Agency Land

About Agency Land

The lessons nobody teaches you in agency life. Host Jye Smith (jyesmith.com) talks to strategists, creative directors, founders, and the people who've survived the trenches of advertising, PR and communications about what the work actually costs, what it teaches you, and what you carry with you after. New episodes weekly. Produced by You're Good, Get Better (youregoodgetbetter.com) and DOUBLESTAR CO (http://doublestar.co).

Publisher

Jye Smith

Category

business

Language

en

Explicit

Yes

First episode

30 Apr 2026

Latest episode

8 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

18 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   8 Oct 2026

   17. Ian Rumsby - Accessibility, Curiosity and Judgement

   Ian Rumsby has a theory on judgment that cuts against everything you've heard about experience. Most people assume tough situations sharpen your judgment automatically. Ian's spent decades watching that fail: plenty of people go through brutal experiences and come out the other side with terrible judgment anyway. His read: judgment is sensory. Not taught, not earned through hardship alone, but built through exposure, curiosity and a level of self-awareness most people skip. "Judgment is the habit of making good decisions," he says, and he means habit literally. Something you practise, not something that happens to you. We trace how he got there: four years in the Royal Navy, twenty years inside Weber Shandwick from the ground floor to Chief Strategy Officer APAC, his own consultancy AEIO built during COVID, acquired eighteen months later, then Chief Client Officer Southeast Asia at APCO. None of it planned. All of it, he says, came down to judgment calls made one at a time. Agency Land is a podcast about advertising, ambition, and the lies we tell ourselves to survive both. Hosted by Jye Smith, part of the You're Good, Get Better platform: coaching, consulting and content for people in advertising, PR and communications who want to get better at the work without getting worse at everything else. This episode is brought to you by DOUBLESTAR.CO. Music: "Crash & Burn" feat. Northlane, by PhaseOne. Used with permission of Teamwrk Mgmt and Fat Cat Music. Design: Jarra Naughton. Art direction: Carla Martin.

2. 

   1 Oct 2026

   16. Darren Burns - What Asia Taught Me About Leadership

   After 26 years inside the network, Darren Burns is back on the outside, asking what comes next. Darren Burns has spent more than two decades building and leading agencies across Asia Pacific. From a one-year plan to study Mandarin in Taiwan to leading major PR operations across China, Singapore and the region, he has worked through the boom years, the hard decisions and the constant change that comes with agency life. In this conversation, Darren talks about moving from a directive leader to one who listens, influences and builds real buy-in. He reflects on why culture matters more than margin, why bad leadership needs to be dealt with early, and why the best agencies still combine high standards with basic decency. He also gets into the bigger shift facing the industry. Holding companies are stripping back, independent agencies are finding new momentum, and the old idea that one career path fits everyone no longer holds. Darren makes the case for senior people who keep evolving, younger people who have options, and agency cultures that can handle different points of view without turning into an echo chamber. It is a proper Agency Land conversation about leadership, resilience, China, ambition and why, despite the stress, agency life can still give you more than it takes.[Attachment] Got a question, topic or guest suggestion? Visit youregoodgetbetter.com. Follow Jye on Instagram and X at @jyesmith. You can also find more at doublestar.co and jyesmith.com. Special thanks to Carla Martin and Jarra Naughton from DOUBLESTAR.CO, and thanks to PhaseOne and Fat Cat Music for the use of their track “Crash & Burn” featuring Northlane.

3. 

   8 Sept 2026

   Nichole Provatas - Cultural Matchmaking

   Nobody knows exactly what they’re doing. Some people are simply more comfortable moving before they have the complete picture. For Nichole Provatas, confidence is not certainty. It is knowing what you know. Knowing what you don’t. Then getting on with it. Now Managing Director, Australia at Sling & Stone, Nichole joins Jye to talk about saying ambition out loud, becoming a beginner again and the luck, trust and discomfort that polished career stories tend to leave out. She also makes the case for a different kind of communications practitioner. Influence no longer sits in one place. It moves between mastheads, creators, newsletters, Reddit threads, podcasts and AI search. The job is no longer simply to broadcast. It is to understand culture well enough to make the right match. A conversation about confidence without certainty, and why good leaders listen before they change anything. Got a question, topic or guest suggestion? yggb@jye.co (mailto:yggb@jye.co) or visit youregoodgetbetter.com (http://youregoodgetbetter.com) — Special thanks to DOUBLESTAR.CO (http://DOUBLESTAR.CO) and thanks to PhaseOne and Fat Cat Music for the use of their track Crash & Burn feat. Northlane.

