Mark Pollard @markpollard Twitter profile

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Mark Pollard

5 months

I’ve just launched my writing course on YouTube. It will help you work out what to write about and give you some story structure tips:

Writing Course - Write Yourself Into Public

This is a course about personal branding for people who squirm at the phrase "personal branding". A method. Watch it through. You can watch the whole course ...

www.youtube.com

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

3 years

I remember working in agencies where at 6pm it was normal to think, “Right. Meetings are done for the day so I can get another half day of actual work in before going home.” And I now realize how odd that is.

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

The strategist hoping the creative team shares their ideas with him before the creative review.

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

Barbie is the best advertising for advertising in recent years.

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

Barbie’s marketing budget is what happens when a brand uses a movie to sell a product. It is not the budget of a movie.

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

Don't hate me for saying this but sometimes there's just too much strategy.

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

9 months

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

When you freelance or run your own company, learning how to manage your emotions through cycles and seasons and everyone being away for summer and almost-recessions is next level

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

Moving client-side from an advertising agency–the dream: 1. More regular hours & seeing the family, friends 2. More control over what happens 3. Dealing with fewer creative egos 4. Getting bonuses 5. Being able to see things through rather than bouncing around The reality?

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

Is anyone enjoying working in advertising right now? Sincere question. Show yourselves.

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

What agencies want more from clients: 1. Clarity 2. Access to data, goals 3. Filtered feedback 4. Creative ambition 5. A culture of building on ideas 6. Not being forced into ridiculous interagency shitshows 7. Bullshit-free conversations 8. Access to campaign results

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

Advertising careers don’t last that long. When we are young, we think we’re invincible. But then age happens and we get taken out. Why?

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

5 things I wish I knew before becoming a strategist: 1. Strategy is a coping mechanism for a hectic brain 2. The career doesn't last that long 3. Great planning happens at great creative agencies 4. Strategists are my people 5. People will use my strategy traits against me

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

2 years

I blew up my Twitter about 18 months ago. Unfollowed everyone after constantly seeing people going at each other (and at friends, sometimes at me). Kind of regret it but going to follow again and try to be here more.

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

3 years

This happened over night. I know podcasts aren’t for everyone but so many of the 300+ Sweathead interviews have happened because of Twitter so I just wanted to share this little milestone here. Thanks for playing brains with me.

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

3 years

With #Superbowlads , I’m looking for: 1. An emotional insight, 2. Distinctive brand assets as part of story, 3. Ads that help the brands, not just the celebrities. A decade in advertising in Australia taught me: celebrity means “no idea”. #plannerbowl

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

3 years

Here’s a powerful 6 minutes with @dereklwalker talking about how the advertising industry is too scared to do what it exists to do:

The Advertising Industry Is Working Scared And This Isn’t A Winning...

Agencies, nowadays, fear so many things - losing a client, losing awards, losing to other agencies. How do you overcome that fear? How do you work without fe...

www.youtube.com

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

Here are the 10 agencies strategists from the @Sweathead community most want to work for. Any surprises?

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

I’ve been interviewing the chief strategy officers of some of the world’s most effective ad agencies (as listed on the @EffieAwards Index). Here are 15 things that seem to make them so effective.

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

You don’t need to show how much you know. You don’t need to show much work work you’ve done. You don’t get paid by the word. You don’t get paid by the slide. You just need to show your thinking. That’s it.

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

"How do you write an inspiring creative brief?" Don't. Creative teams aren't waiting for a strategist to appear out of nowhere and inspire them. It's a misdirection. Instead, lay traps.

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

2 years

The reflex I have to fight most looking at Super Bowl ads is all the celebrities. I never saw a celebrity presented by a creative team in 10+ years in Australia. I was told “Celebrities mean you don’t have an idea” and “You’re not a good creative”. #plannerbowl

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

It you?

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

3 years

After a minor implosion on Saturday night, I decided to reboot my Twitter. Going to follow more people but via lists. See if it's healthier for my brain. If you're doing interesting things here, I'd love to check you out. LMK. Twitter has been good to me–I'd like to pass it on.

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

What if you’re not depressed? What if you’re just in the wrong place with the wrong people?

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

Use this in your next job search

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

3 years ago this month, I published my first book “Strategy Is Your Words” after raising $37k on @kickstarter . It fed us through lockdown and it’s sold 6,000 copies without being on Amazon until this week. Here’s how I’d encourage you to think about your own book: 🧵

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

2 years

Can I share some good news? After a day of admin, I realized that since I launched my book on Kickstarter in 2019, over 7,000 people have bought something from me/us. (It's "us" now as we have a team). I'm a bit emo & I can't quite wrap my head around it but...thank you.

