Wondery founder and CEO Hernan Lopez

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 became its CEO in the process. Six months in, we take a look at what the polarizing pollster has been up to (both in the agency world and the political sphere), what he’s learned and where he’s taking the holding company.

26 Sep 201935min

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. This growth is the result of tightening moderation on the platform and building out its advertising business. To discuss Reddit’s evolution, strengths and next steps, chief operating officer Jen Wong joins the “Ad Lib” podcast—and questions host Brian Braiker’s faith in humanity.

19 Sep 201936min

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 traditional holding company. A former journalist and the co-founding CEO of Droga5, Essex brings with him an impressive pedigree. We get into that background, where the industry is going, consultancies, the breakdown of the traditional models and what’s next for Plan A.

12 Sep 201923min

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 products actually made here, and the FTC rules enforcing truthful “Made in USA” claims lack teeth. But that could be changing.

6 Sep 201922min

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 share of Ad Age Small Agency awards over the years. In this Ad Lib podcast, he talks about everything from his early days at Crispin Porter & Bogusky and the creation of “Whopper Freakout” to where he and his agency fit into today’s project-led world.

23 Aug 201946min

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 podcast and her own blog. In an industry where young black women are too often unseen and unheard, she’s making a point of speaking up.

16 Aug 201940min

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 creatives, the narrative went. Not so fast, says Droga. Here, he discusses the three-year journey toward acquisition—and what comes next.

8 Aug 201926min

Lindsey Slaby is a one woman three ring circus: In one ring is her brand consultancy, Sunday Dinner, which coaches clients through various stages of organizational transformation. The second ring is networking on steroids, be it on her invite-only Slack channel or through the invite-only brainstorming dinners that gave Sunday Dinner its name. The third ring is, well, just any old conversation with her, like this one, which can ricochet into myriad directions at any moment.

1 Aug 201941min