Sweathead

Ecuador Masterclass: Mark Pollard's "Strategy Is Your Words"
2023-06-05 09:00 - 13:00 (America/Guayaquil)
Strategy Is Your Words

Mark Pollard, CEO of Sweathead and author of the book “Strategy Is Your Words“, is teaching three masterclasses in Ecuador for Insights. The masterclasses are happening as part of Insights’ masterclass series Reinvention.

Mark will be teaching his favorite things:

Insights–what they are and how to have them,

Ideas–linear thinking and lateral thinking,

Problems–why they matter and how to work them,

His Four Points framework (aka Los Quatros Pontos), and

How to write strategy.

This is Mark’s first time in Ecuador. This is when and where he’ll be teaching:

Cuenca–Monday, June 5, 2023

Guayaquil–Wednesday, June 7, 2023

Quito–Friday, June 9, 2023

We’re expecting a great turnout for this fun yet seriously educational event.

Tickets are available through Insights here.

Buy tickets here

Bulgaria Masterclass: Mark Pollard's "Strategy Is Your Words"
2023-05-19 09:00 - 13:00 (America/Guayaquil)
Strategy Is Your Words

Mark Pollard, CEO of Sweathead and author of the book “Strategy Is Your Words“, is teaching his favorite masterclass in Sofia, Bulgaria, this May.

On May 18, Mark is going to poke some brains with a session at Digitalk. The session is called “A Swimming Lesson For Shallow Brands.”

In his Digitalk session, Mark will show you that most advertising is forgettable. In fact, according to research published by WARC, around 85% of advertising doesn’t even register a blip in the brain. And that’s a big problem—ignored brands struggle to stay afloat. Then we’ll look at how brands need to and how brands can swim in the deep end of the pool with a combination of hands-on exercises and mind-probing. There will be many swimming metaphors.

On May 18, Mark will do his first masterclass in Europe since 2019 because, you know, EVERYTHING THAT HAS HAPPENED.

Mark will be teaching his favorite things:

Insights–what they are and how to have them,

Ideas–linear thinking and lateral thinking,

Problems–why they matter and how to work them,

His Four Points framework (aka Los Quatros Pontos), and

How to write strategy.

This is Mark’s first time in Bulgaria. This is when and where he’ll be teaching:

Tickets to the masterclass in Bulgaria are only available through the Sweathead website.

Buy tickets here

Masterclass: Aisha Hakim's "The Art Of Deck-Making"
2023-05-17 12:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York)
The Art Of Deck-Making

Aisha Hakim who is the ACD, 72&Sunny will conduct Sweathead Masterclass

Over 3 hours from 12 pm to 3 pm ET on Wednesday, May 17, 2023, Aisha will get you hands-on with planning superpowers.

Buy tickets here

Masterclass: Mark Pollard's "How To Find A Strategy Voice"
2023-04-21 12:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York)
How To Find A Strategy Voice

Mark Pollard who is the CEO of Sweathead will conduct this Sweathead Masterclass

Over 3 hours from 12 pm to 3 pm ET on Friday, April 21, 2023, Mark will get you hands-on with planning superpowers.

Buy tickets here

WTEff - The Eff-ing Effectiveness Festival
2023-04-20 12:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York)
The Marketing Sciences Have A Brand Problem:

Y So Serious?

It started as a spate then turned into an avalanche–over the past decade, the marketing sciences have unleashed reams of data and principles into the marketing world.

In some parts of this world, the academics involved with this unleashing are like pop stars. But in the USA, there is still a massive gap between the marketing academia and the practitioners.

After all, the USA is a land of pragmatic action and of placing bets without intellectualizing everything. Call it a “casino” if you must, the USA doesn’t care as long as you unfurl your money onto the table.

What’s more, when you pause to look at some of the unleashed data, they’re mind-blowing yet so much of the marketing sciences conversation is formal, dressed in suits, and inaccessible to many.

WTEff: The Eff-ing Effectiveness Festival

With our inaugural effectiveness festival WTEff, we want to blow minds.

Our brief to the speakers: you have fifteen minutes to blow our minds with numbers.

We want to:

Bridge the gap between marketing academia and practitioners,

Elevate the voices of up-and-coming marketing minds,

Put the incredible research these minds are doing on display,

Inspire the next generation of strategists with this work, and

Make the whole thing just that little bit weird.

Find tickets here.

