Vasanth Seshadri, founder of independent creative agency The Sunny Side, shares learnings on various aspects of marketing, advertising and creativity.
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Looking at health care through the perspective of the patient in four elements: engagement, education, empowerment, and encouragement. Featuring national and local speakers joining us to talk about how we can improve the system as a whole. Music licensed from Purple Planet Music.
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The Brief Bros. is a video podcast about creative briefs, briefing and advertising. It’s hosted by Howard Ibach, former copywriter and creative director and author of two books on the creative brief, and Henry Gomez, an ad agency strategist with 27 years of experience.
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Conversations with the brightest founders and investors in fintech.
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178: Vasanth Seshadri, a creative voice from Singapore.
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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…
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180: A Director of Brand Experience on building a brand.
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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 manne…
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179: A master brief writer talks briefs.
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Lance Saunders, strategic consultant and adjunct professor at York University in Toronto, returns to The Brief Bros. to talk to Henry Gomez and me 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 finish…
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177: AI for Advertising, taught by Ross Patrick.
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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 …
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176: The creativity beat with AdAge's Tim Nudd
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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 …
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175: Jon Steel, author of Truth, Lies & Advertising.
1:05:19
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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…
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174: Two ad students on the rigors of London's SCA.
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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 awarde…
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173: Ghost wants to make clients famous, not themselves.
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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 inspir…
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172: Young ad pros get to predict Cannes winners
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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 st…
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171: Freelance copywriter Ashley Rutstein carved a niche on TikTok
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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 …
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170: Can AI measure the emotions advertising creative evokes? Yes, according to DAIVID.
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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 to…
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169: The Howard Gossage Show with Steve Harrison and Dave Dye.
1:09:57
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Two advertising industry giants join us today to talk about their new book, The Howard Gossage Show. Both Steve Harrison and Dave Dye have talked to us before. But today they arrive together as co-authors of a book as big as its subject matter. And a necessary teaching tool for all of us in the ad game. Sitting in for the traveling Henry Gomez, our…
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You need chutzpah to land an internship in our industry. Spell it any way you like, you gotta get the decision-maker's attention. Which is why Henry Gomez and I are so delighted to introduce you to Kristina Olsen Pinjusic, a.k.a. "The Kristina," your new favorite intern. She displayed enviable intrepidity and gutsiness and used LinkedIn to announce…
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167: Meet Todd Turner, creator of laugh-out-loud creative training tool, Wash-A-Pig.
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Todd Turner is a talented graphic designer who's carved out a fun niche in Out of Home. Lately, he's formed a partnership with Richard Molinaro called Up to Something in North Carolina. Todd and Richard create unforgettable OOH for brands, agencies and media companies. But it's Todd's side gig that grabbed our attention. Henry Gomez and I talked to…
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No Single Individual is a unique business model. It is a company of woment strategists who work for legacy shops like Deutsch NY, FCB NY and TBWA\Chiat Day LA. Founded by Christine Olivas in 2021, No Single Individual is an "all-freelance firm [that] provides ancillary strategy and account teams to agencies across the globe, from the industry’s big…
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My co-host Henry Gomez stays connected with other strategtists, especially on LinkedIn. He received an email recently from Mark Pollard, author of Strategy Is Your Words, and a well-known and respected strategist and strategy coach. Mark had compiled a list of the top ten traits he thought all strategists shared. My buddy Henry saw a similarity bet…
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164: Elizabeth Gordon, GS&P's newest young and restless account manager.
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Henry Gomez and I relish every chance we get to feature a young advertising talent who is already shaking things up. This week we continue our series of interviews with recent grads of US and UK advertising programs. Allow us to introduce you to Elizabeth Gordon. Elizabeth is a 2023 grad of the U of Minn's Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Comm…
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Most creatives aspire to become creative director one day. And most creatives believe they have the chops to lead a creative department. But making the leap from art director or copywriter into a leadership role takes more than a promotion. Our guest this week is an old friend, TJ Bennett, owner and creative director at The Pudding Factory. He's ba…
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162: Master storyteller Neal Foard, Part 2
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Join Henry Gomez and me for Part 2 of our conversation with a master of the artform, Neal Foard. He tells us more about his new online, self-directed tutorials at Storyfire to help you practice and polish your own stories. So sit back, grab a bowl of popcorn and take it all in. This is good, old-fashioned entertainment. For small group and corporat…
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161: Neal Foard, master storyteller, Part 1
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For 30-odd years, Neal Foard was an advertising copywriter and creative director, working on major brands like Toyota. Then he morphed into what I call the Garrisoin Keillor of the Internet. He's a storyteller extraordinare, whose mellifluous voice is part velvet fog, part maple syrup. With thousands of presentations under his belt, Neal stands in …
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160: An industry training expert shares his insights.
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Mark Liebert leads the Marketing Training & Development Center at the ANA. His team of dedicated professionals connect subject-matter experts with ANA members to enhance their marketing and advertising skills. Since the beginning of our podcast, Henry Gomez and I have revisited the subject of training many times. So today, we meet an experienced tr…
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159: Should a brief ask "What is the strategy"?
