anthony tasgal

Our guest on the sixth episode is Anthony Tasgal aka "Tas"- trainer, author, and strategist on all things marketing insights. Tas joins us on the Room 101 podcast to share what things in the industry he’d like to see banished to Room 101 forever. The main pet peeves Tas describes are: “insights” itself as people currently understand them, jargony language, and the concept of “messaging.” Anthony provides meaningful criticism during our conversation, and we hope you enjoy it.

Key Quotes:

• “So I actually thought being able to stand up and try to make people laugh, to keep their attention, get their emotions involved -- is actually what the heart of presentation is. Storytelling is anyway.” (2:40)
• “I think it’s about the fact that it's become bandied about, and it's got so many different meanings, and no one will agree what it is.” (12:30)
• “And that's, for me, the classic definition. I think insight is more about how you feel than a definition of words. So again, behavioral economics -- the big emotional surprise -- for me is the heart of insight. When you go “that's funny,” it sets off a chain, and the chain is: “okay, we can now do things differently, see things differently. So for me, that's at the heart of everything that I feel insights is about.” (14:15)
• “But it's it even if they're not the same words and concepts, the feeling is the same, which is it stands in the way of communication, it's a barrier to storytelling.” (17:00)
• “If you don’t actually know what it means, don’t use it.” (20:00)
• “So and also, when people say dumb things down, again, that's leading, you know, you can simplify things, you can make them easier, you can make them more emotional, we can make them more human, but without making it dumb.” (21:00)
• “And I think for me, again, it's about getting the best for clients. And I think clients would actually really get more understanding and more insights if I can use that word again if they just allow different perspectives.” (34:00)

Key Topics: 

• Anthony describes the proudest moment of his career. (1:49)
• Understanding the “golden thread” that runs through your presentation. (4:00)
• Anthony’s background in the Classics as it connects to insights. (6:30)
• How Anthony leaned into his role as a writer. (8:00)
• A funny story about misunderstanding insights. (10:15)
• Banishing “insights,” controversially. (11:45)
• What insights actually means, according to Anthony. (14:00)
• Banishing jargon. (16:15)
• “Decomplexification” arguing for the simpler. (19:00)
• Can you water down your language too much? (21:00)
• Banishing “messaging” forever. (23:00)
• “Massaging” versus messaging. (26:00)
• Banishing ageism, too. (30:00)
• Promoting intellectual and experiential diversity. (34:30)
• Messaging architectures gets banished into Room 101 (36:30)

About - Anthony "Tas" Tasgal:

Anthony “Tas” Tasgal is the self-described man of many lanyards. Anthony is a marketing trainer, storyteller, ad planning strategist, author, and lecturer. He is passionate about human communication and how to make things more simple. When Anthony is not keynote speaking, he’s probably working on a new book or contributing to talk radio in the UK.

He is the author of The Storytelling Book, the award-winning guide to using storytelling techniques to improve presentations and communication. The book is already on a fifth reprint and has been translated into Mandarin. His second book, “The Inspiratorium”, a compendium of insight and inspiration hit the shelves in 2018. 

His new book “Incitations”, a collection of expressions, phrases, and words designed to incite insight ("wonderful, wise, insightful and witty")-arrived in April 2020. 

Relevant Links:

• Anthony’s LinkedIn.

The Day One podcast is published by the Day One Strategy and produced by Zorbiant.

All rights reserved.