Series ThreeIn this episode of The New Abnormal,  I interview Stefan Rollnick, Head of The Misinformation Cell at Lynn, a consultancy who believe that when you inject behavioural science into communications, you can build campaigns that do what’s important: create the behaviours needed to positively change the world.  With a background in politics and campaigns, Stefan has provided strategic consultancy to the World Economic Forum, World Health Organisation, UK and Welsh Government, national health agencies, and more. In our interview, we discuss a world where choices are everywhere, cognitive overload is at maximum, the stakes of our decisions are higher than ever, and it’s harder to trust what we see and hear. Hence, audiences need the communications industry to do better. That's why the Misinformation Cell provides a unique service dedicated to helping clients with the growing threat of online hate and misinformation so they can cut through the noise, build resilience within their online communities and together, achieve positive societal change...

Series FourThis episode of 'The New Abnormal' podcast features Maarten Leyts, the Founder of Trendwolves and an expert on translating trends into products, strategies campaigns and future brand value. He’s also the author of ‘Generation ZAlpha – Connecting with the Next Micro-Generation’. Maarten believes that generational thinking, when used correctly, provides a solid framework for successful marketing and product innovation. We therefore discuss his research into issues such as the pandemic as a catalyst of change, brain development in the digital age, diversity & inclusion, the Metaverse, and data privacy. It’s not every day that, when discussing marketing, you get to reference individuals such as the French philosopher Auguste Comte, the 19th Century Earl of Shaftesbury, along with those working at the World Federation of Advertisers and for the European Parliament…

Series OneIn this episode of #TheNewAbnormal I interviewed Jen Urich, a marketing strategist and founder of Sparrow Strategy in Portland, Oregon. She's also the ex-Group Planning Director of Wieden + Kennedy in Portland, ex-Director of Account Planning at Crispin, Porter + Bogusky in Miami, and Director of Account Planning at J. Walter Thompson Worldwide, in Mexico City. (Previously, she was also at Bain & Co, and took her Masters at Yale). In this reposted episode (an early one from the series) she explains her views on issues inc #BlackLivesMatter and the 'situation' in Portland. We go on to discuss the way in which #Truth (one of the most successful marketing campaigns of all time) was originally developed, the results of a fascinating research project into institutional trust vs personal trust (focusing around 'fears / loves / hopes') that she and her colleagues conducted in Brazil, India, Mexico and Japan. Jen also illuminates why Covid led to such a 'great reveal' of inequality. Along the way, we also talk about the 'Raising Justice' organisation, plus other crucial topics such as resilience, adaptability and community action. Oh, and why North America needs to be more like Canada...

Series Two This episode features the amazing Dan Burgess. He's spent 25 years working at the leading edge of creative engagement, eco-innovation, creative activism and cause-led campaigning. As he says "there's an enormous regenerative and creative potential in care, love, empathy, responsibility, generosity, co-creation and participation". In his opinion, these are the most positively disruptive innovation practises today. And who could argue with that? We talk about a wide range of issues, including what the Covid-19 pandemic has revealed to us about the systematic problems that were already all around us, and how we can try to solve at least some of them re: #TheGreatReset. Check him out at GoodForNothing.com or via his brilliant podcast 'Spaceship Earth'.

Series TwoIn this episode of #TheNewAbnormal, I interview Stephen Colegrave, the Executive Editor & Co-Founder of the Byline Times, Byline TV and Byline Festival. He's also a film producer and author of three books. The Byline Times is a fearless independent newspaper, featuring a daily national news and investigation site that's all about "what the papers don't print". The Byline Festival is the world's only festival for independent journalism and free speech, where you can "dance, discuss, laugh and change the world".  In this episode, we cover a lot of ground regarding 'Facts / Argument / Reportage / Culture'.  So, please take a listen and hear all about topics inc the Climate Emergency, Democracy under Attack, Independent Journalism, Propaganda & Disinformation...and how to put on a festival where you can go to a discussion about corporate surveillance, hear a leading-edge comic, get drunk with a feminist punk band, learn about creative activism, then dance to a legendary DJ. (And not necessarily in that order).

