Podcast
The Overthinkers
Hosted by Lynette Wong & Shann Biglione · EN
From big strategy questions to everyday marketing life realities, The Overthinkers is a weekly conversation between two strategists: Lynette Wong (Brand consultant and ex-Head of Strategy / Principal Consultant at Ogilvy NY) and Shann Biglione (co-founder and product lead + ex CSO at Publicis).
It is for those who like to (over)think about business, marketing and strategic planning, with delightful guests occasionally joining.
PS: you might have followed us of heard of us when the podcast was co-hosted by Rachel Mercer! She will keep joining us occasionally, as we continue overthinking with Lynette and Shann.
Available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
19episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
What Weird Skills Can Help You Be A Better Marketer?
1w ago00:23:35Tap to summarizeActing, screenwriting, gaming, dance, gardening, running a volunteer website nobody got paid for. Shann and Lynette swap notes on the side-of-desk obsessions and unlikely hobbies that turned out to matter more in their marketing careers than a lot of formal training ever did. The conversation covers what an acting exercise about holding a cup reveals about observation, why Lynette sees every campaign as a piece of choreography, and how managing people who don't report to you — and aren't getting paid — is some of the most useful management practice available. Also: a brief detour into squash season in Vermont, and why you should lock your car.
Transcribe →Startup vs Big Brand: What Did Katya Kotlyar Learn Switching Sides?
2w ago00:40:35Tap to summarizeKatya Kotlyar has moved through this industry in ways most people don't from small to big agency, some freelance, co-founding a cross-border donation startup with her sister (raising $2 million), and eventually winding it down before coming back to brand and startup strategy—often both at once. In this episode, she joins Lynette and Lynette to work through what big-brand thinking actually survives contact with startup reality, and what has to go. They get into burn rate as a creative constraint, the case for 80% and shipping, why brand can outlast a pivot, and why every marketer should probably try building something at least once.
Transcribe →Maxing: Danger Or Trend?
3w ago00:25:24Tap to summarizeIs maxing just self-improvement with a rebrand — or something more sinister? Shann and Lynette unpack where the trend came from (hint: the manosphere), why the algorithm is partly to blame, and what it all means for brands trying to figure out which side to stand on. From jaw maxing to nona maxing to the very real possibility of couch maxing as an Olympic sport. Ok, maybe not that last one...
Transcribe →Can You Be A Marketer And Be "Anti-Capitalist"?
4w ago00:32:25Tap to summarizeCan you work in marketing — a job literally built around driving demand — and honestly call yourself anti-capitalist? Shann and Lynette try to find out. They start with definitions: what capitalism actually is, where anti-capitalism begins, and what gets lost when people conflate the two. From there it gets messier: the degrowth debate, whether brands like Ursa Major offer a real alternative or just a nicer story about growth, whether market forces can actually push companies toward better behavior (China's EV shift makes a strange cameo), and what Rory Sutherland's NRA-at-Cannes provocation says about marketing's blind spots. No tidy resolution. But a clearer picture of where the real tension lives — and why marketers, of all people, might have more say in it than they admit.
Transcribe →What Makes People (And Us) Feel Significant?
May 600:29:48Tap to summarizeWe all want to matter. But in a world where the average person has 700 followers and every brand claims to be meaningful, what does significance actually look like — and can it scale? Shann and Lynette get personal about where they've genuinely felt it, some pushback on the idea that brands should chase it, and make a case for why going smaller might be one of the most powerful things you can do in your life.
Transcribe →Is AI Going To Kill Your Marketing Job?
Apr 2900:23:36Tap to summarizeAnthropic's latest report says 65% of marketing tasks are headed for AI replacement — making us the fifth most disrupted profession out of 800. Lynette came in hot with a confession: she literally built her own AI replacement in her last role at Ogilvy. Shann came in skeptical of the "AI won't replace you, someone using AI will" line — and called it, diplomatically, a bit of a myth.We get into why marketing's own love affair with mediocrity made it so easy to automate, the automotive company that replaced its entire research process with synthetic audiences (and why it was probably the right call), and why the real crisis isn't the jobs disappearing — it's the junior talent pipeline nobody's properly investing in.Plus: the one skill both of us think will matter more than any prompt engineering course. Hint: it involves knowing what you actually think.
Transcribe →How To Transition Out Of An Advertising Career? With Rachel and Lynette
Apr 2200:39:42Tap to summarizeNearly 200 episodes in, The Overthinkers is turning a page. This is Rachel Mercer's final episode as co-host — and the debut of Lynette, a former global strategy lead at Ogilvy, ethnographic researcher, insect farm co-founder, and current Vermont transplant who consults for small businesses at what she calls her "community rate" (sometimes paid in sausage).To mark the moment, the three of us tackle mid-career transitions out of advertising: how to actually make the jump, why transferable skills are almost too broad to be useful, and what question you should be asking yourself before any of the rest of it matters.Rachel shares how client relationships built over 20 years quietly become your best career infrastructure. Lynette makes the case for low-stakes pilots before big leaps. And Shann is, characteristically, the most pessimistic person in the room about where AI leaves the advertising industry — and what that means if you're thinking about waiting before making a move.A proper goodbye, a warm welcome, and genuinely useful career advice in between.
Transcribe →When Do You Say "Enough"? With Rob Campbell
Apr 1600:46:01Tap to summarizeThis wonderful episode was recorded over a year ago with the legendary Rob Campbell, CSO at Colenso in Auckland. Rachel and Shann were planning to publish this as part of a last series of guests, but for a variety of reasons couldn't get to it.Together with Rob, they explore what satiety can look and feel like in a project (or your career). It ventures into some very personal stories for our guest, and shares what three old sods have experienced working in advertising - whether they still have the drive for it or not.Today, we're delighted to publish this last episode in the Rachel Mercer era, before we start a new chapter with the amazing Lynette Wong, who will start as co-host for the podcast starting next week!
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Can 1st Party Data Save Digital Advertising?
Sep 20, 202300:24:34Tap to summarizeWith the demise of the cookie monster and the supreme reign of a few internet giants, a lot of brands placed their bets on building first party data. Is that really the way of the future, and can brands sustainably grow without a strong 1st party data strategy anymore?
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Are CMOs A Dying Breed?
Sep 12, 202300:22:02Tap to summarize“You’re Dead In 18 Months Or Less” - Scott Galloway's ominous predictions for CMOs last week brought about a slight disturbance in the force. In this episode, we discuss the argument made against CMOs as we know them, as well as arguments for their possible redemption.
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