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Is the advertising business a form of business or entertainment? It needs to be entertaining but there definitely is a science to it.

Paul Bainsfair is the Director General of the IPA – the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising. He’s a veteran of the industry, with leadership experience at TBWA, Saatchis and Iris, he’s using his 35+ years in the business to champion the cause of advertising as a driver of the economy.

But he’s also acutely aware of the issues facing the world of advertising – the environment, DE&I, frequency and advertising fatigue.

So, the IPA’s focus for 2024 is the 60:40 rule and helping companies and brands to strike a balance between brand building and activation – as the old song goes, like love and marriage, you can’t have one without the other.

In this wide-ranging chat, Paul and I discuss the difference between US and UK advertising, why ads need to deliver the relevant unexpected, the latest Bellwether reports and a marketing budget forecast for the next 12 months, the wisdom of Tim Delaney, balancing the standards, saving the economy, new business opportunities for all agencies, the analogy of steam trains, and Irish songwriters.

All of us at The Advertist invite you to check out The Fuel Podcast, where we pull on the experience of leaders of companies in a variety of sectors with loads of fantastic interviews, tips and tales.

To check out this episode of the podcast click here.

Get your agency’s new business started with The Advertist.  What do you do when the referrals dry up? Do you think it would be better to make new business part of your weekly routine? All the experts agree and a project in motion, stays in motion. You can take a 2-day free trial of the UK’s leading new business development platform and see for yourself how it can elevate your new business workflow: Daily new business opportunity news. The UK’s most accurate and comprehensive brand and company contact database. Daily people moves. The UK’s ONLY new business tender alert service. Hot news of investments, VC funding, tech startups, spinouts and MBOs Sector intelligence, market reports, marketing spend, trends and SWOT charts. Take a free trial here: https://www.theadvertist.com/join.aspx

While most great creative is inspiration, that inspiration comes from a source based in facts.

These days, we’re surrounded by fake news and alternative facts that if you don’t check them out, could cause irreparable damage to yours or your client’s brand.

In this show I chat with one of the advertising industry’s leading fact-finders.

Victor Houghton has been supplying irrefutable facts to advertising agencies for years. Those facts have helped them put together multi-million pound and dollar-winning pitches.

An hour of truths, actualities and factualities on working from home, diversity and inclusion, greenwashing, deepfakes, artificial intelligence and the best free research tools agencies can get.

Vic’s LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/victorhoughton/

VH Insights web site: https://www.vhinsights.com

The Neuron  https://join.theneurondaily.com/

Chat GPT  https://chat.openai.com/

Google Bard  https://bard.google.com/chat

Waldo  https://www.waldo.fyi/

Pi  https://pi.ai/onboarding

Claude  https://claude.ai/

My Social AI  https://app.mysocial.ai/

Riot in the Taverna playlist  https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5ckxgzY7GnpDiYGZxzmJ8f?si=c5b3e26dbaa84c33

All of us at The Advertist invite you to check out The Fuel Podcast, where we pull on the experience of leaders of companies in a variety of sectors with loads of fantastic interviews, tips and tales.

To check out this episode of the podcast click here.

Get your agency’s new business started with The Advertist. 78% of UK creative agencies know that they need a solid strategy for the acquisition of new clients and yet only 26% of them do this on a full-time basis* What do you do when the referrals dry up? Starting a new business campaign from scratch can take a minimum of six months to generate green shoots – do you have the luxury of that much time? Do you think it would be better to make new business part of your weekly routine? All the experts agree and a project in motion, stays in motion. You can take a 2-day free trial of the UK’s leading new business development platform and see for yourself how it can elevate your new business workflow: Daily new business opportunity news. The UK’s most accurate and comprehensive brand and company contact database. Daily people moves. The UK’s ONLY new business tender alert service. Hot news of investments, VC funding, tech startups, spinouts and MBOs Sector intelligence, market reports, marketing spend, trends and SWOT charts. Monthly payment options. Take a free trial here: https://www.theadvertist.com/join.aspx *The Advertist research, LinkedIn 2023

One of the greatest minds in the world of advertising is on the show to explain how we can recapture our creative essence and make the business of marketing the sexy, inspiring innovative, funny, thought-provoking, engaging and compelling business that attracted us to it in the first place.

