127: The current state of creativity in advertising with Alex Jenkins, Contagious

This week, we went meep meep past Contagious HQ to catch an ACME wielding Alex Jenkins.  As Managing Partner at Contagious, Alex’s industry knowledge encompasses a treasure trove of past campaigns, current narratives, and future predictions. Part editorial, part consultancy, part research, Contagious believes in the best version of our industry, one where creativity wins.  After trying to crush us with a Greco-Roman catapult, Alex talks to us on his wonderfully wiggly career path, having his marketing budget poached by Girls Aloud, feeling like Wile E. Coyote after education, Contagious as a triaging function, walking around a problem, the current state of creativity, anti-creative forces, Most Contagious 2023, David Lynch, and French supermarkets.  That’s not all folks, he also explains what we've always known deep down...that Les Binet and Peter Field are one of your 5-a-day.   Follow Alex on LinkedIn and Twitter  Here’s Contagious  Get your tickets to Most Contagious (use promo code "GASPMOCO" for 30% off the full price of a ticket)  Go gorge on our episodes with Bob Hoffman and Richard Huntington Here’s the ad by Ruavieja  And a clip of Angelo Badalamenti explaining how he wrote the Twin Peaks soundtrack  Timestamps (01:44) - Quick fire questions (03:04) - His first jobs, music, creativity, and feeling like Wile E. Coyote after  (09:25) - Having his marketing budget stolen by Girls Aloud  (10:45) - His role at Contagious, triaging, and how they stay objective  (16:49) - The state of creativity in advertising, anti creative forces, and why Les Binet might be one of your five a day  (30:40) - Most Contagious 2023  (38:40) - Listener questions  (46:46) - 4 pertinent posers  Alex’s book recommendations are:  R.U.R. by Karel Capek  The Human Use Of Human Beings by Norbert Wiener  Essays by George Orwell  Invisible Ink by Brian McDonald  Lynch on Lynch by David Lynch  Good Strategy Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt