Podcasts by Ad Age Ad Lib

How to not miss the mark in multicultural marketing from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Senior editor Jeanine Poggi and agency reporter Lindsay Rittenhouse, speak with industry leaders Jill Kelly, U.S. chief marketing officer, GroupM, Kimberly Paige, exec VP and chief marketing office...

Mira Kaddoura, founder and ECD, Red &. Co. from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

With a striking head of frizzy red hair, Mira Kaddoura learned early on how to live life as someone who stands out: The themes of inclusion, representation and the other have all colored her work. ...

Jeff Goodby and Rich Silverstein, founders of Goodby Silverstein & Partners from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Jeff Goodby and Rich Silverstein, founders of Goodby Silverstein & Partners, worked on four Super Bowl brands this year, including Pepsi, Cheetos, Doritos and SodaStream. In the podcast, the duo di...

Mark DiMassimo, CEO of DiMassimo Goldstein from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

With 22 years heading up an independent agency under his belt, DiMassimo Goldstein’s Mark DiMassimo believes traditional advertising’s days are numbered.

Ken Auletta, 'Frenemies' author from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

You're going to be hearing Ken Auletta's name a lot this month. Auletta, who has been writing the Annals of Communication column for The New Yorker since 1992, is the author of a new book about the...

Terri & Sandy’s Terri and Sandy from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Terri Meyer and Sandy Greenberg are the co-founders of the New York independent shop Terri & Sandy. Both refugees from the big holding company world — Meyer and Greenberg had worked together as a c...

How Activision Blizzard found success amid a global pandemic from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

On this week's episode of Ad Age Ad Lib, senior editor Jeanine Poggi speaks with Brandon Snow, senior VP, chief revenue officer, esports, Activision Blizzard. Pandemic lockdowns were a boon for esp...

Why Rick Astley is never gonna give up snacks or drums from 2020-12-16T20:41:48

The 80s pop star takes a break from shooting a Frito-Lay commercial to discuss the music industry, becoming a meme, and what he's been up to during the pandemic.

How The Lincoln Project’s endless stream of viral ads were actually made (in record time) from 2020-12-11T15:50:43

Ben Howe of Howe Creative, one of The Lincoln Project’s key video collaborators, on the making of ‘Mourning in America’—and what it takes to go viral

Behind Hendrick's Gin's quirky ad approach from 2020-12-03T10:00

On this week's episode of Ad Lib, E.J. Schultz is joined by Harvey Purchese, senior VP of marketing at liquor marketer William Grant & Sons. We get behind Hendrick's quirky ad approach, which ha...

Behind Calm's unexpected Election Night win from 2020-11-24T18:52:59

In this week's episode Ad Age's Jeanine Poggi is joined by Katie Shill, senior director of brand marketing at Calm. The meditation app won election night with its sponsorship of CNN’s “Key Race”...

How streaming news channels made their mark in the 2020 election from 2020-11-12T20:26:41

On this week's episode of Ad Age Ad Lib, senior editor Jeanine Poggi speaks with Christy Tanner, executive VP and general manager of CBS News Digital, and Elaine Quijano, anchor, CBSN, about the...

The state of the CMO from 2020-10-01T09:00

Lisa Mann, a former CPG marketer who recently joined an executive search firm, joins to discuss CMO hiring trends and look at how the role is changing—in some cases for the worse.

How a microbe from Yellowstone could shake up the food industry from 2020-09-24T09:01

When Karuna Rawal got a call from a recruiter about a marketing gig at a startup using a microbe to make protein-packed, animal-free food, she was intrigued. The lifelong vegetarian joined the c...

LinkedIn’s head of global sales on the early pandemic ad panic from 2020-09-10T09:00

Ad Age spoke with Penry Price, LinkedIn’s VP of global sales, to understand how the site managed through the crises that have hit all industries. The pandemic affected digital advertising as sec...

Omnicom Media Group CEO on how covid has changed the ad landscape from 2020-08-27T16:14:42

In a time period when there seems to be little cause for optimism, Ad Age spoke with Listen

Marketing a Mexican import from 2020-08-20T09:00

Oscar Martinez, Senior Brand Director of Tecate, joins the pod to talk about the brand’s marketing overhaul, which includes a move away from boxing and into music. We break down the brew’s “Mexi...

Main Street One CEO Curtis Hougland on the launch of a senior political influencer network from 2020-08-14T12:43:25

Curtis Hougland, the founder and CEO of communications and strategy shop Main Street One, explains the social and political science behind voter/consumer persuasion, and why the time is right fo...

Defeating D.C. Council's ad and personal information tax from 2020-08-06T20:42:59

4A's Executive VP of Government Relations Alison Pepper discusses how she and other industry organizations fought a 3 percent tax on advertising services and the sale of “personal information" p...

Moving from CMO to CEO from 2020-07-30T09:00

Pernod Ricard North America CEO Ann Mukherjee describes why the liquor marketer will resume social media spending after pausing it in July. The longtime marketer also describes what it’s like mo...

