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Hi, it's Will here.
Strategy, at its heart, is a human process. A conversation about what matters, what’s possible, and what’s next.
But too often we treat it like a logic puzzle; linear, objective, neat. We apply frameworks, chase clarity, and focus on outputs while ignoring the undercurrents that shape how decisions are really made.
Coaching, too, is a conversation. One that makes space. Surfaces unspoken tensions. Invites depth, reflection, and the kind of insight that can’t be forced.
I’ve always been uncomfortable with the idea of the strategist having all the answers, as though strategy is akin to Moses descending from the mountain bearing The Truth. That just never rang true. Strategy has always felt, to me, like a messy, live, collaborative process. So, having spent 20 years developing brand strategy, when I subsequently trained as an Executive Coach, something clicked. It turned out I’d been blending the two all along. I just hadn’t had the language for it.
Coaching helped me name the discomfort I felt with traditional strategy work. And it gave me new tools to lean into the discomfort rather than paper over it. Coaching breeds an obsessive focus on defining the real problem, and great strategy demands that. The easy thing is to take the presenting problem at face value. The real work is sitting in the ambiguity and getting under the surface. I can’t count the number of times I’ve been brought in to solve a ‘comms problem’ that turned out to be a product issue. Or a ‘growth challenge’ that was really about team dynamics. The presenting problem is rarely the problem.
To surface the real issue, great coaches use words sparingly but powerfully. They ask questions that stop you in your tracks. The kind of question that makes you pause, sigh, and say, "That's a good question." As a Coach Strategist, I try to do the same. I want my questions to reframe the conversation, to make people look at their business- and themselves- differently. A favourite of mine: "What are we pretending not to know?" Simple. But it shifts something.
This kind of depth doesn’t happen by accident. A coach works hard to create the space for it. A space of trust, psychological safety, and focused attention. As a Coach Strategist, I bring that same intent to strategy work. Because there is vulnerability in confronting the real problem. And that requires a container where honest thinking can emerge. One of the most valuable things a coach learns is how to actually see when someone is thinking. And then not interrupt. Silence is not the enemy. Sometimes it’s where the strategy lives.
Listening is an underestimated skill in strategy. In the early stages of strategy work- the discovery phase- we need to really hear context, perspective, and lived experience. And that means listening in a way most strategists were never taught. I remember the first time I experienced Nancy Kline’s Time To Think methodology. It blew me away. Her Ten Components of a Thinking Environment is a cheat sheet for how strategists can show up in workshops and client conversations. If you want to hear something new, you have to stop filling the silence.
Another lesson coaching teaches is that it's not about you. The best coaches don't show up to be the smartest person in the room. They show up to help the other person think better. That can be humbling for strategists, especially early in your career when you feel pressure to perform and have the answers. But over time, I’ve learned to trust the process. And I’ve become more comfortable "staying in the fire"; holding space without rushing to a solution. That’s when real insight arrives.
Coaching also helps you become more conscious of the dynamic between you and your client. Are we meeting as equals? Or is there a hidden power play at work? What assumptions are shaping this interaction? Training in Transactional Analysis (TA) has been invaluable here. It helps you spot parent-child dynamics and shift back into adult-adult mode, where true collaboration happens.
But coaching goes beyond the one-to-one. It’s increasingly systemic. A rapidly emerging modality is Systemic Coaching and Constellations. Rather than zooming in on the individual, it looks at the whole system: the team, the culture, the interdependencies, the energy. The Coach Strategist maps the business in its full complexity: the people, the processes, the unspoken dynamics. They don’t treat strategy as a fixed blueprint. They treat it as something emergent and alive. Change one part of the system, and everything else shifts.
When a coaching approach is integrated into strategy development, something powerful happens. We surface the real problem, not just the presenting one. We ask bolder questions. We work with systems, not silos. And we allow complexity, emotion and emergence to have a seat at the table. Not as distractions, but as vital ingredients in meaningful, adaptive strategy.
I don’t arrive with a rigid playbook. I bring presence, curiosity, and a mindset that invites emergence, not just execution. In a world that prizes speed, certainty and linear logic, this work offers something different: a way to go deeper, listen harder, and think more intelligently about the human dynamics that shape strategy.
Because strategy doesn’t live in a slide deck. It lives in people. And if we want better strategies, we need to become better at working with the people who create them.
Will Worsdell
Founder, Growth Perspective
Hi, it's Charlotte here.
At the dawn of the age of Ai, nostalgia is an ever more powerful ingredient for brands. But how do you both harness your heritage and look to the future without incensing the angry mob?
2024 saw Jaguar reveal a teaser for their polarising rebrand.
Testament to its place as a symbol of British culture, the internet lit up.
We would be kidding ourselves to believe that it was really the controversial upper-case G that was triggering the baying crowd. Or the loss of the iconic cat, afterall, the elegant jaguar 'leaper' will be exquisitely rendered (on the side, just not the bonnet.)
No, the outrage was neither typographical nor zoological.
The rebrand triggers our sense of nostalgia. Another death knoll for a bygone era of traditional masculinity, sex and petrol. And if we were in any doubt this was intentional, the accompanying advert made sure we knew it. As Marina Hyde described it “we’ve got eight capital-D diverse models in category-five tulle busting out of a pink-planet lift wielding a hammer.’ Prompting Nigel Farage to bluster: 'Mark my words, Jaguar will go bust.'