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

If you’re working on a presentation today, here are a few 101 tips:

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

Don’t make this weird but I got a hair transplant in Istanbul, Turkey. I was going to keep it private but local agency people started to find out so… I’m happy to answer questions. I know a lot of people are contemplating this.

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

Boss: “How’s the pitch coming along?” Me: “Fine. Everything’s on track.” The track:

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

Nobody else will tell you this but when you hit 35 in advertising just come up with a business meme you can trade on for 7 years. Something philosophical. Not good enough for a book. Something that can waft thru the air at Cannes. Then repeat. You’ll be 50 before you know it

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

Here’s a free 50-page ebook on the basics of advertising strategy. The original article, it’s fair to say, changed my life. I published it about 13 years ago. It’s been read by over 100k people, got me jobs, and led to my book “Strategy Is Your Words.”

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

2 years

Strategy career accelerants: 1. Work with world-class creative teams 2. Be near cash flow (new biz, organic growth, new revenue streams) 3. Clients who want strategy 4. A coach-like boss 5. Creative Directors who say good things about you 6. Flat hierarchy 7. Early responsibility

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

Having taught a few thousand people and coming off 3 masterclasses in Ecuador last week, here’s where I find people get stuck most often when doing strategy:

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

For your friends

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

A lot of strategists who really get into trends or research can start to find advertising too limiting and brands too boring. This is a tough thing to realize. Do you stay for the salary? Do you write a book? Do you move into academia? Do you move into research?

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

3 years

One of the hardest things about doing strategy in a company that is new to it is getting feedback about how you’re not enough like the rest of the company. The thing is: this is why they hired you.

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

6 months

If you want to be a “culture fit” in a company: 1. Delete your opinions 2. Lower your expectations 3. Agree with everything 4. Erase your boundaries

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

11 months

Looks like I’ll be visiting Kentucky a bit next year. My guy has just committed to @univofkentucky after 6 years with #nycfc . As foreigners, navigating this whole college experience has been overwhelming at times. But the Kentucky program and facilities look incredible.

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

2 years

Seeking insights about people who seek insights for a living. What's something few other people would know about people who do insight-hunting work? (Keep it kind, please, We'll credit you if we use your words in a deck and podcast.)

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

In August, it's three years since I released "Strategy Is Your Words." It's never been available as an ebook in English. Next week, I'm going to open it to the world for 3 days.

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

How to add a twist to your next insight: ___but___ ___except when___ ___meanwhile___ ___unless___ ___yet___ ___especially when___

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

The best things about working in strategy: 1. Getting paid to learn 2. Helping ideas happen 3. Writing and thinking 4. Pays decently 5. The rush of the pitch 6. Meeting smart people 7. Travel

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

The main issues with most presentations: 1. No central theme—just bouncing from bullet point to bullet point, 2. Useless information—put it in the appendix, 3. Telling the audience what they already know 4. Lack of a show—entertain us ffs 5. Too many authors—it’s obvious

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

The strategist’s portfolio vs the strategist’s first creative brief at the new job

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

Re: the on-going Battle Of The Strategy Frameworks, I'll say this: 1. Frameworks frame work–you need to do research, think critically, and THEN you get to frame it. 2. Frameworks aren't forms you mindlessly fill in–they are prompts, creative constraints, they help to focus.

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

How to trigger a no-bullshit strategist: 1. “Is this ownable?” 2. “Let’s make this more empowering.” 3. “Let’s combine the ideas.” 4. “Do we have permission to do this as a brand?” 5. “The brand needs to give them permission to….” 6. “Other agencies, what do you think?”

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

I work with a team of about 8 freelancers every week in the cloud. I find it exhausting. Slack, emails, calendar notifications, software upgrade, software asking for reviews and surveys, increases in prices, being forced into drip campaigns, finding files. What's the way out?

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

“We’ve been awarded the job without a pitch.”

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

I didn’t expect so many positive responses based on the hundreds of people I hear from in a month. The secret: 1. Working with good people 2. Having a sense of agency/autonomy 3. Low political environment 4. Meaningful projects 5. Projects actually coming to life

Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

Is anyone enjoying working in advertising right now? Sincere question. Show yourselves.