Marketing the (delayed) Olympics from 2020-07-23T11:00

Christopher Carroll, director of digital engagement and marketing for the International Olympic Committee, joins the pod to talk about how the IOC is going about plugging the Tokyo games, which ...

The latest ad law news from 2020-07-16T09:00

Ad lawyer Linda Goldstein joins to discuss what brands need to know about sponsorship contract changes during COVID-19, new ‘Made in the USA,’ ad regulations and what to expect at the FTC if Dem...

Mark Robinson from 2020-07-10T09:00

The author of “Black on Madison Avenue” talks about what it was like getting a job in advertising 40 years ago and how much the industry has failed to change since that time.

Taking Latin-inspired creative to the mainstream from 2020-07-02T09:00

Former LatinWorks chief creative Sergio Alcocer joins to talk about his 3-year-old cultural marketing shop Rest of the World and give his take on how brands and agencies should respond to new ca...

Publicis CMO Justin Billingsley on the Power of One and what his client-side past brings to his new role from 2020-06-25T09:01

Justin Billingsley has one hell of a Lego set.

Publicis Groupe’s first global chief marketing officer used the famed building blocks in an analogy during the Ad Age Ad Lib podcast to expl...

Behind the AP’s new marketing push from 2020-06-18T09:00

Julie Tucker, global marketing director for the Associated Press, on the news wire service’s new marketing and what separates it from the ‘Truth’ campaign she oversaw at The New York Times. We a...

There’s no mistaking Leeann Leahy from 2020-06-11T09:00

Portland Maine’s Via agency CEO talks about the moral renaissance, directing a commercial with Jim Perdue via iPhone, her Catholic school education and the disco ball in her home.

Auto marketing during the pandemic from 2020-06-04T09:00

Allyson Witherspoon, VP of marketing communications and media at Nissan North America, on how the automaker responded in the early days of the coronavirus outbreak and what it is doing now to re...

The pandemic paradox from 2020-05-28T09:00

Anush Prabhu, chief strategy officer at Mediacom, talks about the new—and often contrasting—behaviors that have come about since COVID, and how smart marketers should navigate them as the world ...

Marketing cannabis during the pandemic from 2020-05-22T09:00

Greg Butler, chief commercial officer at Cresco Labs, explains how the cannabis firm has pivoted during COVID-19, which has forced the firm to rely more on digital and less on retail and experie...

Finding creative inspiration in a pandemic from 2020-05-15T09:00

Goodby, Silverstein & Partners’ Chief Creative Officer Margaret Johnson explains how the agency has created more than 30 campaigns for 80 percent of its clients remotely--and how working from ho...

Behind the e-commerce surge from 2020-05-05T09:00

Longtime agency exec Sarah Hofstetter joins to talk about her new role as president of e-commerce analytics firm Profitero, which serves more than 4,000 clients. We discuss the coronavirus-induc...

Brian Braiker, former editor, Ad Age from 2020-04-20T09:01

Today's podcast guest is, well, me. After three wonderful, challenging, intense, stressful and exhilarating years, I’m sad to say I’m parting ways with this iconic institution. Friday was my las...

Jason DeLand, founding partner, Anomaly from 2020-04-08T09:00

Ad Age is working from home, just like you. As the coronavirus has become the new reality for all of us, Jason DeLand has some thoughts about the likely lasting implications of the pandemic on a...

Nick Kokonas, author and restaurateur from 2020-04-02T09:00

The U.S. restaurant industry is in a grim predicament, particularly high-end, dine-in restaurants that can't be open as the coronavirus pandemic grinds on. Chicago-based restaurant executive Nic...

Debra Lee, former Chairman and CEO, BET from 2020-03-05T10:00

When Debra Lee stepped down as Chairman and CEO of BET in May of 2018, she put a cap on a 32-year run at the network. Today, we talk about her legacy—among other things, she took programming in ...

Taylor Lorenz, New York Times reporter from 2020-02-27T10:00

Taylor Lorenz covers internet culture and trends for the Gray Lady--memes, yes, but also influencers, TikTok, YouTubers and more. She has a knack for identifying zeitgeisty moments just before t...

Bill Koenigsberg, founder and CEO, Horizon Media from 2020-02-20T11:01

The founder of the world’s largest privately held media company joins us to look back on a career that flourished along with the rise of the modern media agency era. We talk about the explosion ...

Louisa Wong, COO, Carat from 2020-02-14T10:00

For the first decade of her career, Louisa Wong worked at pioneering digital media outlets in the U.K., starting with CNET and then Skye. Today, as the chief operating officer at Carat, Dentsu A...

Martin Sorrell, S4 Capital from 2020-02-06T10:00

Today’s guest needs no introduction. And yet, over the past 21 months, the financial wizard who built WPP into the world’s largest advertising holding company has been busy rein...

Amy Astley, editor-in-chief, Architectural Digest from 2020-01-21T10:01

In 2016 Astley, a Condé Nast lifer, inherited a stodgy brand and was tasked with brining a fresh voice and new vision to it. Architectural Digest, which turns 100 this month, had hardly any digi...

Mark Read, CEO/executive director, WPP from 2020-01-13T10:01

In a wide-ranging conversation on all things WPP, Read discusses his early moves, including merging agency brands VML? with Y&R and JWT with Wunderman. In the past 18 months, WPP has shared more...

Wyclef Jean from 2020-01-06T10:00

The founding Fugee has in recent years becom...

David Droga (Repeat) from 2019-12-26T10:00

The industry’s collective mind was blown when David Droga announced in April that his namesake agency, Droga5, would be acquired by Accenture Interactive. The consultants are coming for the crea...

Andrew Robertson, CEO, BBDO Worldwide from 2019-12-16T10:00

Andrew Robertson is by all accounts the longest-running agency CEO working today. And he's got a track record to back it up:  Renowned for its creativity, you've seen BBDO Worldwide’s imprint on...

Terence Kawaja, CEO, Luma Partners from 2019-12-05T10:00

In a conversation that ranges from the upcoming streaming wars to the ongoing direct-to-consumer trend to a look ahead at next month’s CES, Terence Kawaja gives a general sense of the state of t...

David-Michel Davies, CEO, the Webby Awards from 2019-11-27T10:00

Now in their 24th year, the Webbys are currently accepting submissions for what’s been called the Oscars of the internet. Joining the podcast today is David-Michel Davies, the CEO of the Webbys,...

Live from Ad Age: Next from 2019-11-21T10:00

Last week in New York, Ad Age brought together executives from some of the best media brands in the world to explore the industry’s challenges and, more interesting, opportunities. This podcast ...

David Angelo, co-founder, David & Goliath from 2019-11-11T10:00

David & Goliath founder David Angelo looks back at a three decade career that started as a junior art director at DDB New York, followed by stints at Chiat/Day and Cliff Freeman & Partners. We t...

Jarrod Dicker, vp commercial technology and development, Washington Post from 2019-11-01T09:00

In a space where the word “innovation” gets tossed around a lot, Jarrod Dicker seems to actually be building a better mousetrap. Dicker’s remit is to make advertising, subscriptions and technolo...

Paul Woolmington, CEO, Canvas from 2019-10-24T09:00

A three-time entrepreneur, Paul Woolmington is the founding CEO of media agency Canvas Worldwide and a keen observer of the marketing landscape. He is a former vet of holding companies IPG and W...

Jessica Pels, editor-in-chief, Cosmopolitan from 2019-10-17T09:00

In October of last year, at just 32 Jessica Pels was named the youngest-ever editor in chief at Cosmopolitan. Now exactly one year into the gig, web traffic is through the roof, even as single i...

Barak Moffit, Universal Music Group from 2019-10-10T09:00

A producer, composer and technologist, Barak Moffat heads UMG's content and strategy. UMG's massive catalog includes 40 percent of all of the world's music. He discusses that, and what it means ...

Morgan Spurlock, filmmaker, and David Littlejohn, founder of Humanaut from 2019-10-03T09:00

It’s been 15 years since “Super Size Me” came out. Today Spurlock is back with a sequel. With “Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken” Spurlock asks whether fast food has gotten any healthier in the inte...

Mark Penn, chairman and CEO of MDC Partners from 2019-09-26T09:00

Mark Penn, the president and managing partner of Stagwell Group, raised industry eyebrows six months ago when he plonked $100 million into the flailing agency holding company MDC Partners—and be...

Jen Wong, COO, reddit from 2019-09-19T09:00

Reddit is on a roll. The self-styled “front page of the internet” is on target to double its ad revenue in the U.S. from $100 million in 2019 to $200 million in 2021, according to eMarketer. Thi...

Andrew Essex, co-founder and CEO, Plan A from 2019-09-12T09:00

What do you do after writing a book called “The End of Advertising?” If you’re Andrew Essex, you co-found an advertising company. But Plan A, he says, is built on a different model than the trad...

Ad lawyer Jeffrey Greenbaum, Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz from 2019-09-06T09:00

With a trade war brewing, there's a lot more focus on products Made in the USA—but don't believe everything you see. There are some cases of marketers blurring the lines when it comes to product...

Why Ryan Kutscher joined the circus from 2019-08-23T09:00

Ryan Kutscher may have been a noted chef if he didn’t decide to go into advertising. Today he is chief creative officer and founder of Circus Maximus, a New York shop which has won its fair shar...

Kai Devereaux Lawson, advocate, agitator and associate operations director at Essence from 2019-08-16T09:00

An associate operations director at the GroupM shop Essence by day, Lawson writes and podcasts extensively and candidly about diversity and inclusion issues on the side—on the Mixed Company podc...