No doubt the marketing team delighted in Farage and Musk's outrage, it did exactly as intended and killed the Jag man. A fact, they haven’t shied away from, freely admitting they were only anticipating to keep 15% of their current fanbase. The shift to electric vehicles has become so embedded in our culture wars that the move away from petrol means they had little choice but to seek a brand new demographic. As (jag enthusiast and brand guru) Rory Sutherland wisely muses ‘Let’s face it, you can’t survive off pipe smoking Brits anymore.’
There's no doubt that Jaguar's shift was an intentional and historic change.
But many brands are facing more subtle dilemmas, as they attempt to evolve their heritage branding without triggering our nostalgic threat response.
Toblerone is among the brands that have deftly navigated that change.
After moving their production out of Switzerland, they lost the right to use the Matterhorn on their packaging. If you didn't notice, you’re not alone. Embracing and evolving their other heritage elements including creating a new typeface 'Tobler' crafted from their iconic Art Nouveau lettering and a cursive font inspired by their founder’s signature. By retaining and subtly modernising these nostalgic elements they can now confidently flex into a new digitally driven era of personalised packaging and Insta headlines. United by the rallying cry 'Be More Triangle,' they have identified a positioning that is iconically Toblerone shaped, that also gives them permission to celebrate difference and diversity without taking away our sentimental shield.
Identifying the core of what you have always stood for, and understanding what that might mean tomorrow seems to be the path to victory over vitriol. Just ask Barbie.
The last decade has seen Barbie make the move from a problematic beauty standard to a feminist icon and grossed $1.45 billion in the process. Beyond the movie, we also saw Mattel launching #TheDollEvolves an array of more inclusive dolls to write a new chapter of the Barbie story, rather than erase the old one.
How? They identified an idea that is true to her past and used it to transition towards her future with an incisive new brand positioning: 'There's no one way to be Barbie' .
Although recently coined, it’s an idea that’s authentic to a past where we’ve seen her master over 250 careers from archaeologist to astronaut (including landing on the moon 4 years before us mortals). This powerful idea ‘There’s no one way to be Barbie’ can now extend beyond her career ambitions to race, disability and body shape. Harnessing nostalgia to power change rather than resist it.
No greater testament exists to the strange power of brand nostalgia than Lyle’s Golden Syrup. I am ashamed to admit (as a designer who prides themselves in noticing detail) that until they controversially evolved their packaging design in 2024, I hadn’t noticed it had been, in fact, featured a lion carcass covered in bees all along. ‘No!’ Shouted the internet. ‘That’s our dead lion. We like dead lions on our food packaging.’
I too felt a little sad to lose the rotting feline, despite not having really noticed it until they threatened to take it away. Nervous it might be part of the great brand blandenning we have seen so many companies succumb to in the last 20 years. The redesign, it turns out, is subtle and beautiful. Keeping the iconic gold and green, and vintage typography. The (now living) lion’s mane echoes the flourishes and filigree from the original packaging, holding a single bee within the syrupy patterns which adorn the squeezy bottle. And if all that is still not enough to keep the angry mob at bay, the original tin design has been kept just as it is, cat carcass and all, for those of us that treasure it.
In an age of AI, rapid change, culture wars and increasing uncertainty.
The desire to hold onto the traditional, the familiar will no doubt dial up.
From leaping jaguars to dead lions, the way forward will be understanding the right things to keep and how to keep them relevant. To know what makes your story great, and not be afraid to write the next chapter.
Charlotte Cline,
Founder & Creative at One Man Band Design
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Session details
Available to watch now on-demand - Virtual
Today's discussion will focus on the growing challenges for innovation; what the new pressures are, what needs to change in our processes and why culturally driven thinking is critical to success.
Our expert panel will share their unique perspective from within their businesses and how they are driving change within their organisations.
They’ll talk about the new methods, tactics and approaches we can all employ to tap into culture as a driver of insight, a force for story-telling and a shaper of better strategy.
Seismic changes are happening in every category, and those who innovate in smarter, sharper, faster ways with one eye always on culture, are going to win.
We hope you enjoy the webinar!
What you can expect to take away from the session
Key takeaways:
- Adopting an explore not exploit mindset - big businesses are well oiled machines, but new opportunities won’t come from looking from looking inward.
- Subcultures are culture - the true insights are found a layer down from broad ‘trends’, but rather in the conversations and unvarnished truths of sub-culture.
- We have the tools - the speed at which we can discover, connect dots, test, listen and react is unprecedented, but we need to set ourselves up institutionally to do it.
- Bravery meets authenticity - you can’t innovate in culture if you don’t have a POV, the bolder you can be, the more success you’ll have.
- We buy stories not features - everything is about narrative, if a new product doesn’t have a story and an emotional and aspirational pull it won’t land in an unforgiving cultural landscape.
Speakers
Tom Donohue
Head of Strategy at BeenThereDoneThat
Leading the discussion is Tom, Head of strategy at BeenThereDoneThat, with over 18 years of strategic innovation and brand consultant experience, spearheading growth for the world’s most successful brands.
Jenna Behrer
Panelist
Chief Growth Officer, Dr. Praeger’s | alum Heineken & PepsiCo
Jenna has over 15 years success in building & leading teams to develop winning brands, innovation and growth businesses, driving significant financial impact & organization culture change.
Alistair Bramley
Panelist
Senior Director, Systems Innovation at PepsiCo
Alistair is a self confessed empathic designer that is passionate about working from a systemic perspective through a life centered process. I leverage tools from system design, strategic foresight, business model design and circular economy to find regenerative outcomes for people, planet and business.
