The Last Advertising Podcast

How do great brands earn people's attention? Former Shinola Head of Brand Phil Pirkovic explains how brand strategy, cultural relevance, and authentic partnerships help companies build meaningful connections with people.Phil has worked across brand marketing and advertising at Shinola, Google, Mother New York, and Noble People. His approach to brand building centers on a simple principle: Give people a reason to care.In this episode of The Last Advertising Podcast, Phil shares how Shinola developed a partnership with Saturday Night Live for its 50th anniversary. What began with a relationship with John Higgins of Please Don't Destroy led to 50 custom watches for SNL's cast and crew, national media attention, and new opportunities within New York's comedy community.The conversation explores why successful brand marketing extends beyond traditional advertising, how partnerships can introduce brands to new audiences, and why understanding culture is essential to earning attention.What you'll learn:How to build a brand that people genuinely care aboutWhy cultural relevance matters in brand strategyHow Shinola developed its Saturday Night Live partnershipHow authentic brand partnerships can create new opportunitiesWhy community building can expand a brand's audienceHow to break into advertising without a traditional backgroundWhat marketing leaders look for when hiring creative talentPhil also shares practical career advice for aspiring marketers, including why personal projects, curiosity, and real-world experiences can help you stand out.If you're interested in brand strategy, advertising, creative careers, or the business of building culturally relevant brands, this conversation offers lessons from Phil's experience.Explore more episodes of The Last Advertising Podcast:https://thelastadvertisingpodcast.com/Connect with Phil Pirkovic:https://www.linkedin.com/in/philpirkovic/#BrandStrategy #BrandMarketing #Advertising

How do you create advertising that people actually want to spend time watching?Zac Ryder, Co-Founder and Co-Chief Creative Officer of Modern Arts and a member of Adweek's 2026 Creative 100, joins The Last Advertising Podcast Ever to explain how brands can turn traditional advertising briefs into movies, documentaries, and entertainment that audiences actively seek out.Modern Arts has helped WhatsApp create documentaries including The Seat, which reached Netflix's Top 10 in 25 markets, and We Are Ayenda, which tells the story of the Afghan girls' national soccer team's escape from the Taliban through their real WhatsApp messages.Zac explains how his agency combines traditional advertising strategy with Hollywood screenwriters, showrunners, and journalists to create entertainment that serves both the audience and the brand.We also discuss how to turn consumer insights into compelling stories, why brands should rethink how they spend their media budgets, and how branded entertainment can drive real business results.Plus, Zac shares his predictions for the future of advertising, including why brands could soon be funding live theater, stand-up comedy, and audiobooks.Whether you're an advertising student, creative, strategist, or marketer, this conversation offers practical lessons on creating advertising that people actually want to watch.Watch the 500+ other last interviews at https://thelastadvertisingpodcast.com/

Why does advertising legend Keith Cartwright want young creatives to bring him ideas that scare him?Keith Cartwright, Founder and Chief Creative Officer of CARTWRIGHT, joins The Last Advertising Podcast Ever to share lessons from a career spanning Wieden+Kennedy, 72andSunny, The Martin Agency, and some of the most celebrated creative work in advertising.Keith reveals what he looks for when hiring art directors and copywriters, why he weighs the interview more heavily than the portfolio, and why ambition, curiosity, and creative taste are essential to making great work.We also discuss how to break into advertising in the age of AI, why the first 1,000 sketches don't count, and how great creative directors encourage their teams to develop ambitious ideas.Plus, Keith takes us behind the scenes of his Michael Jordan campaign featuring Charlie Murphy as Leroy Smith, explaining how an idea outside the original budget became one of his most memorable projects.Whether you're an aspiring creative, advertising student, art director, copywriter, or creative director, this conversation is packed with practical advice for building a career in advertising.Watch the 500+ other last interviews at https://thelastadvertisingpodcast.com/ 

Robert Castaño developed his perspective through music, hospitality, culture and his journey into advertising through the BLAC Internship Program.The recording artist and BARKER Account Supervisor joins The Last Advertising Podcast to discuss escaping the algorithm, understanding why you like what you like and using your entire creative identity as a professional advantage.Listen to the other Last Episodes at https://thelastadvertisingpodcast.com/

Joanna D’Avanzo teaches young creatives to think like mother sea turtles: produce a lot of ideas, accept that most will not survive, and return ready to make more.The award-winning Marist University professor and former VP/creative director joins The Last Advertising Podcast to explain why great creatives know a little about a lot, why AI is one-note, and how museums, art history, subway conversations, unfamiliar films, and honest feedback make the work better.Listen to the other Last Episodes at https://thelastadvertisingpodcast.com/

Advertising changes faster than universities can rewrite a syllabus, but Joe Glennon believes the fundamentals still win.The Indiana University senior lecturer and former creative director joins The Last Advertising Podcast to explain why every idea still starts with the brand, how AI creates a race to average, and why curiosity and work ethic separate the students who break in from those who blend in.Listen to the other Last Episodes at https://thelastadvertisingpodcast.com/

Advertising says it wants fresh talent, then asks that talent to arrive with agency experience already stamped on a résumé.BLAC Executive Director Nicolet Gatewood joins The Last Advertising Podcast to explain how BLAC opens the door through a paid 12-week internship, why the support continues after interns break in, and what agencies miss when they keep recruiting from the same places.Listen to the other Last Episodes at https://thelastadvertisingpodcast.com/

Nick Gallo went from graffiti and six-second Vines to helping build HQ Trivia and founding Loop, the creative studio behind work people actually send to their friends.He joins The Last Advertising Podcast to talk about moving at New York speed, finding a brand’s discomfort zone, and why every young creative needs to make the idea smaller and ship the damn thing.Listen to the other Last Episodes at https://thelastadvertisingpodcast.com/

If this were the last advertising podcast ever made, Maryah Greene thinks the industry should learn how to actually work with creators.She would know. Before joining Droga5, Maryah was one.Her career started as a third-grade teacher before a plant-focused Instagram account turned into a full-time creator career, brand partnerships, a design business, and eventually an entirely new career inside advertising.Today, Maryah is Creator Partnerships Lead at Droga5, helping brands, agencies, and creators understand one another.On what we're pretending is the final advertising podcast, Maryah and Geno Schellenberger talk about what brands still misunderstand about creators, why niche communities are becoming more valuable, what five years on the creator side taught her about advertising, and why unconventional experience can become an advantage in this business.This is The Last Advertising Podcast.Until maybe next week.View all the last episodes at www.thelastadvertisingpodcast.com 

As AI gets better at executing ideas, what should the next generation of advertising talent actually study?Professor Scott R. Hamula joins The Last Advertising Podcast to discuss the future of advertising education, the value of a liberal arts education, and why specialization still matters. Scott is Professor and Program Director of Advertising, Public Relations, and Marketing Communications at Ithaca College, a recipient of the American Advertising Federation’s Distinguished Advertising Educator Award and its Barton A. Cummings Gold Medal Award, the AAF’s highest honor for volunteer service.Geno and Scott discuss how AI could change what advertising students need to learn, why curiosity and connecting ideas across disciplines are becoming increasingly valuable, the role of internships and extracurriculars, and why every student should start building a learning portfolio long before graduation.For more from B&E, including newsletters, social videos, advertising news and live shows, visit www.breaking-entering.com. Partner with Breaking and Entering [email protected]