Thinking Louder with James Peach

When we invited global brand expert James Peach to speak in our Thinking Louder series, we knew we were in for a Peach of a Talk.

James shared his insights on the vital importance of strategy, problem solving through brand and why we shouldn't be frightened of failure.

We can never get enough brilliant brand chat, and we could have talked to James for hours. But we tempered ourselves and kept it to just five(ish) minutes on favourite brands, brainstorming processes and risky business.

"The importance of taking risk in business is huge because risk taking is movement. It’s doing something new. If you’re taking a risk, you’re advancing in some direction. If you’re not taking a risk you’re staying the same. And so I see risk as ultimately progress.

"My favourite brands are brands like Surreal. It’s really cool, it’s got an interesting tone of voice. It really takes on the cereal industry and is trying to do things differently. They are using channels in a new way, they use TikTok interestingly, but they’ve really focussed on LinkedIn where they are doing things differently and mixing things up.

"Building resilience into your team is absolutely critical. Marketing is a subjective world, it’s also a public world and there's risk attached to every bit of work you do. Whether it’s what the public are going to think of it or the feedback you’re going to get within the business itself. So, understanding what you can change, what you can’t change and not bringing emotion into your work can really help marketeers be more resilient and also enjoy the role better because it’s a tough job.

"A brainstorming session to me is about people being in a room, and not being in a room. You come together, you understand the brief, you interrogate the brief, you ask the questions. But then for me, I get my best ideas, the best work I’ve ever done is out walking, running, whatever, but moving. I can’t come up with ideas at a desk. Then you come back around that table, present your ideas and let people around that table help you build on them and develop them more.

"If I had one thing to say to someone who had just started out, I would say those big ideas that you have right now, write them down and keep them. When you join a new company at whatever level, you see things with fresh eyes. But then over time, you get involved in the general operations of the company and those ideas and those thoughts are clouded by just getting stuff done. So write them down, remember them, and try to keep that level of freshness for as long as you can. It will go, it goes for everyone. But the clarity that you have at the start of your career, the start of a new job, or the start of a new challenge, you never get back. So enjoy it and make sure you make the most of it.