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It seems like an obvious question: What is the strategy? But even asking it opens a can of worms. What do you mean by "strategy"? Then you can ask, why do so few briefs ask this question? This week, Henry Gomez and I tackle the conundrum of what role strategy plays in writing a creative brief and whether the question belongs on the brief. For one-o…
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Henry Gomez and I decided to take a breather and talk about AI. No panic. No exaggeration. No gloom and doom. Just the real stuff. It's here and it ain't goin' away. What's its role in advertising creative? In the creative brief? This is only the first of what we both think will be many conversations. But after insightful chats with two guests, Tim…
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What is a manifesto? Is it a creative brief? Or like a creative brief? And how does a so-called "manifesto" help us understand a brand? These are some of the questions Henry Gomez and I discuss today on The Brief Bros. We review and dissect one of seventeen brand manifestos, this one for Avis, posted on LinkedIn recently by Lonnie Elliot.…
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156: Recent grads prove young people embrace our industry.
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Who says the advertising industry can't attract ambitious young talent? Not our guests this week on The Brief Bros. We welcome Anna Clayden and Hope Whitehead, art director and copywriter respectively. They teamed up while studying at London's premier School of Communication Arts. They join Henry Gomez and me to shed bright light on the rigors of S…
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155: Strategy trainer Julian Cole offers surprises on writing briefs.
1:06:55
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Writing a great brief depends on more than great writing. Agency vet and Strategy Finishing School founder Julian Cole joins Henry Gomez and me in an insider's look at briefs. You'll learn something new after this week's episode of The Brief Bros. For example, did you know that an "artist" and a "detective" creative director respond differently to …
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Love it or hate it, AI is here to stay. But like all new toys, what we don't understand tends to scare us. So this week, The Brief Bros. invited Sherry Horowitz, the self-described AI Conjurer, to talk about the intricacies of creating imagery with AI using language prompts. Her deep knowledge revealed how hard it is to use AI to its fullest. And w…
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153: Conflict helps us overcome creative hurdles.
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We welcome the creative chairman of BBDO/Singapore, Tay Guan Hin, to this week's episode of The Brief Bros. Henry Gomez and I asked Guan about his career in art and graphic design. Guan revealed a common thread among many creatives: his parents had other plans for him. But his passions led him to advertising anyway. His new book Collide: Embracing …
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This week, Henry Gomez and I discuss a video posted by Julian Cole, a link to which we included below. He explains the differences between a marketing and a creative brief. Julian is a noted strategist, teacher and mentor to young strategists. And we have invited him to be a guest on The Brief Bros in the coming weeks. Henry and I dissect and expan…
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151: Ben Levy shows us how to present creative like a pro, Part 2
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In Part 2 of our conversation with Ben Levy, creative director and presentation coach at SellItGreat.com, Henry Gomez and I ask Ben about "nuts 'n bolts" problems all presenters face. This is a fascinating and enlightening conversation you don't want to miss. For one-on-one, small group and corporate training in writing inspiring creative briefs, c…
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150: Ben Levy shows us how to present creative like a pro.
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Presentation Coach Ben Levy has made just about every mistake you can imagine as a presenter of creative work. And he'll show you how you can avoid them in his training on creative presentations. This week on The Brief Bros., Ben is our guest in a two-part episode. He is the founder and Head Coach at SellItGreat.com, and he shares his experience, h…
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149: Write better creative briefs with Howard’s workshops.
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From the "Shameless Commerce Division" of The Brief Bros. (no apologies to Car Talk's Click & Clack), today Henry Gomez quizzes me about my creative brief workshops, my promise to attendees who want to learn how to write better briefs, my teaching philosophy and how I got started. You can get the details at creativebriefworkshops.com. Batteries not…
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148: The best of The Brief Bros. in 2023.
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As our first episode of the New Year, Henry Gomez and I review 2023 and talk about what stood out for us on The Brief Bros. Amazingly enough, Henry and I wrapped up our third year together! And we still like each other! Enjoy this conversation as we share our thoughts on what mattered most in our on-going conversation about briefs, briefing and adv…
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147: Tim Brunelle builds a creative brief coach with ChatGPT
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This week on The Brief Bros. Henry Gomez and I review and discuss a tool created by a friend and past guest, Tim Brunelle, called the Creative Brief Coach. ChatGPT is everywhere, causing either havoc or joy depending on your point of view. Tim's tool is a worthy topic because he laid out the details of its development, and gave Henry and me an argu…
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146: Reviewing a creative brief for Tango carbonated soft drink.