Members – $295

Non-members – $350

Masterclass: Rodrigo Maroni's "How To Work A Problem"
2023-03-23 12:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York)
How To Work A Problem

Rodrigo Maroni, the Chief Strategy Officer of Wunderman Thompson in New York, will conduct this Sweathead Masterclass.

Over 3 hours from 12 pm to 3 pm ET on Thursday, March 23, 2023, Rodrigo will get you hands-on with planning superpowers.

Buy tickets here

Sweathead Strategy Accelerator (March 2023)
2023-03-01 09:00 - 2023-03-30 12:00 (America/New_York)
The Sweathead Strategy Accelerator Awaken

your strategy giant.

It runs for 4 weeks from March 1, 2023 – March 30, 2023.

Live sessions are offered each Tuesday and Thursday at 9 am ET and 12 pm ET. You’ll attend 8 of them. You’ll commit to one of the times but you can change times on the day if you need to.

We’ll host open office hours in Week 3. You can bring your work to this.

We offer 30 seats for each session.

Accelerator students get access to our premium videos – nicely edited and worthy of YouTube (but not on YouTube).

There will be assignments that will be due.

Assignments involve creating 3 versions of a Four Points framework, one strategy story, and one simple creative brief.

Certificates are provided upon completion – getting through the online lessons and submitting an assignment.

We’ll host the cohort in our Slack channel.

You’ll need to allocate 15-20 hours for this accelerator.

Buy tickets here.

Buy tickets here

Masterclass: Andy Nairn's "Three Hours of Planning Superpowers"
2023-02-23 12:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York)
Make Your Strengths Your Superpowers

Andy Nairn who is the Co-founder of Lucky Generals will conduct this Sweathead Masterclass

Over 3 hours from 12pm to 3pm ET on Thursday, February 23, 2023, Andy will get you hands-on with your planning superpowers.

Buy tickets here

2023 Meta Trends Workshop With Reddit's Matt Klein
2023-02-03 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York)
The 2023 Meta Trend Workshop: Reddit’s Matt Klein Shares 16 Meta Trends

Earlier this year, he went through over 45 trend reports, pulled them apart, organized the trends by color in a spreadsheet, and is now publishing the 16 meta trends he saw in the reports.

If you’re new to the term, a “meta trend” is just a big category of trends that seems to fit inside it a lot of other trends. And it happens through a meta-analysis of trend reports.

In this live session, Matt will share the 16 meta trends and we’ll quickly try to apply them to 16 brands.

This session will be a great way to catch up with the predictions of the year and it will get your mind cranking.

Your host will be Sweathead’s Mark Pollard (@markpollard).

RSVP HERE.

We look forward to playing trends with you

The Sweathead Get-Ahead 2023
2023-01-20 12:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York)
The Sweathead Get-Ahead
This year, get seen.
Sweathead’s 5th Anniversary

Friday, January 20, 2023, 12pm to 2pm ET

Free and open to everyone

You said this year would be different.

To celebrate Sweathead’s 5th anniversary to the day, we’re hosting The Sweathead Get-Ahead.

It’s an online event that will get you up for 2023 and give you space to make a plan.More details to come. RSVP now.

RSVP HERE

The Sweathead Strategy Accelerator, Cohort 3
2022-10-25 09:00 - 2022-11-17 13:00 (America/New_York)
The Sweathead Strategy Accelerator
October 25 to November 17, 2022
Join our next cohort this October for a 4-week accelerator.

Two live sessions per week – Tuesday and Thursday,
Over three hours of premium videos (YouTube-worthy) and quizzes, and
An assignment with feedback and a certificate upon completion.

All designed to bring your strategy instincts to life.
Limited seats available now.

The Sweathead Do-Together
2022-10-18 12:00 - 2022-10-20 15:00 (America/New_York)
The Sweathead Do-Together
October 18-20, 2022
Our annual conference returns for its second year this October featuring the following:

Over 15 revered speakers
Ten hours of conference
30-minute workouts
Short videos plus 22 minutes of live exercises

We’re also offering three masterclasses in behavioral economics, communications planning, and marketing effectiveness on the third day.
Find out more.

