Grow Your Brain

APG Canada
  • 0.0 (0)
  • Marketing

Grow Your Brain is an APG Canada podcast made by strategists, for strategists. Hosted by Pedro Porto Alegre, the show features long-form conversations with people shaping how our industry thinks, from strategists and creatives to researchers, founders, authors, and cultural observers. Rather than chasing hot takes, career stories, or surface-level marketing commentary, Grow Your Brain explores the deeper ideas behind the work: how people form beliefs, how culture moves, how brands create meaning, how technology changes behaviour, and what better thinking requires in a noisy world. Each episode is designed for intellectually curious listeners who want to go beyond the obvious and spend time with ideas worth wrestling with.

Episodes

  1. Aug 11

    Claudia Aguirre: Strategists Need to Leave Their Desks

    Claudia Aguirre is a Calgary-based brand strategist, qualitative researcher, and consultant with more than 20 years of experience across Mexico, the US Hispanic market, Latin America, Canada, and Europe. She began her career in research and planning in Mexico, working with firms including Leo Burnett, JWT, FCB, and Research International, before eventually building her own consulting practice focused on research, branding, civic causes, not-for-profits, and sustainable brands. This conversation between Claudia Aguirre and Pedro Porto Alegre explores strategy through Claudia’s deeply human lens: getting out into the world, observing real behaviour, and turning it into insights that creatives can actually build from. Claudia reflects on her early days in planning in Latin America and why great strategists often come from unexpected paths, before diving into why leaving the desk is essential for good strategy. They also discuss vulnerability as a strategic skill, how culture and language shape what people are willing to share, and the role of AI in modern strategy—useful for the groundwork, but no substitute for real-world observation, perspective, and judgment. Resources talked about in this episode: The Jay Chiat AwardsBalzac and La Comédie HumaineGenerative AI enhances individual creativity but reduces the collective diversity of novel content by Anil R. Doshi and Oliver P. Hauser, Science AdvancesPoll: 62% of Americans Say They Have Political Views They’re Afraid to Share by Emily Ekins, Cato Institute / YouGovFollow Claudia Aguirre: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aguirreclaudia/Follow Pedro Porto Alegre: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pedroportoalegre/ Listen to full episodes wherever you get your podcasts: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033uubqHEgCKhsEtBQzMwDApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/grow-your-brain/id1896893094YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsxF4y-bl38Gcdi1FSSVROMnK3Ct-QLYTJoin APG Canada to connect with, learn from, and support the country’s strategic planning community. Become a member at http://apgcanada.ca/join-us. Grow Your Brain is proudly sponsored by The Gathering, the award-winning yearly brand festival hosted in the Canadian Rockies. Learn more at http://thegatheringfestival.com. Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction to Grow Your Brain Podcast 00:49 The Gathering Festival Overview 01:13 Claudia Aguirre’s Career Journey 04:17 Building the Planning Profession 10:43 Why Strategists Must Get Out Into the World 17:37 Research, Human Behavior, and Creative Collaboration 20:49 Observation, Insights, and the Brief 28:40 Vulnerability as a Strategic Skill 33:33 Culture, Language, and Connecting With People 41:07 AI, Originality, and Doing the Real Work

  2. Jul 28

    Umar Ghumman: Digital Experiences Have a Brand Problem

    Umar Ghumman is an experience strategist and founder of NewBrains, a website strategy studio built around the intersection of new technologies and enduring human behaviour. Over his career, Umar has worked across digital agencies, startups, Publicis, and VML, where he served as Chief Experience Strategy Officer. This conversation explores how brands should think about websites, customer experience, AI, positioning, and distinctiveness in digital environments. Umar Ghumman explains why websites should be treated as complete buying systems that build both physical and mental availability, and why generic digital experiences are becoming less effective as AI increasingly compares, summarizes, and filters brands. The episode also looks at the shift from social media to AI, the trade-offs between privacy and convenience, and how brand positioning should show up online. Pedro and Umar discuss how brands become habits, why consistency needs variation, and how developing taste and judgment in an AI-shaped world comes from experience, exposure, and feedback rather than aesthetics alone. Resources talked about in this episode: A New Operating System for Brand Building in the Age of AI by Umar GhummanThe Social DilemmaThe Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff Follow Umar Ghumman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/umarghumman/ Follow Pedro Porto Alegre: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pedroportoalegre/  Join APG Canada to connect with, learn from, and support the country’s strategic planning community. Become a member at http://apgcanada.ca/join-us. Grow Your Brain is proudly sponsored by The Gathering, the award-winning yearly brand festival hosted in the Canadian Rockies. Learn more at http://thegatheringfestival.com. Timestamps: 01:15 Umar’s Background and the NewBrains Perspective 02:58 From the Social Media Shift to AI 05:07 Privacy, Trust, and the Pull of Convenience 08:23 Websites as Complete Buying Systems 10:08 Websites, Physical Availability, and Mental Availability 13:49 Bringing Brand Positioning to Life Online 15:54 Balancing Immersive Experiences with Utility 18:38 How to Define Brand Positioning 23:14 How Positioning Drives Website Conversion 24:58 Measuring Website Success 27:46 Customer Journeys and Brand-Rooted Experiences 28:34 AI’s Role in Modern Brand Building 30:10 Consistency, Variation, and Distinctiveness 32:13 How Brands Become Habits 35:15 Customer Centricity Without Sameness 38:22 Developing Taste and Judgment

