Strategy Sessions Andi Jarvis

Ikram Mohideen is the Chief Strategy Officer at Shift Integrated, an independent agency in Sri Lanka.

In this episode we discuss:


Why quant doesn’t tell you everything
The importance of testing and radical thinking
Focus on effectiveness
Marketing and advertising in a difficult economic climate
Lessons from judging awards
Does positioning exist

Recommendations


LondonSEOXL ⁠ - use code Andi20 to get 20% off a ticket
Good Strategy / Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt
Social Class in the 21st Century by Mike Savage
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable Paperback by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Other links


James Hayhurst on agency client relationships
JP Castlin on why language matters in marketing

Ikram Mohideen

Ikram currently leads strategy at Shift Integrated – an independent, fully-fledged creative

agency based in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

At Shift he is the custodian of the “effectiveness culture”, focused on creating a culture that

combines rigour, creativity, and data, to help make work that really works.

He previously worked at Nielsen in consumer insights, specializing in brand equity research,

and afterwards at Leo Burnett, helping to grow brands in CPG, telco, banking, finance, and

real estate.

Working together with clients and research partners, he is currently engaged in establishing a

brand and advertising strategy practice built upon marketing science.

Find Ikram on LinkedIn

Strategy Sessions Host - Andi Jarvis

If you have any questions or want to talk about anything that was discussed in the show, the best place to get me is on LinkedIn or Instagram.

Make sure you subscribe to get the podcast directly or sign up for it here to have it emailed when it's released.

If you enjoyed the show, please give it a 5* rating.

Find the full audio transcription here: https://eximomarketingstrategy.com/focus-on-effectiveness-with-ikram-mohideen-strategy-sessions-podcast/

James Hayhurst is former MD of Leagas Delaney, Global Brand Equity Director for OMO/Persil at Unilever and the Founder of the Magic Sauce Course.

In this episode we discuss:


What makes great creative
Why the agency / client relationship break down
The importance of talking to your customers
The Parents Promise


LondonSEOXL ⁠ - use code Andi20 to get 20% off a ticket
How Brands Grow by Bryon Sharp

James started his career agency-side BMP DDB (now Adam&Eve DDB) as a grad trainee. During his time there he worked on award-winning campaigns for Volkswagen, Channel 4 and the Teacher Training Agency amongst many other UK and international clients. In 2012 James joined Leagas Delaney as Managing Director running the London office, and managing brands including Glenfiddich, Patek Philippe and Timberland.

James decided to try his hand at client-side marketing by joining Unilever in October 2014 as the Global Brand Equity director for OMO/Persil, Unilever's third biggest brand and sold in 80 countries globally. James was attracted by the brand positioning of Dirt is Good and Unilever's commitment to sustainable living and during his four years James helped position the brand as one of Unilever's fastest growing purposeful brands.

Whilst there James was struck by what he 'didn't know he didn't know' when he'd been an agency MD about client culture and decision making. He also began to appreciate how alien agency culture appeared to many clients, and that they hadn't been given the instruction manual of how to 'operate' their agencies. There was an empathy gap on both sides that needed bridging.  The Magic Sauce Programme was the result.

The Magic Sauce programme helps clients and agencies to work more effectively, efficiently, enjoyably and profitably together.  It does this by improving the understanding and importance of relationship dynamics, communication and wider team chemistry.  It also offers a behaviour change and measurement framework to improve relationship quality over time.

Find James on LinkedIn or visit the website https://magicsaucecourse.co.uk/

If you have any questions or want to talk about anything that was discussed in the show, the best place to get me is on LinkedIn or Instagram.

Make sure you subscribe to get the podcast directly or sign up for it here to have it emailed when it's released.

If you enjoyed the show, please give it a 5* rating.

RecommendationsJames HayhurstStrategy Sessions Host - Andi Jarvis

Lidia Infante is Head of SEO at SurveyMonkey. Lidia has over a decade of marketing experience and a strong focus on SEO and content strategy. She also LOVES data.

In this episode we discuss one tip that can boost your career and finding a partner by applying marketing principles to dating.

Recommendations


Andi writing for JP Castlin’s Strategy in Praxis blog about storytelling
Red and blue ocean strategy in HBR
Never split the difference by Chris Voss
LondonSEOXL - use code Andi20 to get 20% off a ticket

Lidia Infante

Lidia holds a BSc in Psychology and a Master's in Digital Business, she has made her mark at companies such as Sanity.io, BigCommerce, and Rise At Seven.

