Outside Perspective Y26W26 - Cannes you believe it?
More independent voices at Cannes this year; Diva launches with new AI powered OS; introducing Kaja Gilje Sekse, and our usual curation of the stratosphere.
Cannes you believe it?
This week, London was felt empty. A combination of people hiding in shady corners or hidden in AC coffee shops, and seemingly half the marketing community in Cannes.
I was invited by Cannes last year to share my thoughts on the festival: what themes it should be covering, what voices it needed to hear. The bulk of my conversation with them was about making the event more accessible for those who wouldn’t normally have access.
The juniors who don’t get flown over, the freelancers who do the work but without the employer, the independents who don’t have a network agency footing the bill. Even simple things like subsdising the costs for under-represented speakers who are invited to encourage a broader range of voices, to help them cover the costs of their trip and accomodation. It’s one thing creating a diverse event, but its another thing making it inclusive.
So whilst much of the conversation this week was around how the technologists seemed to take up even more space on the Croissant than the creatives this year (perhaps illustrating, better than any talk, the current state of the industry), I was pleased to see more independent voices reporting back from the festival.
Perhaps I’m (algorithmically) biased, but I saw so many more people this year writing about their experiences there, who aren’t from a big agency or backed by a big sponsor. Independents building new types of businesses, new types of models, new types of collectives.
This too, feels like a good illustration of the how the make-up of the creative sector is shifting, perhaps splitting. In the blue corner, technology powered mega-corp networks, “systemising and optimsing omnichannel media ecosystems and consumer experiences for growth”. In the red corner, a new crop of independent challengers, putting strategy and creativity first.
Okay, it’s official. I am biased.
mk
(ps. if you were at Cannes, fancy sharing your stories with us in the next newsletter? drop me a note).
Huddle: Show your working. June 30.
We’re holding our June huddle on the topic of Portfolios. How do you show your work when you’re a strategist? What if there are no pretty pictures or outputs? What if the project didn’t ever reach execution? How do you credibly show results when you were just the first 5% of work?
This is a mix of “show and tell”, so anyone can bring their portfolio to share and show how you’ve approached it, as well as an open discussion.
» We’re huddling at Tuesday 30 June, 14:00 - 15:00 BST. RSVP here
Summer Takeover Season - do you want to be an OP guest editor?
We’re rapidly approaching the Summer School Holidays, which means I need to become a full-time parent for six weeks. I will really need some help over that time, and I’m looking for six volunteers to do summer takeovers of the newsletter. It’s a fun task - you get to write the little opinion piece or feature, curate the curiosity stream, and make long-distance phone calls whilst I’m out.
If you’d like to be a guest editor, please drop me a note - and we’ll figure out a plan. You can Save Matthew’s Sanity.
Being a Diva. Fola Williams on their AI powered OS creating more valuable brands.
Fola Williams and Melanie Huggins have teamed up to launch a new integrated strategy studio DIVA. I asked Fola, what makes DIVA different?
Fola, congrats to you and Melanie on launching DIVA. What’s the offering, and why should people pay attention?
Diva is a strategy studio built around one core belief: Brands must give people value in order to grow.
The strongest brands have always succeeded by creating something meaningful for people, not just visibility, but value people actively choose to invite into their lives. What’s changing now is the intensity of the environment around that exchange.
People are navigating increasing complexity: AI disruption, economic pressure, identity shifts, burnout, loneliness and information overload - making attention harder to earn and easier to lose. In that environment, visibility alone is no longer enough.
The brands that succeed are the brands that offer something genuinely valuable in return, creating value across six key areas: identity, community, utility, knowledge, entertainment, inspiration.
The brands that grow in the future will be the brands people would genuinely miss if they disappeared - not because they were visible, but because they created a meaningful value exchange. That’s the space Diva exists in.
You mention you’ve developed a proprietary operating system built on AI inspired by culture. What role do you see AI playing in the D.I.V.A. proposition?
Most of the industry has been bolting AI onto an existing business model. Holding groups use it to extract attention more efficiently, improving efficiency, scaling content production and accelerating delivery.
AI used to make the old model cheaper, not better: consultancies use it to compress junior labour: the deck that used to take an entire team now takes an analyst and a model, the output gets longer, the senior point of view gets thinner. Comms agencies use it to defend billable hours with more variants of the same idea, faster.
We built DIVA the other way round.
We’ve built an operating system: five interdependent agents, each owning a stage of the value-exchange process, feeding a shared knowledgebase so nothing gets lost in translation as the work moves from strategy through to execution.
Sitting underneath the agents are our proprietary strategic frameworks, and data-synthesis and planning tools. The whole system asks one question: what value can this brand credibly give that people would actually seek out? That’s how Melanie and myself deliver five products at consultancy scale without the integration falling apart at the seams.
Human at the helm, not human in the loop. The moment you let a machine answer “what should this brand mean to people” you’ve outsourced the only thing a client is paying you for: a point of view.
The industry is fracturing, strategy is being devalued in big agencies, and micro-studios are exploding in popularity. Do you think it’s the time for small indy shops? And are clients buying into this shift?
