Podcast · Business
by Mark Pollard · English · Business
How do you get good at strategy? Whether you’re into brand strategy, advertising strategy, digital strategy, social media strategy, or you just love doing strategy but you get frustrated at how people use the word, Sweathead will help you delve into the practices and minds of some of the world’s mos
25 Mar 2026 · 50 min
Join me as I take you on some of my trips. And follow me at http://www.instagram.com/markpollard For details about upcoming events and company training, visit http://www.sweathead.com
13 Nov 2025 · 39 min
Find out about our upcoming conference and classes at http://www.sweathead.com Follow Mark here: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard
4 Nov 2025 · 48 min
To find out more about our conference The Sweathead Do-Together and my upcoming masterclasses in Africa and the Middle East, visit: http://www.sweathead.com Follow me on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard
25 Sep 2025 · 50 min
Watch this on the new Sweathead YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/cqUmFaJ6Af4 It's part of our new series Brains On Brands. Sydney Sweeney and American Eagle dropped one of the most talked-about ads of the year. In this video, we break down why the campaign is controversial what it says about celebrity marketing, and what strategists, creatives, and brands can learn from it. Featuring: Amira Barger - EVP, Edelman http://www.instagram.com/amirabarger Anastasia Kārkliņa Gabriel - Culture Expert http://www.instagram.com/anastasiakgabriel Lola Bakare - CMO Advisor…
6 Sep 2025 · 31 min
Many thanks to Chris Do from The Futur and Rakaa from Dilated Peoples from this impromptu walk around Los Angeles. You can find them here: http://www.instagram.com/thechrisdo http://www.instagram.com/therealrakaa Come to our annual conference --> The Sweathead Do-Together happens online and in Chicago and New York this November, 2025: https://sweathead.com/the-sweathead-do-together/ My newish YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@markpollardstrategyfriend Follow along on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard http://www.instagram.com/sweathead
14 Aug 2025 · 59 min
Follow along for the real-time version of these: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard
9 Jun 2025 · 33 min
Find out about our upcoming summer camp and masterclasses at http://www.sweathead.com Follow us at http://www.instagram.com/markpollard http://www.instagram.com/sweathead
31 Mar 2025 · 34 min
For details about our upcoming classes, visit: http://www.sweathead.com Chicago, NYC, Barcelona, Madrid, Lisbon, Amsterdam, Bucharest, Prague, and more. Find Mark here: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard
27 Feb 2025 · 39 min
Watch us discuss all of this here on YouTube: https://youtu.be/IAp_TsXrG7Q?si=OeGELRvjHM8FPNG9 - The USA vs the UK - US clients vs UK clients - Doing creative work in Corporate America - The good and not good things about New York City Strategy events and classes: http://www.sweathead.com
24 Feb 2025 · 20 min
This interview comes from Part 2 of my YouTube series about surviving New York City, especially the Corporate America parts. Jason has worked at Energy BBDO, Huge, and Amazon. He recently documented his leaving of Amazon. We discuss: - Why he did this - What he's learned from working in NYC - Being an introvert in Corporate America And more. Watch us discuss all of this on The High Line: https://youtu.be/IAp_TsXrG7Q?si=OeGELRvjHM8FPNG9 Jason: http://www.instagram.com/jason_swet Mark: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard Strategy events and classes: http://www.sweathead.com
18 Feb 2025 · 35 min
Watch my first raw travel YouTube video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0josxmlLCKU&t=1437s It features strategists and friends Julian Cole and Jack Appleby. I also take you on a tour of NYC and share what the city has taught me. Julian: https://www.instagram.com/juliancole.strategy/ Jack: https://www.instagram.com/jackapplebyny/ Mark: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard Strategy training (including our events in LATAM in March/April 2025): http://www.sweathead.com
3 Feb 2025 · 42 min
Lee Ci En and Amy Daroukakis have been collecting trend reports in a Google for years now. You've probably fiended for access :) The thing is, trends can be useful but a lot of trend reports are not. In this episode, we discuss: - 7 trends they think we need to pay attention to, - What's wrong with the trend report industry, - And the projects both are involved with. Amy Daroukakis, Founder, Culture Concierge https://www.linkedin.com/in/amydaroukakis/ Lee Ci En, Media Strategist at Publicis Groupe https://www.linkedin.com/in/lee-ci-en/ Strategy ebooks and training: http://www.sweathead.com…
30 Jan 2025 · 1 hr 3 min