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

9 months

Liverpool FC but in a strategy diagram: @LFC #lfc #liverpoolfc

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

When I see my British advertising and marketing friends sub-snark at Americans who talk about strategy, social media, courses, etc… I honestly just see an attempt to reinforce posh elite British class dynamics.

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

3 years

First, there were people discussing strategy on Twitter. Then came “Strategy Twitter”, a construct mostly used to put yourself outside your own community so you can mock it in a meta way. Call me nostalgic but I like pre-Strategy Twitter.

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

Love these values from one of the world’s most consistently good advertising agencies @mischief_usa

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

2 years

I’ve been trying to do Reels. Face-in-camera feels obnoxious for many strategists tho. Still, here’s my face. (Apologies in advance?)

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

You will lose pitches. You will lose clients. You will lose teammates. You will lose focus. You will lose weekends. Losing makes winning sweeter. But even the best winning is temporary. So if you can only win if you lose yourself to a job then you, too, might feel temporary.

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

Did you know you can reduce your agency frustration by: 1. Establishing a clear creative philosophy 2. Flowing the philosophy into a few frameworks & templates 3. Agreeing 5 questions you can ask of each brief & campaign 4. Reviewing the work every 3 months against a scale?

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

A few years ago, my Tweets reached 300k-500k people in a solid month. Now they reach two people and I’m one of them.

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

I get asked a lot about life after agency life. So I’m going to share a few people I’m with this week as case studies in what can come next. First up: Brian Wakabayashi, CSO

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

Pitching can be fun… If you keep the team small, If senior people don’t blow in & change it all last minute, If procurement doesn’t take your smart questions & share the answers with other agencies, If your new business team doesn’t chase everything, &, especially, if you win.

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

8 years

Frnz, I've set up shop. Mighty Jungle. Strategy & creative for co's made for the Internet. American Dream it is.

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

What if we just combine the three ideas from the pitch into the one idea?

Science girl

@gunsnrosesgirl3

1 year

The English Pouter is a pigeon breed that has been developed through selective breeding over a considerable time, English Pouters stand out due to their enlarged crop.

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

3 years

Just in case you need a collection of 197 TikTok trends from a few months ago, here is one we published:

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

3 years

Mostly true but maybe not “right”. And that’s the point.

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

How to write a bad creative brief—a guide: 1. Don’t discuss it before you write it 2. Open the template & write before you’ve done any thinking 3. Make it long 4. List all the information you found 5. Include ten product features 6. Use big bullshit strategy language

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

10 months

Thanks for listening. 225,000 listens this year. Gotta give it more focus next year. #spotifywrapped #podcast #sweathead

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

What sucks about pitches: 1. Sitting on the brief for weeks 2. Chemistry meetings 3. Procurement sharing answers to your Qs with competitors, 4. Opening your books so clients know your numbers 5. Fear-mongering post-mortems 6. Pitches that pressure the incumbent to charge less

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

2 years

New award categories for the Super Bowl ads: 1. Ad that made the least sense 2. Ad that tried the least 3. Ad from most toxic client 4. Ad you would have spent that money on #plannerbowl #brandbowl #SuperBowl

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

How to make the creative team dislike you: 1. Talk down to them, 2. Act like you can do what they can do but better, 3. Don’t speak to them before you brief them, 4. Bully them with big words and intellectual junk, 5. Not know more than them about something.

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

3 years

A common instruction for new entrepreneurs is this: “build your community”. The catch? If your community can’t operate when you’re not online, you don’t have a community—you have an audience.

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

I don’t usually post this stuff to Twitter but here’s a summary of my son’s 6 years in the @nycfc academy. Last home game today altho they compete in the MLS Next Cup in Texas next week. Got questions about being a soccer parent? Haha #nycfc

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

Where do strategists go after they leave advertising agencies and a career that I think averages at about ten years' long (inside an agency)? 1. Freelance, consult 2. Stay in professional services 3. Go client-side 4. Become a psychologist 5. Teach 6. Coach 7. Launch a start-up

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

Here are two attempts to write a strategy for how Sonny Vaccaro's sought to get Michael Jordan to sign with Nike (based on the fictionalized and disputed version of the story in the movie Air):

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

2 years

For the strategy nerds, here’s CSO @tommorton from @rga taking us through research and thoughts he published with @WARCEditors : Understanding How Brands Grow–

Understanding How Brands Grow–with R/GA Global CSO Tom Morton

Tom Morton is the Global CSO of the famed R/GA. In video, he brings to life some of his research and thoughts about how brands grow. He attempts to add addit...

www.youtube.com

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

How to run a pitch badly: 1. Say Yes to every pitch 2. Pitch w/o meeting client 3. Let procurement see your books 4. Sit on brief too long 5. Make people pitch on top of full plate 6. Change the team halfway thru 7. Allow new business team to make strategic/creative decisions

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

3 years

Research tip: Keep going until you find something that is surprising but, you know, not just surprising because you live in a bubble.

faris

@faris

3 years

How often does research tell you something surprising?

