Book Review: D&AD – The Copy Book If words are the atoms of great marketing, then D&AD – The Copy Book, published by Taschen, is the periodic table every creative thinker ought to have on their desk. Loaded with insights from some of the world’s sharpest copywriters, this book isn’t just a manual; it’s a…
Imagine, if you will, that social media is a vast cosmic ocean except infinitely noisier and full of kittens, memes, and the occasional existential crisis. In this ocean, every like, share, save, and emoji is a tiny ripple which, when squinted at very, very carefully, may just tell you where the next great marketing wave…
Book Review : Pitch: How to Captivate and Convince Any Audience on the Planet by Danny Fontaine. Modern marketing loves complexity. Funnels get deeper, decks get longer, and somehow the message gets smaller. Danny Fontaine’s Pitch arrives as a welcome antidote, reminding us that persuasion is not about slides, jargon, or frameworks, but about human…
Why do we trust five-star reviews from strangers, panic-buy when there are “only two left,” and somehow end up emotionally attached to things we never meant to purchase in the first place? In Episode 4, Sean Makin wanders into the delightfully illogical world of behavioural economics, exploring why humans aren’t rational consumers at all but…
Book Review : No Bullsh*t Strategy: A Founder’s Guide to Competitive Advantage by Alex M H Smith In an era where “strategy” too often translates to corporate jargon, buzzphrases, and fluffy frameworks, No Bullsh*t Strategy is exactly what its title promises: clear, direct, and genuinely useful guidance on how to think about strategy in a…
If you’ve spent any time in modern marketing, you’ll know it can feel a bit… overcooked. Every week there’s a new must-follow strategy, a new platform you have to master, or a guru promising to 10x your growth before breakfast. Meanwhile, many of us are just trying to do good work, build meaningful brands, and…
In this episode, Sean Makin ventures into the influencer economy. A place where authenticity is priceless, exposure is not a currency, and everyone insists they’re “data-led” while quietly trusting a hunch. We explore: Why influencer recommendations feel more powerful than traditional ads The difference between influencers and true brand ambassadors Why reach is overrated and…
A Mostly Harmless Guide to Doing the Impossible (Poorly at First). In Episode 2 of The Overthinker’s Guide To Modern Marketing, Sean Makin dives into the messy, absurd, and oddly magnificent reality of building a business and a brand in the modern world. From the unglamorous power of consistency to the necessity of resilience, obsession,…
Episode one of The Overthinker’s Guide to Modern Marketing podcast explores the thin, uncomfortable line between persuasion and propaganda and why modern marketing isn’t always as innocent as it pretends to be. I unpack how influence really works: from emotional manipulation and “truth-adjacent” messaging, to repetition, tribal thinking, and the subtle ways audiences are nudged,…