In this episode, I reflect about some of the countries I visited in 2024 - from The Maldives to Saudi Arabia. I also talk about the mindset required to reach clarity, big personal reflections, and my upcoming attempt at YouTube. Read about clarity here: https://mailchi.mp/sweathead/clarity-on-a-page https://mailchi.mp/sweathead/what-is-this-mood The one-page documents are in Best Strategists Club: https://www.instagram.com/markpollard/ Find details about our LATAM events in March and April and other training here: http://www.sweathead.com
19 Dec 2024 · 39 min
I'm in Riyadh this week. It's my first time. I'm here for a new creator conference called Impaq Makers. It's run by the Ministry of Media. I spent a few days exploring the city and speaking to people. But a strategist friend Faisal Alshareef told me about a big YouTube channel here called Thmanyah. I asked if I could meet them and interview them. Faisal made it happen. Thmanyah have a Guinness World Record for the most-viewed YouTube video but, if you're like me, I bet you've never seen it. One of Thmanyah's public faces is Omar Almoran. He hosts a weekly news podcast called the Alfajr…
18 Nov 2024 · 50 min
Felipe Tomaz is Associate Professor of Marketing at the Saïd Business School at University of Oxford. He's about to publish a paper in the Journal of Marketing after analyzing 1,000 campaigns and a million customer journeys via Kantar and Wavemaker. With this paper, he'll be showing that "not all reach is created equal" as well as how few campaigns are actually effective. I invited Tom Roach to join me for this chat. Links Felipe: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drfelipethomaz Tom: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-roach-5b468026/ Mark: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard For strategy training,…
14 Nov 2024 · 39 min
Ipsita Das often reaches millions of people every month. While she was studying media and psychology at he New School, her Instagram account started to pop. Now, she works with tens of people every week. She tries to help them with the thoughts in their minds that are holding them back. In this episode, we discuss the five issues Ipsita hears about more. Ipsita will be teaching at our 2024 Sweathead Do-Together. Find tickets at http://www.sweathead.com. Links: Ipsita: https://www.instagram.com/helloipsita/ Mark: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard
12 Nov 2024 · 50 min
Steve Walls has had big strategy jobs at TBWA, Ogilvy, Publicis Groupe, and more. But, now, he lives in Zurich, works with Moon Rabbit, and sees agency pitches from the other side - as someone helping marketers get more out of their agencies. In this episode, we discuss what Steve sees agencies get right and wrong in the pitch process. Steve will be teaching at our 2024 Sweathead Do-Together. Find tickets at http://www.sweathead.com. Links: Steve: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-walls-bb533638 Mark: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard
4 Nov 2024 · 39 min
Mike Jacobson has worked in strategy for years. But he's been a magician for decades. Not long ago, he appeared on America's Got Talent. That's how good he is. In this episode, Mike breaks down the business of magic as well as how what he's learned from being a magician and strategist has helped both of his crafts, something he'll be teaching at our upcoming strategy conference The Sweathead Do-Together. Links: Mike: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacobsonmike/ Mark: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard The Sweathead Do-Together: https://sweathead.com/the-sweathead-do-together-2024/
31 Oct 2024 · 32 min
I recently spoke with Joe about strategy frameworks and whether they're dumb. In this episode, we discuss strategic territories, which is one of those tools that is either useful or offensive, depending on how people use it. Joe will teach us how to use territories at our upcoming strategy conference The Sweathead Do-Together. Links: Joe: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-burns-bb73a31b/ Mark: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard The Sweathead Do-Together: https://sweathead.com/the-sweathead-do-together-2024/
28 Oct 2024 · 43 min
Lucien Etori is the Chief Strategy Officer of McCann New York. He grew up moving around a lot as well as a fan of several music subcultures. This has led him to question the way a lot of advertising people use the word "culture". What do people mean by "culture" and "the culture" and "be part of the culture" and "to do work at the speed of culture"? And this is what we get into. Links: Lucien: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucien-etori Mark: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard The Sweathead Do-Together: https://sweathead.com/the-sweathead-do-together-2024/
24 Oct 2024 · 47 min
The last time I spoke with Jenny Chang was four years ago. Since then, she's worked in agencies and for Lego and has now launched her own company, Constellation Theory. In this episode of Sweathead, we discuss this journey as well as what it's like to build a business around yourself. Jenny is hosting our upcoming strategy conference The Sweathead Do-Together. Links: Jenny aka jennifer m chang: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayemsey Mark: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard The Sweathead Do-Together: https://sweathead.com/the-sweathead-do-together-2024/