Series ThreeIn this episode of #TheNewAbnormal I interview Alex Quicho,  Head of Cultural Intelligence at Canvas8. Her research into identity, ethics, and technology has been published widely, including in Wired, Bookforum, and a monograph for Zero Books. She is an associate lecturer in speculative futures at Central Saint Martins and holds a master’s degree in cultural criticism from the Royal College of Art. In this episode we discuss how Canvas8 'find better ways to understand the world' and Alex illuminates their recent reports into Chaotic Communities re: how to create meaningful connections and why fragmentation is at a tipping point, etc. We also discuss the right roadmap for business in 'inflationary times' along with issues such as social insulation, squad goals, next-door communities, partisanship, Tropical Futurism (which reimagines a different relationship to the earth) and why futurism has failed. Therefore, why it's time for an alternative...

Series FourThis episode of 'The New Abnormal' podcast features Adam Chmielowski, co-founder at the specialist cultural insight and brand strategy practice, Starling Strategy, who work for clients including Google, Nike, PepsiCo, Pan Macmillan and the National Trust.Adam has worked in the insight and brand strategy industry for nearly 25 years, during which his interests have shifted towards using cultural rather than psychological / individualist approaches, as well as systems and sociological thinking, historical perspectives and a journalistic instinct for storytelling. No one project is the same, but all invariably involve helping brands see alternative paths to the future.He’s also a lecturer on cultural strategy at the University of Bristol’s School of Management, focusing on how the theory translates into practice. We discuss all of the above during the interview, along with his latest undertaking – an MRes at the Cabot Institute, exploring how brands construct sustainability campaigns as cultural strategies, using myth, promoting ideologies, reconfiguring systems and more. So…enjoy the episode!

Series ThreeThis episode of The New Abnormal podcast features Tom Johnson, MD at the consumer insights and futures consultancy, Trajectory. He's a researcher, trends analyser and forecaster with  a mass of experience leading complex insight and foresight projects for clients including Vodafone, British Council, Department for International Trade, General Medical Council, McCann and many more.  Trajectory help clients understand how customers, markets and the world around them is changing - and how they can benefit from that change. Trajectory's proprietary international data  - Global Foresight - draws on 100,000 consumer interviews and has been running for a decade. Their monthly 'Optimism Index' monitor tracks consumer sentiment in the UK each month, gaining viewpoints from 1500 adults re: issues such as confidence, personal choice & control, social trust, opportunities in tech, optimism and their place in the world. We discuss all of the above and more, so I hope you enjoy the conversation!

Series OneIn this episode, I spoke with Nicole Fall, the CEO of the renowned strategic research, innovation consultancy and forecasting agency Asian Consumer Intelligence. She's spent 20 years in Asia working with leading brands in countries inc China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and Malaysia. In the interview, we discuss her expert views on decoding cultural/social trends in Asia, and the implications for business strategy and brand marketing.

Series FourThis episode of 'The New Abnormal' podcast features the futures thinker and leadership advisor Eric Korsvik Ostergaard, who specialises in exploring and evaluating possible and preferable futures of work. He's also the author of 'The Responsive Leader' which described the paradigm shift towards future organisations, and 'Teal Dots in an Orange World'  which addressed how to create an appropriately dynamic internal structure. His next book - which focuses on Anticipatory Leadership - will be published in late 2024. So, we discuss all of the above, and I hope you agree that Erik delivers a masterclass in how to reinvent organisations for positive effect.

Series TwoThis episode of 'The New Abnormal' features Brooklyn-based John Seabrook, a staff writer at The New Yorker since the 90's as well as being the author of a range of superb books including 'The Song Machine: Inside the Hit Factory' / 'Nobrow: The Culture of Marketing—The Marketing of Culture' / 'Deeper: My Two-Year Odyssey in Cyberspace / 'Flash of Genius, and Other True Stories of Invention' . In the interview we discuss his views on all of the above, along with a range of his other recent articles for the New Yorker. Therefore, his viewpoints take us on a fascinating path as we discuss issues inc artificial intelligence & smart composition, counter-surveillance strategies & fashion innovation, a robopop perspective on the record label of the future, social hierarchies in a commercialised culture, and social fragmentation in the post-digital / post-Covid age. Plus, of course, his take on 'Hope  / Community / Resilience' which link all of #TheNewAbnormal podcasts...

