Call To Action

This week we led Lucky Saint’s Head of Brand, Emily Laws, not into temptation but into Call To Action's recording studio.With marketing chops spanning a decade in brand management, PR, and brand activation, Emily is currently breaking rules and honouring traditions at the helm of the UK’s Number 1 Dedicated Alcohol-Free Beer.We get in a round of tantalising topics, including her first jobs selling shoes and speaking French, how The Yorkshire Post dashed her dreams, Flat Eric, behaving like an iconic brand, not doing ‘new’ for new’s sake, using brand codes with fresh consistency, why they don’t talk about hangovers, riding the alcohol-free wave and cracking on with whatever data you have (or don’t have), the tattoo test, and loads more. If you’re a fan of Lucky Saint or simply proper marketing, pour this into your ear holes. /////Follow Emily on LinkedIn Here’s Lucky Saint And their Marylebone pub, The Lucky Saint Timestamps(01:44) - Quick fire questions(02:45) - First jobs, speaking French, and dashed dreams of being a journalist (10:20) - Brand codes and behaving like an iconic brand (15:20) - Not giving in to the pressure to always bring something new (18:45) - How attitudes to alcohol-free are changing (21:10) - Research, data, and wrong assumptions (33:40) - Staying humble and being market-oriented (48:50) - Listener questions (54:59) - 4 pertinent posers  Emily’s book recommendations are: The Making of a Manager by Julie ZhuoDamn Good Advice by George Lois Alchemy by Rory SutherlandThe 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene /////

This week, ​​in a world where most businesses blend together like a briefcase filled with slightly smaller briefcases, we’re seeking out the business leaders who are standing out in their sector, and doing things very much their own way.Mind Your Business is the sponsored spin-off of Call to Action® that gives inspiring, unusual or simply very likeable businesses a chance to share their story. It’s like reading a business book with the word ‘guru’ in the title, with the single but vital exception that it won’t make you do a little sick in your mouth.This is the third and final episode of a special, three-part, series with Startle. A talented tech company curating music for brands looking to deliver customer experiences within spaces spanning retail, hospitality and beyond. Whether you’re a food operator looking to get customers chewing faster, a retailer wanting to get shoppers shopping longer, or simply a fan of behavioural science and its application across a range of industries, press play to find out why the music sounds better with Startle.For the encore, we’ve got the band back together with Adam Castleton, CEO, James Picken, Creative Director, and Magnus Linn, Playlist Manager, belting out their favourite behavioural science hits, like expectancy theory and the peak end rule, before facing a ton of tough posers from people in the industry.   If you listened to Episode 1 and 2, jump to [02:50] to skip the recap and get straight into Episode 3. /////Check out Startle, Adam, Magnus, and James on LinkedIn.Here’s Startle’s first-of-its-kind book, Atmospheres That Sell. And find out what happened when Startle handed out free air guitars at Nudgestock. Timestamps: (01:12) - An introduction to Startle, Adam, Magnus, and James(02:50) - If you listened to Episode 1 and 3, jump here to skip the recap and get straight into Episode 3.    (03:20) - A quick lesson in expectancy theory  (06:54) - How to manage first impressions at scale (08:25) - Brands doing it well and the power of a balloon (10:57) - Peak end rule and playing musical scrabble  (15:25) - Questions from people in the industry  (15:40) - Is there one playlist that does it best? (23:00) - Should you let employees play their favourites? (27:28) - How the weight of cutlery impacts how you perceive your meal (30:28) - Wrap up /////This episode of Call to Action® is sponsored. Got a business we could stick our sponsored spinoff shaped nose into next? Email calltoaction@gasp.agency. 