4. 

   26 Aug 2026

   Stanley Johnson - Never Let Good Get in the Way of Great

   Stanley Johnson has spent more than three decades in advertising, from writing commercial-real-estate ads and mastering the discipline of hundreds of headlines, to leading creative teams across agencies, technology businesses and brand transformation projects. In this conversation, Stan unpacks the difference between being a good creative and being a creative leader; why a creative director’s job is to help make ideas happen; the internal doubt that can keep you sharp; and what burnout taught him about choosing clients, culture and work worth doing. He also talks about MYOB, @BrandDNA, AI as an intelligent assistant rather than artificial intelligence, and why agencies need to rebuild their commitment to nurturing young talent. With special thanks to Carla Martin and Jarra Vreman-Naughton of DOUBLESTAR CO for their support and contribution to the production of You’re Good, Get Better. Music featured in this episode: “Crash & Burn” featuring Northlane, by PhaseOne, courtesy of Fat Cat Music.

5. 

   17 Aug 2026

   Oliver Weidlich - UX & Empathy at Scale

   Oliver Weidlich has spent decades years inside every major shift in how humans and computers talk to each other, from triple-tap Nokia keypads to Palm Pilots, from the iPhone moment that finally made UX matter, to spatial computing years before Apple Vision Pro existed. He built Contxtual (formerly Mobile Experience) not to scale into an agency of hundreds, but as what he calls a “lifestyle company,” small, specialist, and deliberately built around the work he wants to do rather than the work that pays. In this episode, Oliver traces his path from psychology undergrad to UX pioneer, explains why empathy is a teachable skill rather than an innate gift, and gets candid about the hard, unglamorous grind of building an independent practice with no big brand behind him. He also lays out where spatial computing is headed, and the very real ethical dangers, from pupil-dilation tracking to advertiser access to biometric data, that come with computers that finally understand the physical world around us. Thanks to Carla Martin, Jarra Vreman-Naughton and DOUBLESTAR CO. Special thanks to PhaseOne and Fat Cat Music Group for the use of their song, “Crash & Burn” ft. Northlane.

6. 

   10 Aug 2026

   Strategy Hotline - What are we calling this thing?

   Stop Asking Your Client To Do Your Job For You! Strategy Hotline is back. Sophia Brockman returns with real questions sent in from agency people, brand side, freelancers, and consultants around the world, and Jye answers them live, no prep, no mercy. This one covers building in public (and when not to), whether to take the podcast ad partnership, what to do when a client hands you a brief for "everyone 25 plus," and a new closing segment where Jye puts Sophia on the spot with zero warning. Her answer might come back to haunt her. Thanks to PhaseOne Fat Cat Music — "Crash & Burn feat. Northlane"

7. 

   3 Aug 2026

   12. Jayden Garcia - Get Out And Do It

   Jayden Garcia did agency land backwards. Studied finance and law, worked at Westpac, then started a run club with his two best mates called Runday. The content took off, so they quit their jobs, started a production company, picked a name so safe it meant nothing, then rebranded to Pool Party. Now they run a creative studio and music venue out of Erskineville and never asked anyone's permission to do it. This one's about looking good as a strategy, friendship as the foundation and the liability, and why you should get out and do it before you talk yourself out of it. Hosted by Jye Smith Special thanks to PhaseOne Fat Cat Music — "Crash & Burn feat. Northlane"

8. 

   14 Jul 2026

   11. Alex Adams - By Night I Was Ms Darlinghurst

   Alex Adams was a brand manager at Red Bull, did a year in PR she hated, then built a career most agency people only talk about. Ms Darlinghurst, then the food blog Eat Drink Play, grew to over 100,000 newsletter subscribers. Secret Foodies, running secret location dinners across Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. A partnership with Diageo. And now Darling Crackles, a specialty hospitality marketing agency. She got married and divorced in the same month last December, married to her husband, divorced from her business partner. She talks about why Secret Foodies matters more now than ever in a loneliness epidemic, why she'd never tell her younger self to change a thing, staff cost ratios, scope creep, and the handwritten note that's guided every business she's built: make it clear to avoid awkwardness later. Follow Alex: @msdarlinghurst Secret Foodies: @secretfoodies Eat Drink Play: @eatdrinkplaysyd Darling Crackles: @darlingcrackles Got a question, topic or guest suggestion? yggb@jye.co (mailto:yggb@jye.co) or visit youregoodgetbetter.com (http://youregoodgetbetter.com) — Special thanks to DOUBLESTAR.CO (http://DOUBLESTAR.CO) and thanks to PhaseOne and Fat Cat Music for the use of their track Crash & Burn feat. Northlane

9. 

