By Darren Gilbert

What The Brave Ideas Podcast is all about?

The Brave Ideas Podcast is all about bringing to light fresh perspectives about digital and marketing, as seen from the perspective of the employees of the Wunderman Group of companies in SA (Aqua, BaseTwo, Cerebra and Applogix) and the Wunderman Global Network.

Hosted by myself and Esther McGeer, head of conversation analytics at Aqua, we talk about topics relevant to the media and marketing industry, covering a range of topics across consumer insights, leadership, tech & user experience, social media and content, agency life, and creativity.

Where did the idea for the podcast come from?

I began listening to podcasts in 2013, and specifically to podcasts about marketing intelligence, that could assist me in my day job as a senior strategist at Aqua. I was amazed at how much I was learning through simply listening to episodes of great marketing and business oriented podcasts.

I also recognised that Aqua is a large, constantly growing agency with many busy people, and as such, sharing knowledge in the agency was becoming infrequent and difficult to arrange. In addition, there is tremendous business cost in calling 300 employees to a meeting to listen to someone’s point of view. So, I identified that a podcast would be a time efficient and cost efficient way of driving internal learning.

So, I connected with Matthew Klawansky, an audio producer and one of my closest friends, and together with the help of key people in Aqua, we crafted the first demo of the podcast.

Why do you think The Brave Ideas Podcast is needed?

The Brave Ideas Podcast is critically needed in our industry as it is geared towards showcasing the potential, ability and intelligence of talent from all levels in our industry. The basis of our format is that we believe that every single person in our company has a brave idea, a fresh perspective on marketing that they can share with us and that we can learn from.

Too often we go to conferences and are only exposed to CEOs and the creative directors. What about exposing people to the project managers, the digital marketers, the quality assurers, the social media community managers? How can we put them on the same level of importance as a CEO? How can we put South African talent at the same level as international talent?

The Brave Ideas Podcast has created a universal platform for our talent to shine brightly, while adding a thought leadership angle to our organisation and, in doing so, we have created what we feel is a unique and fresh perspective on what we do and how we do it.

What are you aiming to achieve with the podcast?

Very simply, we want the podcast to add value to our staff, to the broader Wunderman network and to marketing professionals, by educating them about the worlds of digital and marketing.

I believe that we have a created a high quality podcast with a fresh format that should make for easy listening, and as such, our major objective for the year is to continue to build an engaged audience and dedicated subscriber base.

It’s been a little over a year since it started – how has it been received?

Our podcast has been received very positively. A number of our guests who have been interviewed on the show have been approached to do external public speaking. Further to this, some of our guests have been internally recognised as being experts in a specific topic on account of their interview on our podcast, which aligns to our goal of exposing unsung heroes to other people in our agency.

In addition to this, we have been recognised by Jamie Gutfreund, global chief marketing officer for Wunderman, as the best podcast in the Wunderman Network, and our show is frequently included in Wunderman’s global thought leadership activities. This is no small feat considering that the Wunderman network consists of 175 offices in 60 countries around the world.

How often do you upload a podcast?

We upload content every two weeks. The content is available on our blog, and additionally, we encourage listeners to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud and YouTube.

Further to this, you can follow us on Twitter as well as on Instagram. We will soon be launching an e-mailer, which will update subscribers on new episodes, and you will be able to opt-in for this via our website.

What is your vision for The Brave Ideas Podcast?

Our vision is to turn the Brave Ideas Podcast into a global platform that allows Wunderman staff, across all levels, countries and disciplines, to expose their fresh perspectives on what they do.

If we can achieve this, we believe that our show has the potential to inspire great thinking and powerful work, not just for us here in the Wunderman group, but also in the broader industry in South Africa, Africa and the rest of the world.

For more information, visit the Brave Ideas Podcast blog. Alternatively, connect with them on Twitter or on Instagram.