Summer Camp Week 04: Saying Words
2022-08-11 12:00 (America/New_York)
Live Session 4.
Saying Words
As part of our annual membership the Sweathead Strategy Summer Camp willFeature:
– 4 weeks– Live training with 8 teachers– Project work– Feedback from your peers
1. RSVP to the Session

2. Join us on Slack
Join our Slack channel from the same email address used for your RSVP. We’ll email you the link soon.
More About the Session

Live Session 1.
Loving Words
We’ll get you to fall back in love with words or, if you never fell out oflove with them we’ll point you at the words that work best.
Core (30 mins): Exploring the science behind memorable words
Conversations (30 mins): Understanding how words define culture for strategy thinkers

Session 4 Trainers

Trainer
Richard Huntington
Chief Strategy Officer, Saatchi & Saatchi
Richard is a high octane brand strategist with 30 years of experience in the advertising industry. He specialises in brand strategy for complex organisations and their expression through compelling and convincing activity. And he bloody loves it.

Trainer
Marcelo Ferrarini
Sr. Manager, Global Insights,the LEGO Group
Marcelo started his career at Interbrand, going from an intern in the São Paulo office to an Associate Director in London office. 9 years at the consultancy, Marcelo specialised in brand strategy, consumer analytics, brand valuation and marketing governance. His notable work is the creation and strategy development of the LATAM Airlines brand, and a multi-year roadmap to develop the Samsung brand globally. In 2020, Marcelo joined his favourite brand in the world, LEGO, heading up consumer & shopper insights for Western Europe and Emerging Markets. Marcelo holds a BA from FGV-EAESP in Management has a Mini MBA in Marketing.
Check out rest of the sessions

Week 01 – Loving Words

July 21

Week 02 – Finding Words

July 28

Week 03 – Writing Words

August 4

Summer Camp Week 03: Writing Words
2022-08-04 12:00 (America/New_York)
Live Session 3.
Writing Words
As part of our annual membership the Sweathead Strategy Summer Camp willFeature:
– 4 weeks– Live training with 8 teachers– Project work– Feedback from your peers
1. RSVP to the Session

2. Join us on Slack
Join our Slack channel from the same email address used for your RSVP. We’ll email you the link soon.
More About the Session

Live Session 1.
Loving Words
We’ll get you to fall back in love with words or, if you never fell out oflove with them we’ll point you at the words that work best.
Core (30 mins): Exploring the science behind memorable words
Conversations (30 mins): Understanding how words define culture for strategy thinkers

Session 3 Trainers

Trainer
Dr. Marcus Collins
Head of Strategy, Wieden+Kennedy New York
Dr. Marcus studies cultural contagion and meaning-making to help bridge the academic-practitioner gap for marketers. When he is not putting ideas in the world, he teaches at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan.

Trainer
Claire Strickett
Planning Director,adam&eveDDB
Claire is strategic planner who has planned for brands like Virgin Media, Domino’s, easyJet. She is a lateral thinker, a cultural magpie, and an unashamed fan of puns.
Check out rest of the sessions

Week 01 – Loving Words

July 21

Week 02 – Finding Words

July 28

Week 04 – Say Your Words

August 11

Summer Camp Week 02: Finding Words
2022-07-28 12:00 (America/New_York)
Live Session 2.
Finding Words
As part of our annual membership the Sweathead Strategy Summer Camp willFeature:
– 4 weeks– Live training with 8 teachers– Project work– Feedback from your peers
1. RSVP to the Session

2. Join us on Slack
Join our Slack channel from the same email address used for your RSVP. We’ll email you the link soon.
More About the Session

Live Session 1.
Loving Words
We’ll get you to fall back in love with words or, if you never fell out oflove with them we’ll point you at the words that work best.
Core (30 mins): Exploring the science behind memorable words
Conversations (30 mins): Understanding how words define culture for strategy thinkers

Session 2 Trainers

Trainer
Lindsey Wehking

Head of Investigative Strategy, Nonfiction Research
Lindsey is an investigative strategist who gleefully violates the norms of traditional research.

Trainer
Nicole Druzhinsky
Former Senior Insights Analyst, RedditNicole graduated from F.I.T with a bachelor’s in Advertising & Marketing Communication. With her work at Reddit, Nicole educated clients about their target audiences on the platform, brought new advertisers on board through the power of insights, reported on trends and cultural shifts across a variety of industries, and did a lot more fun stuff. Presently, she is on summer vacation — and in her free time, she likes writing, walking and listening to music, and updating her Letterboxd watchlist, and making to-do lists that will eventually be checked off.
Check out rest of the sessions