Series Two In this episode of 'The New Abnormal' I interview Sara Wheeler,  a prize-winning non-fiction writer noted for her accounts of the polar regions. Her books include the international bestseller Terra Incognita, which tells the story of a seven-month journey in Antarctica. The Daily Telegraph reviewer wrote of it, ‘I do not think there will ever be a better book written about the Antarctic.’ In it, she mentioned sleeping in the captain's bunk in Scott's Hut. Whilst in Antarctica she read 'The Worst Journey in the World', an account of the Terra Nova Expedition, and she later wrote a biography of its author Apsley Cherry-Garrard.  For years she travelled frequently to Russia, Alaska, Greenland, Canada, and North Norway to write her book The Magnetic North: Notes from the Arctic Circle (winner of the Banff Adventure Travel Prize). She later wrote 'O My America!: Second Acts in a New World' which records the lives of women who travelled to America in the first half of the 19th Century, and the authors's travels in pursuit of them.  Sara’s latest book, Mud and Stars: Travels in Russia with Pushkin and Other Geniuses of the Golden Age, came out just prior to the pandemic.Sara is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature,  a Contributing Editor of The Literary Review, a Trustee of  The London Library and former chair of the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year award. She contributes to a wide range of publications in the UK and US and broadcasts regularly on BBC Radio. Sara's the most extraordinary person and I really enjoyed hearing her fascinating stories and perspectives.

Series ThreeIn this episode of #TheNewAbnormal, I interview Giana Eckhardt, Professor of Marketing and Vice Dean at King’s Business School, King’s College London. A leading expert in the field of consumer behaviour, consumer culture, consumer ethics, branding and the sharing economy, she publishing regularly in journals such as Harvard Business Review. She is co-author of The Myth of the Ethical Consumer (Cambridge University Press) and co-editor of Handbook of the Sharing Economy.  Her research has won awards and been featured in outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, The Atlantic, Fortune, Vogue, Scientific American, The BBC, and on National Public Radio. Giana has presented her work at top institutions and conferences around the world, inc the United Nations CSR Global Forum, Brand Week, Future of Brands, and the Global Women’s Forum. So, we discuss the above, and her forthcoming book 'In Praise of Inconvenience'.

The episode of The New Abnormal podcast features Shermon Cruz, the Founder & Chief Futurist of the Center for Engaged Foresight, a global futures innovation and strategic foresight hub..He serves as the UNESCO Chair on Anticipatory Governance and Regenerative Cities at Northwestern University, Philippines.  As a full member of the World Futures Studies Federation (WFSF) and a pioneer member of UNESCO's Global Anticipatory Thinking Network (Futures Literacy), Shermon has established himself as a leading figure in the field. He is also a co-founder of the Global Future Society at the Dubai Future Foundation. Previously, Shermon held significant roles in business continuity management and risk management at PWC, EY, and Accenture.  We discuss his deeply knowledgeable perspectives regarding all things 'futures related' and I hope you enjoy listening to him as much as I did. (BTW, Shermon's dog also wanted to join the conversation...so you may hear the odd bark, all the way from the Philippines to wherever you listen to this podcast!

Series ThreeThis reposted episode of #TheNewAbnormal podcast features James Hurman 'a creative person from Auckland, New Zealand'. He founded and continues to lead Previously Unavailable, an innovation studio that provides innovation and CX consulting and new product, brand and business design and development.James is also a co-founder and director of Tracksuit, a SAAS business that provides brand tracking at a fraction of the normal cost and operates across New Zealand, Australia, the UK and US. In addition, he's the author of 'The Case for Creativity' and 'Future Demand'. The first is about the data showing that when businesses are more creative, they’re more successful. The second is about why building your brand among tomorrow’s customers is the key to start-up success.We talk about all of the above in this really interesting discussion - where James also discusses the furore at the Mi3-LinkedIn B2B Next conference in Sydney. Where, as anyone even vaguely associated with adland knows, it kicked off in a big way re: Sharp apparently / supposedly skewering Binet and Field…

Series FourThis episode of The New Abnormal podcast features Chicago-based Keely Adler, cultural futurist at Dentsu and core team at Radar.  A brand strategist by trade, time-traveling futurist at heart and with a nearly decade-long career grounded in creative strategy and qualitative consumer research, Keely has spent her time working across a range of brands and special projects that leverage her cultural expertise and fuel clients’ curiosity about the world and where it’s headed. Today, she’s spearheading a Cultural Futurism practice within the strategy group at dentsu: leveraging foresight to help brands understand — and future-proof — themselves in rapidly shifting contexts. She believes in understanding the present through the lens of the past in order to make sense of the future, and she loves helping makers, creators, and brands do the same. In this episode, we therefore discuss a range of issues that she's currently obsessing over: the future of work & global power dynamics | the makings of a post-deprivation world | the role of fandom and community in a micro-culture first context | exploring new ways into strategic foresight & designing for the future...

