120: Why you can't afford NOT to be creative with Contagious co-founder, Paul Kemp-Robertson

08/25/23 • 62 min

1 Listener

This week, we caught something Contagious. Luckily for us, it’s their Co-Founder Paul Kemp-Robertson.
A chap with serious smarts for global marketing communications, Paul is the brain behind Contagious. Part editorial, part consultancy, part research, they get their kicks helping brands and agencies be more creative, get smarter, and deliver better work.
Paul spreads his smarts across a tonnes of topics, including; being the intern who became editor at Shots, thinking Saatchi & Saatchi was an investment bank, creativity as giving the world something it didn’t know it was missing, Nordic socks on Instagram, zero based creativity, the manic unlock, question storming, drunken nights at the Gutter Bar, AI and the meh-taverse, agencies as outside agitators, ageism, and a whole lot more.
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Follow Paul on LinkedIn
Sign up for the Contagious newsletter
Check out Contagious IQ
Here’s his book The Contagious Commandments
Bag a seat at Most Contagious London 2023 on 7 December
And here’s Paul’s TED Talk
Timestamps
(02:00) - Quick fire questions
(04:25) - Going from intern to editor at Shots
(12:54) - Creativity is giving the world something it didn’t know it was missing
(20:00) - Zero-based creativity
(21:44) - What we learned about AI from Cannes Lions
(33:45) - The real value of agencies
(38:28) - Asking heretical questions
(46:38) - Listener questions
(50:57) - 4 pertinent posers
Paul’s book recommendations are:
Atomic Habits by James Clear
Good Strategy Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt
The Choice Factory by Richard Shotton
How Not to Plan by Les Binet and Sarah Carter
How Brands Grow by Byron Sharp
Anatomy of Humbug by Paul Feldwick
Shy by Max Porter
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Previous Episode

119: Writing a how-to-guide for ad land with author of Junior, Thomas Kemeny

This week, we pushed a creative fledgling out of the agency nest to lure and catch author of ad land’s how-to guide, Junior, to teach them to fly. Long overdue, it’s Thomas Kemeny.
Junior is a book that should be instantly useful for people starting out. Unlike most marketing books, Thomas packs it with proper, practical advice on navigating hallways, not ballsing up presentations, and the virtue of pushing in your chair after meetings.
Thomas chirps to us on tonnes of topics, including his first job taking a crowbar to beautiful furniture, what might've been if he'd never read Hey Whipple, writing the book he wished existed, bus stops that smell like cookies, writing 100 terrible lines to get to a great one, AI, what to do with a dud brief, his arch rival Andrew Boulton, the Tom he’d float with in a barrel down a river, and a whole lot more. Junior or not, you’d be a fool not to let us bend your ear ‘ere.
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Follow Thomas on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter.
Here’s his website.
Pick up at least one copy of Junior.
Listen to our episodes with Thomas’s pals Luke Sullivan and Cameron Day.
Here’s our episode with his arch-rival Andrew Boulton too.
Timestamps
(02:08) - Quick fire questions
(03:22) - Getting paid to beat the shit out of beautiful furniture
(07:40) - What might’ve been if he'd never read Hey Whipple
(08:57) - Writing the book he wished existed
(12:10) - The highs and lows of life as a Junior
(16:41) - Writing 100 terrible lines to get to a good one
(20:17) - Will AI take our jobs?
(25:00) - What to do with a dud brief
(28:04) - Listener questions
(29:32) - Which Tom he’d float with in a barrel down a river
(34:40) - 4 pertinent posers
Thomas’s book recommendations are:
The Book of Gossage by Howard Luck Gossage
Hey Whipple, Squeeze This by Luke Sullivan
Chew With Your Mind Open by Cameron Day
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Next Episode

121: How Tracksuit is turning the world of brand tracking upside down with Matt Herbert & Conor Archbold

This week, we rattled the trunk of a large tree to dislodge and catch Matt Herbert and Connor Archbold.
A pair of possum* players turning brand tracking upside down, Matt and Connor are co-founders of Ritson-backed startup, Tracksuit. The duo are dead set on making it easier and cheaper for marketers to track their brand health, demonstrate return on marketing spend, and answer the all important question, "Is what we're doing working?".
Go press play and unleash a mega catch of informative marsupials, including; getting brand tracking into boardrooms, knowing your brand’s ‘job to be done’, picking the fruit vs watering the tree, future demand, how CMOs should talk to to CFOs, the cookie-pocalypse, velcro buttons, the future of Tracksuit, playing possum, and more.
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Follow Matt, Connor, and Tracksuit on LinkedIn.
Check out the Tracksuit website too.
*A proper Kiwi drinking game. To play possum, you climb a tree (along with your case of beer) and drink until you fall out of the tree. First person to fall out of the tree loses.
Timestamps
(01:57) - Quick fire questions and who’s a strong budgie smuggler fan
(02:58) - Matt’s first jobs, working in radio and getting into the world of startups
(06:18) - Connor’s beginnings as a corporate lawyer and reconnecting with Matt
(07:47) - The hypothesis that started Tracksuit
(10:15) - Making brand tracking more accessible
(16:14) - Knowing your ‘jobs to be done’ as a brand
(21:09) - Brand building as future demand
(22:48) - How the CMO should talk to the CFO
(24:40) - The future of Tracksuit
(27:44) - Listener questions, velcro buttons and playing possum
(35:58) - 4 pertinent posers
Matt and Connor’s book recommendations are:
Travels with Charley: In Search of America by John Steinbeck
Future Demand by James Hurman
Shoe Dog by Phil Knight
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