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

In your mind, what are the biggest marketing stories of the year? We're planning our conference and would love to invite some of the minds behind these stories.

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

What to do when you suffer a crisis of confidence in advertising: 1. Find ways to compliment yourself 2. Review past work & admire the good bits 3. Re-read thank-you emails from clients 4. Write or teach 5. Read a few ad books if only to confirm to yrself that you know stuff

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

2 years

The ads I would have loved 10+ years ago are now a bit reckless from a brand point of view. And guess who makes them? Tech companies. Story story story…logo at the end when nobody is looking. #plannerbowl

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

2 years

In therapy today, I realized I’m so used to striving that I was hoping to be one of my therapist’s best patients. I don’t even know what this means though.

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

Comms planners are butterflies. They’re everywhere, make things more beautiful, and most people want to have them around.

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

For those of you in or who’ve passed thru your mid-40s, explain it to me.

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

2 years

Here are 5 reasons that working in-house can feel less creative having consulted, trained, and spoken with hundreds of people who do strategy work in-house:

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

2 years

Some of you have pinned your best Tweets to your profile. Copy and paste a link to your pinned Tweet as a reply to this Tweet. The world is nuts. Let’s enjoy your finest work before it implodes.

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

2 years

What if being a strategist is just a coping mechanism for everything that happens inside your brain?

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

Here's a very quick attempt to squeeze Expedia's "Stuff" campaign into the 4Cs for the @sweathead summer camp.

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

8 months

Here's a list of how strategists are using AI right now according to a survey we ran in January 2024. Any surprises? Anything missing?

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

2 years

My standards have lowered over the past decade so I’m seriously supportive of any ad with an actual idea and basic branding concepts in place #plannerbowl

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

2 years

Here are the Top 10 Sweathead podcasts from 2022. We celebrate our 5-year anniversary on Jan 20, 2023!

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

11 months

Here’s a FREE 45-page ebook on insights (whether you believe in them or not): It includes a chapter from my book “Strategy Is Your Words.” Enjoy.

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

2 years

Strategy people out and about

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

@profgalloway Too late

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

I’ve returned from Brazil with an addiction to Brazilian Funk. It’s like rap with a touch of Miami bass, a particular beat from Africa - do do Cha Cha do do Cha - and… Actually I made a rough video in São Paulo about it.

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

I learned years ago that I’m not a Corporate America employee but that strategists were some of my favorite people. Bureaucracy & politics crush my soul. So a lot of what I’ve done since has been to try to build a life around more meaningful work. Emails like these affect me.

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

2 years

Need a video to kickstart your 2023 brand planning sessions? Here's @VikkiRossWrites and her plea to get us all to stop settling for mediocrity. "Mission Impossible–The Future Of The Advertising Industry Is In Our Hands".

Mission Incredible–The Future Of The Advertising Industry Is In Our...

Here's UK copywriter and brand consultant Vikki Ross opening up our second ever strategy conference The Sweathead Do-Together with her talk about how to stop...

www.youtube.com

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

I’ve been thinking about friendship a bit while traveling. Here’s where I’m at: A friend is someone who’s genuinely happy to see you and they stay that way thru many encounters. An acquaintance is someone who’s mildly happy to see you and you don’t see them often.

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

2 years

I quite like this 4I's framework that former Euronews CMO @_JamieBrownlee uses to explain to agency management how to get more out of their strategists.

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

1 year

One of the defining questions of the US mindset is "What do you do?", a question that's almost offensive if asked too soon in Europe. Wherever I go, it's often the 2nd or 3rd question asked by a stranger.

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

2 years

A lot of you have 50 browser tabs open right now but which tab has been open the longest? I have one open from November, which seems decent.

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Mark Pollard

@markpollard

2 years

Ad friends, are many of you based around Hell's Kitchen? Just moved in. Curious about doing a monthly get-together or something. Holler if interested. Tag people you know.

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