Hi, it's Liz here.
When the world feels unsettled and unsettling, it’s altogether understandable to seek quick highs.
Mainlining fast fixes feels inevitable in our overstimulated world - binge scrolling for rapid escapism, GLP-1s for rapid weight loss, AI searches for rapid answers.
This irresistible, high-velocity escape from the drudgery of slow, dull reality centres, of course, on your friend and mine, dopamine - the principal bestower of intense feelings of pleasure and reward (and arguably queen among the other four ‘feel-good’ hormones serotonin, endorphins, and oxytocin).
But dopamine addiction isn't just happening to humans.
It’s endemic in businesses too, because (albeit easy to forget sometimes) companies are still ultimately directed by human minds and so, our most base desires.
Often, ‘brand dopamine dependence’ is most acute right at the very top of the business org chart and shareholders, casting a dopamine-seeking tint across the core business functions and even the development, delivery and mechanisms of the products themselves.
Maybe this is why dopamine is trending so highly, with big trend spikes across the topic (Exploding Topics, 5-year global view). We seem to be fascinated by how to achieve a healthier and more naturalised flow of this powerful, desirable and essential driver.
So how does brand dopamine addiction manifest across the key dimensions of a brand?
And more importantly, what might be our most powerful detox tactics?
1. Proposition
- Possible dopamine-addicted behaviours: Trend chasing (even worse if it’s a late trend that’s already waning); superspeed NPD with minimally tested new products; explosion of sub or side brands with low authenticity
- How to detox: Redefine brand and product strategy to secure a big, motivating commitment to a fresh plan based on real goals and strategic guardrails, with an explicit focus on how risky dopamine dependence can be for the brand and business
2. Customer Experience
- Possible dopamine-addicted behaviours: Over-rewarding customers in return for false sentiment spikes; treating customers poorly as a pressure release valve; replacing true service with inferior or frustrating technology experiences in an innovation effort; promising the world to customers but failing to actualise
- How to detox: Map out the well-trodden CX ‘process pathways’ - operational and mental - to reimagine them in motivating, unorthodox ways that reignite a love of the customer and a deeper understanding of the community (including how to attend to their own dopamine temptations in ethical ways)
3. Culture
- Possible dopamine-addicted behaviours: Uncertain or changeable employer brand that varies depending on immediate business needs or other short-term factors; compulsive hire and fire cycles that supercharge teams’ sense of thrill, anticipation and drama; entrenched gossip culture
- How to detox: Identify where internal insecurities or trust issues are boomeranging back as toxic buzz-seeking habits (often unconsciously); anonymised surveys provide quant data to help measure this often intangible but insidious challenge
4. Marketing & ROI
- Possible dopamine-addicted behaviours: Overdosing on performance marketing to chase quick results; major inconsistencies across messaging, tone of voice and visuals (including by agencies briefed poorly, even when that’s because of the excitement of a new engagement); false pricing strategies prompting customers to buy more when artificial reductions kick in - this one is especially tempting when Gartner predicts that 73% of tariff costs will go straight to the consumer
- How to detox: Shift focus to loyalty and LTV rather than quarterly (or monthly… or weekly…) indicators - while defining a clear separate strategic focus on short-term wins and revenue driving
This last point is at the heart of the story. The punishment for giving in to the temptation of quick wins is severe, but the huge business value and ROI rewards from the hard slog of long-term brand building are consistently proven, as Kantar BRANDZ’s latest data shows of the world’s most valuable brands:
As with so much in brand, business and strategy, real success and fulfilment often lie not in pushing harder, but in seeking sustainable balance. For the most progressive brands committed to nutritious behaviours rather than an overdependence on junk foods, this includes setting a new vision of growth. One that knowingly, deliberately settles into a long-term, slower view, described in Zoe Scaman’s Growth2 manifesto. Delayed gratification is a stealth value today.
Unlocking this progressive new incarnation of ‘sustainability’ means rebalancing to a semi-predictable, non-distracting, motivating flow of dopamine through your brand - after all it’s what helps us focus, work towards goals, and find things interesting.
And - brain or brand - that’s a good thing for us all.
Liz Hatherley,
Senior Brand and Content Strategy Consultant
Hi, it's Matt here.
This week, I am encouraging you all to get out and go to a gallery show.
For 28 years, my role has been to identify an idea, a problem, or an ambition.
And then make that ‘the thing’ for others: be they clients or colleagues.
Keeping that thing top of mind. Revealing how all the other things connect to it.
And empowering them to make their thing work toward that thing.
More often than not, that has taken the form of 100 words.
Short sentences. Sometimes poetic. What some may dub a ‘manifesto’.
Connecting brand elements to guide people toward a better place.
And I wanted to share a trade secret. Okay. It's a guilty pleasure.
The copy on the wall, which greets you before you enter the show at the gallery.
That is the secret sauce.
And we need that sauce more than ever.
Imagine a brand where every ad, post, and email feels like it’s from a different company. That’s the reality many brands face today.
While brands struggle to find clarity in a fragmented communications landscape.
Artists have mastered the art of telling a cohesive story.
They weave a shared story that connects everything, despite the wide variation in the works. For brands, this is a lesson worth learning.
The modern brand crisis
Today's brands face an unprecedented challenge: fragmentation.
A single brand message now splinters across a mosaic of hundreds of touchpoints:
social posts, packaging, ads, apps, emails, customer service scripts.
