On this season finale of Real Famous, we have a conversation with Rosie Yakob, Faris Yakob, and Gareth Kay. Rosie was a Senior Social Strategist at Cake, led social strategy at Saatchi NY, and was also a Senior Strategist at 360i. Faris was the Chief Innovation Officer at MDC Partners, the EVP, Chief Technology Strategist at McCann, and is the author of Paid Attention. Together, they are the brains behind the consultancy Genius Steals. Gareth was the head of planning at Modernista!, the Chief Strategy Officer of Goodby, and the founding partner of Zeus Jones SF. He is now a co-founder of Chapter SF. Enjoy!
This is a conversation with Chris Konya. Chris is the Co-head of NY for the Innovation and Brand Design studio Sylvain Labs. Chris started her career in the ad business at Cole & Weber and KBS+P before holding innovation roles with What If Innovation Partners and the Gild. Sylvain Labs has done a huge array of work for clients like Google, Spotify, Nike, Airbnb, Samsung, Patagonia, and many others. Enjoy!
This is a conversation with Ben Jones, Global Creative Director and founder of Unskippable Labs at Google. Before joining Google, he was the EVP, Group Creative Director at Hill Holliday, SVP, Creative Director at Digitas and a Creative Director at Agency.com. Enjoy!
This is a conversation with Justine Bloome, the Chief Strategy Officer at Vaynermedia. Over her career, she’s spent time in publishing and the entertainment business, cut her teeth on strategy at Jack Morton, owned her own distributed agency called the Village Agency, and was the EVP, Head of Strategy and Innovation at Carat USA. Vaynermedia is one of the fastest growing agencies on the planet with close to 1,000 employees after less than 10 years of business. Enjoy!
This is a conversation with Andrea Ring. Andrea is the Chief Strategy Officer at Big Spaceship. They were MediaPost’s agency of the year in 2017 and their clients include YouTube, Starbucks, JetBlue, Google, Converse and many more. Before that, she spent ten years building the strategy team at R/GA, ultimately becoming their head of planning and experience strategy. Enjoy!
This is a conversation with Thas Naseemuddeen. She is a Partner, Chief Strategy Officer and Managing Director at Omelet. Before that, she was a VP, Group Strategy Director at Deutsch, a Senior Strategist at BBH LA, a Senior Strategic Planner at Team One and a Planner at Chiat. Omelet is an independent LA creative boutique with clients including Princess Cruises, AT&T, Walmart, Pokemon, Microsoft, Whole Foods and more. Enjoy!
This is a conversation with Rachel Mercer. She is the Executive Strategy Director at R/GA. Prior to that, she was the SVP, Head of Digital Strategy & Invention for Deutsch, a Strategy & Innovation Director at The Upside, a Senior Strategist at Made by Many, and a UX designer at Crispin. Rachel has been named one of Forbes 30 Under 30, Business Insider's Most Creative People in Advertising and one of The Drum’s 50 women disrupting the status quo. Enjoy!
This is a conversation with David Polinchock. David is a pioneer in VR and the founder of the Experiential Advertising Group. Previously, he was the director of PWC’s experience lab, the Director of Marketing for AT&T Big Data, the Director of AT&T’s Adworks Lab, and the founder and chief experience officer of the Brand Experience Lab, which was behind AudienceGames. Brandweek called it one of the best marketing ideas in the world. Enjoy!
This is a conversation with Tosh Hall. He is the Global Executive Creative Director at Jones Knowles Ritchie. They are a brand design agency with offices in London, New York, Singapore and Shanghai and clients including Budweiser, Domino's, Kelloggs and many more. Tosh started his career as a designer at Revlon before leading teams at Landor, his own agency, and JKR. Enjoy!
This is a conversation with Catherine Heath. She has been a strategist at M&C Saatchi and Y&R, Global Creative Planning Director on Red Bull for Kastner & Partners, SVP and Group Planning Director on Microsoft for McCann, Global Chief Strategy Officer for Modernista!, Worldwide Group Planning Director on Visa for Chiat, Executive Strategy Director for M&C Saatchi, Head of Strategy, West Coast for Huge, and EVP, Head of Strategic Planning for Edelman. She is now running her own global consultancy called Once Upon a Time Brands. Enjoy!