He also explains how great creative is better for the planet.

Importantly, he’s also here to tell us how we can all join his masterclass called ‘The Business of Creativity’. The link to sign up is in the show notes.

  • The free press of podcasting
  • Learning from history
  • Game changing works of art
  • What one advert John Hegarty holds up as an example of the complete big idea
  • Why companies need creatives at the top
  • How to win a pitch
  • Why brainstorms are boring
  • Diversity
  • Hiring the best
  • What Sir John would like on his gravestone

And why you don’t put a tow bar on a Ferrari..

All of us at The Advertist invite you to check out The Fuel Podcast, where we pull on the experience of leaders of companies in a variety of sectors with loads of fantastic interviews, tips and tales.

To check out this episode of the podcast click here.

We’re on a mission to uncover the secrets of a healthy mind, body and creative soul.

Stevie Spring CBE, former new business director at ad agency GGT, alongside Dave Trott and Paul Grubb, Chairman of mental health charity Mind, former chair of the British Council, board director at retail giant Co-op and general all-round amazing person sits down to discuss her life, career and philosophy and why she recommends dividing your time between profit, people and planet.

Fuel’s objective this year is to investigate the working from home, hybrid or blended business model, and how to maintain a positive mental outlook.

Stevie is a remarkable woman. She’s the very definition of the phrase, friends in high places.

In this episode, Stevie tells us the origin of her philanthropic mindset, how you can increase the odds of being lucky.

We discuss her career, from direct response advertising on TVAM in the 80s to the white heat of creativity at GGT.

We discuss how she still influences the advertising industry today, why ad agencies are the architects of the marketing world; the challenges of brand ambassador management.

She tells all about Roland Rat and Pudsey Bear.

We discuss how to manage the new working model and how to reach a healthy work/life blend.

The art of salesmanship and relationship management.

The difference between entrepreneurs and intrepreneurs; investments that worked and those that got away; Stevie’s path to inner contentment and how to audit your progress.

She’s also got some fantastic recommendations for dealing with the mental health crisis and how to get a 5x return on your investment in people.

The value of activism and the joy of journaling and discovering bands at music festivals.

What a way to kick off season 4!

Show notes

Stevie Spring’s LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steviespring/

All of us at The Advertist invite you to check out The Fuel Podcast, where we pull on the experience of leaders of companies in a variety of sectors with loads of fantastic interviews, tips and tales.

To check out this episode of the podcast click here.

From BMP/DDB, AMV/BBDO and Mother to Campbell Doyle Dye, DHM and LOVE or FEAR, Dave Dye has been behind some of the world’s most amazing advertising campaigns in his 40-year career. A creative leader, Dave also runs one of the advertising industry’s most loved podcasts ‘Stuff from the Loft’ where it’s not unheard of to hear 2-3 hour long interviews with advertising royalty.

In this show, Dave discusses the art of leadership, using Tim Delaney and Alan Parker as examples. He urges the ad industry to get back to solving business problems, and why it’s important to explain the creative process to clients.

Dave’s favourite piece of work, the emotion of creativity, impostor syndrome, how D&ADs have changed, the fossil fuel addiction rabbit hole, keeping podcasting natural, Dave’s white whale, Dave Trott’s theory of jingles and new technology that works!

And Arsenal…Dave’s beloved Arsenal.

Show notes

Twitter (while it lasts) @davedyecom

Dave’s website: https://davedye.com/

All of us at The Advertist invite you to check out The Fuel Podcast, where we pull on the experience of leaders of companies in a variety of sectors with loads of fantastic interviews, tips and tales.

To check out this episode of the podcast click here.