Each piece tells part of the story, but how many tell the same story?
Each piece can drift, becoming a chaotic patchwork of disconnected messages.
Gone are the days of phased engagement; everything communicates en-masse.
The need for this glue to work harder is further exacerbated by the changing nature of work.
Many hands are now marshaling brands.
Often, there is only a partial historical relationship with the host organisation.
Fractional x, freelance y. We need to reduce the time spent ‘aligning’ many teams.
Create a clear and compelling brand story.
An internal brand manifesto is now non-negotiable.
It’s the strategic backbone. The soul of your brand.
It’s a rallying cry that fuels creativity and drives action.
The source code that guides every decision.
From creative briefs to customer service scripts.
The gallery solution
Art galleries have mastered what brands struggle with:
distilling complex ideas into powerful, memorable statements.
Their wall texts act as great manifestos.
They usually use only 100 words to reflect years of work and thought.
The penny dropped for me in 2006.
The Welfare Show at The Serpentine blew by mind.
One simple concept expressed in so many different ways.
It mirrored the work we were pioneering at Naked at the time.
I keep going back to galleries for inspiration because they adapt well.
Art galleries, once reliant on singular works or artists to draw audiences, had to change.
Over time, they shifted to curating cohesive exhibitions that told a broader story.
Between 2022 and 2025, group shows accelerated at the expense of solo shows.
Connecting many pieces into a unified narrative or theme for greater impact.
Attracting larger and more diverse audiences by showcasing a variety of artistic styles.
Sharing costs and resources while fostering community among participants.
They began to mirror what was happening in the marketing world.
From relying on one big campaign to creating ecosystems of content.
Like each work in the group show, each piece contributes to a larger story.
Both industries are great at telling stories that connect various parts into a complete picture.
Prompts, not playbooks.
In a world of endless content, the gallery wall reminds us that less can be more.
One clear story, well told, will travel further than a thousand disconnected messages.
Your fractional x, freelance y - they don’t use playbooks; nobody does, sorry.
They use prompts to help shape brand communications.
A 100-word manifesto will also serve as a foundational prompt, ready to copy and paste.
Something to help maintain a consistent framework for their LLM dance.
Ensure AI outputs align with the brand’s voice and values.
4 steps
Start with the essence; make it memorable.
Build your wall text; every word must earn its place.
Let it guide everything - let it evolve, but don’t dilute it.
Look at Patagonia; they only use 19 words, and they look great on a wall.
So, the next time you’re struggling with your brand narrative, take a step back.
Visit a gallery. Look at the titles and wall texts.
Study how they distill complex ideas into simple, powerful statements.
Write your 100-word manifesto. And watch how it transforms your brand storytelling.
The writing’s on the wall - we need to pay attention.
Matt Hardisty,
Founder, PeaceCabin.earth | Former Strategy Partner, AMV BBDO and Mother
Further reading:
Michael Elmgreen & Ingar Dragset: The Welfare Show
The Manifesto Machine // BrXnd Dispatch vol. 030
Mike Coulter at the DO: Lectures runs a course that teaches you how to write manifestos
Hi, it's Tom here.
SXSW this year was different.
No scrambling from ballroom, to patio, to panel, to event and back to ballroom with a buzzword addled brain.
No, this year we did something altogether more rewarding. One location, three days and the world’s best marketers in the room. Brand Innovators @ Lamberts.
Maybe it was the Bloody Marys for breakfast, but the tone and tenor of the conversations I watched felt different too: less clout chasing, shiny-new thing praising and more focus on the power of the fundamentals of brand building. Recognising that there are no short cuts to becoming an iconic brand, but it takes more bravery, risk and creative practices to get there and stay there in the modern marketplace.
Here are some moments of timeless wisdom alongside some timely advice that I heard along the way.
You build the mythology, they tell the stories
“Nothing that you do will work as hard for you as the advocacy of a third party”
One emergent theme was that calling brand marketers the storytellers isn’t really accurate in the modern age. We are now world builders, the definers of the spirit and soul of the brand, but it is the people who love us that hold the power of telling our story through their lens.
That means we have to cede some control of the narrative and be more flexible with where and how we believe our brands can show up in the world.
To me, this suggests that we need new frameworks that break the rigidity of the brand key / brand onion…’ and instead create a strategy that operates more as a compass - a directional, ever-evolving reference point which defines our universe, but doesn’t micro-manage the journey.
Partnership is the new leadership
“No brand is an island anymore”
That partnerships are an absolutely critical piece of the marketing puzzle has never been more obvious. When everyone has seen everything, unexpected creative connections are one of our only remaining ways to jolt consumers out of their ‘seen it’ slumber.
El Pollo Loco at HypeBeast golf - sure, why not?
But getting these right isn’t just a matter of picking up the phone. The real challenge is to identify the strategy to build the right partnership to open up new audiences and tell new stories, and the creativity to execute them in ways that surprise and shine.
Boredom is the enemy, personal is the answer
We are all in the business of interrupting people”
Whether it’s B2B or bleeding edge nutrition, there is simply no room to be boring anymore. Playing it safe is in fact the biggest risk you take. As one marketer put it, “you have to take more swings and try more things”. You have to trust your emotional gut to create more emotional connections. I particularly loved how more than a few brands were building more meaningful emotional connections by showing up in local communities, meeting consumers where they’re at, and providing value versus selling it.
Again, this is a space that needs strategy. How are you constantly creating and delivering new and interesting, of the moment messages in context and being a part of the right cultural conversations?