   30 Jun 2026

   Gary Bertwistle - Why Marketing Is Broken

   Gary Bertwistle has never run an agency, never held an agency title, never sat on an org chart. He's still spent more time in agency rooms than most agency people ever will. This is the episode about the gap between the career you're supposed to build and the one you're actually for. Gary takes Jye from his Austereo days running promotions in the rock and roll era of radio, to the keynote speaker who walked out of a senior corporate role with no fallback plan, to the founder of the Ideas Vault who sold it to his own barista, to the operator who built a ten person agency and then shut the whole thing down to become just himself. Along the way: why creativity needs a deadline and a repository, why marketing breaks when you chase the medium instead of the message, the two questions every room is silently asking you, and the four questions every leader should put to their team. He's the rare guest who has seen agency life from the outside in. It might be the most useful seat in the house. Gary's website (https://www.garybertwistle.com/) Gary's LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-bertwistle-unlock-your-great-ideas-b5182011/) Listen to The Mojo Sessions (https://open.spotify.com/show/27G4IfhqG93BQLNpLv8vS5) Got a question, topic or guest suggestion? yggb@jye.co (mailto:yggb@jye.co) or visit youregoodgetbetter.com (http://youregoodgetbetter.com) -- Special thanks to DOUBLESTAR.CO (http://DOUBLESTAR.CO) and thanks to PhaseOne and Fat Cat Music for the use of their track Crash & Burn feat. Northlane.

10. 

    23 Jun 2026

    Sara Servan - Anyone Can Design A Logo.

    Anyone can design a logo. Strategy decides if it works. That's Sara Servan's whole philosophy, and it's the thread running through this entire conversation. Sara crossed three continents before she ever ran her own studio. Northern Spain to Rome to Hong Kong to Sydney, picking up languages and global brand work along the way, until she landed on the thing most designers never get told out loud: the craft was never the hard part. In this one we get into design as an actual language, her first night in Hong Kong standing in a supermarket trying to read packaging she couldn't read. What it really feels like to work on Amazon and GoPro and Unilever as a number in a system. And why she walked away from all of it to build brands for founders who cry when they see their logo for the first time. The heart of it is her process. She'll make a hundred logos and only ever show you the one, because choosing the right one is her job, not yours. She refuses the five concepts that agencies and big clients still ask for, because trendy colours mean nothing if they don't serve the brand. Strategy is what tells you the difference, and strategy is what she now builds everything on top of. If you've got designers on your team, or you're a designer wondering whether strategy is your business to touch, this one's for you. Sara's studio: https://www.saraservan.com/ (https://www.saraservan.com/) Sara on LinkedIn: https://au.linkedin.com/in/sara-servan-007157107 (https://au.linkedin.com/in/sara-servan-007157107) Sara on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sara_servan/ (https://www.instagram.com/sara_servan/) Got a question, topic or guest suggestion? yggb@jye.co (mailto:yggb@jye.co) or visit youregoodgetbetter.com (http://youregoodgetbetter.com) -- Special thanks to DOUBLESTAR.CO (http://DOUBLESTAR.CO) and thanks to PhaseOne and Fat Cat Music for the use of their track Crash & Burn feat. Northlane.

11. 

    4 Jun 2026

    Ashton Bishop - You Don't Need To Outrun The Lion

    Ashton Bishop has been running Step Change for 17 years. He started it mid-GFC with no clients, no money, and no plan — as a protest vote after finding a coup being plotted against a friend dying of cancer. That friend was Gav Larkin, and that friendship was the genesis of R U OK? Day. In this episode, Ashton talks to Jye about the real cost of ambition: 23 courses of antibiotics in a year, the hedonistic treadmill that burned through his health in his 20s and 30s, and what he learned when COVID wiped out his entire business model overnight. They get into the agency questions that don't have clean answers: how to trust people again after they've let you down. How to stay ahead of your clients in a world where AI is moving faster than the work. Why going fast alone and going far together aren't actually opposites — and why the real discipline isn't strategy, it's knowing when to be humble. Ashton also coined the term "predatory marketer." He ran away with the circus. He won Gruen. He holds a patent for colour-changing footwear. This one covers a lot of ground. Got a question, topic or guest suggestion? yggb@jye.co (mailto:yggb@jye.co) or visit youregoodgetbetter.com (http://youregoodgetbetter.com) — Special thanks to DOUBLESTAR.CO (http://DOUBLESTAR.CO) and thanks to PhaseOne and Fat Cat Music for the use of their track Crash & Burn feat. Northlane.