  3. Jul 14

    Marc Binkley: Your Mental Model Might Be Wrong

    Marc Binkley is an evidence-based marketing consultant, President of the Calgary Marketing Association, and co-host of the Sleeping Barber podcast. Through his consultancy, Quatical, he helps organizations apply marketing science to brand and business growth. This conversation explores how evidence-based thinking can improve marketing decisions, why digital measurement has distorted our understanding of effectiveness, and what marketers can learn from the scientific method. Marc and Pedro examine the limitations of the traditional marketing funnel, how people actually make buying decisions, and why better diagnosis often matters more than having more tactics. They also discuss mental and physical availability, the 95–5 Rule, the Theory of Constraints, and how marketers can build a stronger latticework of mental models without mistaking any single framework for reality. Resources talked about in this episode: A More Beautiful Question by Warren BergerHow Brands Grow by Byron SharpThe Long and the Short of It by Les Binet and Peter FieldThe Goal by Eliyahu M. GoldrattFuture Demand by James HurmanBetter Brand Health by Jenni Romaniuk Follow Marc Binkley: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcbinkley/https://sleepingbarber.ca/https://calgarycma.com/https://www.quatical.com/ Follow Pedro Porto Alegre: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pedroportoalegre/ Join APG Canada to connect with, learn from, and support the country’s strategic planning community. Become a member at http://apgcanada.ca/join-us. Grow Your Brain is proudly sponsored by The Gathering, the award-winning yearly brand festival hosted in the Canadian Rockies. Learn more at http://thegatheringfestival.com. Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction to Marc Binkley and His Work 03:31 The Importance of Evidence-Based Marketing 06:10 The Evolution of Marketing Measurement 08:32 The Impact of Digital Marketing 11:00 How Digital Changed Marketing Thinking 13:37 The Limits of Digital Measurement 16:18 Why Small Brands Default to Social Media 17:21 The Importance of Asking Better Questions 20:36 Can Scientific Thinking Scale Across Marketing Teams? 22:55 Why New Ideas Threaten Core Beliefs 23:16 The Origins of the Marketing Funnel 24:59 The Strongest Arguments For and Against the Funnel 27:10 How Consumers Actually Make Buying Decisions 28:32 Mental and Physical Availability 29:48 Satisficing and the Reality of Consumer Choice 31:19 The Role of Mental Models in Strategy 33:18 Understanding the Theory of Constraints 36:21 Why Diagnosis Matters More Than Tactics 37:25 The 95–5 Rule and Future Demand 40:29 Alternatives to the Traditional Funnel 41:23 The 95–5 Cash Flow Funnel 43:05 Measuring Mental Availability 45:11 Turning Marketing Research Into Action

