S1E21 - Millennials Paid Attention with Faris Yakob

Dec 7 2023 • 1 hr 5 mins

Our special guest for our final episode of the year is our good friend Faris Yakob. He and his wife Rosie are the force behind the consultancy Genius Steals, a nomadic strategic and creative consultancy. Faris is also the author of a book about how advertising works through the lens of the concept of attention. It's called, Paid Attention which is now in its 2nd edition. He has been at a variety of media and advertising agencies throughout his career, including Naked Communications, McCann Erickson, MDC Partners and helped to found many others. He writes for Campaign, Fast Company, Contagious and other publications.

And he thinks deeply about the state of the ad world - how its changing, what it does, how it does it, and what it means for us all. He sat down to talk to us before Thanksgiving about how media planning works, how brands and advertisers think about audiences, and how the stories we tell about youth cultures have been recycled and subtly upgraded since the invention of the teenager, to fulfill the hopes and dreams of not only the corporations who want them to buy stuff, but just as importantly, the people who make advertising and want to believe it is capable of doing something good in the world.

This is our last episode of the year - we wish you a very happy and relaxing holiday season, and send our best wishes for the New Year. See you in January!

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