Paul Feldwick and Faris Yakob on the nature of fame and attention

In 1974 Paul Feldwick left Oxford and found a job in advertising at the acclaimed London agency Boase Massimi Pollitt (later part of DDB) where he was to work for over thirty years. He was Head of Account Planning in London, and then a Worldwide Brand Planning Director for DDB, responsible for global strategic training programmes. He was one of the first convenors of judges for the IPA Effectiveness Awards. He has Masters degrees from Bath School of Management and Ashridge (Hult) Business School. Since 2005 he has worked as a consultant, coach, and author. The Anatomy of Humbug (2015) uncovered the hidden assumptions made in organisations about how advertising works, and his new book Why Does The Pedlar Sing? looks at the links between advertising and entertainment.

Faris Yakob is the co-founder (with his wife Rosie) of the nomadic creative consultancy Genius Steals and the online learning community The School of Stolen Genius. They have been working with brands, agencies of all disciplines and sizes, media companies and conferences around the world for the last decade, delivering keynotes, workshops, training and brand and business consulting.Their newsletter, Strands of [Stolen] Genius, was named one of the ‘7 Essential Reads for the Curious Creative’ by Hubspot and one of the top community resources for strategists in the world by the Planning Survey.Previously, he was Chief Innovation Officer of MDC Partners, Chief Digital Officer of McCann Erickson (NYC) and spent many years at pioneering communication strategy agency Naked, in London, Sydney and NYC. While in agencies, he won (as both a strategist and a creative director) and judged numerous awards, including the Effies, One Show, ADC, Clios and LIAs.Faris Yakob is the author Paid Attention: Innovative Advertising for a Digital World which was published in an updated second edition by Kogan Page in 2021 and is a contributing author to Creative Superpowers: Equip Yourself For The Age of Creativity, & Eat Your Greens: Fact Based Thinking to Improve Your Brand’s Health.

Mike specialises in creating content in the media space: in entertainment (film, TV, gaming, streaming, platforms), internet culture, technology, and the creator economy. He previously spent three years (2021-2024) as MediaCat Magazine's Executive Editor, growing the publication's readership and following, largely from scratch; during which time he launched their podcast and monthly newsletter. Prior to that he was Editor at The Marketing Society (2013-2021), where he launched a bi-monthly publication which ran for 14 issues, as well as a successful podcast. Mike is also a street photographer and film and TV blogger, and once came second in a Creative Review competition to rewrite Trainspotting's 'choose life' speech. He's proud of that one.