Much food for thought. Thanks Brand Innovators, and to all of the fantastic speakers.
And if you are interested in hearing about our ‘Culture Compass’ product, which is built to deliver on the challenges above, please get in touch! enquiry@beentheredonethat.co
Tom Donohue,
Strategy Director at BeenThereDoneThat
Hi, it's Hollie here.
The creative industry idolizes youth like it’s the secret ingredient to creativity.
Actually, scratch that.
The WHOLE WORLD idolizes youth.
Lately, I've been thinking about how obsessed we are with staying young. I just watched The Substance with Demi Moore. Have you seen it?
Give me an activator to get my 21-year-old body back, and I’d pay a fortune for it. But like all these promises of youth, it comes with a cost.
So, instead of chasing youth, I’d rather celebrate what comes with age.
History proves that creativity isn’t confined to youth. Some of the greatest creative minds did their best work well into their 50s, 60s, and beyond — Matisse reinventing art with his cut-outs in his late 60s, Frank Lloyd Wright designing the Guggenheim at 91, Maya Angelou publishing poetry into her 80s.
Yet in advertising, if you’re over 40, you start to feel like milk edging towards its expiration date.
Out of date and out of touch.
So, when does that creeping sensation start?
The one where you feel yourself fermenting, curdling, sitting on the shelf with a giant ‘Reduced to Clear’ sticker slapped on your forehead?
Well, I can tell you, I’m nearing 40, and even typing that feels like an out-of-body experience. Like those numbers belong to someone else.
Not me. Surely not me.
I feel the fear creeping in, the same fear I’ve watched so many older creatives I know wrestle with.
Because to be honest, have you ever seen a woman over 50 in your creative department who wasn’t an ECD or CCO?
No? I didn’t think so.
I once (yes, once) worked with an incredible woman, a non-c-suite creative who defied the odds.
Until doomsday came.
Not actual death. Just another round of layoffs.
She, like so many others, was quietly phased out. Left to navigate the abyss of freelance.
How Do We Flip the Script?
What if, instead of treating age and experience like a liability, we could get people to see it as a creative superpower?
There’s a tired narrative that younger creatives are here to replace us. That’s nonsense.
The best work comes from intergenerational teams, but we need the chance to prove it.
So here come the stats…
The Data is Clear
- Age-diverse teams outperform homogeneous ones.
- A Harvard Business Review study found that companies with mixed-age leadership teams generate better financial returns and more innovative ideas.
- Investor's Business Daily found that older adults often excel in making connections between diverse concepts and synthesizing ideas, leveraging their extensive experience to drive innovation.
Why? Because experience and fresh perspectives fuel each other.
I genuinely love learning from young creatives. I absorb their energy, ideas, and new ways of thinking.
And I know that the speed and efficiency of being older isn’t at odds with them — it complements them.
The truth is that the lack of over 40s in the creative department is that most creatives don’t leave full-time jobs by choice. They get nudged out.
Enter your golden era.
One day, you’re a celebrated creative. Next, you’re a LinkedIn post about exploring "exciting new opportunities."
And here’s the thing: freelance at 40+ isn’t exile, it can be power.
Because the good news is, it turns out that clients are loving it. A 2023 survey by Upwork found that 36% of creative freelancers are over 40, and that number is rising.
Why?
Well, clients want experienced problem solvers who can skip the bureaucracy and get things done. The industry’s age bias is fueling a golden era of freelance and independent agencies, one where older creatives hold the power.
If we genuinely value creativity, we need to back it up with action. That means hiring, promoting, and retaining older creatives, not just applauding them after they’ve been forced out.
But What Can We Do Now?
✅ We can challenge the industry’s ageism.
✅ Continue to highlight the power of intergenerational teams.
✅ Demand that agencies treat long-serving creatives with the respect they deserve.
✅ Reframe freelance at 40+ as a strategic career move — not a fallback.
Cannes might hand you a lifetime achievement award if you’re lucky.
But your agency will quietly phase you out before you turn 50.
Creativity doesn’t expire.
But the industry’s outdated attitudes?
They went sour while we were all busy freelancing.
Hollie Fraser,
Freelance Creative Director, Talent Curator + Connector at We Are Shelance, Freelance Mentor
Further reading:
The Substance official Trailer
Statistics show that diverse teams outperform homogeneous teams
Top Innovators Are Never Too Old To Push The Envelope
Welcome to BeenThereDoneThat - Built Different. A series where we explore how industry leaders are challenging conventional wisdom and thinking differently to overcome their latest, greatest challenges.
In each episode of the series we pose three questions to our guests:
- What’s the biggest current challenge that’s forcing you to think differently?
- What’s the biggest aha moment or fresh wisdom you’ve picked up on that journey to date?
- What has been the single most effective practical step you’ve taken so far?
Hi, it's Saul here.
What is the biggest threat or opportunity for business right now?
My hunch is that outside geo-political challenges, the majority of people asked are going to say something involving AI.
Seeing technology as the main disruptive force is not a new thing, even before the arrival of ChatGPT and its like, the world of business was already obsessed with ‘disruptive innovation’.
Technology, we are told, presents the ultimate challenge for existing companies trying to stay in the game, or, the greatest weapon for founders seeking to change the way the game is played.
Technology is only as disruptive as the beliefs that shape it
This blinds us to the truth: The really disruptive businesses often use new technology, but they will always use unconventional beliefs and thinking.