David Droga, founder & creative chairman, Droga5 from 2019-08-08T09:00

The industry’s collective mind was blown when David Droga announced in April that his namesake agency, Droga5, would be acquired by Accenture Interactive. The consultants are coming for the crea...

Lindsey Slaby, founder, Sunday Dinner from 2019-08-01T09:00

Lindsey Slaby is a one woman three ring circus: In one ring is her brand consultancy, Sunday Dinner, which co...

Laurent Ezekiel, chief marketing and growth officer, WPP from 2019-07-25T09:00

Laurent Ezekiel has his work cut out for him: The Publicis vet joined WPP in May to serve as its first CMO and growth officer. It’s a new position at the world’s largest advertising holding comp...

David Fischer, CEO and publisher, Highsnobiety from 2019-07-18T09:01

David Fischer started Highsnobiety in 2005 as personal blog dedicated to his passion for sneaker culture and fashion. Today it is a multi-pronged media brand, a magazine that prints twice a year...

Rob Reilly, Global Creative Chairman, McCann Worldgroup from 2019-07-11T09:00

In an industry with no shortage of Negative Nancies, Rob Reilly is a perpetual, evangelical optimist. But he wasn’t always: He once had an employer require him to take a year’s worth of classes ...

Richard Edelman, president and CEO, Edelman from 2019-07-03T09:00

According to a global survey of more thanListen

Bradley Johnson, director of data analytics, Ad Age Datacenter from 2019-06-28T09:00

If you want to see what’s driving ad spending, just look for the net gains. Bradley Johnson joins us to break down the most interesting findings in our annual Leading National Advertisers report...

Nick Kelly, Anheuser-Busch from 2019-06-21T14:07:17

What happens when Big Football meets Big Beer? Until now active pro athletes could not appear in beer ads during games. The head of sports marketing for Anheuser-Busch discusses what a rules cha...

Avi Dan, CEO, Avidan Strategies from 2019-06-13T09:00

An advertising vet who started his own search consultancy in 2007 Avi Dan brings with him close to 4 decades of experience. As the rest of the agency world packs for Cannes, he breaks down how t...

Linda Yaccarino & Josh Feldman, NBCUniversal from 2019-06-07T09:00

Depending on whom you ask, this is either the worst time to be in TV, or the most exciting. Count Linda Yaccarino and Josh Feldman among the hopeful. The two share the company’s moves to moderni...

Bhavana Smith, chief client officer from 2019-05-30T09:00

Usually when you hear about consultancies in the marketing and advertising space these days, it’s in the context of them luring talent away from agencies or making full blown acquisitions. But l...

Rishad Tobaccoawala, chief growth officer, Publicis from 2019-05-24T09:00

Rishad Tobaccowala, who has logged nearly four decades at Publicis, joins the podcast to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. In a conversation that kicks off by unpacking Publicis’s recen...

DDB’s Keith Reinhard: ‘Betty Crocker was my first pin-up girl’ from 2019-05-17T09:00

In this week’s Ad Age Ad Lib podcast, we interview the chairman emeritus of DDB Worldwide, who tells us about his legendary 65-year history in advertising, including  why he pointed a cannon--li...

Peter McGuinness, CMO of Chobani from 2019-05-09T09:00

Peter McGuinness wasn’t always a yogurt guy. Before joining Greek yogurt brand Chobani in 2013, he had a career in ad agencies. On this episode of the podcast, he discusses making the transition...

Alex Magnin, Giphy head of revenue from 2019-05-03T09:00

People are conducting more than a billion searches for GIFs on messaging apps a day. At the heart of their results is, usually, Giphy, a shareable online database of those short looping soundles...

Shelly Lazarus, chairman emeritus, Ogilvy from 2019-04-25T09:00

Our conversation with Shelly Lazarus, Ogilvy’s chairman emeritus, covered a lot of ground—from what it was like to be a woman ad exec in the 1970s to today’s #MeToo movement to where holding com...

Jeff Goodby, Chairman and co-founder, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners from 2019-04-18T09:00

Goodby, Silverstein & Partners are on a roll. The agency nabbed the number two spot on the Ad Age A-List, released this week. Its founders, Jeff Goodby and Rich Silverstein, will be in Cannes th...

Ad Block: Tiffany R. Warren, chief diversity officer and SVP at Omnicom, founder and president of the diversity advocacy organization AdColor from 2019-04-10T09:00

Tiffany R. Warren talks about the skin care tradition handed down through her family and the ways she’s improved upon it. “In a way, when I take care of my skin, it’s a connection to my grandmot...

Alicia Hatch, CMO, Deloitte Digital from 2019-04-04T09:00

Deloitte Digital is one of the world’s 10 biggest agency companies: In 2017 Ad Age ranked Deloitte Digital as the world’s second-largest digital network, behind rival Accenture Interactive. Hatc...

Ad Block: Deutsch North American CCO Pete Favat on woodworking from 2019-04-03T14:59:50

Pete Favat talks about building useful things from scrap and renovating his home on “This Old House.” The C-suite leaves less time to get his hands dirty on the job, he says. “You’re using your ...

