The Moments of Mid-Pitch Magic with Will Sansom

Will Sansom joined Motel Company in April 2025 as its first chief strategy officer. Prior to Motel, Will was the head of strategy at The Brooklyn Brothers, making earned-first work that defined the most awarded period in the agency’s history. He also led a team that designed the industry-leading Night School D&I programme and was shortlisted for the IPA’s 2022 iList.

Before moving agency-side, Will ran the global consultancy division of Contagious – partnering brands such as Nike, Heineken, and Google to deconstruct brilliant work and build capabilities to achieve creative excellence.

Below Will chats with LBB about how his pre-agency life has influenced his work, and his honest views on LinkedIn

LBB> What do you think is the difference between a strategist and a planner? Is there one?

Will> I think some probably like the idea of ‘planning’ being a purer advertising discipline, whereas others like the breadth and fundamentally more businessy connotations of ‘strategy’. However, in creative agencies they seem largely interchangeable. So essentially, no. And if your planners are too busy worrying about the distinction, they’re probably not spending enough time doing strategy.

LBB> And which description do you think suits the way you work best?

Will> If we stick to my (crude) distinction, I didn’t grow up in the more traditional shops where ad planning was born, so I wouldn’t identify solely as that. I consider myself extremely lucky to have since been taught by those that have, but I’ve always thought that I could be the best strategic version of myself by building on that core discipline with other skills that I’ve learnt, borrowed or stolen over my career as a writer and consultant.

From running innovation incubators for Mondelez in South America, to facilitating ‘gloves-off’ creative roundtables for Nike and even running an inter-agency process that developed the world’s first ‘smart’ beer bottle for Heineken… My pre-agency strategic background is quite weird. But I also hope that it makes me a dextrous person to have around. At the very least, I have some top-drawer anecdotes about the early adoption of Arduino boards – remind me to tell you over a smart-beer.

LBB> We’re used to hearing about the best creative advertising campaigns, but what’s your favourite historic campaign from a strategic perspective? One that you feel demonstrates great strategy?

Will> As an alumni of Contagious, I feel like I should pick something obscure from a challenger brand; a strategic deep cut. But instead I’ll opt for something better known that has a really pronounced strategic unlock at its core, Dove’s ‘Real Beauty Sketches’.

There’s the simple but crushingly powerful insight that how we see ourselves isn’t necessarily how others see us. But by judo-flipping it and showing people how others see them… it resets their own perception and in turn, their sense of confidence and self-esteem. It actively delivers on what Dove’s ‘Real Beauty’ has always promised. That platform hasn’t been 100% slam-dunks over the years but this campaign displayed a proper empathy and EQ that every strategist should aspire to. Shout out also to the client, Fernando Machado, who has consistently proven that great work can’t exist without the clients who are willing to brief, buy, build and defend it.

LBB> When you’re turning a business brief into something that can inform an inspiring creative campaign, what do you find the most useful resource to draw on?

Will> Optimism. Sounds hokey, but I mean it.

The answer should probably be something like: ‘I go for a walk outside because that’s where life really happens’... or ‘I force myself to ask WHY five times… then slap myself around the face with a Byron Sharp book and ask WHY one more time’, etc.

The reality, I think, is far messier and serendipitous. There is no silver bullet process or trick. You’re likely wading through a quagmire of cliched insights, conflicting data and – worst of all – creative risk aversion. We all have different tricks and techniques for dealing with these, but as a strategist, I think you have to believe that there is something original or urgent left in there to extract and turn into brilliant creative work.

So I’ll answer this question by flipping it: what’s the least useful thing? I’d say cynicism. You can learn techniques and hone your prompts for whatever LLM you’re using… But approaching a business brief with optimism will always increase your chances of getting to something that feels more positive, more human and ultimately more resonant.

LBB> What part of your job/the strategic process do you enjoy the most?

Will> I love presenting strategy. Perhaps because it feels like that’s where the rubber first hits the road? I grew up in the industry bringing other people’s work to life in trend briefings, so there’s a strange kind of muscle memory there. But the novelty or presenting something that you’ve actually played a part in originating? Well, that still hasn’t worn off for me and I doubt it ever will.

Of course, then seeing it having impact in a business or in the lives of real people, well that’s why we do what we do. However, that first moment in a pitch or presentation when you can recognise that the client is seeing what your team sees in something – and gets gassed about its potential – that’s magic.

LBB> What strategic maxims, frameworks or principles do you find yourself going back to over and over again? Why are they so useful?

Will> There is a maxim that I’ve never been able to shake. It’s from an essay written by (arguably) the founding father of strategy, Stephen King, and goes something like this: “Marketing should not be thought of as a department activity, but rather as a means of creatively aligning everything that the customer wants or needs, with everything that a company is or can become.”