21 Oct 2024 · 49 min
Kevin Chesters has CSO’d it all - Ogilvy, Wieden + Kennedy, Dentsu and more. He’s started a business. He’s sold a business. He’s also started writing a book and finished writing a book, which is the hardest part of starting to write a book. It’s called The Creative Nudge. Kevin is speaking at our fourth Sweathead Do-Together about how to say your ideas in a few words. In this chat, we touch on this topic but we spend a lot more time on being diagnosed with being on the autism spectrum as an adult. Links: Kevin: http://www.kevinchesters.com Mark: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard The…
24 Sep 2024 · 47 min
James Hurman was once the number one planner in the world. Now, he runs an innovation studio called Previously Unavailable, he teaches a Master of Advertising Effectiveness with the crew at WARC and Cannes Lions, and he directs brand-tracking company Tracksuit. In this episode, we discuss James’s 18 months in the creative department and what he learned that can help strategists. We also get into the 101 of brand tracking. Here, you can find… James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jameshurman/ Mark: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard Sweathead: http://www.instagram.com/sweathead Strategy…
16 Sep 2024 · 36 min
How often does your advertising career feel stuck? How often do you compare your career to other people’s careers? What do you do to get your career un-stuck? Iuren Ramiro is a Strategy Director at Agência WE in São Paulo. He’s also on the ANA and Lions CMO Growth Councils. In this episode, we discuss Iuren’s own journey through the darkness as well as a recent survey we ran to see how other strategists feel about these topics. Find our deck on feeling stuck in nan advertising career here: https//sweathead.com/feeling-stuck-in-advertising-deck/ Here, you can find… Iuren:…
11 Sep 2024 · 45 min
Maytê Carvalho won a special version of Brazil’s The Apprentice television show when she was 18 years old. People told her she was persuasive. They told her to write a book about it. But, first, Maytê decided to study persuasion and ended up getting a Master’s degree focusing on it. She also became a Research Fellow at the Berkeley Global Society. Simultaneously, Maytê worked in the Grey Group and Accenture Song in São Paulo and TBWA\Chiat\Day in LA then CUBOCC in New York as their Chief Strategy and Growth Officer. She’s just moved to LA and set up her own company. We talk about all of…
4 Sep 2024 · 1 hr 9 min
Come for a walk around Washington DC as I discuss the ten things strategists whisper to me and debrief you on 14 events in 5 countries for 700 people over the past two weeks. Find our classes here: http://www.sweathead.com Find me here: http://www.instagram.com/markpollard
13 Aug 2024 · 30 min
Join me on a walk from Times Square to the Flatiron District as we discuss some big life changes, my masterclasses in Asia, impostor syndrome, and teaching strategists. Find me @ http://www.instagram.com/markpollard
5 Aug 2024 · 45 min
John Lyons is a fractional CMO. This might mean that he's a fraction of a CMO and that he's either very small or only does a fraction of what a CMO usually does. Well, that's what I think when I see the title "Fractional CMO" - Oh, it's a thumb-sized CMO doing 10% of the CMO job. But, in this chat, John puts me straight while also sharing his thoughts on why B2B service-based companies - especially agencies - struggle with marketing. And John gives us a brief mental health update because, last time we spoke on Sweathead, John shared a lot about his battles with a mental health crisis. You…
30 Jul 2024 · 34 min
Lena Roland is Content Director, Strategy at WARC. This means she's dealing with all of you as she explores and gathers the smart minds in the world and what they're doing to market and advertise effectively. In this episode, we chat about the present of strategy - what we're both hearing from strategists around the world. If you'd like to share what you're thinking about the future of strategy, WARC is collecting opinions for their Future Of Strategy report until August 2, 2024. Find it here: https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/7914889/Future-of-Strategy-2024 And find Lena on LinkedIn here:…
23 Jun 2024 · 39 min
Join me by the river Vitava in Prague for a beer and a chat about the 2024 Cannes Lions Festival.
How do you get good at strategy? Whether you’re into brand strategy, advertising strategy, digital strategy, social media strategy, or you just love doing strategy but you get frustrated at how people use the word, Sweathead will help you delve into the practices and minds of some of the world’s mos
Sweathead, A Strategy Podcast is a English business podcast from Mark Pollard. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.
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