PODCAST · business
John Griffiths' Podcast
by John Griffiths
Blog based initially on 98% Pure Potato the book about the origins of account planning. Now focusing on the 50th anniversary as a lense to look at some of the contemporary issues.
Episodes
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Jo Arden Chief Strategy Officer of AMB BBDO interview on the 10th anniversary of 98% Pure Potato
As a way to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the publication of the book, John Griffiths interviews Jo Arden on how strategy has changed in the last 10 years and whether 98% Pure Potato is still relevant to those working as planners and strategists today. By way of explanation of the cover...
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2026 AIs debate the UK challenge to US advertising orthodoxy
As the 10th anniversary of the publication of 98% Pure Potato arrives in July 2026 we have uploaded chapter 2 context to Google's OpenLP to get them debating the significance of the new focus on customer take out rather than the faithful transmission of the message which was the orthodoxy within…
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17th Podcast on the difference between promotional and product ideas
John Griffiths reflects this week on the difference between promotional ideas and product ideas and the danger of coming up with product ideas without proper support - straying well beyond the original brief.
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Experiments with Honda
Early Honda online experiments which showed the way advertising would break boundaries into content marketing. 20 years on I have second thoughts
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15th podcast Honda advertising and the Swindon campaign
With the prospect of Honda closing its factory in Swindon I talk about the way advertising misses the bigger picture (eg factory closures) and tell the story of how we used Swindon to make a point about a new range of Civics, a campaign pulled at the last minute.
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Special - Remembering Tony Stead
Today Tony Stead's death was announced. As he was the one who came up with the name Account Planning it seemed appropriate to remember his contribution. John Griffiths talks about his meetings with Tony Stead one of the only interviewees for 98% Pure Potato who he encountered as a young planner
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Links of London - no change there
dropping into Links of London in a Canadian Mall this month I was struck by how the brand had not changed from when I worked with the management team 15 years ago. So a ponder about brand consistency and invention.
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11th Podcast Prospan cough predictor campaign
IPA award winner for best use of Tech Led data - this cough predictor managed to increase sales while spending less on advertising. Take a look at the film https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szUossECitM&list=PLPnfQnOwrhzZul3CNJSj5dZkC8m2rNa18&index=19
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9th Podcast Baileys and ingredient branding
I was startled to find myself soundbitten by the IPA talking about the Baileys campaign: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=74&v=mj5Arjcx22E And worse appearing to say nothing at all! So here's my right of reply - what I tried to say before I was cut! And it gives an opportunity to talk...
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Lexus Car ad - written by an AI program
So how does an ad written by artificial intelligence actually perform? Here's a piece by Adweek which explains what the AI did: https://www.adweek.com/programmatic/an-ai-tried-to-write-the-perfect-lexus-ad-heres-a-scene-by-scene-look-at-what-it-was-thinking/ And a piece by System 1 which explains...
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7th Podcast Haagen Daz taking the sex out of icecream
the famous ice cream brand has to appeal to a younger generation appalled that parents might find it sexy. The solution to take the sex out and focus on simple luxury instead.
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Refuge - the hiddenness of domestic abuse
Reviewing the press campaign for Refuge who support those suffering domestic abuse - here's a link to the Campaign including a Valentines day poem https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/refuge-valentines-day-mccann-bristol/1525442 Plus a link to Refuge itself...
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Hard Soap from Paddy Power
I review a new campaign whose interest is entirely borrowed from a footballing scandal from years ago to make a point about the value of rewards versus loyalty. Chip off the old Paddy Power Block but I don't think this cynical ad is doing much for advertising or the gambling industry....
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Depaul digital Unheard campaign for young homeless
This week we look at the De Paul Unheard campaign on Spotify using playlists to highlight the plight of homeless young people and to build empathy.Here's the campaign page: https://uk.depaulcharity.org/spotify-playlists-tell-depaul-stories And here's the landing page:...
