Google Firestarters is an ongoing series of conversations, talks and provocations designed for the planning, advertising and media community hosted by Think with Google and curated by me, Neil Perkin. They are designed to feature some of the best thinking in the industry and to facilitate debate around some of the more interesting areas of challenge and opportunity. From 2011-2020 we ran them as a quarterly series of live events but then pivoted these to a series of video and podcast conversations with some of the most interested and interesting people in our industry. This page acts as a hub for all the content related to Google Firestarters. You can listen to/ watch our most recent conversations over on the Firestarters YouTube playlist and listen/subscribe to the podcast via the links to your favourite platform here. Enjoy.
Passionbrand founder Helen Edwards on growth from the margins
eatbigfish Founder Adam Morgan on creativity from constraints
TBWA’s Global Chief Strategy Officer on asking smart people stupid questions
How productive disagreement can lead to better solutions with Ian Leslie
Wavemaker’s Global Innovation Head on learning, inspiration, and the potential of new technologies
The Power of Optimism with Dan-Cullen Shute
How diverse thinking transforms creative briefs with Trevor Robinson
How curiosity takes marketing further than knowledge with Sara Tate
Combining maths and magic in business with Rishad Tobaccowala
Firestarters Episode 18: Rachel Mercer, co-founder and CXO, Proto
Firestarters Ep. 17: Russell Davies, VP Marketing, Bulb
Firestarters Ep. 16: Patricia McDonald, Global Chief Strategy Officer, Creative, Dentsu
Google Firestarters Episode 14: Jim Carroll, founder Carroll Jones
Google Firestarters Episode 13: Emma Cookson, Partner, You & Mr Jones
Google Firestarters Episode 12: Amelia Torode, Co-Founder, The Fawnbrake Collective
Google Firestarters Episode 11: Tom Roach, VP Brand Planning at Jellyfish
Google Firestarters Episode 10: Lucy Jameson, Founder at Uncommon London
Google Firestarters Episode 9:Andy Nairn, Founding Partner at Lucky Generals
Google Firestarters Episode 8:Thas Naseemuddeen, Chief Executive Officer at Omelet
Google Firestarters Episode 7: Jerry Daykin, EMEA Senior Media Director, GSK
Google Firestarters Episode 6: Tom Morton, Chief Strategy Officer, R/GA
Google Firestarters Episode 5: Katie Dreke, Global Strategy and Innovation Consultant
Google Firestarters Episode 4: Gareth Kay, Founder at Chapter
Google Firestarters Episode 3: Sue Unerman, Chief Transformation Officer, MediaCom
Google Firestarters Episode 2: Lindsay Pattison, Chief Client Officer, WPP
And here are the write ups for the live events that we ran:
Google Firestarters 33: Thinking Differently
Google Firestarters 32: AI and Algorithms, Efficiency and Effectiveness
Google Firestarters 31: Ever Changing Marketing
Google Firestarters 30: The Brilliance and Brutalisation of Insight
Google Firestarters 20th Anniversary: Planning and Performance
Google Firestarters 28: Learning From The Innovators
Google Firestarters 27 – Crossing the River By Feeling the Stones
Google Firestarters 26: Change and Complexity
Google Firestarters 25: Patterns of Behaviour
Google Firestarters 24: Deciphering Digital Transformation
Google Firestarters 23: The Future Strategist/Planner
Google Firestarters 22: The Power and Perils of Fast in Planning
Google Firestarters 21: The Future of Digital Advertising
Google Firestarters 20: AI (Artificial Intelligence) or IA (Intelligence Augmentation)?
Google Firestarters 19: Consultants, Customer Experience and Convergence
Google Firestarters 18: Mobile UX is Eating the World
Google Firestarters 17: Content Marketing and Complexity
Google Firestarters 16: The Magnificent Seven
Google Firestarters 15: How to Think Differently About Advertising
Google Firestarters 14: Big Data or Big MIstake?
Google Firestarters 13: Agencies and Product Innovation
Google Firestarters 12: Designing for the Future
Google Firestarters 11: The Strategy is Delivery
Google Firestarters 10: Planning For Good
Google Firestarters 9 (Curated by Squared Alumni): Creativity is Not a Department
Google Firestarters 8: The Agency Innovation Conundrum
Google Firestarters 7: Remix Culture
Google Firestarters 6: Digital Storytelling and Video
Google Firestarters 5: Cory Doctorow – The Coming War on General Computation
Google Firestarters 3: The New Operating System for Agencies
Google Firestarters 4: Entrepreneurship
Google Firestarters 2: Design Thining in Planning
Google Firestarters 1: Agile Planning
And we have also extended out the Firestarters franchise and run specific events for the performance and search marketing community:
Google Performance Firestarters: Secrets of Data Management
Google Performance Firestarters: Secrets of Growth
Google Performance Firestarters: The Future of Search
Google Performance Firestarters: Is Your Mobile Site Losing You Money?
Google Performance Firestarters: Will Last Click Attribution Ever Die?
Google Performance Firestarters: Performance vs Brand Marketing
Google Performance Firestarters: Marketing in a Post-Mobile World
Google Performance Firestarters: The Future of Programmatic
Google Performance Firestarters: The Future of Performance Marketing Agencies
Google Performance Firestarters: The Power of Feeds
Google Performance Firestarters: Real-time Creative
Google Performance Firestarters: The Profit-Driven Marketer
Google Performance Firestarters: Data
Google Search Firestarters: Search Marketing That Wins Awards
Google Search Firestarters: The Mobile Future
Google SearchFirestarters: Attribution
…and we also ran a couple of Google Firestarters events in New York:
Google Firestarters NYC 2: Creativity in a Constrained World
Google Firestarters NYC: The New Operating System for Agencies
…in Cannes:
Google Firestarters: The New Culture Makers
…and in Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland:
Google Firestarters Australia – Adapting Strategy for an Adaptive Age
Google Firestarters Auckland and Sydney – Digital Storytelling
…and we have also run one in Austin during SWSWi: