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Any Insights Yet? with Chris Kocek

Chris Kocek

28 episodes

1 week ago

What are the key characteristics of designing a great toy? It turns out, it’s many of the same characteristics that go into building a great brand. Playfulness. Imagination. A little bit of mischief. And joy. In this episode, I talk with Assaf Eshet, founder and award-winning toy designer at Clixo Toys. I met Assaf at the ISTE EdTech conference in San Antonio this summer and I was immediately drawn to the flexible, colorful shapes of Clixo and all the different things you could build with the...

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What are the key characteristics of designing a great toy? It turns out, it’s many of the same characteristics that go into building a great brand. Playfulness. Imagination. A little bit of mischief. And joy. In this episode, I talk with Assaf Eshet, founder and award-winning toy designer at Clixo Toys. I met Assaf at the ISTE EdTech conference in San Antonio this summer and I was immediately drawn to the flexible, colorful shapes of Clixo and all the different things you could build with the...

Show more...

Episodes (20/28)

Any Insights Yet? with Chris Kocek

The Surprising Overlaps Between Toy Design and Brand Design with Assaf Eshet, Founder of Clixo Toys

What are the key characteristics of designing a great toy? It turns out, it’s many of the same characteristics that go into building a great brand. Playfulness. Imagination. A little bit of mischief. And joy. In this episode, I talk with Assaf Eshet, founder and award-winning toy designer at Clixo Toys. I met Assaf at the ISTE EdTech conference in San Antonio this summer and I was immediately drawn to the flexible, colorful shapes of Clixo and all the different things you could build with the...

1 week ago

43 minutes

Any Insights Yet? with Chris Kocek

How Comedy and Cultural Sparks Drive Creativity with Tara Lawall at Rethink

Tara Lawall has worked at some of the biggest agencies in the world, earned a Cannes Titanium Lion, and her work has even landed a spot in MoMA’s permanent collection, but her sharpest insights might trace back to a comedy class she took at Miami Ad School. Today, Tara is Chief Creative Officer and Partner at Rethink’s New York office, and in this interview, Tara shares how her team uncovers powerful truths hidden in everyday behavior — something they call cultural sparks at Rethink — and how...

3 weeks ago

43 minutes

Any Insights Yet? with Chris Kocek

Building Social-First Brands with Jason Mitchell, CEO of Movement

When Jason Mitchell realized his college professors were still teaching TV-first strategies while every student in the room was glued to Facebook, he saw an opportunity. That opportunity was the beginning of Movement, a social-first agency that has done award-winning work for brands like the NBA, Netflix, Amazon Prime, and more. In this episode, Jason shares the early bets and strategic philosophies that have helped Movement grow from a dorm-room idea into one of the most recognized soc...

1 month ago

53 minutes

Any Insights Yet? with Chris Kocek

Making Boring Briefs Better with Ashley Rutstein, Copywriter, Influencer, and Creator of Stuff About Advertising

How do you help strategists transform boring briefs into better briefs so that creatives can do what they do best? That’s just one of many questions I ask Ashley Rutstein during our interview. Ashley is a copywriter-creative director, an Adweek Creative 100, and the founder of Stuff About Advertising - a multiplatform channel with hundreds of thousands of followers, where Ashley covers a wide range of topics, including insights, effective brainstorming techniques, and brilliant movie marketin...

1 month ago

51 minutes

Any Insights Yet? with Chris Kocek

Seeking Confessions, Not Just Observations with Mark Pollard, Author of Strategy Is Your Words

What’s the difference between a good observation and a real insight? According to Mark Pollard, one of the most sought-after strategy consultants and trainers in the industry, it often comes down to whether someone’s willing to confess something they’ve never said out loud before. As an Australian strategist, Mark brings a different voice to the podcast - literally and figuratively. You’ll notice from his very first line, he doesn’t mince words and he’s not afraid to call a spade a spad...

2 months ago

43 minutes

Any Insights Yet? with Chris Kocek

Feral Intelligence in a Data-Driven World with Kate Rush Sheehy, Chief Strategy Officer at GSD&M

Where do the best insights come from? For Kate Rush Sheehy, Chief Strategy Officer at GSD&M, it’s not always based on what people say or even what they do. Sometimes, it’s about what they don’t say or what they don’t do in certain situations. Sometimes, it’s about having a sixth sense or some feral intelligence. In this episode, Kate shares her unique approach to uncovering brand-defining insights, from analyzing who shows up to a focus group (and who doesn’t), to asking clients the...

