Phil Adams - Applying First Principles Thinking And Storytelling to Solve Brand Problems and Reimagine Democracies

The Impossible Network

Phil Adams is an Edinburgh-based independent brand strategist, consultant, writer, and documentary filmmaker.

What We Discuss

00:00 Intro

01:50 Who is Phil Adams?

05:45 Who or what made Phil who he is, and how his curiosity and love of books were nurtured?

08:30 The serendipitous event that changed his trajectory and broadened his horizons.

13:15 His values of adventure and opportunism, Phil explains the importance of taking opportunities when they emerge.

15:45 Phil discusses having an act of faith and a strategy of life when dealing with uncertainty.

18:00 Phil discusses his youthful recklessness and rebellion.

21:00 The serendipity that led him to pivot from a path of engineering to life in advertising and the actions taken to create opportunity.

25:45 Phil explains his pragmatic and focused approach to the direction he took.

27:00 I ask Phil about his superpowers or talents.

30:15 The underrated talent of post-rationalizing a creative idea as a problem-solving solution to win pitches.

33:55 Phil explains his perspective on how the best creative minds combine logic and magic to render a brand in surprising ways and the role of planners to identify the essence of an idea and then express the campaign value.

38:20 What Phil values in others professionally and why hiring people better than you is essential.

41:20 The importance of ‘trust’ with friends and when building teams.

42:30 What is he complimented for; his ability to understand a client's business and culture and his clarity and ability to simplify.

47:30 Phil describes how his engineering first principle problem-solving ability led him to strategic planning.

50:00 I ask Phil for his insights on being an entrepreneur

51:45 What is Phil working to achieve in life?

54:10 How he deals with uncertainty through faith, effort, and curiosity and his advice to others.

57:10 We discuss AI, its impact, and risks, and Phil cites Marshall McLuhan.

01:03:15 I ask Phil to explain why he writes love letters to lyrics.

01:06:00 Phil explains the power and Shakespearean quality of Freddie Mercurys We Are The Champions and links it to Greek Philosopher Hermogenes insights on writing

01:09:15 We discuss Jim Steinman.

01:10:50 Phil talks about the origins of his documentary-making NGO All Hands On and its work to educate people about better paths to democracy and be more hands-on with political issues.

01:16:00 Phil describes the films they have made from London to Athens to Malawi on citizen assemblies and the drive to more democratic governance.

01:28:50 I ask Phil to reflect on the role and power of the Ad industry to imagine and affect a more positive and impactful capitalist economy and system.

01:34:45 Phil describes platforms for more deliberative democracy.

01:36:15 - Phil describes who has had the most impact on his journey

01:39:40 Phil’s life lessons.

01:41:00 The principle of the asymmetry of favors.

01:45:00 The power of reframing our consumer story to a citizen story.

Social Links

Linkedin

Links in Show

A Longing Look

All Hands On

Robert Heath -The Hidden Power of Advertising: How Low Involvement Processing

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