If you look at the poster children of disruptive innovation, Uber and Airbnb: their technology wasn’t particularly new or disruptive, it was already being used in different ways and in different places long before they integrated it. This is true of their payment systems, in how they delivered peer to peer reviews and ratings, their tracking capabilities and beyond.
The technology was critical, it inspired new thinking, but it was their ability to question fundamental assumptions that enabled them to see what others couldn’t, so they could attempt to create value that others had not.
It was their maverick beliefs that created a potential new theory of value that they could then interrogate and try and deliver on, often through technology, not the other way around.
It was Airbnb’s ability to see latent room capacity in every home and every home owner that transformed where we stay when we are away from home. It was Uber’s ability to see a potential taxi in every driver and every car that revolutionised point to point travel.
The real problem: chronic strategic blindness
It is here we find the biggest problem for long term business success: strategic blind spots.
The most pervasive one seems to be what O’Reilly & Tushman call the ‘Success Syndrome’.
This is where the higher performing an organisation is, the stronger the systems to keep them doing what has made them successful in the past are: The KPI’s, the reward systems, the culture, is all designed to exploit what they are currently good at.
What that means is that their way of being is grounded in conventional wisdom. This makes it harder for them to explore what they might need to do to make money differently in the future. They are often very innovative but in an incremental way, in smaller optimisations of the dominant design of an industry. Not the kind of radical leaps that can disrupt that dominant design and catch them off guard (Hotels and Airbnb, Taxi companies and Uber).
Or, they do make radical leaps but then aren’t able to effectively commercialise it. Because the rest of the business is built for the old way of doing things, they can’t see how it fits with who and what they currently are: ask Kodak who invented digital photography, but then the likes of Sony Cybershot owned the new category, not them.
A new theory of value: The ability to see value others can’t, by thinking what others don’t
So how can companies consistently think differently, and how can they then integrate the new beliefs that emerge into what currently exists?
I use an approach inspired by Professor Todd Zenger’s brilliant ‘Theory of your firm’ thinking, then shaped by my own Oxford work and experiences working with companies large and small all over the world.
You need 5 ‘Sights’ and Convictions:
It first asks what the Job To Be Done is: What is the customer trying to do, independent of any solution.
Hindsight: What are the conventional thinking and beliefs that define current solutions? What do most people believe?
Foresight: What new theories of value can we see that others haven’t? What are credible alternative beliefs? (This is not easy; it requires looking for ‘Workarounds’ and going back to First principles: more on this in the ‘Maverick Model’ link below).
Insight: What capabilities do we have inside that can uniquely deliver on this new theory of value?
Out-sight: What additional capabilities, currently outside, might need to be in place in the future?
Oversight: How does this all fit together into a cohesive whole? How do we organise ourselves?
Each of these sights flows to the next so that they form a coherent new value driving theory. One that is powerful in the day to day, but also able to evolve to match the changing world around it.
Convictions: how to capture what the company believes is the way the category, industry, discipline can be with its new approach. It must light the fire (people find motivating) and also light the way (people know what to do).
Sense-Shape-Seize: Lastly, these Sights and Convictions are always in beta, are willing and able to - Sense: changes in the environment, in technology, in culture, in customer needs and competition. Then Shape: a response to that change. Then Seize: on that challenge or opportunity in a timely manner (before someone else does it for them).
It is why the whole system, and especially the Convictions, are held firmly in the moment but loosely over time.
Saul Betmead de Chasteigner,
Strategy & Innovation Consultant, Executive Coach and Associate Fellow at Said Business School, University of Oxford.
Further reading:
Strategy Masters Series: Maverick Innovation Model
Lessons from Oxford: The shape of a winning business strategy.
Argumentation, the engine of innovation and growth.
What Is the Theory of Your Firm?
Hi, it's Teigan here.
What do Oprah Winfrey, Rebel Wilson, James Corden, Elon Musk, Sharon Osbourne and rapper Fat Joe have in common? Besides being famous, they’re just a handful of celebrities that have admitted to taking Ozempic - the infamous weight loss drug now synonymous with a growing class of GLP-1 medications, including Saxenda, Victoza, Wegovy, and Trulicity, with more racing to enter the market.
Introduced in 2005 to help treat diabetes, by 2023, over 30% of new GLP-1 users in the U.S. were purely for weight-loss or preventative use. And while users are still disproportionately in higher income American households, earning on average $150k or more, these drugs are no longer just for the rich and famous. About 7 million Americans are currently taking these medications, and that number could hit 24 million by 2035, according to Morgan Stanley.
Growing up in Seattle, I felt privileged to have access to healthy food, yet I can’t remember a time where managing my weight wasn’t something in the back (or front!) of my mind. Clearly, I’m not alone. So, it begs the question…how did we get here? And what are the implications of how and what we eat in the future?
Ultraprocessed food and the effects of GLP-1 drugs
Since the 1980s, obesity in the US has soared, with three-quarters of Americans now classified as either overweight or obese. While previous hypotheses pointed the finger at overeating, energy intake and energy available have remained steady since 2000:
(National Library of Medicine)
Scientists, politicians and consumers are now pointing the finger at one thing - ultraprocessed food. A simple explanation of this category is “anything edible you can’t make in your own kitchen if you tried”. (The Daily, A Turning Point for Ultraprocessed Foods)
By the 1980s, 60% of the food supply in America was classified as ultraprocessed, and now it is estimated at over 70%. There are a couple of major reasons why ultraprocessed food is being attributed to rapid weight gain:
- When we eat minimally or unprocessed food, our gut bacteria consume around 22% of the energy through the digestion process, whereas with ultraprocess food, our bodies soak up 100% of the calories.
