective on how strategic planning has changed in the last 10 years and what might be in store for the next, then surely two of the best headhunters in Canada surely would. This week, have a listen to what Ni Kalman, Founder, and Cheryl Munroe, VP Client Service & Recruitment, at AIP Connect have to say on the topic.

Mark Tomblin arrived in Canada from the UK one cold, snowy evening back in 2010. Since then, he has chaired the APG and headed up strategy departments at TAXI and Juniper Park\TBWA. Get his perspective on how strategic planning has changed in Canada over the last 10 years and what might be in store for the next.

Seneca's students come from many different countries and many different walks of life. They bring an outsider's perspective to advertising...and the industry benefits from it. Over the next few weeks, we will be exploring how the outsider status of Seneca's CAB students and recent grads, have made them better at advertising, now that they're on the inside. 

Kyrie Jamir's arrival into world was heralded by AC/DC's Thunderstruck so she is definitely ain't no wall flower. Kyrie moved to Canada from the Philippines and before studying at Seneca, she was a stylist, makeup artist, photographer, model, modeling mentor, and event planner. She even launched her own business in fashion.

These experiences have allowed her to appreciate many different points of view. She has a kaleidoscope of perspectives that makes her well equipped for the ad world.

Eight years ago, Shari Walczak and Shane Ogilvie started the Garden, at a time when few agencies were founded by a strategy creative pairing. Over the last 10 years, they’ve seen a lot change, especially in strategic planning, and they’ve changed right along with it. Find out what they think about how planning has evolved in Canada over the last 10 years and what might be in store for the next.

To consider how the digital landscape has changed in the last 10 years and then try and predict what might be coming in the next 10 years is undeniably wild, so we thought we’d go there. So this week, find out what Priyanaka Goswami, EVP, Head of Experience + Connections, has to say about how strategic planning has changed in Canada over the last 10 years and what might be in store for the next.

Next up: Elana Gorbatyuk, Global CSO and Partner, at Sid Lee. Find out what Elana has to say about what’s changed in planning in Canada over the last 10 years and what might be in store for the next.

This week on the show and actually for the next 10 weeks, we will be celebrating 10 years of the APG. With APG Canada at 10, we will be releasing 10 new episodes to explore how strategy in Canada has changed over the last 10 years and what might be in store for the next. In the series, we will be talking to strategists, creatives, HR, and management to gather their diverse perspectives. In this episode, hear from Sub Nijjar, CSO, Daniel Shearer, President, Ontario and West and Melissa Gordon, SVP, Global Talent Acquisition Lead, Plus Company.

Fake it till you make it has been the winning formula for many a strategist. To do that well you need to be comfortable being uncomfortable. Amanda Jones (AJ), CSO at McCann has lived in the UK, Romania and now Canada so it seems she’s gotten pretty used to being not being used to being where she is. Listen in to find out how she uses this to work in her favour.

A few months ago we interviewed Justine Feron, a Canadian strategist who gave us the ins and outs of working as a planner in the US. Today, we're going a bit further afield. Have you ever wondered what it's like to work as a strategist in the UK? Find out from Michael Kates, Senior Strategist at Brave London, who moved to Old Blighty a year ago.

Many of us have gotten or had to give tough love over the course of our career but few of us have managed to turn it into our own business venture. Today we’re talking to Lindsay Waugh, James Fisher and Julie Sheldon of the newly formed strategy collective, Tough Love on How Tough Love Fuels Agile Strategy. Enjoy!

Acceptance of psychedelics is growing which can importantly have positive impacts on our industry so this week we’ve decided to revisit one of our top episodes from last year’s GrowOp Summer School, How to Leverage a Psychedelic Experience with Emily Squirrell, VP Head of Strategy at Gene.

If you haven’t ever been on a Zoom call with Jon Crowley, I highly recommend it. It’s literally like being transported to a sneaker shop and the kicks on display, so I’m told, are only a small glimpse into Jon’s entire collection. I find fringe and not so fringe (given sneakers are a $73BN global market) cultures fascinating so this week we’re revisiting one of our top episodes from last year’s GrowOp Summer School, How to be a Sneakerhead with Jon Crowley.

Coca-Cola. Nike. Apple these are all brands that have massive cultural equity and resonance with consumers. But what is their secret? How do they do it? Do yourself a favour and take a listen to Chuck Welch, Founder and CSO at Rupture Studio on How to Build Culturally Iconic Brands - one of our top episodes from last year’s GrowOp Summer School.

For the last few weeks we have been talking to industry thought leaders on how strategic planning in Canada has changed over the last 10 years and what might be in store for the next.

In our final episode in this series, we are talking to Emily MacLaurin-King,VP GAD and Josh Hansen, VP Strategy at McCann and Rebeca Stutley, SVP Storytelling and Communications at Kids Help Phone, a mental health support platform for Canadian youth.