2 months ago

46 minutes

Any Insights Yet? with Chris Kocek

Taking the Piss and Turning LOLers into Dollars with Dave Harland, Chief Copywriter at Copy or Die

Dave Harland LOVES words. Big ones. Little ones. Silly ones. Serious ones. He has a talent for taking the world’s most boring categories and breathing new life into them with a few flourishes of his pen and some rat-tat-tat-clickety-clacks at his keyboard. During our conversation, we dig into all kinds of things, including the micro dignities of daily life that are threatened by automation and generative AI, as well as the unmistakable human quirks that make insight building and copywriting a...

3 months ago

47 minutes

Any Insights Yet? with Chris Kocek

Building Flywheels and Fandoms with Zoe Scaman at Bodacious

Zoe Scaman knows how to rebuild brands and fandoms from the ground up. Her work with brands like Nike, Netflix, and the NBA has allowed her to dig deep into consumer behavior and organizational structures, resulting in numerous aha moments around community building and how to encourage a culture of co-creation with brand superfans. Zoe builds a number of beautiful constellations during our conversation as she connects the dots between furries, sports fans, and political communities. We also t...

4 months ago

48 minutes

Any Insights Yet? with Chris Kocek

Semiotics, Subtext, and Strutting with Joe Burns at Quality Meats Creative

Joe Burn has done a LOT of award-winning strategy work, including but not limited to brand strategy, creative strategy, communications strategy, and design strategy. And it’s these diverse experiences in strategy that have helped Joe connect the dots in the most interesting and unexpected ways for brands like KFC, Heineken, Samsung, Puma, Amnesty International, Benecol, Meta, and more. But Joe doesn’t just have a passion for strategy and insights. His infatuation with typography, semiotics, a...

4 months ago

37 minutes

Any Insights Yet? with Chris Kocek

Why Chaos and Sarcasm Are Essential for Strategic Insights with Tracy Lovatt at Batten & Co

For over two decades, Tracy Lovatt has helped brands build transformative insights by challenging assumptions and embracing the chaos of tectonic cultural shifts. After starting her career at BBDO, where she guided brands like HBO, GE, Bank of America, Hyatt Hotels, PepsiCo and many others, Tracy eventually stepped away from advertising to start Batten & Co, where she now helps brands connect the dots between insights, operations, and the customer experience. In this episode, Tracy ...

5 months ago

54 minutes

Any Insights Yet? with Chris Kocek

Reading Between the Lines with Bob Morais, Business Anthropologist & Lecturer at Columbia Business School

Great research isn’t just about collecting answers. It’s about knowing which questions to ask and how to observe with all your senses to get to the truth of a situation. Bob Morais, business anthropologist, ethnographer, and lecturer at Columbia University’s Business School, knows how to read between the lines of what people say and what they actually do, and in this conversation, Bob shares his techniques for consistently finding those aha moments that can help a brand soar. Over the y...

5 months ago

46 minutes

Any Insights Yet? with Chris Kocek

Why Data isn’t Truth: Finding Clarity in the Chaos with Tim Wilson & Valerie Kroll of facts & feelings

In a world obsessed with big data, robust dashboards, and faster answers, what if the real insight about insights has to do with slowing down and making real connections? That’s how Tim Wilson and Valerie Kroll approach each project, working with organizations to help them rethink their approach to data analytics and consumer insights. Over the years, their facts & feelings approach has made a huge impact on a wide variety of brands, including Yoplait, Time Warner, Adobe, P&G, Purell,...

6 months ago

1 hour 15 minutes

Any Insights Yet? with Chris Kocek

Bending Reality with Greg Hahn at Mischief @ No Fixed Address

Greg Hahn has built his career on reframing questions and seeing things just a little bit differently. Actually, that’s an understatement. Before launching Mischief, Greg spent almost 20 years at some of the biggest and most celebrated agencies in the business, including Fallon and BBDO, where he led creative for brands like Timberland, Citibank, HBO, eBay, FedEx, and more. Along the way, he helped create some of the most awarded campaigns in modern advertising—work that not only racked...