Series Two In this episode of #TheNewAbnormal podcast, I interview Jon Cohen, the author of "Asking for Trouble: understanding what people think, when you can't trust what they say".  The aim of the book is to enable the development of more creative concepts, braver public policy and more compelling marketing communications through a better understanding of response.He's also the Managing Partner of the award-winning Kindling Research, who have an outstanding record of helping clients develop ideas that challenge the status quo. In this episode, we discuss all of the above, clarify why 'the language of asking' only has six rules, discuss democracy vs meritocracy (in the context of research), debate why 'asking is an art' and give a shout-out to the gone (but not forgotten) HHCL.  Jon also outlines the 'Golden Triangle of Intelligent Response'. The interview starts with the observation that one constant theme has dominated his life: 'Asking is easy. The hard part is knowing what to do with the answer...'

Series TwoIn this episode of #TheNewAbnormal podcast, I interviewed Mark Vernon, a psychodynamic psychotherapist, writer and broadcaster, who has a keen interest in spirituality and the inner life. He has a PhD in ancient philosophy, as well as degrees in physics and theology. His books (which have appeared in translation around the world) cover subjects from friendship and belief, to wellbeing and love, and his latest one is 'A Secret History of Christianity'. Mark contributes to and has presented a number of radio programmes such as 'The Moral Maze' and 'In Our Time'. He teaches at The Idler Academy and also leads workshops and gives talks re: 'Ancient Greek Philosophy and How to See Spiritually'.  So, as you can no doubt imagine, I found it fascinating to talk with Mark about his thinking on subjects ranging from Plato to Freud to Blake to Augustine; and on issues ranging from  friendship to religion to generational angst  to Pandora's Box. Along the way, we discuss the Socratic Question, his viewpoints on the Stoics, Epicureans, Skeptics and Cynics, all things ego-related, why it's hard for science to question itself, along with the parables of Jesus and Buddha.

Series ThreeIn this episode of #TheNewAbnormal, I interviewed Kathleen Higgins, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Texas, at Austin.  Kathleen's main areas of research are continental philosophy, philosophy of the emotions, and aesthetics.  She has published a number of books: Nietzsche's “Zarathustra” , The Music of Our Lives,  A Short History of Philosophy,  A Passion for Wisdom , What Nietzsche Really Said , and The Music between Us:  Is Music a Universal Language?  She has edited or co-edited several other books on such topics as  German Idealism, aesthetics, ethics, erotic love, non-Western philosophy, and the philosophy of Robert C. Solomon.  In this episode, we discuss her thinking on topics including post-truth, autonomy, the Noble Lie, filter-bubbles and echo chambers, public opinion and media narratives, heuristics vs critical thinking; alongside the lessons of today that we can learn from philosophers ranging from Rousseau to Kant to Schopenhaur to  Derrida. And, of course, Nietzsche.

Series ThreeIn this episode of The New Abnormal, I interview Steven MacGregor. He's a global expert in workplace health, wellbeing and performance with PhD and Master's degree in design thinking and virtual teams. Steven is also founder of The Leadership Academy of Barcelona. and author (or lead co-author) of six books in the past 12 years, notably 'Chief Wellbeing Officer' and 'Sustaining Executive Performance'. His next book 'The Daily Reset, 366 ways to move your life forward' was published recently. A keynote speaker and guest professor with experience in research and teaching at Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, IE, IMD, IESE, CEIBS and Pompeu Fabra, he's trained with Olympic athletes, Tour de France riders and Ironman champions. Steven's also an international level Duathlete and former national champion currently racing for FC Barcelona. So...we discuss all of the above in what I hope you'll agree is a suitably dynamic conversation.