12. 

    27 May 2026

    Gavin Heaton: Ideas Are Cheap

    Gavin Heaton has had more career chapters than most people have jobs. From accounting dropout to IBM champion to agency creative to redundancy survivor to founder of Disruptors Co, he's broken things at every stop, including his own role, more than once. In this conversation, Gavin talks about what IBM really teaches you when you're willing to run servers under your desk, what "relevance deprivation" feels like when you go from 300 people on your floor to 30, and why getting made redundant at the top of your game turned out to be more political than personal. He explains why ideas are cheap but shepherding them through is the real work, how to know when you're addicted to agency chaos versus actually having impact, and why the side projects that make you feel whole aren't optional. Plus the origin story of "Servant of Chaos," which might be the most honest job title in the industry. Got a question, topic or guest suggestion? yggb@jye.co (mailto:yggb@jye.co) or visit youregoodgetbetter.com (http://youregoodgetbetter.com) -- Special thanks to DOUBLESTAR.CO (http://DOUBLESTAR.CO) and thanks to PhaseOne and Fat Cat Music for the use of their track Crash & Burn feat. Northlane.

13. 

    19 May 2026

    Sophia Brockman: The Best Strategists Think Like Detectives

    Sophia Brockman started as an intern at Wagner Edstrom in Seattle, moved to Australia at 25, spent 11 years at one agency through three rebrandings, pivoted from account management to strategy, and eventually left agency life entirely for a global in-house role in London. In this episode, we talk about why the best strategists think like detectives, the moment she stopped suppressing the skills that made her great, why agency is bootcamp for everyone in comms, and what it really costs to give your twenties to one company. Sophia is also returning monthly to co-host Strategy Hotline, where strategists from around the world can submit their questions. Sophia Brockman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiabrockman/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiabrockman/) Got a question, topic or guest suggestion? yggb@jye.co (mailto:yggb@jye.co) or visit youregoodgetbetter.com (http://youregoodgetbetter.com) Special thanks to DOUBLESTAR.CO (http://DOUBLESTAR.CO) and thanks to PhaseOne and Fat Cat Music for the use of their track Crash & Burn feat. Northlane.

14. 

    30 Apr 2026

    Julian Cole: You Can Find the Answer, But Can You Defend It?

    Julian Cole grew up in the industry. His parents ran a TV production company and told him two things: start your own agency, and you'll be washed up by 45. He started at Naked, pioneered comms planning in Australia, then moved to New York as a strategy director at BBH despite never having written a brief or worked with a creative team. He spent two years making zero work and wondered if he'd ever be found out. Then he led comms planning for the PlayStation 4 launch, the highest selling console in gaming history, moved to BBDO, built the comms team from four to 17, and won Webby Digital Agency of the Year two years running. Then he walked away at the top of his game. In this conversation he talks about the day BBH lost Google Chrome and 30% of the agency got fired by desk phone, why a junior strategist rewriting his deck was the wake-up call he needed, why great work happens between round 14 and round 15 of creative feedback, and what it actually costs to leave New York for a life in Portugal. He also makes the case that in the age of AI, anyone can find the answer, but the real skill is being able to defend it. Find Julian at https://www.juliancolestrategy.com/ (https://www.juliancolestrategy.com/) and check out the Strategy Finishing School (https://strategyfinishingschool.com/). Got a question, topic or guest suggestion? yggb@jye.co (mailto:yggb@jye.co) or visit youregoodgetbetter.com (http://youregoodgetbetter.com) Special thanks to DOUBLESTAR.CO (http://DOUBLESTAR.CO) and thanks to PhaseOne and Fat Cat Music for the use of their track Crash & Burn feat. Northlane.

15. 