  4. Jun 30

    Jon Crowley: Marketers Are Addicted to Certainty

    Jon Crowley is a Toronto-based brand strategist, Partner, Head of Strategy, and SVP at FUSE Create. He is also the writer behind A Benign Conspiracy and a founding editor of Rebrief, an independent Canadian journal of advertising. This conversation explores the realities of modern strategy, agency culture, and the tension between creativity, business, data, and measurement. Jon Crowley shares his perspective on what strategists often misunderstand about their role, why agencies need to better understand how clients make money, and how the pursuit of certainty has shaped marketing’s obsession with attribution, funnels, and performance metrics. The episode also covers the importance of writing as a way of thinking, the value of intentional friction in creative work, the role of print in a digital world, and why individual success in advertising is largely a myth. Jon argues that strategy is ultimately an elevated form of educated guessing, where the strategist’s job is to increase the probability of success by understanding the business, the audience, the market, and the creative problem clearly enough to point teams toward better decisions. Resources talked about in this episode: A Benign Conspiracy by Jon CrowleyRebriefThe WalrusMonocleUnderstanding Media: The Extensions of Man by Marshall McLuhanHow Humans Decide (Oxford Saïd Business School / WPP research on brand preference)ShoresyA Big Life In Advertising by Mary Wells Lawrence Follow Jon Crowley: LinkedInA Benign Conspiracy Follow Pedro Porto Alegre: LinkedIn Join APG Canada to connect with, learn from, and support the country’s strategic planning community. Become a member at apgcanada.ca/join-us. Grow Your Brain is proudly sponsored by The Gathering, the award-winning yearly brand festival hosted in the Canadian Rockies. Learn more at thegatheringfestival.com. Timestamps: 00:00 The Indie Agency Experience 06:25 The Importance of Team Culture 11:59 The Journey into Writing and Strategy 17:12 Launching Rebrief: A New Perspective on Advertising 22:34 The Value of Print in a Digital World 22:57 Understanding Marketing in Business Context 28:00 The Importance of Clear Objectives in Briefs 33:25 The Shift Towards Performance Marketing 38:49 The Role of Media Mix Modeling 44:14 The Challenge of Teaching Young Strategists

  5. Jun 12

    PK Lawton: Brands Are Social Systems

    Paul "PK" Lawton is a sociologist, co-founder of Sister Merci, and an instructor at McMaster University. His work examines how culture shapes behaviour, belief, and decision-making. This conversation explores the intersection of sociology and marketing strategy, emphasizing the importance of understanding social actors, assemblages, and the limitations of traditional frameworks. PK Lawton shares insights on how brands are built in regulated industries, the influence of social sciences, and the need to adapt in an age of AI and rapid change. Resources talked about in this episode: After Method by John LawHow Brands Grow by Byron SharpActor Network Theory (Bruno Latour)Retromania by Simon ReynoldsCapitalist Realism by Mark FisherShitification by Corey Doctorow Follow PK Lawton: LinkedIn Follow Pedro Porto Alegre: LinkedIn Join APG Canada to connect with, learn from, and support the country’s strategic planning community. Become a member at apgcanada.ca/join-us. Grow Your Brain is proudly sponsored by The Gathering, the award-winning yearly brand festival hosted in the Canadian Rockies. Learn more at thegatheringfestival.com. Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction to Paul Lawton's Journey 02:58 Teaching and Academia: A Return to Roots 05:46 The Evolution of Strategy in Marketing 09:02 Defining Brand Strategy in a Changing Landscape 11:48 Building Brands in Regulated Industries 15:08 The Role of AI in Modern Strategy 18:02 The Concept of Brand as Assemblage 21:01 Navigating the Messy World of Marketing 23:59 Frameworks and Their Limitations in Strategy 28:03 The Complexity of AI Operations and Marketing Funnels 29:30 Understanding Social Assemblages in Marketing 32:09 The Role of Frameworks in Strategy 33:01 Actor-Network Theory and Its Implications 36:21 The Need for Sociological Perspectives in Strategy 37:39 The Limitations of Predicting the Future 40:22 The Erosion of Future Visions in Society 43:33 Navigating the New Marketing Landscape 44:54 The Role of Marketing Science in Strategy 49:17 Understanding Brand Growth Beyond Advertising 52:08 The Importance of Recognizing All Actors in Strategy

  • 5 Episodes

About

Grow Your Brain is an APG Canada podcast made by strategists, for strategists. Hosted by Pedro Porto Alegre, the show features long-form conversations with people shaping how our industry thinks, from strategists and creatives to researchers, founders, authors, and cultural observers. Rather than chasing hot takes, career stories, or surface-level marketing commentary, Grow Your Brain explores the deeper ideas behind the work: how people form beliefs, how culture moves, how brands create meaning, how technology changes behaviour, and what better thinking requires in a noisy world. Each episode is designed for intellectually curious listeners who want to go beyond the obvious and spend time with ideas worth wrestling with.

Information

  • Creator
    APG Canada
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    5
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 APG Canada
  • Show Website
    Grow Your Brain

You Might Also Like