Finally, and at long last, George Tannenbaum answers the question on everyone's mind: Is GeorgeCo LLC really a Delaware company? He talks about much more than that, of course. Henry Gomez and I delight in the return of our friend. He's our holiday present to all of you. Consider this our joint thank you for your support over the last year. And the previous three years as well. George joins us on Episode #199. Reminder: For a 90-minute live webinar on writing the single-minded proposition contact...
Dec 25, 2024•1 hr 22 min
Our guest, Alex Morris , is a freelance strategy consultant who authored a study Creatives on Strategy: Looking Outside Ourselves to Define What Strategy Offers. It is a survey of creatives' thoughts about strategy. And it's the topic of our discussion today. Alex is a strategist of high regard, as evidenced by the comments from his colleagues. “Alex Morris is every creative’s dream strategist," noted Heather McTavish, ECD of Virtue. "All in. No bullshit. Smart as all get out. Kinder than anyone...
Dec 18, 2024•1 hr 15 min
Ed Tsue , Global CSO at Media Futures Group, a respected and admired strategist in our industry, tells us that the Creative Brief is Dead . Today on The Brief Bros., he defends and expands on his position, first posited in his Medium newsletter a year ago. And thanks to last week's guest Ed Cotton , who reposted Ed Tsue's musings on his blog, Provoke, we found it. And then decided to bring Ed Tsue on to talk about it. It's a lively but never heated discussion, with more than a little push-back f...
Dec 11, 2024•1 hr 20 min
When he launched his Substack blog Provoke six months ago, strategist Ed Cotton had a clear goal. He decided to post excerpts from and links to his favorite LinkedIn articles. But he didn't stop there. When a topic struck his fancy, he looked beyond LinkedIn and created a curio box of goodies. Most are strategy related. But his interests reflect the curiosity of a good strategist. Attention, demographics, insights, AI, writing. And then there's the Arctic and food. He even posted on spies and sp...
Dec 04, 2024•1 hr 6 min
It's a too-familiar story. Derek Walker, copywriter and agency founder, came to advertising via journalism. When he graduated, he couldn't find work in ad agencies. Instead, he cut his teeth in corporate America. Radio Shack, for one, where as in-house ACD, he worked on the Howie & Teri television spots. As he tells it, his grounding on the client side helped him immeasurably. And gave him a career boost when he eventually got hired by agencies. Including stints at Cramer-Krasselt in Milwauk...
Nov 27, 2024•1 hr 2 min
Part 2 with Christopher Owens , head of brand strategy at TRG , formerly The Richards Group. Today, Christopher continues to share his passion for strategy. He talks at length about the dangers of short-term thinking on building brands. Then he addresses the turn away information-driven creative back to creativity and story-telling to make emotional connections. He also tells us about his leadership style, and much more. Christopher's impact on our industry is broad and deep. He has been the Mia...
Nov 19, 2024•54 min•Ep. 194
Our guest this week is the man who put us in touch with the author of the famous Kiwi shoe polish creative brief. Christopher Owens , head of brand strategy at TRG , formerly The Richards Group, hired Sarah Walker-Hall. He reached out to us years ago and asked if we wanted to meet this strategist. And that led to a two-part interview on The Brief Bros. Today, Christopher joins us for a two-part interview of his own. He talks about his origins, from his early interests in jazz and architecture to...
Nov 13, 2024•50 min
The second part of our conversation with TBWA Worldwide's Rob Schwartz . Today, guest-host David Moore and I talk with Rob about the heroes among strategists. The story behind the full-page ad for TBWA\Chiat\Day NY's move. What's the way forward for our industry? Is advertising creatively rewarding? And more. Reminder: For a 90-minute live webinar and customized corporate training in writing inspiring creative briefs, contact Howard Ibach at creativebriefworkshops.com for availability....
Nov 06, 2024•34 min
Creative Director. Executive Creative Director. Chief Creative Officer. CEO. Chair. And now Certified Coach. All the aforementioned at TBWA\Worldwide. First in Los Angeles , then in New York . Rob Schwartz has worn many hats in his illustrious career. He was even my boss at Team One Advertising in the late 90s before he moved on to TBWA\Chiat\Day. And today, he is our guest for Part 1 of a two-part conversation. We covered many topics: Rob's career path—did you know he was almost a lawyer? We ta...
Oct 30, 2024•40 min
Part memoir, part textbook for all creative entrepreneurs, Nick Cohen 's Honest! A True Story of a Ridiculous Attempt to Make Advertising More Truthful is a must read. It's fun, funny, and an improbable tale of 15 years of creative genius and ground-breaking work. And it's the unforgettable story about the founding of a brilliant shop, Mad Dogs & Englishmen , almost twenty years after its demise. Henry Gomez and I delight in reminiscing with Nick about his experiences, the lessons he learned...