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Henry Gomez and I review an undated creative brief for the UK's famous soft drink Tango, ad agency unknown (if you're privy to the info, please share in the comments section). I featured this brief in my first book on the creative brief, and I included it in my rotating list of briefs for my creative brief workshops, but I have not used it in many …
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145: Reviewing a creative brief for the BBC’s coverage of the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens
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In our ongoing series, Henry Gomez and I review a creative brief written by a London-based agency for its client, BBC. The brief was written to create a new campaign to promote the BBC's on-air coverage of the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. We even have creative so you can ask yourself if the work answers the brief. For one-on-one, small group and…
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144: A conversation with Gabi Kinney, senior strategist at Broadhead in Minneapolis
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Gabi Kinney joins Henry Gomez and me this week in a continuation of our series on young talent in our industry. Gabi is a recent grad of the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communications at the U of Minnesota, a familiar name to anyone who follow The Brief Bros. This young woman is blazing a powerful path for herself at Broadhead and we deli…
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143: A collaboration between Tom Fishburne, IPA and BetterBriefs.com
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Kudos to our friends Matt Davies and Pieter-Paul von Weiler, past guests on The Brief Bros., for their partnership with the Marketoonist Tom Fishburne and the Institute for Practitioners of Advertising (IPA), the oldest professional organization in our industry. They've assembled a Compendium of brilliantly drawn cartoons that reflect their global …
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142: Reviewing a creative brief for Iceland Frozen Markets by hhcl/red cell, London
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Today, Henry Gomez and I examine a creative brief for a popular frozen foods grocery story in the UK, Iceland. We love briefs for everyday products and services because these are the "widgets" advertising professionals cut their teeth on, creatively and strategically. That they are "everyday" things makes them real and necessary, but also challenge…
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141: A conversation with Tyrese Leverty, brand planner at Carmichael Lynch.
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Henry Gomez and I have added a new series to The Brief Bros.: Conversations with recent college grad about their new careers. Today, we are proud to present Tyrese Leverty, a recent grad from the University of Minnesota's Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communications. He was recommended to us by our old friend Mark Jenson, a venerable instru…
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Did you know that the famous poster of Uncle Sam pointing his finger and declaring, "I want you..." is more than 100 years old? Henry Gomez and I stumbled across this iconic image as we searched for old ads to discuss, and we decided it warranted an episode of its own. We have good reasons, too. Tune in and find out.…
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139: We reverse-engineer an ad from Band-Aid and write a creative brief.
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Henry Gomez and I look closely at a clever ad from Johnson & Johnson's Band-Aid brand of band aids and together we discuss what we see and voila! We write a brief. And we post the brief within the episode for your viewing enjoyment (not available in stores). Henry and I urge all ad folk to practice this bit of thought exercise everyday to keep your…
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138: Our best look at a Best Buy brief from CPB.
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Another shout-out to Baiba Matisone whose Creative Brief Bank provided the impetus for today's episode of #thebriefbros. It's a Crispen Porter Bogusky brief for Best Buy. Henry Gomez and I have always admired the agency's work, but do we love this brief? Watch and find out!By Creative Brief Workshops LLC
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Henry Gomez and I do a deep-dive into a creative brief written by someone affiliated with the One Show. It's for a competition among "Young Gun" creative teams with a prize attached, a free Gameboy. Henry and I examine this brief and share with you our thoughts. It's another in a series we love to do where we look closely at a real brief. Thanks ag…
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136: Reviewing a creative brief by FCB for Dodge.
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First, special thanks to Baiba Matisone, who appeared on The Brief Bros., for posting this creative brief on her Creative Brief Bank. Henry Gomez and I did a top to bottom examination of this brief and shared our thoughts in this episode. We agreed...mostly. But even where we disagreed, we aligned on one thing: It's a great example of a single-page…
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135: Do creative briefs need to include deliverables?
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Henry Gomez and I debate a seemingly mundane question: should a creative brief include deliverables or is that the creatives' job to recommend? Some of the finest briefs do not even ask the question. Others ask simply for the "Big Idea" while still others require every tactic. Where do you stand?By Creative Brief Workshops LLC
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134: The Brief Bros discuss the famous Kiwi creative brief
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Last week, we heard from Sarah Walker-Hall and her take on the brief she wrote for Kiwi shoe polish. This week, Henry Gomez and I discuss and dissect the brief ourselves. I weighed in with my high praise when Sarah and I spoke, and today I continue my rave but this time with a chance to hear Henry share his thoughts as well. We love this brief and …
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133: A conversation with Sarah Walker-Hall, Part 2: Examining the Kiwi creative brief
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Last week, we met Sarah Walker-Hall, brand strategy group head at TRG in Dallas. She is a veteran strategist whose skills and dexterity as a thinker can teach all brief writers how to write better briefs. Today, she and I dive deep into her award-winning brief for Kiwi shoe polish, the resulting campaign for which also won awards. Sarah will pull b…
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132: A conversation with Sarah Walker-Hall, author of the famous Kiwi creative brief
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You could say I waited 20 years to meet and talk to Sarah Walker-Hall. She authored a creative brief I have read, admired, written about and taught from almost since I began my latest career as a brief-writing instructor. In the first of a two-part series, we meet this remarkable woman who began her career in branding and found her way to strategy …
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131: A conversation with Jess Saunders and Roh Kerr, recent SCA/London grads
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We've had wonderful conversation with Marc Lewis, dean of London's famed School of Communication Arts. Today, Henry Gomez and I talk to two of his recent graduates: Jess Saunders and Roh Kerr, about their experiences at SCA, how they teamed up as writer/AD partners. And then Henry and I put them through a test: we reviewed a famous TV spot from the…
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