Shiny New Object

“I didn’t see how Google was going to make any money” this quote comes from the brutally honest Andy Oakes - Managing Director of Blue Stripe - this week on the Shiny New Object podcast. Andy has been one of the most influential figures in British marketing in the last fifteen years; starting with New Media Age magazine and then growing The Drum in London from one person to fifty. He now runs the strategic communication agency - Blue Stripe. Andy’s passion is working with disruptive tech businesses who need help making themselves more famous. He always asks his clients “what makes you good?” not “what makes you different?” Andy’s shiny new object is Tech Spin. He gives us an outsider’s perspective on how the industry gets caught up in new headline grabbing tech. His advice is to brands is to try out the new marketing tech for themselves. Don’t outsource your innovation. Andy is smart, funny and as honest as they come. And has built his businesses ethos around trust and integrity and isn’t ashamed to admit his

“If you think you’re a marketer that has all the answers - you have a problem” this quote is from a double header episode of the #ShinyNewObject podcast between Charlotte Mceleny - Publisher, APAC at The Drum and Simon Kemp CEO and Founder at Kepios. The purpose of the discussion was to work out the main difference between marketing between the east and the west. Apparently it’s not as simple as picking a cool bit of tech in Asia and porting it over to the west. A lot of digital business in the East have developed due to the physicality of the countries themselves. One example is the Grab App in Singapore which is a mix of Uber and Apple Pay - “it’s an OS for city” says Mceleny. We also cover cultural anomalies such as Singles Day which Simon tells us is a “Valentines Day for the Self.” It’s not so hard to imagine that one coming to the west. Charlotte tells us that “UK has a strong creative aesthetic” and that the East doesn’t see the West’s marketing as old school. So there’s hope as well as inspiration to

“No matter how you understand your content, your users will tell you how well you don’t understand it” this quote is from Andy Hunt, Manager, Digital Innovation Lab at the Hershey Company - this week on the #ShinyNewObject podcast. Andy is making innovation happen at Hershey with his own hands - telling us that “I build things.” His advice to those getting into the innovation game is that we should learn to make things ourselves - “all the tools are out there.” But it’s not all nuts and bolts for Andy. He is adamant that the role of the innovation person is to make technology “relatable”. Talking about innovation is not enough. His view is that “PowerPoint decks don’t do it - we are in a show and tell environment.” Andy’s shiny new object is ‘AI for Internal Comms’ and Hershey have explored this through voice and chatbots. These projects have taught him not to assume how his audience thinks. He tells us that “you can’t schedule enough user testing periods.” Andy’s innovation mission at Hershey’s is create a “

“The best marketing books aren’t about marketing - they just have some marketing stuff in them.” This quote comes from Dan Calladine Head of Media Futures at Carat this week on the Shiny New Object Podcast. This insight is typical of Dan who has a knack of telling us something obvious that we hadn’t realised. In the course of an hour we find out that “older people are the most valuable marketing audience” and that “you can read any marketing book in four hours.” But it’s not all high-level stuff. As well as being one of the most influential innovation people in town he’s also influential in food. His @londonpopups profiles on instagram and twitter are sizeable audiences. What makes Dan so intriguing is his interest in the nuances of the social platforms but also the mastery of the macro. Dan’s shiny new object is ‘programmatic’ which he manages to beautifully describes without using any TLAs (three letter acronyms). There’s a lot to learn in this podcast from this articulate and engaging thinker and doer that

“We need to get pissed before we open up, this is terrible for creativity” this quote comes from Marc Lewis, Dean at the School of Communication Arts - this week on the Shiny New Object podcast. Marc is a maverick and true creative innovator who admits that “our school is often described as a cult”. In this interview Marc reveals the tools and techniques he uses to train the next generation of ad creatives. He tells us that “poetry, improv and mindfulness releases people” and reveals his excel spreadsheet technique for creating better ideas. His shiny new object is “hacking flow”. Marc’s definition of flow “is where accelerated learning takes place” and that “the expectation of an education designer should be to get students in ‘flow’ most of the time.” There is also a weird, special guest appearance that gives this episode an improvised and unusual twist - but I’ll let you work this out for yourself. Thanks Marc, the industry owes you big time.

“You could say I’m the father of AR marketing” this (tongue in cheek) quote comes from Jerry Daykin Head of Digital Media Partnerships at Diageo. Jerry works at a brand, he talks about innovation AND gets innovation projects live - how often does that happen? He did the first Shazamable ad in the UK and the ran first brand campaign on Blippar. And he’s not just a new platform junkie, his marketing knowledge is wide and deep. If you follow #digitalsense you will find a global marketing conversation that centres around him. Jerry’s shiny new object is Augmented Reality because “if AR becomes the OS of the future - Facebook becomes obsolete.” This is punchy stuff from a man who knows his onions. And he doesn’t stop there as he tells us “there’s a battle going on to be the AR operating system.” It was a rare treat to get Jerry’s undivided attention for an hour and there’s a lot to learn in this interview especially why he gets asked if he “feels feel morally responsible for the state of social.” #TV #twitter #dat