Oct 23, 2024•54 min
What do you get when you combine erudition, deep research, and a copywriter's dexterous poise with a sentence? You get The Road to Hell: How Purpose Leads to a Worse World. Our guest on The Brief Bros. this week, Nick Asbury , tackles a timely and provocative subject, purpose. And Henry Gomez and I take a stroll down this road with Nick and we dissect the strange and often disconcerting purpose behind purpose. Here's a key line from his book, "Purpose is a deadening force that conscripts creativ...
Oct 16, 2024•55 min
Join us for Part 2 of our first-ever all-creative panel discussion. We continue our talk about our industry, the state of creativity, and the role of AI. Co-host David Moore , who sits in for the traveling Henry Gomez , and I join seven of our friends and colleagues: Gene Payne in Chicago, Nic York-Bogen in LA, Monique Thomas in Minneapolis, Sara Rosinsky in Colorado, Lisa Lorraine in Lincoln, NE, Michael Rushing in LA and Derek Walker in South Carolina. They are writers, art directors and creat...
Oct 09, 2024•58 min
In a first for the Brief Bros., we've assembled a panel of seven advertising creatives to talk about our industry, the state of creativity, and the role of AI. The discussion was so lively and robust, we talked for more than two hours. Today's episode is Part 1. Part 2 airs next Wednesday. Joining me and my friend and reliable substitute co-host David Moore , who sits in for the traveling Henry Gomez, we're proud to introduce our viewers to: Gene Payne in Chicago, Nic York-Bogen in LA, Monique T...
Oct 02, 2024•1 hr 9 min
A good strategist can walk a mile in the shoes of the customer. And a good novelist must do the same, except in the shoes of many characters. Henry Gomez and I are excited to introduce you to a practitioner of both skills—strategy and novel writing. His name is Tim Maleeny and he is the chief strategist and innovation officer at Havas in New York City. Tim has won awards in both his fields, advertising and mystery writing. Hanging the Devil , a Cape Weather Mystery series, is out now. He's worke...
Sep 25, 2024•59 min
He's the first to appear on The Brief Bros. three times. And we're delighted and privileged to have him back. Cameron Day joins Henry Gomez and me today to talk about his new book, Stones & Sticks . It's the third book in his trilogy The Advertising Survival Guide : Stage Three: The Highest Altitudes of Your Career. Listen to a professional describe what it takes to join the highest ranks in our industry. Cam joined us twice before, each time to discuss the first two books: Chew With Your Mi...
Sep 18, 2024•56 min
Creative briefs are a vital element in advertising, but so are brand manifestos. Our guest today is Lonnie Elliot t, creative lead at Meta, and the founder of Manifestowriting.com. Lonnie shares with Henry Gomez and me examples of great manifestos, some of which you may recognize. And he talks about his plans to expand his growing collection of manifestos. You might call him the head librarian of this excellent collection. It's well worth your time to review and study. And watch this episode. Re...
Sep 11, 2024•1 hr 6 min
Four months ago, Carmichael Lynch in Minneapolis created the postion of Chief Operating Officer. They created it with one person in mind, our guest today on The Brief Bros.: Stacy Janicki . A legacy advertising agency needs a great leader, and CL found it in Stacy. Join Henry Gomez and me as we chat with this dynamic and laid-back personality. CL's mantra is "Come Together. Stand Apart." Stacy reveals how this philosophy works. First she gives us a tour of the brands and award-winning work from ...
Sep 04, 2024•1 hr 2 min
Luckett Vanguard oozes all the qualities you want in a strategic planner: curiosity, gregariousness, passion, the team player. FCB in Chicago hired him a year ago from the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Comm. Kudos to our friend Mark Jenson for the rec! And already he's made his mark. Henry Gomez and I quizzed him on the unusual path he took first to Hubbard, then to his first job at FCB. Luckett had a few years of life experience under his belt and he tells us how this played to his adva...
Aug 28, 2024•58 min
She was a founding partner at Mad Dogs & Englishmen in New York (thank you Dave Dye for your encyclopedic memory!). And today, she runs her own strategy consulting firm, Open Mind Strategy . Henry Gomez and I are thrilled to welcome Robin Hafitz to a sit-down chat on The Brief Bros. Robin was one of the first five American practitioners of account planning, what we now call strategy. And she has some stories to share about those early days. But this is more than a trip down memory lane. Robi...
Aug 21, 2024•1 hr 2 min
Henry Gomez and I welcome Mack Saunders , the director of brand experience for The Annex , a boutique hotel in Toronto. Mack's background and perspective on branding came to my attention when I met him at The Annex on a recent trip to Ontario. Fans of The Brief Bros. will be intrigued by the challenges he has faced in his role. And the intrepid manner in which he overcame these challenges. He also shared with us news about the imminent opening of their newest properety, The Annex Palm Springs. R...