Get their perspective on how strategic planning has played an integral part in their combined success and partnership and see their work in action. 

Feel Out Loud - Hidden Feelings

Kids Help Phone is a space where young people can feel safe and secure to free themselves from all the feelings they hold inside. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uv0KSwhgCKc

 

Feel Out Loud - Fine

This creative pulls back the curtain and reveals how young people are really feeling when they say that they’re “fine.” 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0mphDDrMfo

KHP Identity Redesign - Help in all Sizes

The help KHP provides comes in all sizes. And now, so does their new brand identity. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxtnRaYETO8

While we like to think of ourselves as individuals, rarely influenced by the actions of others, the truth is many of our actions are swayed by the group. No one knows this better than award winning UK strategist and Herdmeister, Mark Earls. This week we’ve decided to revisit one of our top episodes from last year’s GrowOp Summer School so take a listen to Mark’s top tips on how to leverage the herd.

Lots of strategists dream of working in bigger markets and often times that means spending some time in New York or further afield in London. It’s definitely a worthwhile experience: bigger budgets, bigger teams, etc. So this week, we are fortunate enough to get some tips on getting your foot in the US market and what it’s really like to work there from strategist extraordinaire, Justine Feron, Head of Brand Strategy at Grey. Check out one of our top episodes from last year’s GrowOp Summer School.

While it was only 6 weeks ago that we had a well deserved winter break, I’m sure at this point, it feels like a distant memory. So this week we’ve decided to revisit an important episode from last year’s GrowOp Summer School. Take a listen to Chantaie Allick’s top tips on how to overcome burnout.

Canada is set to bring in 1.5M immigrants by 2025. And already, about one in four Canadians have come here  as an immigrant. This is promising news for our industry as we continue to work towards greater diversity and inclusion including increased understanding of the culturally diverse consumers we seek to connect with. That said, breaking into the Canadian ad scene from another country is not always easy. So this week, we’re re-running one of our top episodes from last year’s GrowOp Summer School so you can get some tips on how to do just that. Whether you’re trying to get your foot in the door or one of those making the hiring decisions there are some terrific tips here from Fahim Khan. Take a listen.

To wrap up our deep dive into storytelling, this week, we’ve decided to re-run one of our top episodes from last year’s GrowOp Summer School. Polish your skills in mastering this art form by listening to our interview with author of Mystery: A Seduction, a Strategy, a Solution with Jonah Lehrer.

Last week, we explored the importance of storytelling. This week, we thought we’d continue this theme but from the perspective of yet another masterful storyteller. If you haven’t yet had a chance to listen to one of our top episodes from last year’s GrowOp Summer School, then take the time today to get a masterclass from legendary planner and author, Paul Feldwick.

If you’re anything like me, you spent a good chunk of your winter holiday binging on Netflix shows. We are blessed with a constant onslaught of truly immersive and downright addictive storytelling and since we work in a media that most would much rather avoid, being really good at telling stories (even just to sell your strategy into a client) is a vital skill. 

So this week, listen and then re-listen to one of our top episodes from last year’s GrowOp Summer School. Mike Monello is the Co-founder and Creative Director at Campfire, an agency which creates groundbreaking participatory stories and experiences for TV shows such as The Walking Dead to Game of Thrones to Ted Lasso to Westworld to Handmaid’s Tale.

Doesn’t everyone want to be thought of as interesting? Afterall, it is interesting that often sparks our best ideas and so for many strategists chasing what’s interesting is a much loved pastime. So take some time to listen to one of our top episodes from last year’s GrowOp Summer School and find out from John Griffiths, one of the world’s most interesting planners, how to add more zest to your life.

It’s the start of a new year so it feels like we should be talking about how to make luck happen. Luckily enough, we have the perfect person to tell us just how to do that. Take a listen to one of our top episodes from last year’s GrowOp Summer School and find out how to make 2023 work in your favour.

Just in time for the holidays, this week we’re re-running one of our top episodes from GrowOp Summer School: How to Slow Down with Carl Honore.

Helen Keller once said, “Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.”

Matt Foulk’s 9-5 is CSO of Jolly Good but when he’s not working, he can be most often found on his bike (or one of several).

Matt is the Founder of Ghost Gravel (an adventure cycling company that creates and supports extraordinary adventures 'off the beaten track') and unsurprisingly a huge supporter of adventure.

Matt believes adventure is important not just for health and happiness but also for excelling as a strategist. To find out why and how you can inject your life with more adventure, take a listen.

This week, we’re re-running one of our top episodes from GrowOp Summer School. Find out from one of the best in the industry how thrive at an independent agency.

This week, we’re re-running one of our top episodes from GrowOp Summer School. Find out from one of the best in the industry how to venture out on your own.