“I don’t want to work with an influencer that’s fourteen years old” this quote comes from Lauren Spearman Digital Manager at Benefit Cosmetics this week on the Shiny New Object podcast. Lauren hates the use of the word “authentic” when talking about influencers and rolls her eyes at the industry that lazily relies on it. Lauren is a micro-influencer in her own right and prepared for the podcast by running a poll about influencers with her own instagram followers. Lauren warns us about working with influencers who ditch their credibility for dollars by becoming “an advert machine”. I’m sceptical about the creative possibilities of influencer marketing and grill Lauren on how whether it should be the brand or the agency who should find the talent. We get into the future of this discipline and discuss the role of AI influencers. We also get into Yin Yoga, emotional intelligence training and her experience of career coaching. Lauren is an inspirational character who is brutally open and honest about her weaknesse

“95% of marketers are afraid of tech and don’t know how to use it properly” this quote comes from Julie Woods-Moss the ex CMO and Innovation Officer at TATA Communications. In 2017 Julie was named the 17th most influential CMO globally by Forbes. She tells us that “agility and speed are the holy grail of marketing” and that “being quick is better than being perfect.” In this candid interview Julie talks about how she was fired by her agency how that feels and why that was a good thing. We get into detail on networking and how it “is joyful if it is in the service of others.” Julie researches all the speakers she is interested in before she goes to conference and introduces herself. She calls this “putting in the hard miles” of conferencing. Her shiny new object is “The Stackies..” Which is an award ceremony focussed on brand’s tech stacks. Honestly. WTF. Well I’m not sure I totally get it but in essence Julie talks about how brands can bring storytelling to their tech stack to help explain it to the C-Suite.

“Creatives see brands as the modern day Medicis” this quote is from Maya Bogle Co-Founder of Talenthouse this week on the Shiny New Object podcast. Maya has spent the last eight years or so building Talenthouse into a global platform of crowdsourced creativity. But it hasn’t been easy - “I’ve made more mistakes than you can possibly imagine” but her “belief, passion and hardwork” are what have made this a hugely successful business. We hear how Talenthouse was started as a tech-only business until they realised that the ad game is still fundamentally a human one. It was fascinating to me to hear the view that “tech is not defensible - someone will always be able to do it better than you.” Maya’s shiny new object is Creativity at Scale and how the industry needs a solution that delivers on the fact that “advertising is still all about the work, you just need a lot more of it.” She reveals how they are experimenting with AI to sift through their communities creative to work out which ads are most likely to deli

“Technology hasn’t overtaken storytelling” this quote comes from Adam Boita Head of Marketing at Pernod Ricard UK - this week on the Shiny New Object podcast. Adam’s interview notes read like an inspirational instagram posts: “Invest in yourself, always be restless” / “You can only focus on three big goals at any one time” / “I’m a marketer that blends culture and technology.” But it’s far from being all talk. Adam realised at 15 that he wanted to get into advertising and spent his summer holidays as a teen interning at big London ad agencies. Adam’s Shiny New Object is the ‘Digification of TV’. His view is that music, radio, out-of-home and print have been drastically disrupted by digital but TV has mostly resisted. We go into detail about Sky’s new tech that allows TV ads to be aimed at specific individuals based on their viewing habits and to measure impressions and not use TVR. Adam is a true brand innovator who embraces new technology but in the end he reminds us that “everything starts with the consumer

“People who take lunch enjoy their weekend more.” This quote comes from Bruce Daisley VP EMEA at Twitter this week on the Shiny New Object podcast. Outside of his Twitter gig Bruce is the host of the #1 Business podcast - Eat, Sleep, Work, Repeat. The podcast is an investigation into happiness in the workplace. And with stats like “The average person has 16 hours of meetings per week” and “meetings have 0% effect on creativity” - then the ad industry needs to listen up. Bruce is also a self confessed “laughter enthusiast” and is fixated about it’s positive impact in the workplace. He tells us that there have been 50,000 papers written about anxiety but only about 17 about laughter. Stress kills creativity and laughter kills stress - is the message. Bruce’s shiny new object is ‘Work Tech’ which is the technology behind tracking the movement, mood and creative health in the workplace. If you want to be part of one of our industry’s true leaders journey to reinvent modern work - then this podcast is a great firs

‘Be clear about what you are good at, and stick up for yourself’ this quote comes from Lawrence Weber Managing Partner at Karmarama this week on the Shiny New Object podcast. Lawrence is one of the most successful innovation people in town. He was a key player in the development of Unilever’s Foundry - one of the most successful and celebrated brand-led startup programs anywhere. He did this by fighting the ‘Tech Tourism’ of agencies and has done the right thing by giving adtech startups the time, money and attention of brands - not just parading them to make his agency look cool. His shiny new object is ‘Voice’ technology such as Amazon Echo and Google Home. He tells us that there’s “a magic in it – that is quite accessible”. He concedes that Voice doesn’t have a place for every brand in the same way years ago that people on social “didn’t want a relationship with their toothpaste”. Lawrence is a lovely chap and it was a huge privilege to pick his brain for an hour.