This week, ​​in a world where most businesses blend together like a briefcase filled with slightly smaller briefcases, we’re seeking out the business leaders who are standing out in their sector, and doing things very much their own way.Mind Your Business is the sponsored spin-off of Call to Action® that gives inspiring, unusual or simply very likeable businesses a chance to share their story. It’s like reading a business book with the word ‘guru’ in the title, with the single but vital exception that it won’t make you do a little sick in your mouth.This is the second episode of a three part series with Startle. A talented tech company curating music for brands looking to deliver customer experiences within spaces spanning retail, hospitality and beyond. Whether you’re a food operator looking to get customers chewing faster, a retailer wanting to get shoppers shopping longer, or simply a fan of behavioural science and its application across a range of industries, press play to find out why the music sounds better with Startle.For Episode 2, we've caught a Startle BOGOF of Magnus Linn, Playlist Manager, and James Picken, Creative Director, to shoot the breeze on how music can influence every aspect of how we behave, why you shouldn’t view music solely as an entertainment service, the science of sound, boosting bass to sell more Rolexes, dealing with a constantly changing context, how to use music to say something about your brand, and tons more. If you listened to Episode 1, jump to [02:50] to skip the recap and get straight into Episode 2. /////Check out Startle, Magnus, and James on LinkedIn.Here’s Startle’s first-of-its-kind book, Atmospheres That Sell. And find out what happened when Startle handed out free air guitars at Nudgestock. Timestamps: (01:12) - An introduction to Startle, Magnus, and James(02:50) - If you listened to Episode 1, jump here to skip the recap and get straight into Episode 2.    (03:20) - The power of music to influence every aspect of our lives (06:45) - How brands can use music as an atmospheric tool (09:24) - The pitfalls of seeing music solely as an entertainment service(15:26) - The science of sound and why boosting the bass could sell more Rolexes (19:18) - The role of context (28:40) - A teaser for Part 3 /////This episode of Call to Action® is sponsored. Got a business we could stick our sponsored spinoff shaped nose into next? Email calltoaction@gasp.agency. 

This week, ​​in a world where most businesses blend together like a briefcase filled with slightly smaller briefcases, we’re seeking out the business leaders who are standing out in their sector, and doing things very much their own way.Mind Your Business is the sponsored spin-off of Call to Action® that gives inspiring, unusual or simply very likeable businesses a chance to share their story. It’s like reading a business book with the word ‘guru’ in the title, with the single but vital exception that it won’t make you do a little sick in your mouth.This is the first episode of a three part series with Startle. A talented tech company curating music for brands looking to deliver customer experiences within spaces spanning retail, hospitality and beyond. Whether you’re a food operator looking to get customers chewing faster, a retailer wanting to get shoppers shopping longer, or simply a fan of behavioural science and its application across a range of industries, press play to find out why the music sounds better with Startle.For this first episode, we’ve caught Adam Castleton, Startle’s CEO and self-confessed lead singer who can’t sing, to riff on his first job in charge of a rollercoaster, being an anti-tech tech founder, the magic of subtlety in tech, how Startle designs the perfect atmosphere, Startle’s book to help harness heuristics and biases in retail and hospitality, handing out free air guitars, why you shouldn’t play music people like, and loads more. /////Check out Startle and Adam on LinkedIn.Here’s Startle’s first-of-its-kind book, Atmospheres That Sell. And find out what happened when Startle handed out free air guitars at Nudgestock. Timestamps: (01:12) - An introduction to Startle and Adam (02:43) - His first job in charge of a rollercoaster and his passion for the intersection of leisure, humans and tech    (04:38) - An idea in the pub 5 years ago and how Startle came to be(10:44) - Startle in a nutshell  (12:47) - Startle’s behavioural science book for retail and hospitality (15:26) - Where background music providers have go wrong and the importance of intent(21:50) - Thinking about your customers’ mood(29:10) - Handing out free air guitars at Nudgestock(30:30) - A teaser for Part 2 /////This episode of Call to Action® is sponsored. Got a business we could stick our sponsored spinoff shaped nose into next? Email calltoaction@gasp.agency.

This week we travelled home and away to catch Tourism Australia’s Chief Marketing Officer, Susan Coghill.  Using the power of creativity to build brands, drive business, and shape culture, Susan is a proper marketer tasked with tempting tourists to the land of kangaroos and Kylie.  And we were lucky, lucky, lucky enough to talk to her on a ton of topics, including her first job at a retirement home, working with Steve Jobs, understanding context, creativity in service of commercial outcomes, brand codes as a mental shortcut, testing, Come and Say G’Day, silencing critics, creating something distinctly and uniquely Australian, managing 27 million stakeholders, and a whole lot more. If it’s a celebration of proper marketing you want, then pour this into your lug holes.  ///// Follow Susan on LinkedIn  And check out Come and Say G’Day Timestamps (02:08) - Quick fire questions (03:17) - First jobs, what she learnt working in a retirement home, and getting into ad land (08:12) - Being a part of Apple’s Think Different campaign and what Steve Jobs asked her opinion on   (13:00) - Account management, being a creative enabler, and what set her up for success client side  (18:14) - Speaking the language of the boardroom and Ritson’s Mini MBA   (20:49) - A deep dive into Tourism Australia’s Come and Say G’day campaign (25:55) - Using research and brand codes to create something distinctly and uniquely Australian   (32:26) - Testing in Australia and beyond with System 1  (39:52) - Listener questions  (47:41) - 4 pertinent posers  Susan’s book recommendation is:  Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara  /////