Nicolas Bidon, CEO, Xaxis from 2019-03-28T09:00

When Nicolas Bidon talks about his business, he talks about becoming an “outcome” media company. As part of WPP and GroupM, Xaxis is a billion-dollar business — arguably the world's largest glob...

Ad Block: Joan CCO Jaime Robinson on knitting from 2019-03-27T13:28:38

Joan Creative CCO Jaime Robinson keeps both a spinning wheel and a loom in her closet so she can spin yarn and knit blankets and sweaters, “like the lady in Rumpelstiltskin.” She also reveals he...

Bryan Yasko, president, Johannes Leonardo from 2019-03-21T09:00

It’s been a busy couple months for Johannes Leonardo. In February the shop announced that it would buy a "significant" portion of itself back from WPP. Then, weeks later, another tantalizing bit...

Marketer’s Brief from 2019-03-19T09:00

Electrify America, a subsidiary of Volkswagen Group, is overseeing a 10-year, $2 billion investment on zero-emissions vehicle technology and awareness. The group's marketing director, Richard St...

Sebastian Tomich, global head of advertising, New York Times from 2019-03-14T09:00

In a digital media landscape littered with layoffs, mergers, acquisitions and bankruptcy, the New York Times remains a bright spot. Last week, the Times reported adding more than a quarter milli...

Ryan Ford, Chief Creative Officer and EVP, Cashmere from 2019-03-07T10:00

The brand wizards behind Snoop Dogg’s career, Cashmere has done work on “Black Panther,” “Get Out,” “Atlanta” and more. Beyond entertainment, it also counts as clients BMW, Jack in the Box, Adid...

Marketer's Brief from 2019-03-04T10:00

Iconic brands are struggling to remain relevant in today's food industry. More evidence came with Kraft Heinz’s recent $15 billion asset write-down. We examine the fallout and why Kraft’s fall c...

Ben Lerer, CEO, Group Nine Media from 2019-02-28T10:00

Group Nine Media was formed in 2016 with a $100 million investment from Discovery and tod...

Bob Pittman, CEO, iHeartMedia from 2019-02-21T10:00

If you wrote iHeartMedia off as DOA last year, you may have made the call too soon. Last month the radio giant gained court approval for a plan that would allow it to emerge from bankruptcy. Its...

Tim Cadogan, CEO, OpenX from 2019-02-14T10:00

Independent ad exchange OpenX raised eyebrows in the programmatic realm last month when it announced a five-year agreement totaling more than $110 million with Google to use its cloud computing ...

Marla Kaplowitz, president and CEO, 4A's from 2019-02-07T10:00

In a time where there is no shortage of gloom and doom in the agency landscape, the job falls to Marla Kaplowitz to be its biggest booster. Kaplowitz joins this episode of Ad Lib to field questi...

Laura Hutfless, FlyteVu Agency from 2019-01-31T14:00

With its first Super Bowl ad, Bumble set out to empower women both in front of and behind the camera. On this special Super Bowl edition of the Ad Lib podcast, Laura Hutfless, partner at FlyteVu...

Azania Andrews, Michelob Ultra from 2019-01-29T10:00

Michelob Ultra will air two commercials in Super Bowl LIII – one featuring robots and the other making a direct appeal to female football viewers. Azania Andrews, VP marketing, at the Anheuser-B...

Erika Nardini, CEO, Barstool Sports from 2019-01-24T10:00

A publisher of podcasts, radio shows and online articles about sports and sports culture, Barstool Sports has a robust commerce and pay-per-view events business to feed its rabidly dedicated fan...

Keith Grossman, Bloomberg Media global chief revenue officer from 2019-01-17T10:00

Bloomberg Media has been experimenting across the board lately — from its consultancy play to an aggressive over-the-top streaming strategy to TicToc, a video partnership with Twitter. Joining u...

Meg Goldthwaite, CMO, NPR from 2019-01-10T10:00

Twenty-one percent of the population now owns at least one smart speaker. A full 14 million people in the U.S. got their first smart speaker device in 2018 — meaning voice as a topic of fascinat...

Shannon Simpson Jones and Yadira Harrison, co-founders, Verb from 2018-12-20T10:00

Launched in January, Verb is a hybrid shop that claims to have a new approach to the agency space. Verb boasts both traditional agency chops and consultancy offerings for both brands and other a...

Ben Wiener, CEO, Wongdoody from 2018-12-13T10:00

The Seattle-based creative shop Wongdoody (yes, that’s its real name) celebrated its 25th anniversary this year — and as it did so, it was acquired by Indian tech giant Infosys, once known for o...

Edward Felsenthal, CEO and Editor-in-Chief, Time magazine from 2018-12-06T10:00

Days after Salesforce co-founder Marc Benioff and his wife Lynne closed on their purchase of Time, the new owners gave its editor, Edward Felsenthal, the additional title of CEO. Felsenthal join...