This is a conversation with Grant Owens, the Chief Strategy Officer at Critical Mass. They are a global experience design company with clients like GoDaddy, Rolex, AT&T, Nike, Jack Daniels, United and many more. Prior to that, he spent more than 10 years at Razorfish leading digital strategy for clients like Spotify, Mercedes-Benz, Ford, and Viacom. He is also an adjunct professor at NYU. Enjoy!
This is a conversation with Jason Prohaska, the Managing Director of MediaMonks NY, which is the first international office outside of Europe for the global creative production studio. Their clients include Air Force, Ally bank, Google, IBM, and Snapchat among others. Prior to that, Jason was a Partner and the Managing Director of Big Spaceship. Enjoy!
This is a conversation with Tom Goodwin, the EVP and Head of innovation at Zenith. Over his career, he’s held roles at GSK, TBWA, Lowe, Huge, the IPG Media Lab and Havas. He is now charged with leading content and innovation initiatives at one of the world’s largest media agencies. His new book, Digital Darwinism, is out now and you can find him at tomfgoodwin.com. Enjoy!
This is a conversation with Virginia Wang, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer at TBD, She has held strategy and insights roles at DDB NY, Goodby, MTV, EA, and Ideo. TBD is part of a new breed of creative shops that are re-thinking the value that an agency can deliver. Enjoy!
This is a conversation with Mike Monello. Mike is one of the forefathers of Transmedia storytelling. He started his career in the film business and was one of the creators of the Blair Witch Project. In 2006, he founded Campfire, which has launched some of the biggest immersive storytelling projects ever created. They’ve worked with brands like HBO, Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, FX, Cinemax, National Geographic, Verizon, Audi, and many more. Enjoy!
This is a conversation with Noah Brier, co-founder of Percolate. Noah was a writer at American Demographics and Renegade Marketing. He became a strategist with Naked Communications and then built the strategy department at the Barbarian Group. He is also the founder of Likemind and Brand Tags. Percolate launched in 2010 and is now one of the largest content marketing platforms in the world. You can find Noah at NoahBrier.com. Enjoy!
This is a conversation with Rory Sutherland. Rory is the Vice Chairman of Ogilvy UK, the founder of their behavioral psychology arm, Ogilvy Change, a former President of the IPA and famed TED speaker with talks including Life Lessons of an Ad Man and Sweat the Small Stuff. Enjoy!
This is a conversation with a great in our industry, Paul Feldwick. He started his career at BMP in 1974 and rose up the ranks to become the Worldwide Brand Planning Director for DDB. He also founded DDB University and wrote the fantastic book, Anatomy of a Humbug, How to think differently about advertising. Enjoy!
This is a conversation with David Armano, the Global Strategy Director of Edelman. David was part of the founding team at the Dachis Group, the VP of Experience Design at Critical Mass, a VP and ACD at Digitas, and a Senior Creative Director at Agency.com. He’s spent his career leading multidisciplinary teams for clients like HP, Adidas, Hilton, AllState, P&G, Lego, and many others. Enjoy!
This is a conversation with Kara Goldin, the founder of Hint Water. Kara was a technology executive at AOL before she got into the beverage business. She was named one of Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs and Forbes' 40 Women to Watch Over 40. The Huffington Post also called her one of six disruptors in business alongside Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg. You can find Hint in Whole Foods, Target, Walmart, or at any Google office. Enjoy!
This is a conversation with Mark Earls, an author and brand pioneer. Mark was the Head of Planning at Bates Dorland and St. Luke’s Communications before becoming the Executive Planning Director and the Chair of the Global Planning Council at Ogilvy. He is also the author of Welcome to the Creative Age, Brand New Brand Thinking, Herd, and Copy Copy Copy. He is also the founder of the Herd Consultancy. Enjoy!