Grow Therapy and its challenger brand mindset

Before the blue wave in American politics washed across the country this past week, we recorded an important conversation about the identity and cultural tensions of the American South and it implications for strategy. I traveled to Greenville, South Carolina, invited by a group of agency leaders for an honest conversation about the southern experience. The South is a place of contradictions, tradition, innovation, growth and persistence. This past week was just one example of its cultural evolution, of a new emerging generation, of the South as a place to return to rather than flee. EP+Co's CSO, Chris Plating, The Martin Agency's CEO, Kristen Cavallo, Majority's CMO, Jorge Hernandez, and Each & Every's CEO, Janis Middleton joined me at the roundtable. This is not a conversation about politics. This is a story about personal agency and ad agencies in the American South. Love to hear your comments. Thanks to EP+Co for hosting us and to Effie Worldwide, Tracksuit and System1 for supporting our live tour.

This month's strategists pitch campaigns from Stella Artois and Glenmorangie Whiskey. They are W+K, Global Executive Strategy Director, Tass Tsitopoulos and EP+Co Chief Strategy Officer Chris Plating. Thanks to the Effies, Tracksuit and System1 for supporting this series.

In its effort to create distinction in the cluttered telehealth category, Grow's new campaign wants to create a distinction between therapy for crisis and therapy that helps you simply create the best version of yourself. I'm Joined by Mollie Partesotti of KDSP and Marshall Ball of Grow Therapy. Be sure to click the Follow or Subscribe button for other episodes. Thanks to the EFFIES for supporting our show.

Virtual Insanity by Jamiroquai (JL) resurfaces 30 yrs later in the campaign for Beefeater 0.0. Gin. CSO Damien Le Castrec and CCO Shelley Smoler share the story behind the recreation of the famous video and its link to the Beefeater 0.0. launch. You can see the creative work on our website here. We're live in LA at TBWA\Chiat\Day at 5:30 Oct. 28th. Tickets here https://luma.com/nieh2u8r

Veronica Thew, Head of Strategy at Mother, Ellery Luce, EVP, Strategy at Mischief and Jonathan Daly, Joint Head of Strategy at JL, pitch campaigns they love but never worked on to a Sold Out live audience. Next stop is LA at TBWA, Oct 28th at 5:30. Tix https://luma.com/nieh2u8r.Thx to The Effies, Tracksuit and System1 for supporting our live tour. And to Johannes Leonardo (JL) for hosting us.

Matt Carmichael, SVP Consumer Trends at Ipsos joins Lisa Zielinski, SVP Creative Excellence at Ipsos and myself to discuss the logic of generational cohorts and the alternative of life stage marketing. The three reports we reference in this episode are free to download below.https://www.ipsos.com/en-us/future/american-dream-alive-it-wellhttps://www.ipsos.com/en-us/future/how-are-modern-milestones-and-ai-reshaping-path-successhttps://www.ipsos.com/en/modern-milestones-why-its-critical-think-life-stages

In the fifth episode in our Effie series, Planning for Effective Outcomes, we talk about the state of marketing effectiveness with Andrew Tindall of System1 and the author of Future Demand, strategist and effectiveness expert, James Hurman. Thanks to the Effies and Tracksuit for supporting this special series. 

The Coinbase team discusses the reframing of the brand and category, plus the opportunity that exists when 80% of Americans feel the existing financial system needs fixing. CMO, Cat Ferdon, VP, Brand, Gareth Kay and VP, Creative, Joe Staples. See all the creative work on our website or YouTube Channel.

Planners talk about brands they love, but never worked on. This month Depop and PlayStation. It's Joe Burns, Partner, Head of Strategy at Quality Meats, Brooklyn, and Jon Crowley, Partner, Head of Strategy at Fuse Create in Toronto. Thanks to Tracksuit and System1 for supporting our On the Spot series. We do it live at Johannes Leonardo in NYC this Wednesday, Sept 23, 2026 at 5pm. Tickets here https://luma.com/r0c474io

James talks about his new, brilliant, evidence-based Lions Learning course on advertising effectiveness and his latest book that popularizes a new mental model for marketing that better connects our role to the language of business and growth. Always great having James on the show.