Julio Bruno, CEO of Time Out Group from 2018-11-29T10:00

In 2015, when Julio Bruno took over as the chief executive at Time Out, it was taking on heavy losses. An executive who had held senior positions at Diageo and TripAdvisor, Bruno saw an opportun...

Karina Wilsher, Anomaly’s next global CEO from 2018-11-20T18:21:32

After 14 years at Anomaly, founding partner Karina Wilsher will be assuming the global CEO title at the agency. Currently the global COO, Wilsher has long been groomed for the new role and will ...

Aaron Walton, co-founder, Walton Isaacson from 2018-11-15T10:00

The co-founder of 14-year-old agency Walton Isaacson first went to work for the brand side in 1983 — Pepsi specifically. As it happens Pepsi at the time was working with a singer by the name of ...

Lizzie Widhelm, Pandora svp of ad innovation from 2018-11-08T10:00

In September, satellite radio company Sirius XM offered to plunk down $3.5 billion to acquire streaming music service Pandora. Joining us today is Pandora svp of ad i...

Rich Antoniello, CEO of Complex Media from 2018-11-01T09:00

This weekend some 60,000 sneakerheads, hip hop aficionados, jocks, gamers, design nerds and foodies will descend on Long Beach, California, for the fourth annual ComplexCon. The consumer-facing ...

Troy Ruhanen, president and CEO, TBWA Worldwide from 2018-10-25T09:00

An Aussie giant of a former Rugby player, Troy Ruhanen joined TBWA as president and CEO four years ago. Today he joins us on the Ad Lib podcast to spill some tea on his competitors — including W...

Frances Webster, co-founder and CEO, Walrus from 2018-10-18T09:00

Launched in 2005 in the ashes of Mad Dogs and Englishmen, Walrus is a fiercely independent shop that’s worked with such clients as Amazon, HBO, and Staples. Frances Webster — who co-founded Walr...

Andrew McKechnie, chief creative officer at Verizon from 2018-10-11T09:00

For the past 18 months, Andrew McKechnie has been building Verizon’s in-house agency, 140. It’s no easy task. Networks, unlike the smartphones that run on them, are tough to make especially sexy...

Jon Steinberg, Cheddar founder from 2018-10-04T09:00

After a five-year stint at BuzzFeed and a brief run as the CEO of DailyMail.com the last thing you would probably think to do is start a TV network. From scratch. Yet that’s precisely what Jon S...

Refinery29’s Philippe von Borries and Piera Gelardi from 2018-09-27T09:00

As two of the four co-founders of media and entertainment company Refinery29, Philippe von Borries and Piera Gelardi have used a pro-women, taboo-shattering ethos to build a behemoth catering to...

Nick Brien, CEO Americas of Dentsu Aegis Network from 2018-09-20T09:00

“We’re not in the advertisement business. We’re in the engagement business,” says Nick Brien, CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network Americas. The advertising company was formed...

Studio 71 co-founder Reza Izad from 2018-09-13T09:00

Chances are, even if you are an avid consumer of short form streaming videos, you’ve never heard of Studio 71. But you’ve seen their work — or at least your kids have. From Canadian YouTube supe...

Wondery founder and CEO Hernan Lopez from 2018-09-06T15:00

When Hernan Lopez left his post as president and CEO of Fox International Channels in 2016 to launch a podcast company people asked him a straightforward question: Are you nuts? But he saw paral...

Sub Rosa founder Michael Ventura gets empathic from 2018-08-30T09:00

Michael Ventura wrote the book on empathy. Literally. The founder of the New York strategy and design consultancy Sub Rosa is a multi-hyphenate. When he’s not advising a portfolio of Fortune 500...

How Terry Young, CEO of Sparks & Honey, is mapping culture from 2018-08-23T09:00

When Terry Young founded the agency Sparks & Honey in 2012, it was billed as a “next-generation” agency that really gets culture. Last month the Omnicom shop announced that it was — you guessed ...

USA Today Network CRO Kevin Gentzel from 2018-08-16T09:00

A zen koan for 2018: How, as a media company today, does one build both scale and trust? It might be easy to cultivate one, but it often comes at the expense of the other. The USA Today Network ...

Arnold Worldwide CEO Kiran Smith from 2018-08-09T09:00

On the first day of her job as CEO, Kiran Smith broke her left foot. What could easily be interpreted as a bad omen turned out to be a blessing in a cast: Smith says the boot she’s had to wear t...

Carla Serrano,  CEO of Publicis New York and Chief Strategy Officer of PublicisCommunications from 2018-08-03T09:00

Publicis Groupe has had quite a year. In June of 2017 Maurice Levy stepped down as the holding company’s CEO, handing the reins over to Arthur Sadoun. That same month, the company made waves at ...

