Outside Perspective Y25W39 - Is effectiveness effective?
Is effective work enough or does good work need something ... more? Plus, we hear about SheSays' Night School, updates on upcoming huddles, introducing Nye Jones, and our usual stuff.
Is effectiveness effective?
I had the opportunity to judge the UK Effie Awards this week. It’s my third year being asked, and I always enjoy the chance to spend time with fellow strategy folk from across the industry and take a look at some outstanding work.
If nothing else, I learn a great deal, hearing how colleagues talk about work, insight, creativity, effectiveness, and I’m reassured that there’s often quite a positive amount of passionate debate - and that passion isn’t entirely lost from the industry.
However, in recent years, I’ve also seen a great deal of work which feels without passion - almost apologetic at times, and upon discussion this week within the community - I’m not alone.
It feels like much work in the market at the moment is (as one fellow judge said to me) “afraid to put its head above the parapet”, or is designed to hit objectives, but risks achieving little more. Effective perhaps - but is that sufficient?
It’s a concern often leveled at AI - that all work will ‘regress to the mean’, but I fear that trend started a while before AI. It’s why standout work feels so impactful at the moment, because it’s almost a rarity.
It feels like we’re afraid to fail. And with so much uncertainty in the world (around job security, around where the next brief is coming from, around who is and isn’t an ally), it’s hardly surprising that a measured approach will win out over a risky one.
We’ve all been pushing upward, away from just comms objectives, beyond marketing objectives, towards business objectives - we’ve all been taught that business goals are the ultimate thing to affect.
But is that enough? For an industry which has claimed to call itself creative - is the relentless objective of chasing objectives sufficient? Hitting a goal, but doing it without style? Without panache? Without impact? Without … something more?
Matthew.
Huddles
September:
Had a lovely huddle this week with Carsten Wogatzky sharing his team’s work around helping to create connections in an increasingly isolated world; Sally Skinner shared her ‘zine approach to making workshops tangible; and Chris Arning spoke about his love for a brand of seltzer, and how it created a surprising relationship.
October:
Our next huddle will be on Mental Health in Self-Employment on October 10th for World Mental Health Day. It’s part of our work linking up 10 of the UK’s freelancing communities to share support.
» Register to join the event here.
There’s also an mini London OP meetup on October 10th around the Southbank, which Ann is organising. If you’re in the slack, have a look, and she can share details!
November - We’ll be discussing “Getting clients on the bus”.
December - Our collective end of year review.
Stay tuned for dates!
Night School: SheSays sprinkles to magic to future-proof the industry.
SheSays launched Night School this week, a month-long, free online
programme, to upskill creative professionals through engaging, globally accessible learning via LinkedIn. I spoke to the team about why the project exists, and how you can join the coven.
1/ Tell us about Night School - why has SheSays created this series of masterclasses?
Night School was born out of a simple frustration: too often, creatives are expected to keep pace with every new trend, tech, and skill but real opportunities to upskill are limited, expensive, or exclusionary.
SheSays wanted to flip that on its head.
We designed Night School as a free, globally accessible way to build the interpersonal skills that actually future-proof careers. Think of it as school reimagined: practical, bite-sized (all lessons are under 7 minutes), a little magical, and rooted in our mission to open doors for women and non-binary talent who are too often shut out of traditional training.
2/ What are you covering over the four weeks - and why these topics? They’re a lovely set of unexpected themes.
We chose four pillars that go beyond technical know-how and speak to the skills creatives need to thrive no matter what the industry throws at them: communication & influence, collaboration & emotional intelligence, problem-solving & resilience, and productivity & future-proofing.
These aren’t just buzzwords - they came straight from industry research from Major Players highlighting the gaps employers struggle to fill & The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs 2025 report.
The “unexpected” part comes from how we teach them, not through CEOs or academics, but through voices you’d never expect. Our incredible line up of mentors includes a dominatrix, award-winning director, real life mermaid, samurai swordswoman and curator at The British Museum. It’s fresh perspectives for the most in-demand interpersonal skills.
3/ There’s an in-person graduation in late October - which is a lovely twist to get folk off their screens, and into the real world. What can coven members expect to see on the night?
The graduation is where the digital becomes tangible. On October 28th, at VaynerMedia’s London office, we’ll gather to celebrate everything Night Schoolers have learned together.
The evening is about recognition, connection, and inspiration. Expect to hear wisdom from some of our incredible mentors, take part in an in-person workshop, and the energy of a community coming together to mark a collective achievement. Most importantly, it’s a chance to recharge your creative energy and step into what’s next with confidence.
4/ Can you tell us a little more about why SheSays exists, it’s broader mission, and how folk can get involved beyond Night School?
SheSays has always existed to champion women and non-binary talent in the creative industries, tackling inequality through access, mentorship, and community.
Night School is one expression of that, but it’s part of a much bigger movement: from our global mentoring program Who’s Your Momma to ongoing talks and workshops across 40+ cities worldwide. Getting involved is simple - join a local chapter, sign up for mentoring, or just show up at an event.