Week 01 – Loving Words

July 21

Week 03 – Writing Words

August 4

Week 04 – Saying Words

August 11

Summer Camp Week 01: Loving Words
2022-07-21 12:00 (America/New_York)
Live Session 1.
Loving Words
As part of our annual membership the Sweathead Strategy Summer Camp willFeature:
– 4 weeks– Live training with 8 teachers– Project work– Feedback from your peers
1. RSVP to the Session

2. Join us on Slack
Join our Slack channel from the same email address used for your RSVP. We’ll email you the link soon.
More About the Session

Live Session 1.
Loving Words
We’ll get you to fall back in love with words or, if you never fell out oflove with them we’ll point you at the words that work best.
Core (30 mins): Exploring the science behind memorable words
Conversations (30 mins): Understanding how words define culture for strategy thinkers

Session 1 Trainers

Trainer
Mark Pollard
Strategy CEO, Mighty Jungle | Sweathead Host
Mark runs Sweathead. He recently published “Strategy Is Your Words” and has trained teams at Twitter, EA Games, Euronews, and more. @markpollard

About Trainer
Rakaa Taylor
Creative Director | Strategist | Artist
Rakaa is a well-rounded creative strategist and tactician. He is an experienced culture consultant and curator, and co-founder of the Hip Hop group Dilated Peoples. @therealrakaa
Check out rest of the sessions

Week 02 – Finding Words

July 28

Week 03 – Writing Words

August 4

Week 04 – Saying Words

August 11

Freelancing Without Fear
2022-07-13 11:30 - 12:30 (America/New_York)
Freelancing can smell like freedom but it can also reek of fear.

“I can’t wait to be my own boss…but what if I can’t manage myself?”

“I’m so excited about finding my own clients…but what if nobody wants to work with me?” “I can’t wait to choose how I spend more of my days…but what if I spend them in ways that set me back?”

In this podcast recording, freelance strategist Lydia Taylor will host a conversation with Sophie Cross and Howie Chan about specific tips that will make the freelance life feel less scary.

RSVP

Invisible Genius - Four Black Strategists Discuss Life In Advertising
2022-06-20 12:30 - 13:30 (America/New_York) | https://strategyhome.sweathead.com/event/invisible-genius-four-black-strategist-discuss-life-in-advertising/
Hosted by Kevin Brockenbrough, this panel will feature the stories of Kevin and three other black strategists working in advertising in the USA.

They’ll be discussing how they got into the industry, the daily challenges they face in the industry, and what makes them optimistic about continuing to work in advertising.

RSVP

The Sweathead Strategy Workshop
2022-06-16 09:30 - 17:30 (America/New_York)
On Thursday, June 16, 2022, we’re hosting our first in-person public training session since the pandemic.

It’s happening in New York City at Caveat in the Lower East Side from 9.30am to 5.30pm.

Bring a brand you’re working on and you’ll leave with a simple creative brief and a brand-on-a-page document.

You’ll get lunch, a prep call, a follow-up call, and the chance to meet other strategy minds.

Buy a ticket here.

Learn More

This is Caveat – cool, huh?

Caveat, NYC

Caveat, NYC

Caveat, NYC

Creative Bosses Give Strategists Feedback Live and In The Face
2022-06-08 12:30 - 13:30 (America/New_York) | https://strategyhome.sweathead.com/event/creative-bosses-give-strategists-feedback-live-and-in-the-face/
Leo Burnett’s Kieran Ots and Wunderman Thompson New York’s Jill Applebaum will give creative brief feedback from a creative boss’s perspective. Watch how they do it using Jocelyn Lai’s feedback framework from The Sweathead Do-Together (2021).

In this training experience we will:

Learn the four different types of feedback

Learn the two most effective types of feedback

Watch seasoned experts deal with strategists and their work

RSVP

Can Marketing Save The World?
2022-06-02 12:30 - 13:30 (America/New_York) | https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88582574231
Recently, there was a debate in the Sweathead Facebook group about whether marketing can save the world. The sentiment was split with some saying that marketers and advertisers can affect large scale behavioral change while others say it can’t.

In this session, we’ll hear differing points of view: 1. Can marketing change the world?

2. If so, how?

3. If not, why not? It will be a gentle and respectful debate but a debate nonetheless.

Here are our guests:

Radovan Andrej Grezo – Creative Director

Julie Ng – Marketing and Business Consultant

Anthea Foyer – Sector Development Officer

RSVP

Managing A Strategy Team When Your Team Has More Career Options Than Ever
2022-05-26 12:30 - 13:30 (America/New_York) | https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88582574231
Within a matter of minutes, the pandemic went from freaking out everybody about keeping their jobs to unfurling a ton of new opportunities.