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Alexa promoting product failings
Here's the commercial Amazon are going to be showing at the Superbowl this year. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IA1rqEn_7YU It takes all the things which people worry Alexa is going to do wrong and magnifies them. I talk about why advertising does this and the likely effect.
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Aero Mexico advertising that flags boundaries
in which I reference the Aero Mexico DNA discount campaign which has got a second life this year. And I ask the question - why aren't brands using Brexit to get noticed? Here's the link to the ad https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=2sCeMTB5P6U
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2019/1 The Gillette Campaign - why a razor brand is irritating its customers
the third outing of the podcast looks at today's advertising and advertising issues and where relevant references them against the book 98% Pure Potato written by John Griffiths and Tracey Follows. This week it is that controversial Gillette campaign. We consider 6 levels at which the campaign...
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Pitching for new business - the planners advantage
A podcast which makes the simple point about the way account planners - even junior ones- can make a major contribution. The best way to introduce planning to clients.
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Diversity and elitism in advertising now and then
There's a dust up at JWT about straight middle aged middle class male white creatives being let go in the interests of diversity. Cue a discussion about the diversity and elitism that clings to advertising and how the first planning agencies addressed that.
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Advertising for the long term - what's up with digital
in this podcast I ask about how digital advertising has got so locked into short term activitation. By contrast the first planners in 1968 discovered the long term effects of advertising and turned TV advertising into a medium whose power is still evident today.
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Likable advertising - does it matter?
Talking about the likeability of advertising - when its useful and when its not. And doing a comparison with the approach to advertising of the first ad agencies with planning departments at Boase Massimi Pollitt and J Walter Thompson. Drawn on interviews used for the book 98% Pure Potato
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The second podcast from the 50th anniversary
What I am doing now in the revived podcast is focussing on today's issues for communications looking back to compare how the first planners addressed them. You can of course find out lots more by getting hold of a copy of 98% Pure Potato but there is plenty of the ancient wisdom via these podcasts.
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The birthday broadcast: Account Planning turns 50
The week account planning started in 1968 with BM@P opening its doors and J Walter Thompson launching its planning department on Nov 1st. Where are we now? I talk about the significance of the beginning and how it differs from today.
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12 things I wish I had known when I set out to publish via Unbound
something I have been meaning to say for ages - the book 98% Pure Potato started its life in 2012 but it took until 2016 before it came out. So here are some learnings for fledgling authors
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32 Turning the screenplay workshop into marketing outputs
explaining how we move from storytelling back into marketing to look at the new ways the brand has learned to behave and how we bring those to life.
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31 using a single scene in qual research
Just making the point that with a single scene we can use the screenplay technique in qualitative research - the example I give is that of the London Eye. But it can also be used as a single scene development in shorter workshops
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30 how to use mentors and rivals in a brand screenplay workshop
within a cast of characters mentors and rivals can play a particularly useful role. I explain how.
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29 Pushing your brand off balance to a new place
Moving on further into the brand screenplay workshop the discussion is about pushing the brand off balance - until it goes somewhere new and has to move away from conventional behaviour
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28 Take your brand character and build a cast around them
In this episode about brand screenplay workshops we cover the brand character and selecting the cast of other characters we put around them.
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27 Selecting a genre for your brand screenplay workshop
Genre is what makes a screenplay come alive - I explain how I use genres giving some examples
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26 Facilitating a brand screenplay workshop
in which I explain how the style of facilitation varies from a conventional business development workshop
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25 What if brands were countries
an overview of cultural branding - putting together iconography, language, citizen characteristics to really start developing the originality of a brand. References work by John Grant and Adam Morgan
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24 What's wrong with Brand development
discussion of the weaknesses in brand development as an intro to explaining how to use movie screenplays to develop brands through conflict
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23 Planning Book projects scheduled for 2018
In which I introduce the 3 book ideas I want to be bringing out either as ebooks or print on demand. Brand screenplay workshop how to, waggle dancers - how to move ideas through organisations, and a memoir of my life as an account planner - nothing like setting targets for the new year!