Bill Holiber, President & CEO of US News from 2018-07-18T09:00

For a publication with “news” in its title US News doesn’t focus much on what’s happening in the papers these days. Formerly known as US News and World Report, the publisher is perhaps best know...

Maria Bartiromo, Fox Business from 2018-07-10T09:00

The Fox Business anchor joined the "Ad Lib" podcast before her news-making interview with President Trump last week. Here, Bartiromo discusses her evolution from a CNBC pioneer—where she was the...

The Trade Desk’s Brian Stempeck from 2018-06-28T09:00

At a time when ad tech is besieged by brand safety concerns, transparency issues and industry-wide consolidation, the Trade Desk has been having a solid run. The demand side programmatic ad buyi...

Michael Wolff from 2018-06-20T14:29:03

Michael Wolff has some thoughts about conflict. A consummate media insider for decades, the journalist-provocateur-entrepreneur shot into the public consciousness in January with the publication...

Shingy, digital prophet, Oath from 2018-06-18T17:18:50

You may not have heard of David Shing, but you probably know about Shingy. The self-styled “digital prophet” at Oath – the Verizon-owned juggernaut that comprises AOL, Yahoo, the Huffington Post...

Havas Creative North American Chairman and CEO, Paul Marobella  from 2018-06-14T09:00

In a challenging time with so much gloom and doom out there, Paul Marobella remains a consummate optimist. The North American Chairman and CEO of Havas creative says the current climate reminds ...

Mastercard CMO Raja Rajamannar from 2018-06-07T09:00

An expansive marketer in an era of the incredible shrinking CMO, Rajamannar joins the Ad Lib podcast to discuss what he calls the CMO existential crisis. We talk about marketing at scale in a ti...

Andrew Swinand, Leo Burnett North America CEO from 2018-05-31T09:00

When Andrew Swinand was tapped to be Leo Burnett’s North America CEO last January, he had a daunting remit. Burnett had long been a flagship Chicago agency, but after losing McDonald’s in Septem...

Upfront and personal: The week’s big TV takeaways from 2018-05-18T15:32:59

The major broadcast networks wound down the 2018 upfront week Friday. Top-line takeaways: In 2019, look forward to more reboots, shorter ad slots and lots of live sports. If the scripted program...

Ogilvy Worldwide CEO John Seifert from 2018-05-17T09:00

Earlier this year, John Seifert announced that Ogilvy would be undergoing a “refounding,” which he dubbed the shop’s “Next Chapter.” A 39-year veteran of the legendary agency, Seifert joins us t...

Tim Leake, RPA from 2018-05-10T09:00

With giant clients like Honda and Farmer’s insurance, independent, LA-based agency RPA punches above its weight. Tim Leake’s mandate, when he joined the shop in 2014, was to nurture a culture of...

Bonnie Kintzer, Trusted Media Brands from 2018-05-03T09:00

When Bonnie Kintzer became president and CEO of Trusted Media Brands in 2014, it was still called the Reader’s Digest Association. Job number one became bolstering the brand, reviving it financi...

Hanya Yanagihara, novelist and T Magazine editor from 2018-04-26T09:00

For almost exactly a year now, Hanya Yanagihara has been molding T Magazine, the New York Times’ lifestyle and culture magazine, in her image. A recent refresh brought in a new logo and typeface...

Intermarkets’ Erik Requidan  from 2018-04-19T09:00

Under the hood of the Drudge Report, and other conservative sites like it — including Political Insider, Smith & Wesson Forum and MRC Newscasters — is its advertising marketing firm Intermarkets...

Intel’s Alyson Griffin from 2018-04-13T09:00

Last year Intel, the PC maker best known to the wider world for its “Intel Inside” tagline, decided to pivot from being a PC-centric to a data-centric company. It invested heavily in artificial ...

Patch CEO Warren St. John from 2018-04-05T04:00

Hyperlocal news has had a rough, ahem, patch in recent years. Undone by Craigslist and Facebook and Google, among others, local news sites have struggled to stay afloat. The end of 2017 alone sa...

Forbes’ Randall Lane from 2018-03-29T04:00

Synonymous with powerful, rich and usually white male entrepreneurs, Forbes is, like many media companies, being forced to evolve. Randall Lane took over as editor of the 101-year-old publisher ...

Bleacher Report CEO Dave Finoccio from 2018-03-22T04:00

March Madness is well underway and if you’re a sports fan of a certain age, chances are you’re tracking your decimated bracket on Bleacher Report. Bleacher Report CEO Dave Finocchio joins us on ...

Hearst’s Troy Young from 2018-03-15T04:00

It’s been five years since Troy Young came to Hearst to build out the magazine company’s digital division. Today as the global president of digital for a media empire...

360i’s Sarah Hofstetter from 2018-03-08T05:00

In this episode of Ad Lib, Sarah Hofstetter, the global CEO of full-service digital-first agency 360i, discusses the agency's new Amazon practice, the future of voice, the best kosher restaurant...