6 months ago

44 minutes

Any Insights Yet? with Chris Kocek

Connecting the Dots Between Marketing and Murder with Alina Burroughs, Forensic Expert from Crime Scene Confidential

What do forensic science and marketing have in common? More than you might think. Both require an ability to analyze evidence, challenge assumptions, and uncover hidden truths that are often hiding in plain sight. Alina Burroughs, a forensic expert and star of the hit show Crime Scene Confidential, has spent years piecing together clues to solve cases, and as it turns out, many of those same techniques can also be applied to marketing. In this episode, Alina reveals how marketers ...

7 months ago

53 minutes

Any Insights Yet? with Chris Kocek

Fighting Invisibility & Finding Emotional Truths with John Gibson, Head of Strategy at The Martin Agency

Despite the billions of dollars spent on advertising every year, most ads go completely unnoticed. In fact, 85% of them don’t even hit the minimum threshold for attention. So how do you make it into the 15% that actually break through? John Gibson, Head of Strategy at The Martin Agency, has spent his career answering that question, helping brands fight invisibility by uncovering complex emotional truths. For Papa John’s, that meant moving beyond “better ingredients” to tap into something far ...

7 months ago

37 minutes

Any Insights Yet? with Chris Kocek

Going Cowboy and Being Bluntly Honest With Gordy Sang & Brian Siedband at Quality Meats Creative

The best work in advertising doesn’t just stand out—it challenges the status quo. And that’s exactly what Gordy Sang and Brian Siedband do with every client and every campaign at Quality Meats. Whether they’re working on a GoDaddy spot for the Big Game or a provocative box of chocolates for U by Kotex, Gordy and Brian (and their distributed team of strategists and creatives) always bring an unexpected twist to their creations, sparking conversations, and getting people to say, “I can’t ...

8 months ago

35 minutes

Any Insights Yet? with Chris Kocek

Transforming Challenger Brands into Category Leaders with Mark DiMassimo & Lesley Bielby at DiGo Brands

How do you take a challenger brand from number two and make it number one? And how do you do that with a relentless focus on positive behavior change? Those are the kinds of challenges that Mark DiMassimo and Lesley Bielby love to tackle at DiGo Brands, and over the past twenty years, they have elevated and re-energized numerous better-for-you brands, including Weight Watchers, Crunch Fitness, The Partnership to End Addiction, The Bronx Zoo, and Better Help, just to name a few. Wh...

11 months ago

56 minutes

Any Insights Yet? with Chris Kocek

Reframing Risk & Doing Scary Stuff with Andy Pearson, VP of Creative at Liquid Death

What is risk? For most people, a risky situation is one where you’re exposed to danger. Put another way, it’s the possibility of something bad happening. But for Andy Pearson, VP of Creative at Liquid Death, the definition of risk takes an interesting detour. For Andy, the real danger is not that something bad will happen, but that nothing will happen at all. No reaction. No learning. No breakthroughs. Just a boring piece of creative, dead on arrival, completely ignored. That’s why, over the ...

1 year ago

36 minutes

Any Insights Yet? with Chris Kocek

Looking for Anomalies & Opportunities in AI Focus Groups with Ed Cotton, Chief Strategist & Brand Consultant

Why should strategists do focus groups with real humans if AI-enabled synthetic focus groups can yield an equally powerful aha moment at a fraction of the cost? That’s one of several challenging questions I explore with Ed Cotton, brand consultant and former chief strategy officer from Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners (BSSP). For the past 25 years, Ed has been at the helm of strategic planning in NYC, leading strategy for a wide variety of brands, including Amazon, Apple, BMW-MINI, Chipotl...

1 year ago

29 minutes

Any Insights Yet? with Chris Kocek

Why Context is Everything with Tim Malefyt, Business Anthropologist and Clinical Professor at Fordham Gabelli School of Business

Tim Malefyt has an amazing ability to make the familiar strange. He does this by doing deep, ethnographic research, helping brands uncover hidden consumer truths through a combination of carefully constructed activities and thoughtful conversation. As a business anthropologist, Tim’s research methodologies and key findings have helped re-energize a number of big name brands across multiple categories, including Campbell’s, Gillette, FedEx, HBO, Revlon, PepsiCo, Cadillac, Crayola, and Ne...

1 year ago

44 minutes