This week, we followed the HERDmeister to find and catch behavioural science buff, Mark Earls. Dubbed by DO Lectures as “Britain’s answer to Malcolm Gladwell…without the hair”, Mark is a prolific thinker, recovering account planner and best-selling writer. We shoot the breeze on the intimidatingly smart Paul Feldwick, being public enemy no. 1 in the eyes of market research, why we’re not individuals, copying, learning Welsh, what he’s optimistic about in the industry and tons more. In fact, we had to stop and reload a few times to take aim at bollocks brain scans and infantilising the creative genius, before wrangling a stampede of listener questions. What an episode./////Find Mark on LinkedIn and Twitter  Check out HERD HQGet your mitts on all Mark’s books:Copy, Copy, Copy Herd Creative Superpowers Welcome to the Creative Age Here’s Strands of Genius guest curated by Giles And ISOLATED Talks If that wasn’t enough, keep an eye out for chances to catch Mark IRL at upcoming The Marketing Society events Timestamps(01:48) - Quick fire questions(02:44) - First jobs, being a tour guide and working with Paul Feldwick   (08:38) - Becoming a behavioural science geek (aka becoming HERDmeister)(17:17) - Why we’re wrong to think of ourselves as individuals (22:00) - Stop overlooking the influence of culture  (36:32) - Copying and the value of creative triage (48:13) - A shed load of listener questions (53:50) - Why brain scans are bollocks (1:07:07) - How being a lover of both language and languages helps him understand people, communication and culture (cc Lisl Macdonald) (1:31:12) - 4 pertinent posers  Mark’s book recommendations are: Why the Germans Do it Better by John KampfnerThe Invention of Tradition by Eric Hobsbawn Hooligan by Geoffrey Pearson Books by Jhumpa Lahiri From the Diary of a Snail by Günter Grass/////

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. ///// 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 /////

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. /////Follow Paul on LinkedIn Sign up for the Contagious newsletter Check out Contagious IQHere’s his book The Contagious Commandments Bag a seat at Most Contagious London 2023 on 7 DecemberAnd 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 ShottonHow Not to Plan by Les Binet and Sarah CarterHow Brands Grow by Byron Sharp Anatomy of Humbug by Paul FeldwickShy by Max Porter /////

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./////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 /////

This week, we cast a spell of double double toil and trouble and caught the pair from Burst Your Bubble; it’s Andrew Tenzer and Ian Murray. The duo behind a treasure trove of award-winning research on the culture of marketing, Andrew and Ian have recently launched a radical new consultancy powered by the art and science of perspective-taking. There’s no eye of newt or toe of frog in this cauldron of conversation topics, but the duo turned up the heat on studying politics, when their paths first crossed, monkeys, bananas, and pandas, provocative research, why Ian is sickened by the idea of the ‘London bubble’, spotting bad research, whether the ad industry is left-leaning (h/t Steve Harrison), banning the word insight, and lots more. /////Follow Andrew and Ian on LinkedInCheck out Burst Your Bubble Here's their workshop on research for open thinkersRead why we shouldn’t trust our gut instinctAnd listen to our episode with Steve Harrison for good measureTimestamps(02:08) - Quick fire questions (02:54) - Andrew’s first jobs, failed music career, and how he got into research (07:54) - What happened when Ian followed what interested him(13:43) - Their first joint research piece on gut instinct (16:31) - How marketers compare to the rest of the population when it comes to taking notice of context(28:01) - The Myth of the ‘London Bubble’ and why it sickens Ian(33:39) - Their new consultancy Burst Your Bubble(40:31) - Listener questions (47:12) - 4 pertinent posers  Andrew and Ian’s book recommendations are: The Road to Somewhere by David Goodhart The Righteous Mind by Jonathan HaidtLemon by Orlando WoodLook Out by Orlando WoodDecoded by Phil Barden Obliquity by John Kay Feminism for the 99% by Nancy Fraser The Old is Dying and the New Cannot Be Born by Nancy FraserEditor’s Note: Steven Lacey, mentioned by Ian in this episode, has been in touch to clarify his stance on the 'London Bubble'. Steven concurs entirely with Ian and Andrew’s viewpoint that the London Bubble is a myth. For his full response, see here. /////