- Our brains are also wired to crave this type of food. Addiction scientists have coined the term “hyperpalatable” - food that has a high level of at least two nutrients (e.g. high in salt and fat, fat and sugar, etc.) which doesn't normally occur in nature.
So, why does this matter with the intake of GLP-1 drugs?
We’re seeing that it’s not just people eating less, but eating differently. GLP-1 receptors are found in the hypothalamus, which is the area that signals fullness. But perhaps more interesting, they’re also found in our reptilian desire circuitry, involved in addictive behaviors that trigger our brain’s dopamine reward system.
By helping regulate the release of dopamine, many people taking drugs like Ozempic are sharing a loss of interest in ultraprocessed food, reporting an unpleasant taste and mouthfeel. Instead, they’re opting for fresh produce and yogurt. As one user said, “I just started to realize strawberries taste wonderful by themselves.”
With 7% of America currently on Ozempic and intake accelerating across the UK and Europe (most notably Denmark, home of Novo Nordisk), this may have some companies rejoicing, and others wondering…what comes next? With some forecasts predicting up to 10% of Americans could be on Ozempic by 2030 and intake accelerating across the UK and Europe (most notably Denmark, home of Novo Nordisk), this may have some companies rejoicing, and others wondering…what comes next?
An opportunity for innovation
As the saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention, and perhaps this will be the push needed to fuel the next wave of breakthrough innovation in food & drink.
According to Mintel’s report on “The Role of Innovation in the Future of CPG,” the first half of 2024 had the lowest proportion of innovation since it began tracking new products in 1996. Within this, innovation within food and beverage has declined the most:
Coupled with steady price increases, big brands are continuing to face growing competition through private-label and challenger brands as the innovation cycle accelerates through AI.
“The rise of AI means bigger CPG brands are now operating in a ‘real-time world’. Innovation cycles that previously took years can now take just months, and algorithms can make sense of a dizzying array of new digital data points as they happen. As a result, bigger brands need to become more agile and faster to win the race for ‘white space’.” (Mintel, The Role of Innovation in the Future of the CPG Industry)
As these medications challenge our relationship with ultraprocessed foods, it opens the door for big brands to ride the tailwinds of these cultural shifts and emerging technology into new spaces, e.g.:
- Updated flavor profiles to adapt to new palettes
- Smaller portions to cater to diminishing meal size
- Enriched snacks to ensure sufficient intake of key vitamins and minerals
- Expanding into fresh food
We’re still at the early stages of understand long-term implications of how GLP-1 will impact our shopping and dietary needs, but for food and beverage companies, it could be an opportunity to reshape the future of the industry. I’m excited to see (and taste) what comes next.
Interested in learning more about our culture-first approach to innovation? Please reach out to enquiry@beentheredonethat.co.
Teigan Henry
Director at BeenThereDoneThat
Further reading:
Ozempic Could Crush the Junk Food Industry. But It Is Fighting Back.
A turning point for Ultra processed foods
Perspective: Obesity—an unexplained epidemic
The Role of Innovation in the Future of the CPG Industry
Hi, it's Dan here.
(Please note! This article is not designed to be ideological. The intention is to try and capture the sense of a changing dynamic, and discuss what this means for brands going forward).
Reshaping the political and cultural landscape
Mr. Trump has been back in the White House for about a month. I think most could agree that his administration is rapidly reshaping the political landscape, in ways that extend far beyond Washington.
The argument here is that Trump’s return to prominence as the driving force of American Conservatism signals more than just a shift in rhetoric and policy.
Amplified massively by social media, MAGA is also driving a cultural reset, in which nationalism, traditionalism and economic populism extend beyond the realm of political positions, to become a part of consumers’ identities. This means that the playbook is changing, not just for politicians, but for the media, and any institution that engages the public. And brands too.
This is already a market reality for companies whose products no longer seem to operate in a neutral space. The political, cultural, and economic divides in America—and beyond—will force brands to rethink who they serve, how they communicate, and what they stand for.
The merging of brand and political values
Trump's brand of leadership embraces conflict: the language is often “Us vs. Them”. Globalists versus nationalists, elites versus working people, liberals versus traditionalists. This plays well in the ‘attention economy’ where increasingly brands are being pulled into this polarisation - whether they like it or not.
We’ve already seen recent manifestations of this. Bud Light’s short-lived partnership with a transgender influencer led to conservatives launching a nationwide boycott. Target faced similar backlash over its Pride collection. Oatly is too ‘woke’ a brand for some. Meanwhile, companies like Chick-fil-A and Goya Foods have benefited from leaning in to conservative values. The MyPillow founder has a regular slot on Steve Bannon’s War Room!
I’m sure consumers will continue to choose products and brands based on price, quality, features and so on. But attributes have always played a role too, and ideology or political-leaning is increasingly going to be a part of brand image and hence consumer decision making.
What Trump 2.0 means for brands
With the Trump Administration influencing the cultural conversation globally, brands will need to navigate a shifting landscape. Here’s four things I can imagine over the next few years:
- Polarisation as the default setting
The idea that brands can “stay neutral” is fading. Whether it’s social issues, corporate responsibility, or even platform choices (think X under Elon Musk), companies need to accept that most decisions can and will be politicised. The question is not whether to engage, but how to manage the fallout when you do. Joining Blue Sky for example will be seen as a brand action.