Agencies and brands alike turned to strategists to help them navigate the ambiguity and confusion and frustration.

And now many strategists realize they have more options than ever.

But what’s a strategy boss to do?

In this live session, we’ll ask:

1. How have the kinds of job options changed?

2. What’s attracting strategists to companies?

3. What’s making strategists leave?

4. And how are strategy bosses dealing with all of this?

Guests:

Lee Maicon – CSONikita Walia – CEO and Founder of BlankSeth Gaffney – CSO, PreacherBrinn Philips – Global Strategy and Director of DE&I, Commonwealth McCann

RSVP

Born For Strategy But Forced To Do Account Management
2022-05-19 12:30 - 13:30 (America/New_York) | https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83907607233
Picture this: you have a yearning to do strategy but you’re in an account management role. Maybe a job switch has been promised. Maybe you’re simply doing multiple roles. Either way, on your mind is this question: “How do I do strategy full-time?”

The transition isn’t always easy. The thing you want can put stress on your current company. But how much of that is a ‘you’ problem versus a ‘them’ problem?

In this session, we’ll speak with Kimberley Upton, Head of Planning at Blue Chip (UK), Chirag Khushalani, Creative Strategist at AKQA (UAE), and Alana Dwyer, Strategic Planner at Goosebump (Ireland) and ask:

1. How did you do it?

2. How did you do it?

3. How did you do it?

And, importantly, what can someone else wanting to make the leap right now learn from how they did it.

RSVP

Strategy Under Pressure - Embrace The Flaw
2022-05-11 12:30 - 13:30 (America/New_York) | https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86928327805
Time is not often on our side. We need to work with grace and sanity under pressure. We’ll be using the technique of “embracing the flaw” to do some strategy. We’ll give you 3 prompts and you’ll get 3 chances to flip the flaw into a f&*kyeah.

RSVP

The State Of Hiring Strategists Right Now
2022-04-27 12:30 - 13:30 (America/New_York) | https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84740517782
Strategy bosses say it’s hard to find good talent right now. Recent pressure on margins and growth has meant that many strategy bosses are torn between their roles in the management team, winning new business, and helping their teams to develop.

The pandemic led to a lot of strategy job losses but, as soon as the economy came back on, it also led to high salaries and a battle for ever bigger titles. It also led to an interest in finding more diverse talent but confusion about where to look.

In this podcast panel recording, we’ll ask:

What challenges are strategy bosses facing when it comes to hiring?How are they trying to tackle the challenges?What’s actually working?

RSVP

Crossing Borders: Applying For Advertising Jobs in the US, UK or Canada
2022-04-20 09:00 - 10:00 (America/New_York) | https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89967487955
As the world opens up, people are thinking about working abroad. So we’re inviting people who have either hired or gone through the whole journey of leaving their country for professional opportunities. We’ll be answering some questions through this panel discussion like:

What challenges do companies face when hiring foreigners?What cultural differences are there in the hiring process?How is the strategy job market different around the world?Do you need a portfolio?What resume format is useful?How do you stand out from a sea of applicants?

RSVP

Strategy Under Pressure
2022-04-14 20:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81052248665
Time is not on your side. In this training session, we’ll give you three prompts and you’ll get three chances to do The Four Points.

Are you ready for the challenge?

RSVP

Reverse That Strategy: Automotive Edition
2022-04-07 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86989473217
In this one-hour workout, we will be looking at seven ads from the automotive industry and racking our brains to figure out the strategy behind each ad.

What problem are they trying to solve?What’s the strategy behind them?What are their distinctive assets?

RSVP

Was The Trip To The Super Bowl Worth It? Expedia & Vrbo's Marketers Weigh In.
2022-03-25 13:30 - 14:30 (America/New_York) | https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83983865037
Travel brands Expedia and Vrbo made major plays at this year’s Super Bowl. In this discussion, Melissa Peace and Chandreyi Davis will take us through their campaigns. We’ll find out how the campaigns came to happen, whether they worked, and what the team learned from the experience.

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Write That Insight: Tourism Edition
2022-03-24 22:00 - 23:00 (America/New_York) | https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88129712166
In this one-hour workout, we’ll look at ten tourism ads and identify the insights that bring them to life. You’ll practice writing them and then compare what you’ve written with other strategists.

RSVP