I’d never heard anyone talk this way about marketing until I first read this. The idea of creatively aligning a business with the wants and needs of real people. That revs my engine. Sure, he wrote it in the early ‘80s, but I’d argue that we have more at our disposal to do this than ever before. I think about it every time a new brief drops. It forces me to think bigger, broader and more creatively about the value we can and should be adding – as strats and as agency partners.

LBB> What sort of creatives do you like to work with? As a strategist, what do you want them to do with the information you give them?

Will> I can’t stand the idea of shielding creatives from a brief as it’s being written. I once worked with a fairly esteemed consultant who said they don’t believe in ‘scaring creatives’ by getting them involved too early. Fuck that.

In my experience, good creatives don’t have a fear of being confused or overwhelmed; they have a fear of anodyne briefs. This isn’t to say that the strategist shouldn’t then synthesise all the conversations into something single-minded for them to work from… but more that getting people engaged and invested from the get-go will result in them being more productive and effective. It’s basic behavioural economics, not rocket science.

So to answer the question, I like working with creatives who want to do this. To roll their sleeves up and be part of pulling apart the problem as much as finding solutions. We’re building our entire strategic way around it at Motel. I want them to call bullshit on the strategy and equally be ok with me doing the same for the creative. Together, together, together.

LBB> There’s a negative stereotype about strategy being used to validate creative ideas, rather than as a resource to inform them and make sure they’re effective. How do you make sure the agency gets this the right way round?

Will> I’ve never experienced that personally, but I’ve always worked in or with agencies that have strong strategic cores. However, I think it can happen in shops where there is a legacy of the creative product being put on a pedestal and everyone having to kneel in deference. But there is a difference between being in deference and being in service.

In terms of getting it the right way round, I think strategists need to make what they do useful, not a hindrance. Interesting, not over-intellectual. Concise not verbose. And above all - collaborative. If you’re willing to bring people with you on the strategic journey, it will stand a much better chance of staying central to all creative output.

LBB> What have you found to be the most important consideration in recruiting and nurturing strategic talent?

Will> My mum was a primary school teacher and she always said “I don’t worry about the kids with interesting stories but messy handwriting, because I can teach them to hold a pen properly. I worry about the kids with neat writing and no imagination.” I am sure she was more tactful come parents evening.

But basically this.

As a strategist, you undoubtedly need to have the models and frameworks in your back pocket, not to mention an aptitude for seeing meaning in the noise of data and being able to craft this into tight, compelling narratives. But theory can be learnt. Without imagination for what’s possible – the ability to make the leaps – none of this matters.

LBB> In recent years it seems like effectiveness awards have grown in prestige and agencies have paid more attention to them. How do you think this has impacted on how strategists work and the way they are perceived?

Will> [John] Hegarty will happily tell you that if what we’re making isn’t helping clients sell stuff, then we should all go home. It has to be effective. And while sales increases may not always be the next play, they’ll always be the end game. The awards piece, however, is slightly different.

There’s definitely a scientific air that surrounds effectiveness awards, but the entries aren’t dissimilar to any other. Carefully manipulated information, wrapped in trigger terminology and qualified with data that can be tricky for juries to prove/disprove. I am not taking anything away from the writing or the winning; it’s just that these awards are a game that is typically played by the agencies with the time, resources and inclination. It doesn’t mean, however, that brilliantly effective work isn’t being made by the agencies that aren’t entering.

In terms of the impacts on the strats themselves, you could question whether all the time they spend scrabbling around for data to substantiate awards entries could be better spent doing actual work. There is, after all, an irony when a client fires an agency for winning too many awards. It happens.

LBB> Do you have any frustrations with planning/strategy as a discipline?

Will> Yes – the presumption that density is an accurate indication of good strategy. Because if it looks complicated, it must be clever.

Strategists are great at talking about the importance of being single-minded before presenting you with 80 slides of upside-down triangle charts, spurious statistics and narrative cul-de-sacs. It also promotes a unique kind of pseudo-intellectualism which can honestly just get right in the bin. None of this is a science or a higher academic pursuit. We’re not professors. We’re magpies trying to spot the shiny thing. The tension. The glitch. The opportunity or the unlock. When this is good, it doesn’t need wrapping in nonsense, it needs setting up as clearly and creatively as possible. Make strategy simple again.

LBB> What advice would you give to anyone considering a career as a strategist/planner?

Will> I love the Charlie Parker quote, “First you learn your instrument, then you learn the music, then you forget all that shit and just play.”

Make sure you spend time getting the models, tools and methods under your belt; there’s no shortcut for this stuff. But always remember to lean into what can make you specifically an interesting and effective strategist. The eccentricities, imperfections and ambitions. These things are our gifts. Our secrets from the machines. And they are rapidly becoming more important than ever.

Oh and finally, don’t let LinkedIn freak you out; it’s a fucking bin fire.