Strands of Genius: Brainiac Interviews, Walk About It, How Good Do You Want To Be

Guest curated by Peter Levitan, Boss, Peter Levitan & Co.

Aug 10, 2023

:: A BIT MORE ABOUT GUEST CURATOR, PETER LEVITAN ::

LOCATION: San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

I am a bit driven. Have been since being a kid. But, these days as I am seeing my lifespan goal line get closer (I am a baby boomer), I think my need for speed is growing. Going from back to front: I am rewriting my 2012 book “Boomercide. From Woodstock to Suicide.” Starting to outline a new book about how media and entertainment has shaped this 70-year generation. Marketing my new book "How To Build A Kick-Ass Advertising Agency", which is a biz dev tool for my global advertising consultancy.

Pre Covid I did hundreds of on-the-street "studio" portraits in Mexico, Rajasthan India, Selma and Venice Beach. Unfortunately, Covid got in the way of this global project designed as an excuse to help me make friends around the world. Accra Ghana would have been next.

More... I owned my own advertising agency in Portland. Started two Internet-based businesses. ActiveBuddy and the intelligent bot SmarterChild that beat Siri, Alexa and, um, even AI into the market. I was at the start of putting news online. And before all of that I worked in NYC and London for Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising.

Editor’s Note (Genius Steals): We met Peter a decade ago when he emailed, having connected previously on twitter, to interview Faris for his book “Buy this Book. Win More Pitches” in insights, pitches and more. We’ve stated in virtual touch since as he and we move around the world and he has a fascinating, inside/outside view of advertising and its industry. Thanks for a great edition, Peter!

:: THE LINKS ::

BRAINIAC INTERVIEWS

My brain capacity is always an issue and wonder just how much info stuff can one stuff into a brain? I therefore am on a continuous quest for super high quality interviews and expert insights. Conversations With Tyler, an audio podcast and videos on the Mercatus Center YouTube channel, meet the test. Economist Tyler Cowen is frankly one of the most prepared interviewers anywhere. Check out recent interviews with Reid Hoffman on AI; Seth Godin on, of course, marketing; and Yasheng Huang on today's China. WOW! (Conversations with Tyler)

WALK ABOUT IT

I grew up in Manhattan. As a city kid, art galleries and museums offered a weekly diet of the visual arts. This never ending art barrage led me to my studying at the San Francisco Art institute (once the best art school in the USA and now sadly closed). My art diet continues to be fueled thanks to Mary Lynn Buchanan who travels to galleries and art fairs around the world to show us the latest great work.

I also suggest seeing Mary Lynn's two-part series “100 Female Artists You Should Know”. Why is this important? According to ArtNet, "Only 11 percent of acquisitions and 14.9 percent of exhibitions, at 31 U.S. museums between 2008 and 2020, were of work by female-identifying artists." (YouTube)

HOW GOOD DO YOU WANT TO BE

I worked with crazy and talented Executive Creative Director Paul Arden at Saatchi London. He wore Saville Row suits and smoked Cuban cigars (kinda LOL, he was down the hall from my office). Paul was smart, cheeky and rather opinionated. His graphical “The world's best-selling book by Paul Arden” (look at the cover) distills his approach to making the most of yourself. It is one of the best selling books on advertising. It is about the journey of attaining personal success.

Paul played a mucho major role in my life. I once had the chance of building and running my own London-based Saatchi sports agency. All we had to do was win the global Adidas pitch. Winning the account was supposed to be a shoe in, the Adidas CEO was a close friend of the agency, until Paul brought his baby seals to the meeting. You can read about this sad story at, “The Worst Advertising Presentation - Ever” (Amazon / Peter Levitan)

Looking for more from Peter Levitan? Coming Friday, look for an interview from him in your inbox!

:: AND NOW… SOME FAST FAVORITES ::

:: Game :: I don't play games. He said smiling.

:: City :: Mexico City. The people, vibe, food, history.

:: Book :: I read tons of non-fiction. I recently went to my book shelf and re-grabbed the rather inspiring, and insanely titled, “The 4-Hour Workweek.”

:: Podcast :: The Economist. Especially, the weekly Editor's Picks.

:: Album :: An Evening With Silk Sonic

:: PROMOTING MY ADVERTISING STORIES ::

I council my advertising clients on how important it is in the broad sea of agencies to be unignorable. That's why I got Borat to promote my "Advertising Stories" podcast series.

Thanks for being here.

- Peter Levitan

Website | Photography | LinkedIn

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It's called Genius Steals because we believe ideas are new combinations and that nothing can come from nothing. But copying is lazy. We believe the best way to innovate is to look at the best of that which came before and combine those elements into new solutions.

Co-Founders Faris & Rosie are award-winning strategists and creative directors, writers, consultants and public speakers who have been living on the road/runway since March 2013, working with companies all over the world. Our Director of Operations is nomadic like us, our accounting team is based out of Washington, our company is registered in Tennessee, and our collaborators are all over the world. Being nomadic allows us to go wherever clients need us to be, and to be inspired by the world in between.

Hit reply and let’s talk about how we might be able to work together :)

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