120: Why you can't afford NOT to be creative with Contagious co-founder, Paul Kemp-Robertson

This week, we caught something Contagious. Luckily for us, it’s their Co-Founder Paul Kemp-Robertson. A chap with serious smarts for global marketing communications, Paul is the brain behind Contagious. Part editorial, part consultancy, part research, they get their kicks helping brands and agencies be more creative, get smarter, and deliver better work.  Paul spreads his smarts across a tonnes of topics, including; being the intern who became editor at Shots, thinking Saatchi & Saatchi was an investment bank, creativity as giving the world something it didn’t know it was missing, Nordic socks on Instagram, zero based creativity, the manic unlock, question storming, drunken nights at the Gutter Bar, AI and the meh-taverse, agencies as outside agitators, ageism, and a whole lot more.  ///// Follow Paul on LinkedIn  Sign up for the Contagious newsletter  Check out Contagious IQ Here’s his book The Contagious Commandments  Bag a seat at Most Contagious London 2023 on 7 December And here’s  Paul’s TED Talk  Timestamps (02:00) - Quick fire questions (04:25) - Going from intern to editor at Shots   (12:54) - Creativity is giving the world something it didn’t know it was missing  (20:00) - Zero-based creativity  (21:44) - What we learned about AI from Cannes Lions    (33:45) - The real value of agencies  (38:28) - Asking heretical questions  (46:38) - Listener questions  (50:57) - 4 pertinent posers  Paul’s book recommendations are:  Atomic Habits by James Clear  Good Strategy Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt  The Choice Factory by Richard Shotton How Not to Plan by Les Binet and Sarah Carter How Brands Grow by Byron Sharp  Anatomy of Humbug by Paul Feldwick Shy by Max Porter  /////