“Being irritating is a good way of bringing about more interesting conversations” this quote is from Tom Goodwin EVP Head of Innovation at Zenith on this week’s Shiny New Object podcast. Tom goes into detail about his role and how he encourages brands to “explore the change that matters not the change that doesn’t.” This is a frank interview that covers some spectacular multi-million pound f*ck ups in Tom’s career. He’s brutally honest about how these failures have taught him to “trust your gut.” His Shiny New Object is ‘mobile’ which he feels has more potential than the newer marketing technologies. His passion for a proper use of mobile stems from the fact that most brands overlook the power of a great mobile user experience. His mission is to stop his clients getting seduced by the new new and getting them to focus on what’s really helpful to their audience. Tom is an incredibly interesting chap – I feel chuffed to have found out more about how this hugely influential and entertaining figure in our industr

“To predict the future you need to go twice as far back as you want to go forward” - this quote is from Tracey Follows the Founder of Futuremade on this week’s Shiny New Object podcast. This interview is a whistle-stop tour of Tracey’s approach to ‘futuring’ and how brands should “execute on foresight not insight.” Because by the time you’ve acted on an insight - it’s probably too late to be useful. She teaches her clients that the most dangerous things aren’t the things they don’t know - but misunderstanding the things they do know. And that we should teach our children how to carry out their life’s mission by “putting Futures on the national curriculum in the same way History is.” You may disagree with Tracey but she declares “It’s not important what you think of me, it’s what I think of you”.

"Music is the love of my life" - this quote comes from Emily Scoggins the departing Head of Marketing at The O2 on this week's episode of the Shiny New Object podcast. Emily tells us that one year she went to see 203 gigs. So it's no surprise her Shiny New Object is AI that makes music. She argues that drum machines didn't replace drummers so AI won't replace the creative industry. We'll see about that ;-) Emily is passionate that we shouldn't use 'wake words' on electronic assistants like 'Alexa' or 'Hey Google' and how that sleep solves almost every problem. Emily is one of my favourite people in marketing (or anywhere else). So it was a privilege to pick her brain for an hour. And you lucky things can hear the whole lot!

“You’re much more capable than you think you are” this quote comes from Craig Hepburn on this week’s Shiny New Object Podcast. Craig has had a staggering career spanning publishing, Godfather fandom, website design and notably huge global marketing roles at Nokia, Microsoft and recently TATA Communications. Craig’s ‘Shiny New Object’ is Personal Data and he talks about how we should own our own. He challenges us to consider that your own personal data is your IP. Despite his Scottish Crossfit superhero exterior Craig’s a sensitive soul that reminds us that “we must remember as marketers we are talking to humans - emotional beings.” It was a pleasure to interview such an experienced and influential figure in our industry - even if we might have had one too many warm up drinks in the bar beforehand. But he’s Scottish and I’m Northumbrian so it was to be expected

"Good people know good people" this quote is from Nicole Yershon / Founder NY Collective & LabForHire&Co on this week's Shiny New Object Podcast. Nicole is without doubt the most experienced innovation person in this town or any other. Her monster stint at Ogilvy defined what the 'Innovation' role was at an agency and what it could achieve. Since moving on from ad land she's set up four businesses, written an Amazon #1 best seller. Despite this success she's hell bent on learning all she can about new tech that intrigues her. I stopped taking notes during this podcast because I got so caught up in what was at times an emotional discussion. Nicole genuinely makes our industry a better place for brands, their agencies and the young people who want to be part of its future.

"If you reward the wrong behaviour, you get the wrong behaviour" this quote is from Mary Keane-Dawson CEO and Founder of Truth. Mary is this week's guest on the Shiny New Object Podcast. Mary's 31 year career in publishing, agency and entrepreneurship has left her thinking "I'm still 18, I'm learning all the time". Part of the reason for this is the fact she found her 11 year old son mining bitcoin in the garage - 7 years ago. We talk about how TRUTH is improving relationships between advertisers and consumers. And through Mary's relentless higher purpose of "being true, being your authentic self" she challenges us and in no uncertain terms declares "Never underestimate me." No chance Mary. None at all.

"My goal is to inspire other people to do what inspires them" - this week's Shiny New Object Podcast is an interview with the annoyingly talented Jeremy Waite - Chief Strategy Officer for IBM. We talk about a brand new industry of "AI Trainers" that use human beings to mine data to train AIs on. If AI is an engine - then data is its fuel. If businesses are going to use AI effectively they will need data that their competitors don't have. Jeremy opened my eyes to a new world of technology that could put marketers years ahead of their competition. We also talk about car crashes, giraffe training and watching his twin daughters survive birth despite being given a 0% chance to live. Jeremy is a constant inspiration to me - I hope you enjoy listening to this podcast as much as I did recording it.

"I only work on projects I believe in" - this quote is from Justin Cooke the Vice Chair of UNICEF on this week's Shiny New Object podcast. Justin gives a candid view of behind the scenes at the charity and how he's transforming the business through digital. You will learn a lot about how being creative with corporate partnerships can achieve a lot by doing a little - whilst we get sidetracked into a fist fight about smartwatches. Getting Justin on the phone for 15 minutes has saved my business months of work. And this podcast lasts an hour - so cash in quick.