Tarek Sioufi is Grey’s Chief Strategy Officer. He has led brand strategy for adidas, The Financial Times, Sainsbury’s, Iceland, Netflix, Cadbury and Coca-Cola.

In this episode we discuss:

• The power of imagination
• Why strategy is simple
• Do ideas just ‘find’ strategists
• Are strategists the smartest people in the room
• Three modes of thought for devising a brilliant strategy
• The most debated Christmas ad of all time
• The UK’s super bowl
• Promoting Iceland – the country, not the supermarket
• Taking on Google for Iceland (and Sweden)
• Stella’s new campaign

Tarek Sioufi

Tarek is a multi-award winning strategist with over 20 years of industry experience. He has held senior roles at some of the world’s most entrepreneurial and creatively awarded agencies including: Media.Monks, Wieden+Kennedy, The Brooklyn Brothers, Fallon and Sid Lee.

He joined Grey in 2023 as Chief Strategy Officer and leads some of the agencies key accounts including, Etihad, Sky Bet, Haleon and Vodafone Ireland. Tarek’s work has been celebrated both for its creativity and effectiveness by Cannes Lions, The Effies, D&AD and Contagious Pioneers.

And in 2022, Tarek was recognised by Campaign Magazine for outstanding contributions to the industry in their 40 over 40 category and by BIMA (The British Interactive Media Association) as one of the nation’s top strategists and consultants.

Find Tarek on LinkedIn

Show Notes

Full show notes, including a transcription andlinks to everything discussed can be found here.

Joe Rampley is the Creative Brand Manager at Forest, London’s homegrown ebike company. He joins the show to talk about their new campaign.

In this episode we discuss:

• Why perfection is overrated
• The insight behind Forest’s new campaign
• Why they rebranded
• How ad placement is as equally important as creative
• How you measure success when building a brand
• Why Ritson’s Mini MBA is worth the money

Full show notes, including a transcript, links to everythingdiscussed and contact details can be found on the episode page.

Joe Rampley

Joe leads Forest’s Creative Team, shaping the brand’s voice across everything from campaigns to positioning. He began his career as a freelance designer and illustrator, always with a keen interest in cycling culture.

After a design internship with Deliveroo, he moved in-house and now serves as guardian of the Forest brand, overseeing all things creative for Forest.

Find Joe on LinkedIn

Tim Donald is the Creative Director at Sneak, the cult energy brand known for its disruptive campaigns, chaotic storytelling, and fiercely loyal fanbase.

In this episode we discuss:

• Why you shouldn’t chase seniority
• Building from DTC to retail
• The power of design for Sneak
• Satanic cults for marketing activations
• Building a brand around gaming culture
• Finding the sweet spot between nerd culture and popular culture
• The creative pressure to stay true to the brand heritage
• The impact of price promotion on brand
• Building communities for marketing while not “selling out”

Full show notes, including contact details and a transcript can be found here on the show page.