Po.et CEO Jarrod Dicker from 2018-03-01T05:00

Last month, a subset of the media world snapped to attention when Jarrod Dicker left the Post, where he built out a lot of pioneering proprietary tech for the company, to become the CEO of somet...

Pop-Up Magazine’s Chas Edwards from 2018-02-22T05:00

Chas Edwards is a co-founder and publisher of both Pop-Up magazine—a roving circus that brings magazine journalism to life in staged events—and the print publication it spawned, California Sunda...

Aardman’s Heather Wright from 2018-02-14T22:30

You may know Aardman Animation as the creative force behind Wallace and Gromit, “Shaun the Sheep” and “Chicken Run.” This weekend its seventh feature film, “Early Man” comes to our shores. But t...

HP’s Antonio Lucio from 2018-02-07T21:28:19

There’s a lot of talk in the marketing and advertising industries about diversity — but not a ton of walking. Antonio Lucio is one of the walkers. Lucio talks about his diversity drive on today’...

Hungry Man Productions, Bryan Buckley from 2018-02-01T21:17:59

Bryan Buckley has nearly 60 Super Bowl credits to his name, directing spots for a bevy of brands ranging from Monster.com and Cash4Gold to Coca-Cola and Bud Light. In this podcast, Buckley discu...

Avocados From Mexico’s Kevin Hamilton from 2018-01-31T12:00

Kevin Hamilton has experienced first-hand the pressure to pull off a Super Bowl ad. As the senior director of marketing at Avocados From Mexico, Hamilton is charged with promoting the produce on...

Capitol Music Group’s Brian Nolan from 2018-01-26T22:35:04

Brian Nolan has a music fan’s dream job. As the senior vice president of Capitol Records’ in-house division focused on brand partnerships and licensing, Nolan is tasked with bringing new or unde...

Havas’ Harry Bernstein from 2018-01-19T18:46:23

If you’ve spent any time in agency circles, you haven’t seen a lot of people who look or talk like Harry. Tall, bearded, often tie-died and bolo tied, Bernstein, who goes by Harry Bee, is as apt...

Fresh Digital Group’s Doug Robinson from 2018-01-12T14:19

Recent research has found that smart speakers such as Amazon Echo and Google Home will be in 55 percent of all U.S. households by 2022. That’s a lot of skills. To help us break down what this al...

Quartz’s Jay Lauf from 2018-01-04T20:34:07

In a note at the end of 2017, Quartz publisher Jay Lauf gave his thanks to readers and advertisers, making it a point of pride that the commercial team at Quartz had been “very deliberate” about...

Rafat Ali from 2017-12-29T11:00

The co-founder and CEO of the travel media company Skift, Ali is a digital media veteran. We talk about his childhood in India and what made him want to get into media. He takes us on a tour thr...

Dave Morgan from 2017-12-18T22:06:24

The Simulmedia CEO helps us make sense of the Disney-Fox deal, breaks down the state (and future) of addressable TV, explains the agency “existential” crisis -- and more.

Wendy Clark and Ari Weiss from 2017-12-08T14:07:28

It’s been just under two years since DDB brought Wendy Clark — a former top marketer at Coca Cola — on board as its North American CEO. And it’s been just under one year since she brought on Ari...

Adam Moss from 2017-12-03T23:00

The New York Magazine editor is Ad Age’s Editor of the Year — and the title he’s edited since 2004 is the Magazine of the Year. Today he sits down with Ad Age editor Brian Braiker to di...

Michael Rothman from 2017-11-22T17:57:04

The CEO and co-founder of Fatherly, a New York City-based media start-up that caters to millennial dads, is himself not a father. Rather Rothman, whose last gig was as Thrillist’s first business...

Michael Kuntz from 2017-11-10T15:35:11

The senior vice president of digital revenue at USA Today Network sits down with Ad Age editor Brian Braiker to discuss Gannett’s local play, working with Facebook Instant Articles and Google AM...

Kay Hsu from 2017-10-27T14:52:32

As the global Instagram lead at Facebook Creative Shop, Kay is tasked with getting brands to adopt the Instagram Stories format. She discusses the challenges and oppo...

Neil Vogel from 2017-10-20T18:38:56

Since 2014, Neil Vogel has led the transition of About.com into Dotdash. Under his stewardship, the IAC-owned company has gone from an all-things-to-all-people approach to a publisher of discret...

Jonah Disend from 2017-10-12T21:15:59

Jonah Disend is CEO and founder of Redscout, a branding a product development company with clients like Gatorade and Domino’s that he founded in his New York apartment in 2000. We talk about how...

Where Creativity Meets Strategy from 2017-10-06T12:59:46

Alain Sylvain is the founder and CEO of Sylvain Labs, an innovation and brand design consultancy. We talk about his background and the lack of diversity in media and marketing, his failures and ...

Pop Vox  from 2017-09-22T17:21:04

As chairman and CEO of Vox Media, Jim Bankoff oversees eight vertices including The Verge, SB Nation and Listen