Second Wind by AKA

Second Wind is the show about how creative power is built.Hosted by Also Known As, Second Wind features candid conversations with the creative leaders, founders, CMOs, producers, and operators shaping modern creativity.We go inside the work, pressure, politics, pivots, and instincts behind ideas that change careers, companies, and culture.These are conversations about reputation, taste, production, leadership, reinvention, AI, in-house agencies, and how great work actually gets made.For creative leaders, producer buyers, brand builders, agency founders, and anyone trying to understand

Second Wind by AKA is a business podcast hosted by AKA, with 44 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

AKA hosts Second Wind by AKA, a business show with 44 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

• 

  Episode #46

  Adam Ferrier: Why Advertising Needs to Stop Making Ads

  Sep 22, 202640 minS1

  Consumer psychologist and Thinkerbell founder Adam Ferrier thinks advertising has a bigger problem than AI: the industry is still too focused on making ads. In this episode of Second Wind, Adam joins Gully Flowers and Kerrie Finch to unpack what advertising and marketing look like when you start with human behavior rather than the 30-second script. Adam explains why the traditional creative model is breaking down, why advertising creatives need a better understanding of how people actually make decisions, and why some of the biggest creative opportunities are hiding in places the industry routinely ignores. We also get into artificial intelligence and creativity: Adam’s idea of AI as “System 3,” the difference between cognitive offloading and cognitive surrender, and why he believes AI should enhance human creativity rather than simply make agencies more efficient. Adam Ferrier is a consumer psychologist, author and founder of Thinkerbell. Before Thinkerbell, he co-founded Naked Communications in Australia and worked at Saatchi & Saatchi. His career spans behavioral science, brand strategy, creativity and advertising effectiveness. In this episode: * Why advertising needs to think beyond ads * AI, creativity and the rise of “System 3” * System 1, System 2 and how AI changes human thinking * Cognitive offloading vs. cognitive surrender * Brand building, future demand and category entry points * Why the 30-second script still dominates advertising * What’s wrong with the traditional copywriter/art director model * Why creative people need to understand behavioral science * How AI is changing advertising production * Why email, CRM and customer experience are overlooked creative opportunities * Creativity, craft and the future of advertising agencies About Adam Ferrier Adam Ferrier is the founder and Chief Thinker at Thinkerbell and one of Australia’s best-known consumer psychologists. He is the author of The Advertising Effect and Stop Listening to the Customer, and has worked across behavioral psychology, brand strategy and creativity. Second Wind is a podcast about what happens next in advertising, creativity, marketing and the people reshaping the industry. Subscribe for more conversations with the people changing advertising and creativity.

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Episode #46

  Adam Ferrier: If Our Industry Is Making Ads, We’re Fucked

  Sep 22, 202642 minS1

  Adam Ferrier thinks the advertising industry has confused making ads with building brands. The consumer psychologist and founder of Thinkerbell joins Gully Flowers to talk about what marketing is actually supposed to do, and why some of the industry’s most familiar assumptions might be getting in the way. Adam explains one of the simplest frameworks we’ve heard for thinking about marketing: current demand versus future demand. Some people are buying your category today. Many more will buy in the future. The job is to build memory structures linked to category entry points so your brand comes to mind when they eventually enter the market. They also get into why Adam doesn’t think advertising is a genuinely creative industry, why so much creative energy still goes into the 30-second ad while huge parts of the customer experience are ignored, and why he’s amazed the traditional art director/copywriter model still exists. Then there’s AI. Adam introduces the idea of AI as “System 3” alongside our fast, intuitive System 1 and slower, effortful System 2, and makes an important distinction between using AI for cognitive offloading and simply surrendering our thinking to it. Plus: what creatives could learn from psychology, why Saatchi & Saatchi made scripts rather than ads, Thinkerbell’s “measured magic,” and what happens to creativity when everyone has access to the same tools. Adam Ferrier is a consumer psychologist and founder of Thinkerbell, the independent agency behind the philosophy of “measured magic.”