At its heart, SheSays is about building a supportive network that reminds you: you don’t have to navigate this industry alone
» Sign up for the remaining classes at https://weareshesays.com/nightschool/
» Tickets to the graduation event are limited - book here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/night-school-by-shesays-graduation-event-tickets-1660543623679
Introducing an Outsider: Nye Jones
👋 Hello, I’m Nye Jones
I’m a freelance Strategy Director based in London specialising in transformation and interconnected strategies across business, brand, and culture.
I help businesses plan and implement change. In my work I act as the architect and point of continuity creating business, brand, and innovation strategies and carrying them through to execution in design and comms – to shape how we engage people both internally and externally.
My background spans insight, marketing, design, branding, innovation, and business consulting and I’ve been independent since August. I was the Strategy Director at Echo, a brand design and innovation consultancy known for long-term scenario development, sustainability, and cross-category innovation. Before that, I worked at Winkreative, focussing on corporate branding, communication, and placemaking for the luxury sector.
I’ve been fortunate to work on some big and varied transformation challenges. Recent highlights include helping Michelin shape its long-term growth strategy by identifying new categories for expansion; creating the place brand and communications for a £1bn skyscraper now in development in London; and designing and delivering the first-ever natural mineral water refill system for Evian at the Wimbledon Championships.
Alongside these, I’ve also supported two global businesses through major technology and sustainability shifts, from the adoption of biotechnology to driving progress towards net zero with decarbonisation initiatives.
The kind of change I love working on is big and defining. It’s rarely simple – often multi-layered, full of stakeholders across disciplines, high risk and high reward. I enjoy bringing clarity and structure to that complexity: connecting the dots with systems thinking, breaking down silos to build collaboration, and creating solutions that inspire and align interests – to create change that drives growth.
Three things I’m currently consuming:
Watching: Me and my wife almost exclusively watch YouTube (save for the occasional TV show or two) and we love our food. We’re often watching Sorted Food – it’s a great source of entertainment, inspiration, and education on global cuisine.
Reading: I have just started reading Growth Levers by Matt Lerner – a nice compact book about scaling a startup. I’ve got the Naked Trader and Wally Olins On Brand to follow. I find that I only read business books nowadays, but I try to mix things up a bit.
Playing: I love video games and my tastes are pretty eclectic. From the biggest blockbuster action adventure games to small indie arthouse projects. But the most consistent daily game I play is on my phone and I love a good puzzle. Particularly chess puzzles, which sees me pondering the right sequence of moves in a series of given positions. Great way to pass the commute. There’s always a simple solution – it just needs some patience and creativity!
» You can connect with Nye in the community or on Linkedin.
Curiosity Stream
» Tony Bowe’s Creative Cheat Sheet - thanks Danny
» Matthew Hook and Caroline Keylock’s “Link me in” guide just dropped - some smart thinking in here from brilliant contributors about being authentic in an increasing sea of inauthenticity.
» Ideas we Love interviewed Amelia Torode. I’m a big fan of Amelia, so was great to see this pop up in my feed.
» Studio Outlier on fast trends and long-term culture mapping.
» Uhoh. Self-promotion alert. Sibling Studio asked me some questions, and I duly answered. Why is my face so big? Thanks Lucinda :)
» What happens when all the junior roles disappear? This was a topic covered at last week’s Un//Scene.
» Flipflopping between significant and shallow - Zoe’s latest musings, on the topic of “strategic sociopathy” - thanks Nabila.
» Workslop is destroying productivity - not only productivity, but filling bandwidth with noise over signal. It’s the content equivalent of small talk. Ugh.
» One Month Mentors - call for senior creative industry talent to offer a month of mentoring. sign up and share.
» Group Think Strategy Social is coming up - October 8th. Details here.
» Ulli Applebaum’s brand associations scorecard has been super helpful this week.
» Waldo is extending in to realtime brand monitoring. Will be interesting to see how this mini arms-race of ‘AI Strategy’ platforms plays out.
» How do “brands grow” when it’s not humans making decisions, but LLMs? Brand strategy in an agentic era.
Gigs.
Briefs discovered and curated from across the stratosphere.
Promote your brief - or tell us if you’ve found work via the project.
FEATURED
Our friends at The Kitchen (Kraft Heinz’ internal agency) are keen to talk to any French/German based strategy folk, native speakers, with a culture-first lense on their work. Find out more here.
And the team at Goodstuff are looking for a strategist on a 6mo FTC with media strategy/planning experience. Freelance media folk can be rare to find, so if that’s you - drop me us a note here.
Very few freelance roles spotted this week, but lots of Perm gigs for strategy folk at the moment. Are you keen to hear about those in this list too? Let me know (we post them in our community space anyway).
Freelance Sr Brand Strategist (NL)
https://outsideperspective.co/gigs/20250926-majesty.htmlBrand Strategist (NL)
https://outsideperspective.co/gigs/20250926-asahi.htmlCulture First Strategy Specialist FR/DE native speakers (FR/DE)
https://outsideperspective.co/gigs/20250925-heinz.htmlStrategy Director (6mo FTC) (London,UK)
https://outsideperspective.co/gigs/20250925-gsmat.htmlFreelance Brand Strategist (US)
https://outsideperspective.co/gigs/20250925-bubbas.html
That’s all for this week.
mk✌️