APG Sideways
About our guest: Sherman Sudeene
Hi – I’m Sherman, a Strategist at Ogilvy with 5+ years of experience in marketing and advertising. I started my career in social media and design and fell in love with strategy during the pandemic. Since then, I’ve been obsessed with figuring out the “why” behind everything.
When I’m not working and asking myself "why" five times, I’m watching sports. I pretty much watch everything: Football, Soccer, F1, Basketball, and Tennis. I haven’t gotten around to watching Curling yet, but it's on my list.
Brilliant Weird Best
Strategists are curious folks, so we asked Sherman to tell us the most brilliant, weirdest and best things he’s come across recently.
BRILLIANT: Nike – Winning Isn’t For Everyone
The only thing more iconic than Wieden+Kennedy and Nike is peanut butter and jelly. Every time they release a brand spot, it seems like it starts a new conversation about the power of brand. Thinking back to their 2024 'Winning isn’t for everyone' campaign, I loved how they reframed winning and focused on the passion, ruthlessness, and selfishness of athletes and found Willem Dafoe’s narration to be perfect.
WEIRD: Wonderful Pistachios - Lilliputians
To be completely honest, I’m not the biggest fan of quirky ads. I think most of them use references that go over most people’s heads and create more questions than answers. However, when I saw the Wonderful Pistachios’ “Lilliputians” spot, I think I rewatched it 10 times. I think they did a great job of balancing the dry humour and the ridiculousness of the giant reference.
BEST: A Dream Is Never Too Far Away
Is print dead? Many people would like to think so, but Mercedes-Benz and BBDO India would likely disagree. They proved that bold visuals and clever design are timeless. I loved how they transformed the front of a newspaper into an immersive experience.
Top Guilty Pleasures
Not all of our consumption habits can be academic. That's why we asked Sherman to give us the sources to his creativity.
I’m a huge fan of British comedy, and one of my favourite shows is The Mighty Boosh. The show is essentially a mix of Flight of the Conchords and comic fantasy. It follows two dudes trying to pursue their musical careers. I love their witty banter and ridiculous musical numbers.
There’s nothing better than being home during the day and watching '90s sitcoms. I remember telling my mom I was 'sick' as a kid, so I didn’t have to go to school, and I'd watch shows like The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Family Matters, The King of Queens, and Everybody Loves Raymond. To this day, if I’m off during the week, you can find me watching a sitcom from the ‘90s.
This month on Slack
Our Slack discussions this month were quite varied! We spent a good amount of time exploring how intention and meaning change with context, but we also dove into how Big Macs and men's underwear can act as signals of change, with the right lens.
Friendly vs. Friction
Contributors: Anano Korkia, Michelle Lee, Cameron Fleming, Taisiia Herasko, Jon Crowley, Anya Petrova
Piggybacking off of Anano's "Not Made In Canada" video, we dove into the assumptions and implications surrounding the perceived niceness of Canadians. Specifically, we explored how newcomers can feel as though the default here can be too nice. The conversation then pivoted towards how these cultural barriers can affect our roles, with Jon Crowley mentioning our default of "harmony over progress". The vibe was empathetic and curious, raising a bigger question about reading between the lines to get better collaboration and braver creative outcomes. Stay tuned for more of this on Rebrief!
Lateral Thinking and Unusual Metrics
Contributor: Jon Crowley, Spencer MacEachern, David Akermanis, Colin Carroll, Cameron Fleming, Param Saini
Bringing up the topic of things that are hard to measure as planners, Jon started a fun conversation around unusual metrics. Spencer then pointed out the value of lateral thinking and knowing when to leverage cultural fluency and look towards left of field metrics. These ranged from personal data like tweet history volume to the larger Big Mac Index, Men's Underwear Index, and even Yogurt Spend.
PSA Uno Reverse Card
Contributors: Hayden Lawton, Trevon Daley, Shan Hunter, Spencer MacEachern, Jon Crowley, Michelle Lee, Monserrat Videla