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Episode #44

  Inside Cannes Lions & Effie: Paul Kemp-Robertson on What Wins in Advertising Now

  Sep 1, 202639 minS1

  Cannes Lions has spent decades defining what great creativity looks like. Effie has done the same for effectiveness. Paul Kemp-Robertson sits inside both. As Chief Content Officer of LIONS, Paul has a rare vantage point on the forces shaping the global advertising industry. LIONS brings together Cannes Lions, Effie, WARC and Contagious — institutions that influence what gets celebrated, what gets studied, what gets put on stage and, ultimately, what the industry believes great work looks like. Paul has also watched the industry change from almost every angle. He started at Shots in the early 1990s, when the world’s best advertising arrived on VHS tapes and call-for-entries went out by fax. He went on to Leo Burnett and co-founded Contagious before becoming Chief Content Officer at LIONS. So we wanted to ask him a bigger question: What wins now? Because advertising is at another strange inflection point. AI has made the tools of creativity available to almost everyone. ChatGPT, Claude and the other major AI platforms are rapidly changing how people search, work, make things and consume media. Yet some of the companies building that future are now turning to advertising agencies, brand-building and very human creative work to differentiate themselves. Paul thinks that’s telling. We get into Mother’s work for Claude and its attack on ChatGPT; why an industry flooded with frictionless AI content could put a new premium on human creativity; why craft is ultimately a form of respect for the audience; and whether we’re heading towards a world where “100% human made” becomes something worth signalling. We also go inside the institutions that have spent decades setting the bar for the industry. What is Cannes Lions actually for now? Do awards still influence the direction of advertising? What separates work that wins awards from work that actually works? Why might the client be the bravest person on an award-winning team? And is safe, generic “wallpaper” advertising actually the biggest risk a brand can take? Paul takes us inside AXA’s “Three Words,” one of the standout ideas from Cannes Lions, and the difficult boardroom conversations behind adding domestic violence coverage to its insurance policies. It’s a fascinating example of creativity moving beyond communications and into the business itself. That leads us somewhere even more interesting: what happens when creative people stop being handed a media plan and start getting closer to the product, the organization and the problem? We talk Oatly’s Department of Mind Control, why some of advertising’s greatest ideas came from creatives wandering around factory floors, the Bitcoin investment Paul wishes he’d made, why curiosity still matters, and what the next generation should know coming into the business. And after a career spent thinking about some of the world’s most celebrated advertising, Paul tells us what he’d put on his LinkedIn tombstone: “It’s only advertising.” Paul Kemp-Robertson is Chief Content Officer at LIONS. He co-founded Contagious and previously worked at Shots and Leo Burnett. Second Wind is a podcast about the people, ideas and forces reshaping advertising, creativity and marketing. Hosted by Kerrie Finch and Gully Flowers. A Second Wind podcast by AKA.

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Episode #43

  Stop Making Ugly Noise: Justine Armour on AI, Creativity & Great Advertising

  Aug 25, 202630 minS1

  “We just have no interest in flooding the public consciousness with ugly noise.” Justine Armour, International Chief Creative Officer at 72andSunny, joins Second Wind to talk about what great creative work looks like when everyone has access to AI. Fresh from serving as a D&AD Jury President, Justine talks about why human craft is becoming more conspicuous, what separates genuinely creative cultures from agencies that merely talk about creativity, and why 72andSunny has no interest in joining the race to make more, cheaper content. We get into what 72andSunny has learned from working with e.l.f., why strategists and creatives should be “getting up in each other’s shit,” and Justine’s five ingredients for great work: simple, surprising, audacious, craft and energy. Justine also explains why Australian creatives tend to spend longer mastering their craft, why she once turned down an ECD opportunity because she didn’t think she’d made enough great work yet, and the Guinness “Surfer” ad that changed her understanding of what advertising could be. Plus: AI and creativity, D&AD, e.l.f., Wieden+Kennedy, creative leadership, agency culture, optimism without toxic positivity, tall poppy syndrome, and why Justine remains determined not to be average. Justine Armour is International Chief Creative Officer at 72andSunny. Second Wind is a podcast about what happens after you’ve made it — and what the best people in advertising, design and creativity learn next. Search Second Wind by AKA. #Advertising #CreativeLeadership #AI

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Episode #38

  The Myth of the “Normal User” | David Vogel on AI, Accessibility & Designing for Real People

  Aug 13, 202635 minS1

  Most products are designed for someone who doesn’t exist. The average user. David Vogel, Executive Experience Director at Hypersolid and former AKQA design leader, argues that the idea of a “normal” human has quietly shaped everything from schools and workplaces to digital products, customer experiences, and AI. The problem is that normal was never real. In this episode of Second Wind, David joins Gully Flowers and Kerrie Finch to explore why neurodiversity changes the way we think about accessibility, why crash test dummies reveal a deeper flaw in modern design, and why designing for edge cases often creates better experiences for everyone. The conversation also looks ahead. David explains why ChatGPT is only the earliest interface for AI, why brands should be careful about outsourcing customer relationships to AI platforms, and how intelligent experiences could reshape products, retail, and personalization over the next decade. In this episode • Why there is no such thing as a “normal” user • How ADHD and neurodiversity challenge traditional design thinking • What crash test dummies teach us about accessibility • Why designing for edge cases creates better products for everyone • Why ChatGPT is only the beginning of AI • How brands can embrace AI without giving away the customer relationship • What intelligent experiences could mean for the future of retail, work, and customer experience Guest: David Vogel, Executive Experience Director at Hypersolid Hosts: Gully Flowers and Kerrie Finch

  ListenShow Notes

Recent guests on Second Wind by AKA. Study who booked and why before you pitch.

Based on semantic analysis of episode topics and host coverage, this show is a strong guest fit for executives in:

Industry fit is computed by PitchCentric using vector embeddings of the show's episode catalog.