    30 Apr 2026

    Clive Burcham: Your Real 10X Is What You Survive

    Clive Burcham left home at 15, talked his way into a regional TV station, and by 16 was writing, producing and directing his own show. He went on to become the creative director of the Comedy Channel by 25, built the Conscious Organisation into one of Australia's defining social media agencies, sold it to WPP, bought it back for a fraction of the price, survived the GFC, helped set up Nestle's first digital acceleration team across 29 countries, and became a founding partner in Global Citizen, which has redeployed over $50 billion into ending extreme poverty. Then he burnt out, retreated to the countryside, bred Wagyu and homeschooled his kids. In this conversation he talks about why 65% of entrepreneurs have ADHD and what that means for agency life, putting a pirate in a nunnery when he sold to WPP, the moment in India where an obnoxious watch on his wrist made him question everything, and why the relationships you build and the things you survive are worth more than any revenue number. He also makes the case that rush is the enemy of intimacy, busyness is not a badge of honour, and that breakdowns are where every breakthrough begins. Find Clive Burcham on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/cliveburcham?originalSubdomain=au) and find Compadres a https://wearecompadres.com/ (https://wearecompadres.com/) Got a question, topic or guest suggestion? yggb@jye.co (mailto:yggb@jye.co) or visit youregoodgetbetter.com (http://youregoodgetbetter.com) Special thanks to DOUBLESTAR.CO (http://DOUBLESTAR.CO) and thanks to PhaseOne and Fat Cat Music for the use of their track Crash & Burn feat. Northlane.

16. 

    30 Apr 2026

    Kady O'Connell: Your Business Is Not Your Worth

    Kady O'Connell moved from Ireland to Sydney knowing nobody, got deported after leaving a toxic agency that was holding her visa hostage, turned that into seven months of travel, and came back to build Kady Creative from a kitchen table into an award-winning branding agency that built over 200 brands. Then in 2025, she closed the doors. Not because she had to, but because she wanted to. In this conversation she talks about the dopamine addiction of agency chaos, wrapping your entire identity in a business that will never love you back, why every problem in agency life has a first and last name, and what it actually feels like to walk away from something you built from nothing. She also makes the case that self-sacrifice isn't leadership and that nobody on their deathbed is going to care about that client email you agonised over. Find Kady at https://kadyoconnell.com/ (https://kadyoconnell.com/) Got a question, topic or guest suggestion? yggb@jye.co (mailto:yggb@jye.co) or visit youregoodgetbetter.com (http://youregoodgetbetter.com) Special thanks to DOUBLESTAR.CO (http://DOUBLESTAR.CO) and thanks to PhaseOne and Fat Cat Music for the use of their track Crash & Burn feat. Northlane.

17. 

    30 Apr 2026

    Jonathan Pease: The Conditions Are Always Perfect

    Jonathan Pease started his career at BBDO New York, came back to Australia, co-founded Tong (an ideas agency he sold to STW/AKQA), judged Australia's Next Top Model for five seasons, launched a fashion label into 13 countries, and is the founding creative director of Sown Hearts and Minds, which has raised close to $100 million for medical research. He also wrote Winning the Room, a book about pitching that belongs on every agency person's shelf. In this conversation he talks about what BBDO New York taught him about work ethic and treating everyone the same regardless of status, why being the only Australian in a 1,500-person agency was an advantage, the founder trap where your team shields you from the truth, and why the biggest mistake in any pitch is treating it like a one-way performance. He also makes the case that in a world where AI is about to make all content look the same, the only thing left that differentiates you is how you make people feel in the room. Find JP on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-r-g-pease/) and defintel get his book Winning the Room (https://www.winningtheroom.co/). Got a question, topic or guest suggestion? yggb@jye.co (mailto:yggb@jye.co) or at youregoodgetbetter.com (http://youregoodgetbetter.com)

18. 

    30 Apr 2026

    Katja Forbes: Stop Shrinking So Others Can Swallow You

    Katja Forbes founded an agency, sold it, ran design for the company that acquired her, wrote a book, and somehow taught at university through all of it. In this conversation she talks about the loneliness of being a sole founder, why the maths of mid-sized agency life rarely work, the moment she claimed her space in a room full of men, and why asking for help is the only real survival strategy in agency land. Find out more and get a copy of Machine Customers https://www.thecxevolutionist.ai/ (https://www.thecxevolutionist.ai/) Got a question, topic or guest suggestion? yggb@jye.co (mailto:yggb@jye.co) youregoodgetbetter.com (http://youregoodgetbetter.com)

Contact Agency Land

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.