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22 That was the year that was 1968
the year account planning got going. As we approach the anniversary year 2018 it seemed a good idea to outline the key events in 1968 which ended with 2 agencies J Walter Thompson and Boase Massimi Pollitt having planning depts. The year it really got going.
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21 How the legacy of Stephen King and Stanley Pollitt has made account planning last 50 years
Explaining 3 characteristics that were embedded in account planning from the very start that made sure it lasted. The pretenders who claimed to have started it didn't use these 3.
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20 The rivals who claimed to have started account planning
Explanation of a postscript in 98% Pure Potato in which we explore the rival claims of David Brent and John Wood of CDP to have started planning before the acknowledged founding fathers - valuable lessons in what planning is. And what it isn't!
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19 Being current and being liked are not the same
Out of the distinction made on the Nov 29th WARC podcast between deliberate and emergent planning we continue to debate the difference between been current and being liked
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18 Is planning dead from the neck down now?
As a curtain raiser to next week's webinar with WARC I talk about the pressures productising planning thinking, playing right into the hands of the consultants. To register for webinar Nov 29th 3pm GMT go here: https://lnkd.in/eJhkPdh
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17 Life after account planning
in which we talk about how long you can do the same job. What comes next? And what comes later!
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16 Is digital and social a whole new planning game
A question we asked our first generation of planners: is digital and social a whole new ball game. And they explain what they make of the new communication channels
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15 When being clever isn't very bright
Talking about the dangers of planners being too clever for their own good. With a story from Adam Lury which somehow didn't make it into 98% Pure Potato
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14 Analytical AND creative we dig deeper
Returning to the left brain right brain theme the talk is about getting the facts and the numbers right but then making a creative leap - which gets easier with experience
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13 Left brain Right brain and the higher planning powers
talking through a chapter in the book 98% Pure Potato which concerns not only the blend of analytical thinking and creativity but the higher powers too.
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12 Readings in Account Planning - intro
This came out 10 years ago and has been reissued revised and updated by Hart Weichselbaum. In this podcast I talk about the main ideas in the revised chapter I contributed. Still really chuffed that I am in a book alongside Malcolm Gladwell. Here is the link if you want to buy it:...
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11 What role the ad plays
Stephen King's scale of direct and indirect responses to advertising explained to show how important it is for plannner's to define the role of an ad before anyone tries to make one
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10 If they ain'theard it you ain't said it Customer response
an explanation of customer response and why it is so central to the idea of account planning when Stephen King developed his thinking. Both J Walter Thompson and Boase Massimi Pollitt put customer response at the heart of their way of developing advertising. We should continue to do so.
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9 Tracey Follows talks about 98% Pure Potato
Author Tracey tells us what she thought when John suggested they write a book together, the process of writing it and what advice she would give to anybody else daft enough to want to write a book. Oh and here's a link to her podcast for Richard Branson's Future Visions Project:...
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8 Stephen Kings Planning Cycle
following a prompt from Jeremy Bullmore this was a good opportunity to provide an introduction to the planning cycle which is only mentioned in passing in 98% Pure Potato. Is present as a paper in Brand Planning the timeless works of Stephen King but explained here using an unpublished version of...
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7. Interviewees for 98% Pure Potato Part 2
the remaining interviewees on whom the book was based which includes not only planners but some of the most influential advertising people in the UK these last 50 years
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Blog based initially on 98% Pure Potato the book about the origins of account planning. Now focusing on the 50th anniversary as a lense to look at some of the contemporary issues.
HOSTED BY
John Griffiths
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How many episodes does John Griffiths' Podcast have?
John Griffiths' Podcast currently has 55 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is John Griffiths' Podcast about?
Blog based initially on 98% Pure Potato the book about the origins of account planning. Now focusing on the 50th anniversary as a lense to look at some of the contemporary issues.
How often does John Griffiths' Podcast release new episodes?
John Griffiths' Podcast has 55 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
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John Griffiths' Podcast is created and hosted by John Griffiths.
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