Strands of Genius: Facilitation, The Activation Apocalypse, You Are Not Your Job
Plus: Cannes Content
Strands of Genius is a newsletter from the co-founders of Genius Steals, Faris & Rosie Yakob. They are award-winning strategists, facilitators, creative directors, writers and public speakers who get excited about working with smart people on interesting challenges. You should probably go ahead and hit reply so we can collaborate on something together :)
:: THE UPDATE ::
We are in Tuscany to visit our dear friends Aran, Sibilla and their family including our god-daughter Lily. (We actually are atheists, but we love the honorary title and prefer to be more of the fairy-godparents, ha!) There are also other friends of ours that Faris met at university, which we realized was almost 30 years ago! The days are long but the years are short as they say.
[ If you want to visit a Tuscan ‘agriturismo’ and vacation on a farm that makes wine and cheese with incredible views and lovely people we can’t recommend Fattoria Corzano e Paterno highly enough. ]
🥐 Cannes You Believe It?
We’re trading croissants for credentials — heading to Cannes for the very first time! Faris is making it official with a talk on The Terrace Stage on Thursday, June 19 from 10:45–11:15am, and we’ll both be around all week (June 15–20) soaking in the sunshine, creativity, and the occasional existential crisis brought on by brand activations.
We’ll also be hosting a lil something ourselves with our friends at LWS on Monday, June 16 from 3-4:30p.
If you’re going to be in France, hit reply and let’s try to meet up—especially if you know where the best coffee is hiding or just want to swap theories about how AI is taking over everyone’s outreach strategy.
:: BETTER TOGETHER ::
Great ideas don’t happen in isolation. The most powerful brands, campaigns, and innovations are born from the friction, fusion, and fire of collaboration. When we create together—whether with colleagues, clients, communities, or even competitors—we (ideally) build something bigger than ourselves.
Collaboration isn’t just about working alongside others; it’s about unlocking something greater than the sum of its parts. One brain can be brilliant, but when ideas collide, challenge, and build on each other, that’s when real magic happens. The best marketers, strategists, and creatives know that co-creation isn’t a step in the process—it is the process. It’s not just about making decisions together; it’s about amplifying ideas, embracing unexpected perspectives, and pushing creativity further than we ever could alone.
At the same time, true collaboration requires stepping beyond the echo chamber. It’s easy to partner with people who think like us, but real breakthroughs happen when we invite in fresh voices, challenge our own assumptions, and co-create across industries, cultures, and disciplines. The future of marketing—and creativity—belongs to those who don’t just collaborate, but co-elevate.
We’re trying to say yes more - even to unlikely partnerships, to invite in perspectives that make us uncomfortable, and to lean into the messy, magical process of making something with others, because we believe that we really are better together.
:: THE LINKS ::
FACILITATION IS HUMILIATING
In advertising—and in life—facilitation is a hidden art form that can feel equal parts empowering and excruciating. Whether you’re leading a brainstorm, running a client workshop, or kicking off a toast at a team dinner, stepping up in front of others often means doing your best impression of someone who looks like they know what they’re doing(… and then sometimes cringing about it later.) Loved this quick read from Elise Granata arguing that being goofy, vulnerable, and brave can help unlock more generous and collaborative spaces. (Group Hug)
TEN HORSEMEN OF THE ACTIVATION APOCALYPSE
Ben Kay is a creative who has been blogging since Faris used to back in the day and still does - and he’s very good. This excellent post with ten activation classics that almost never happen anymore is both comment and funny.
“Much of advertising in the 2020s is kind of dull. I’m not just saying the the usual ads are more boring than they used to be. I’m also pointing out that all the advertising money that has gone to GoogleBook has added nothing to our happiness or entertainment. But have no fear!That’s because it’s just there to make up the numbers, excitement-wise.
If you were to pitch a client with nothing but ‘SEO FTW!’ and ‘Slide The Zuck half your budget and let him get on with it!’, you would be met with colossal underwhelm (even though that’s what many a client will end up doing).
So you need fireworks! Whistles! Bells!” (If This is a Blog then What’s Christmas?)
YOU ARE NOT YOUR JOB — AND SOON YOU WON’T HAVE ONE
This isn’t just a story about a laid-off engineer—it’s a mirror for all of us in white-collar, knowledge-based work. The jobs disappearing first in the AI wave aren’t on factory floors; they’re in conference rooms, Slack channels, and pitch decks. ("Meanwhile, jobs that require physical presence, manual dexterity, and human-to-human interaction—plumbers, electricians, nurses, aestheticians, physical therapists—those roles become more secure, more valuable, more respected.”) The prestige ladder we’ve all been climbing—titles, accolades, visibility—is being kicked out from under us, and the real challenge ahead isn’t just re-skilling, but rebuilding identity. For those of us in advertising, where careers are often wrapped in personal branding and cultural capital, the question isn’t just “What do I do?”—it’s “Who am I if that disappears?” And Carmen VanKerckhove has some great suggestions on how to ‘unhook your worth from your resume.’ (Pack Light, Live Full)
ASK FARIS
The very first episode of Askfaris from Medicat launched! You can send your burning questions to Askfaris@mediacat.uk or watch the latest episode to see the kinds of questions coming in so far. “In this episode of Ask Faris, MediaCat UK’s media and marketing agony uncle answers questions about a post attention-baiting world, the dichotomy between trust and targeting, and AI customer engagement strategies.”(MediaCat)
With mega thanks to the lovely, smart and insanely talented Jacob Sanders and the Audio Content Lab for kindly making the awesome jingles!
:: GOING TO CANNES? ::
WeTransfer has put together a guide to the Cannes Advertising Festival for old hands and first timers “created with CMOs, agency leaders, and creatives [including our friend and Cannes collaborator Rebecca Rowntree]. From Palais highlights to finding your tribe, parties, and what shoes to pack. Everything you need to navigate the week.” [WeTransfer]
This week, we’re writing to you from Tuscany, Italy. We’re especially thankful for:
art shows, good friends, incredible tomatoes, cool night temperatures in the tower, Susa, kittens, Aran, Sibilla, Max & Lily, tennis tournaments, and YOU!
If we can ever be of help to you, even outside of a formal engagement, please don’t hesitate to let us know. You can hit reply to this email if you’ve got anything to say, and we’ll endeavor to get back to you promptly!
rockON,
faris & rosie | your friends over at geniussteals.co
(still want more? @farisyakob.com is on Bluesky sometimes while @rosieyakob prefers instagram stories)
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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. We have a distributed team ourselves, an accounting team is based in Tennessee where our company is registered, our admin extraordinaire is based in Playa del Carmen, 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 :)