- DEI and ESG Reckoning
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) and Environmental, Social, & Governance (ESG) initiatives are (very publicly) under pressure. Republican-led states are pushing anti-ESG policies, while conservatives are rallying against companies seen as too “woke.” Companies that built their brand identity around progressive values will need to decide: double down, adapt, or step back? The wrong move could alienate stakeholders, or worse, the Federal Government! We can see which way Zuckerberg has gone already. How will an activist brand like Ben & Jerry’s respond? And it’s not just the US. In the UK, for example, BP is publicly rowing back from the Green Transition (‘It’s And, not Or”)! Less equivocal than ‘Drill Baby, Drill’...but still a shift to the Right.
- Brands acting more like media companies
Elon Musk has demonstrated that direct, unfiltered communication is a hugely powerful tool in shaping public perception. Legacy media (and traditional advertising) no longer controls the narrative. Social media, influencers, and brand-led content dominate mindshare. To cut through brands will increasingly seek to act more like media companies, controlling their message rather than relying on outside platforms to do it for them. Brands who understand how to win will increasingly seek to own or dominate their own channels. (Examples here are brands aligning very effectively to podcasts with a good strategic fit, or the way Liquid Death has generated huge noise around their viral, sharable content ).
- More emphasis on consumer nationalism
“America First” economic policies are back, and that means expectations around domestic manufacturing, supply chains and corporate loyalty will change. Brands that lean into American identity—whether through sourcing, messaging, or direct alignment with populist values—may find themselves rewarded by conservative consumers. But brands that are seen as “outsourcing” jobs will be targets for scrutiny. If Trump’s tariffs materialise then this will become a global issue: maybe even Made in Britain will make a comeback!
How should brands respond?
The challenge for brands in the Trump 2.0 era is going to be about understanding how consumers (in the US and globally) are internalising the populist / conservative world-view. Brands need to make strategic decisions about where to engage and where to stay quiet.
- If a brand has built its reputation on progressive values, it needs to be ready for pushback, and to have a clear strategy to deal with it
- If a brand wants to be neutral, it must tread carefully, avoiding knee-jerk responses to cultural moments that may alienate
- If a brand chooses to align with conservative values, it should do so authentically: consumers can spot opportunism a mile off
To close, maybe we can say that Trump 2.0 feels like something more than politics as usual. If so, then it’s a cultural shift that we can’t ignore. Brands need to think about what they now stand for, and be strategic and intentional about how and where they engage as they navigate the new normal.
Dan Read
Doer of innovation
Further reading:
Divided We Shop: How the Brands We Buy Reflect Our Political Preferences
Leading with Corporate Purpose amidst DEI and ESG Backlash
2024 Edelman Trust Barometer - Special Report: Brand and Politics – Edelman
How CEOs Can Navigate a Polarized World
Hi, it's Ben here.
Is death inevitable? Some scientists are challenging the conventional wisdom that death is the only certainty in life. And some Silicon Valley types are throwing serious cash at the problem.
But, as with almost everything, it’s a case of defining the problem properly. We might not all want to live forever. But the emerging field of longevity science is uncovering insights that can help us all live longer and, crucially, live more enjoyably, especially in our latter decades.
And hey – it’s February. If we’re going to talk about death, we might as well do it during the season sponsored by doom and gloom. So here’s the question for today: how much control do we actually have over when we kick the bucket?
Netflix’s Don’t Die elaborates the more extreme end of longevity science. Bryan Johnson gets up at 4:30am, takes over 100 pills a day, eats mostly brussel sprouts and is so healthy that images of his rectum have gone viral.
If this doesn’t appeal, Dr. Peter Attia might have some more applicable advice for you. If you’ll allow me to summarise his entire work into a single word, it’s exercise. Nothing can improve your life expectancy more than fitness. Just two and a half hours per week can increase your life by seven whole years.
In the words of Dr. Attia, ‘Exercise is the king of interventions. [It] has a greater impact on your life span and your health span than any of the other [ways to increase life expectancy].’ More than smoking or type two diabetes, for instance.
Of course, it's terribly annoying when the data tells us that hard work beats quick hacks. But such is life.
There are, of course, easier ways to live a long and healthy life. Moving to Sardinia works brilliantly, according to the data. A renowned Blue Zone, where the number of centenarians is unusually high, the data shows a correlation between how steep a village is and how long its inhabitants live. A ten minute walk up the hill to church most days is enough to measurably extend your days. And completely irradiate dementia, as the data seems to say. So many of these Blue Zones have little to no dementia at all. Residents live long, purposeful, active lives and their brains keep up.
So why does all this matter?
Well it turns out that sweatiness, as opposed to cleanliness, is next to godliness. Exercise is everything we need to do to keep the Grim Reaper at bay. Everything else falls into place, post workout.
I hope you enjoyed this foray into the fascinating world of longevity science. Please get in touch if it’s at all interesting to you.
Ben Mason
Independent Marketing Strategist and Co-founder & CEO of Athlete
PS. Longevity is now much more than a hobby to me. Six months ago I launched a startup called Athlete. Life insurance for people who workout. The fitter you are, the less you pay. It felt weird that the very companies who invest in our life expectancy were failing to measure its single biggest indicator. We take the data from your watch or phone and turn it into as much as a 50% discount on your premium. And our longevity coaching app will help you hone your exercise routines, all in the name of more, better years on the clock. Please do get in touch if this floats your boat.
Further reading:
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