The Smiling Strategist – Brand and Business Strategy and Consulting

When AdNews comes calling on gamified brand training… you know the game is ON.
A little chat with AdNews just turned into something bigger than expected and honestly? We’re here for it. 🙌

Here’s the thing: brand strategy has always been treated like a boardroom secret. Dense frameworks. Expensive consultants. Death-by-PowerPoint.
We said: what if learning and training in strategy felt like levelling up? 🚀

Brand Game™ is the world’s first gamified learning platform built specifically for brand and creative strategy, a category we didn’t just enter, we created. There’s nothing else like it in the market. Zero. Nada.

And in a world where brands are fighting harder than ever to cut through the noise, knowing how to build a powerful brand strategy isn’t a nice-to-have anymore, it’s the ultimate competitive advantage.

Whether you’re a marketer, a founder, a creative, or a strategist, Brand Game™ was built for you.

👉 Play your first move here: https://brandgame.thesmilingstrategist.com

Big love to the AdNews team for the openness, curiosity, and support. This is just the beginning. 🎯

Read the full article here: https://www.adnews.com.au/news/a-strategy-gym-might-be-the-answer-to-upskilling-the-industry

#TheSmilingStrategist #BrandGame #BrandStrategy #GamifiedLearning #MarketingInnovation #CreativeStrategy #BrandBuilding #MarketingEducation #EdTech #TheSmilingStrategist #AdNews #LearnAndPlay #StrategistLife #MarketingCommunity #CategoryCreator #BrandMarketing

Here’s bringing to you a “different” strategy event.

Is your Brand Game on? 🎯

Most “lunch & learns” give you slides you’ll never revisit.
This one gives you something you’ll actually use.
Join us for a Strategy Buddy Lunch: Brand Game™ Practice Event, a hands-on, interactive session where you don’t just talk about brand strategy… you practice it.

💡 What makes this different?
This isn’t a passive session. It’s a working room full of sharp minds, real conversations, and practical application.

Over 75 minutes, you’ll:
🚀 Walk through a practical brand strategy framework you can plug straight into real briefs
🚀 Experience a mini Brand Game™ session and see strategy come to life
🚀 Connect with other marketers, strategists, founders & creative leaders
🚀 Get the opportunity to book a free discovery session with us

👥 Who should join?
If you want your brand thinking to be:
Sharper: clearer structure, better language
Braver: more confident, more decisive
More applied: grounded in real work, not just theory
This is for you.

⚡ Spots are free and limited. RSVP closes 30 April.
If this sounds like the strategy session you’ve been missing, grab your seat now.

👉 Register for the event here: https://luma.com/xopz6r37

🛠 Before you come:
Sign up for the free Explorer plan: https://lnkd.in/gc2GbJdt
Bring your phone or laptop
Come ready with one question: “What’s one brand or challenge I’m thinking about right now?”

Let’s make strategy something you actually do, not just discuss.

See you there. 🚀

#brandgame #gameon #thesmilingstrategist #launchevent #practiceevent #lunchandlearn #entrepreneur #startup #founders #marketers #strategists #brandstrategists #creativestrategists #productmarketers #educators #students #creativestrategists #creative #events #marketingevents

I’m really excited to share a small but meaningful shift. The Smiling Strategist Company page is now becoming The Smiling Strategist Community. 💛

What started as a page has, over time, grown into something far more special. Many of you have engaged deeply with ideas, read along with my newsletters, and contributed to thoughtful, generous conversations. It’s been incredibly heartening to witness.

This change is about nurturing that spirit even further. It’s about creating a space where strategists from all corners of the world can connect, share, and grow together in a way that feels meaningful, supportive, and human.

And this community is only as strong as the people who shape it. There are so many ways you can be part of it:

🤝 If you have something interesting or thought-provoking to share
🤝 If you’ve built something unique for the strategist community
🤝 If you want to champion diversity, equity, and inclusion, and help make this a more open and representative space
🤝 If you simply want to bring a bit of positivity into an otherwise hectic and often brutal world
🤝 If you’d like to promote co-operation instead of competition
🤝 If you feel called to mentor strategists who are looking for more meaning and impact in their lives
The list goes on…

If any of this resonates with you, feel free to DM me. I’d genuinely love to hear from you.

Thank you for being here, for contributing in your own way, and for helping shape this into something bigger than any one of us. I’m really looking forward to what we build together – A truly happy place for strategists to belong. ✨

Join The Smiling Strategist Community here: https://lnkd.in/gUdnSfFf

#thesmilingstrategistcommunity #marketers #strategists #brandstrategy
#creativestrategy #digitalstrategy #advertising

In Manifest, I explore the role of the new-age heroine.

Thank you for all your DMs about this piece. I truly value the appreciation and thoughts coming from every reader and the time you’ve taken to read it. 🙏

For digital readers, you can read the whole article here:
https://lnkd.in/gch_Whar

Shoutout to Manifest for bringing such amazing writers and contributors together.

#manifestmedia #thesmilingstrategistcolumn #newageheroine #newagewoman #femininity

Strategists, the game is on.

After years in strategy, one thing has become increasingly clear to me:
We don’t have a talent problem in marketing. We have a training problem.

Too often, we expect marketers to “learn on the job”… But the job itself is moving faster than ever.

The result? Surface-level thinking. Over-reliance on frameworks. Not enough real strategic muscle being built.

So I started asking: What if we trained marketers the way we train pilots, athletes, or even gamers?

That’s where the idea of learning through play comes in. Because games don’t just teach knowledge, they build:

🚀 Decision-making under pressure
🚀 Pattern recognition
🚀 Iteration and feedback loops
🚀 Creative problem-solving

In other words, the exact skills great marketers need.

This piece explores how gamified learning might be a far more effective way forward.

Thanks, Campaign Brief for bringing this to light! 🙏

You can read the full article here.

#thesmilingstrategist #strategybuddy #strategpartner #marketing #strategy #brandstrategy #creativestrategy #learninganddevelopment #gamification #marketingtraining #founders #entrepreneurs #strategists #marketers #productmarketers #students