Aug 14, 2024•46 min
Lance Saunders , strategic consultant and an adjunct professor at York University in Toronto, returns to The Brief Bros. to talk about the inaugural essay he contributed to my blog titled, "Beyond The Brief." It's all in celebration of the recent addition of more than 50 briefs to the Creative Brief Archive , a repository of finished briefs available free to anyone who signs up. The Archive now has about 80 creative briefs, written by both professional brief writers and student brief writers. It...
Aug 07, 2024•1 hr 13 min
Our guest this week is Vasanth Seshadri . He is the founder and creative director of The Sunnyside , a virtual ad agency in Singapore. Vasanth's story will resonate with creatives everywhere. The route he took from newbie copywriter to the founding of his own shop covers a journey of thousands of miles and tenures with many legacy agencies. Including Wunderman, BBDO/NY, Edelman and JWT. The experiences and the advice he shares are priceless and fascinating. For small group and corporate training...
Jul 31, 2024•58 min
Say "AI" to anyone in our industry, and it will likely cause a wince, a pucker, even a laugh. And probably a few other reactions. Say it to our guest, Ross Patrick , Creative Lead and Director of Advertising at Academy of Art University in San Francisco, and you'll be in for a passionate discourse on the technology's many benefits. That's why Henry Gomez and I wanted him on The Brief Bros. Not only have he and his students embraced the tool, they are doing fascinating and exciting things with it...
Jul 24, 2024•53 min
Henry Gomez and I welcome Tim Nudd , a journalist who covers creativity for AdAge . Tim was the host and narrator of a popular podcast called Tagline , sponsored by Muse by Clio. It was a feast of backstories and wonderful anecdotes about some of the most iconic ad campaigns produced by our industry. Henry and I talk at length with Tim about his role at Tagline, how he got it started, and what it took to put the episodes together. Tim pulls the curtain back for us and it's a fun peek inside. For...
Jul 17, 2024•1 hr 10 min
Jon Steel 's book, Truth, Lies & Advertising is the bible for strategy, creative briefs and what makes great creative campaigns. Now in its 26th year, it remains fresh and relevant, even if the advertising referenced in it are from the 20th Century. His thinking proves that new and shiny pales against fundamentals and fundamental truths. Henry Gomez and I are proud and delighted that Jon chose to be with us this week. We delved deep into his thinking about this book. And we asked him about h...
Jul 10, 2024•1 hr 5 min
One of them did a trumpet solo and she doesn't play trumpet. The other did six minutes of stand-up comedy and she isn't a comedian. No, they weren't auditioning for Britain's Got Talent. In a return to our New and Emerging Talent series, Henry Gomez and I talk to two current ad students at London's famed School of Communication Arts —the most awarded ad school in the world. Led by our friend Marc Lewis , this fertile training ground nurtures and mentors the next gen of ad professionals. Today we...
Jul 03, 2024•46 min
In a first for Henry Gomez and me, The Brief Bros. hosts three...ghosts. You'll hear them, but you won't see them. That's because they prefer to let their creative work speak for itself on behalf of their clients. And that's their story. Which we are transparently delighted to share with you. For small group and corporate training in writing inspiring creative briefs, contact Howard Ibach at creativebriefworkshops.com for availability....
Jun 26, 2024•54 min
Henry Gomez and I bring you two young advertising talents who started The Loudest Roar last year, which they call the "Cannes Lion Fantasy League." It's an online communmity for young professionals to predict the winners at Cannes , and it's growing in popularity worldwide. We're delighted to welcome Chirag Khushalani and Samita Balakrishnan , two strategists both of whom are from India. Chirag lives and works in Dubai, while Samita is in India. She grew up in an indigenous community, the Badaga...
Jun 18, 2024•57 min
Meet the host of Stuff About Advertising Ashley Rutstein . She's a freelance copywriter, social media verteran, and the star of her own TikTok page where she talks about, well, Stuff About Advertising . And Henry Gomez and I had a fun and enlightening conversation with her. So many brands want to be on TikTok, but did you know the space is wide open for creatives to show off their wares and talents? Ashley presents one of her videos and shares with us how she found her way to TikTok. Surprisingl...
Jun 12, 2024•53 min
This week Henry Gomez and I introduce you to the founder of DAIVID , Ian Forrester . Ian is the brains behind an AI tool that measures the effectiveness of ad creative by pinpointing which of 39 emotions a piece of creative evokes. Yeah, we know—another bogus way to test creative, right? Don't be so quick to judge. Ian demonstrates for us why this tool is different. And, intriguingly, why it can help you review and revise your brief based on its results. When creatives complain about testing tha...
Jun 05, 2024•46 min