Yes - because the market is changing fundamentally. Many clients feel caught between large agency systems that have become increasingly layered and specialised, and a fragmented freelance economy that can sometimes lack integration or senior strategic depth.
At the same time, marketers are under greater budget pressure than ever, and increasingly they want direct access to experienced people and more connected thinking across the whole ecosystem.
That creates growing demand for smaller senior-led studios that offers speed, judgement, integration and direct senior access.
Our focus is helping brands create value exchange across the entire experience, so our model is intentionally integrated. Mel comes from creative and brand strategy, Fola comes from media, digital and systems thinking. Together we bridge those worlds, rather than treating them as separate silos.
But we don’t see this as being in opposition to agencies. We think there’s growing opportunity for smaller senior-led studios to work alongside agency partners - bringing focused strategic thinking, integration and specialist expertise into larger ecosystems when needed.
» Learn more about DIVA here
Introducing: Kaja Gilje Sekse
Every week, we introduce a member of the Outside Perspective. This week: Oslo based strategy and Brand consulant, Kaja Gilje Sekse:
HELLO I AM…
I’m a Norwegian brand and creative strategist based in Oslo. As one of the few freelancers of the kind in a relatively small market, I feel like an outsider and and insider at the same time, which has given me a whole new look on strategy work and the value of it.
My career history is quite non-linear: I started out as an intern at a jazz PR agency in London nearly 20 years ago, moved through fashion brand management into journalism, and for the past 10 years having worked at different advertising agencies in Norway. This has given me a big and broad toolbox to draw upon in my work.
RECENT WORK I’M PROUD OF
I recently fascilitated a workshop for a group of very clever, very influential people who want to save the world. I hope at least a tiny little piece of the world gets to be saved by our discussions and the work of this group.
MY OUTSIDE PERSPECTIVE
My hot take is that everyone should meditate. After thinking about it for 10+years, I realised how good it is for my mind and body. If we all meditated, there would be less stress, hate, and anger in the world, and lots more good thinking, calm, happy, and inspired people.
THREE THINGS I’M CONSUMING
Reading: David Epstein’s book Inside the box.
Watching: Documentaries about the Norwegian men’s football team. Oh, and btw: "RO!"
Listening: Silly podcasts that give my mind a break from war, genocide, and people who hate other people.
» Connect with Kaja on Linkedin, or in the community
Curiosity Stream
» Commodore is back — yes, that Commodore — launching a not-quite-dumbphone. (Thanks Joel)
» Rob Estreitinho went to Cannes Lions for a day and came back with 5 observations that have very little to do with AI or creativity. He left with no regrets or FOMO.
» Cultural influence in the age of AI — The Mix Global’s operating system for building culturally-relevant brands in an AI-shaped future.
» Oliver Osborne built a long & short calculator. Directionally useful. (Thanks Rob)
» How to be a neuroinclusive trainer — useful if you’re facilitating sessions and want to be more neuroinclusive.
» Laura Botsford has launched a new Substack for themed crosswords — Coffee and a Crossword. Deeply unserious. Highly recommended.
» The OK COOL study is looking for participants — worth five minutes of your time, everyone is enjoying completing it!
» Are freelancers seen as “disposable”?
» AI took a late payer to court, and won
Happenings
» Myths We Live By — an online workshop exploring the hidden narratives shaping how we live and work. Today, 12–1.15pm BST.
» Trying to break into innovation? This workshop in July from Women In Innovation looks great.
» London Breakfast Club. Ramona Daniel and Victoria Gates-Fleming are at the café in Foyles, Charing Cross Road, Thursday 3rd July, 9.30–11am. Come when you can, leave when you need to.
» Ann Storr is running her final free live Soapbox session on July 3 — 45 minutes to find your writing voice and stop the procrastiworking. Grab your free place here.
Gigs
A digest of recent gigs found and shared via our community — plus things from our friends and partners. Want to reach 5k+ strategists for your next project? Drop me a note.
FOUND AND SHARED
[UK] Freelance Design Strategist with food and drink exp via craft
https://bit.ly/4p8J1fj[US:NY] Freelance Brand Strategist with a background in brand consulting, brand design agencies, or specialist strategy firms. via DMCG
https://bit.ly/3QrtPgm[UK] Freelance Creative Strategist at BrandOpus
https://bit.ly/3SjLMxY[UK] Freelance Strategy Partner / Strategy Director with brand partnerships exp via MLS Talent
https://bit.ly/4uSKdV9[UK] freelance pack strategist with naming experience with experience in the fmcg non-alcoholic drinks sector via Factory
https://bit.ly/4xRdlPt[UK] Freelance Creative Strategist at Charlie Oscar
https://bit.ly/3SpUydN[US] Freelance UX Strategist at Omnicom Health
https://bit.ly/4oKPKMf[FR] freelance Creative Strategist/Production Manager at Perifit
https://bit.ly/4gjnj5V[UE] Freelance Brand Strategist at Rubicom
https://bit.ly/4eGO69K[DE] Freelance Strategist with automotive exp at INNOCEAN
https://bit.ly/4eX9CrZ
Don’t forget, we share these in real time here:
» Web
» Telegram
» Whatsapp
and of course, our slack channel if you’re a community member.
That’s all for this week.
mk✌️