Words have impact. Words have meaning. In your advertising, in your PR copy, in your emails, in your social media.

And here to explain his fascination with words is one of the advertising industry’s most famous creative directors, copywriter and agency leader and mentor, Peter Souter.

We caught up him in his last 2 months as TBWA London’s Chairman and CCO – before he retires to enjoy his days using the written word to create entertainment – and this show is full of words of wisdom accumulated over his stellar career.

Starting his career at Delaney Fletcher Delaney in the mid-80s, Souter joined AMV BBDO in 1991, quickly climbing the ranks to replace David Abbott – a creative mind Souter says he grew up “devoted” to – and becoming executive creative director in 1997. After 17 years he took four years out to follow his passion for screenwriting, returning to adland in 2012.

He’s also about to embark on an exciting new venture with comedy screenwriter Richard Curtis. We hear all about that and Peter passes on his learnings from a prolific 40-year career in advertising.

All of us at The Advertist invite you to check out The Fuel Podcast, where we pull on the experience of leaders of companies in a variety of sectors with loads of fantastic interviews, tips and tales.

To check out this episode of the podcast click here.

It’s not fine. It’s far from fine. It’s about as far from fine as it could be. Gustav Martner is the Creative Director of Greenpeace Nordics and earlier this year, he handed back one of his many Cannes Lions as a headline-grabbing protest against the advertising industry that is still rewarding companies that are causing maximum harm to our planet, while they gaslight us into thinking they are doing good.

Enough already! It has to stop and Gustav explains why.

He’s on a mission to have advertising from fossil fuel companies banned and if your agency works for a fossil fuel company, then he’s coming for your budgets.

And a milder, more level-headed guy you couldn’t wish to meet. He’s not some tree-hugging hippie that glues himself to the motorway. He understands the whole argument because he’s been on the other side of the fence, running agencies and working for big oil, big aviation and big auto but he’s seen the light…and it’s fading fast.

Here’s a show about how the advertising industry can still do what it does best, but as a force for good for the planet.

Gustav Martner’s LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gustavmartner/

The Cannes Lion protest in full: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttIGaxDEaRE

All of us at The Advertist invite you to check out The Fuel Podcast, where we pull on the experience of leaders of companies in a variety of sectors with loads of fantastic interviews, tips and tales.

To check out this episode of the podcast click here.

Strap in for a real advertising masterclass from one of the industry’s greats! Graham Fink.

One of the advertising world’s greatest and most awarded creatives, sits down for a marathon interview about his life, his work and his ongoing quest for new creative outlets.

How hands are less-efficient art tools, the inspiration of theology, the art of creativity, how to find inspiration, dealing with critics, the ethics of cigarette advertising, green washing, Dave Trott, distraction, humor, curiosity, the stories behind some of Britain’s most legendary advertising campaigns, how art directors work.

Advice from Malcolm McLaren, how many ideas per day? imposter syndrome, the creativity of George Best, why Apocalypse Now is one of the world’s best movies, surveillance advertising and the lost art of media buying, Artificial Intelligence, can robots work in the Art Department? Digital Colonialism, postcard art and lots more.

All of us at The Advertist invite you to check out The Fuel Podcast, where we pull on the experience of leaders of companies in a variety of sectors with loads of fantastic interviews, tips and tales.

To check out this episode of the podcast click here.

A creative giant in the world of advertising, Dr Chris Arnold has battled with dyslexia throughout his entire career – but it’s allowed him to think differently. In fact Chris is a pioneer of alternative problem solving for the advertising industry. He has some great advice for new business problem solvers, revealing the one question that will win you new business.

His new book – ‘flip: unthink everything you know’ is a ground-breaking concept and Chris previews it on this show.

Don’t miss it.

All of us at The Advertist invite you to check out The Fuel Podcast, where we pull on the experience of leaders of companies in a variety of sectors with loads of fantastic interviews, tips and tales.

To check out this episode of the podcast click here.