Lidia is recognized as a leading voice in the SEO community. She is an exceptional SEO speaker, regularly featured at top-tier events such as MozCon, BrightonSEO, or WTSFest. She often writes about SEO trends and best practices for Moz, Search Engine Journal, and the Wix SEO Hub.

Strategy Sessions Host - Andi Jarvis

If you have any questions or want to talk about anything that was discussed in the show, the best place to get me is on LinkedIn or Instagram.

Make sure you subscribe to get the podcast directly or sign up for it here to have it emailed when it's released.

If you enjoyed the show, please give it a 5* rating.

Catherine is a long time listener to the Strategy Sessions and good friend. It’s an honour to hand over the reigns for this episode – the first I don’t feature on! – to Catherine.

In this episode we discuss the highlights from the episodes featuring Aleya Harris, Geraldine DeRuiter and Emma Mallett that made up the Women’s History Month Mini Series.

Catherine McKernan

Catherine is an accomplished marketing professional with over 10 years’ experience across the manufacturing, engineering and hospitality industries. She’s currently the Marketing Manager for the Galgorm Collection – the premium hotel group from Northern Ireland.

Catherine is highly strategic with a creative mind, who matches her marketing skills with empathy and a calm composure that gets the most out of her team. You’ll often find Catherine with a book, writing, baking or at a gig.

Find Catherine on LinkedIn.

Andi Jarvis

If you have any questions or want to talk about anything that was discussed in the show, the best place to get me is on LinkedIn or Instagram.

Make sure you subscribe to get the podcast directly or sign up for it here to have it emailed when it's released.

If you enjoyed the show, please give it a 5* rating.

Emma Mallett is in marketing and business development for a B Corp. She also helps young marketers build a career, via her Concrete Club platform and podcast.

In this episode we discuss:


Working for a B Corp
How marketing and sales can work better together
Building a career
Fighting back from life threatening adversity  

Recommendations


Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma: The Innate Capacity to Transform Overwhelming Experiences by Peter A Levine
Juliet Hodges on the Strategy Sessions (the person who speaks about fight or flight response)

Strategy Sessions Host - Andi Jarvis

If you have any questions or want to talk about anything that was discussed in the show, the best place to get me is on LinkedIn or Instagram.

Make sure you subscribe to get the podcast directly or sign up for it here to have it emailed when it's released.

If you enjoyed the show, please give it a 5* rating.

Take The Heat, is out now. It’s a series of essays about food, feminism and fury.

In this episode we discuss:


Promoting a book
The story behind If You Can’t Take The Heat
Dealing with internet trolls
Creativity

Geraldine's Links


If You Can't Take the Heat: Tales of Food, Feminism, and Fury
The blog where it all started, I Made the Pizza Cinnamon Rolls from Mario Batali’s Sexual Misconduct Apology Letter
Geraldine’s review of Bros, Lecce
All Over the Place: Adventures in Travel, True Love, and Petty Theft

Other Links

Lunchtime Learning in Belfast

Geraldine DeRuiter

Geraldine DeRuiter is an acclaimed author, world-renowned public speaker, and the voice behind the award-winning Everywhereist blog.

She finds it very difficult to be self-promotional, so she hopes that you understand how hard that last sentence was for her to write.

Time magazine named Everywhereist one of their blogs of the year in 2011. Her memoir, All Over the Place, was published in 2017.

While ostensibly a travel writer, Geraldine also writes about dessert, feminism, and Jeff Goldblum’s entire filmography. TIME Magazine described her work as “consistently clever” and The New York Times said her writing was “dark and hilarious”. Her blog has received accolades from The Independent, Forbes Magazine, and The Huffington Post, because sometimes features editors get drunk.

When not on the road with her long-suffering and infinitely patient husband, Rand, Geraldine can be found in Seattle, usually fighting with people on the internet.

Strategy Sessions Host - Andi Jarvis

If you have any questions or want to talk about anything that was discussed in the show, the best place to get me is on LinkedIn or Instagram.

Make sure you subscribe to get the podcast directly or sign up for it here to have it emailed when it's released.

If you enjoyed the show, please give it a 5* rating.

For a full transcription of this podcast, visit the episode page on the Eximo Marketing website.