Episode 70: Mark Gross

After 6 years, 73 episodes and nearly 150 hours of interviews with some of the best marketing minds to ever do it, it's time to say thank you and goodbye. What a privilege. What a trip. Until we talk again, peace.  

GUEST HOST: Greg Hahn, Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of Mischief. In 2022, less than two years into its existence, Mischief was named Agency of the Year by AdAge, Agency of the Year by Campaign US, and the second most innovative agency by Fast Company. In 2023, Adweek named Mischief US Agency of the Year. GUEST: Steve Stoute, Founder and CEO of Translation, the highly awarded creative agency that’s been connecting the world’s most famous brands to culture through sports and entertainment for nearly two decades. Prior to founding Translation in 2004, Steve was an exec at Sony Music and Interscope. He produced albums for Mariah Carey and Nas. He executive produced the Academy Award–winning “8 Mile”, film and soundtrack. He's been inducted into the Advertising Hall of Achievement, recognized as one of Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business, and been named AdAge’s Executive of the Year. Steve is the author of the New York Times Best Seller, 'The Tanning of America,' which was made into a four-part VH1 documentary.

GUEST HOST: Paul Caiozzo, Founder of Supernatural, a 2023 AdAge Small Agency of the Year. His work has been parodied multiple times on Saturday Night Live, praised by Al Gore, debated on CNN, and displayed in The Smithsonian. Formerly ECD at Goodby Silverstein New York. CP+B alum.GUEST: David Kolbusz, Chief Creative Officer at Orchard. Before that, CCO at Droga5 London. Before that, ECD at Wieden+Kennedy. David Droga called him "one of the world’s best creative leaders.” His clients have included Coca Cola, Amazon, Facebook, Axe, and The Gap. His Ocean Spray "Wiggle" spot is among the best of the past year. His Guardian “3 Little Pigs” film is among the best of all-time. 

Mark Gross is co-founder and CCO at Highdive. Since its inception in 2016, Highdive has quickly become one of the great indie agencies in the U.S. They were Adweek’s 2020 Breakthrough Agency of the Year, among Fast Company’s 2021 Most Innovative Agencies, and a 2023 AdAge A-List standout. Highdive is the agency behind some of your favorite Super Bowl ads: Anna Kendrick and Barbie for Rocket Mortgage, Seth Rogan and Paul Rudd for Lays, and Bill Murray reprising Groundhog’s Day for Jeep.  Prior to starting Highdive, Mark spent 23 years at DDB Chicago, where he created a slew of iconic work, headlined by the Bud Light campaign: "Real Men of Genius." In 2012, Business Insider named Mark "one of the top 25 most creative people in advertising." His list of awards includes an Emmy and two Cannes Grand Prix. He's been a part of more than 75 Super Bowl commercials, placing #1 on USAToday’s Ad Meter four times. 

GUEST HOST: Anselmo Ramos, Co-Founder and Creative Chairman of GUT. Founded just four years ago, Gut has been an Ad Age A-List Agency 4 years in a row. The agency’s string of successes culminated at this year’s Cannes, where GUT won 35 Lions, becoming the #1 Independent Network of the Year, Latin America Network of the Year, and GUT Buenos Aires became both Independent Agency of the Year and Global Agency of the Year.GUEST: Colleen DeCourcy, Chief Creative Officer of Snap as of 2022.  Previously, Chief Creative Officer and Co-President of Wieden+Kennedy. Under Colleen’s leadership, Wieden+Kennedy experienced unprecedented growth and produced a number of award-winning campaigns, including Nike's 2019 “Dream Crazy” campaign. Colleen was honored as Adweek’s Creative Leader of the Decade for the 2010s. In 2022, Cannes Lions gave Colleen The Lion of St Mark, our industry’s honor. 

Tim Nudd is Creativity editor at Ad Age, where he covers creativity in business, particularly the advertising space. Tim has spent his career spotlighting and elevating the work that moves our industry forward, making him one of the most influential marketing reporters of this century. After graduating from Washington University in St. Louis, Tim joined Adweek in 1997 (initially as a copy editor), started writing for the magazine in 1999, and launched the AdFreak blog in 2004. He then left to pursue a freelance career, notably as a writer for People magazine and other Time Inc. titles, before returning to Adweek full time as creative editor in 2010. In 2018, Tim joined the Clio Awards, where he launched Muse by Clio, a daily site and newsletter about creativity, and Tagline, a podcast that goes deep into the making of great ad campaigns. He began in current role at Ad Age in January 2023. 

GUEST HOST: Tiffany Rolfe, Chair and Global Chief Creative Officer at R/GA. She was a huge reason why CP+B won Agency of the Decade in 2010. Today leading R/GA, Tiff is among the most powerful women, award-winning creatives, and overall best humans in all of advertising.  GUEST: Bob Greenberg, Founder and Executive Chairman at R/GA. Bob is a legendary pioneer of our industry spanning over 4 decades. He never stops evolving R/GA, first from a world-class movie title shop, to a digital studio, to the best digital agency, and now to a company that spans ventures, consulting, tech, design, marketing, architecture and IP. With offices around the world, today R/GA remains one of the most influential and award-winning agencies. AdAge named it among its "Agencies of the Decade." AdWeek named it “Digital Agency of the Year” 5 times in 10 years. There is almost no recognition the agency hasn’t received by now, and Bob has had a front row seat for all of it. 

Gary Vaynerchuk is an entrepreneur, author, speaker, and unstoppable internet personality. Gary is the CEO of VaynerMedia, one of the most influential and award winning agencies of the past decade. He’s an early investor in some of the most powerful brands of our time. 

GUEST HOST: Jae Goodman, former Chief Creative Officer and Co-Head of CAA Marketing, which he spun out to become Observatory in 2018 and subsequently sold to Stagwell before stepping away last year. In his combined 16 years at CAA and Observatory, Jae racked up 4 Cannes Grand Prix in four different categories including the first-ever Entertainment Lion, 4 Emmys, the first and second-ever brand films accepted to Sundance, and he was the driving force in the creation of Nike’s new Film and TV studio, Waffle Iron Entertainment. But before all that, Jae cut his teeth at Wieden+Kennedy in the 90s, where he first developed a bond with... GUEST: The legendary Janet Champ. Her face is etched on the Mount Rushmore of Wieden+Kennedy greats. Throughout the 90s, she pioneered a new way of marketing to women with her iconic Nike Women’s Fitness Campaigns that inspired generations of women across the world. Winner of all the big advertising awards, there’s a permanent display at Nike HQ paying homage to Janet's greatest hits. Her career helped inspire the Peggy Olson character in Mad Men. Her prolific career continues on today, with work for clients like Apple, AirBNB, UnderArmor, and the non-profits closest to her heart. 

GUEST HOST: Jaime Robinson, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer at JOAN, named 2020 Independent Agency of the Year by Campaign. Jaime has been awarded at every major advertising show, including 3 Grand Prix at Cannes. She’s also an Emmy winner, and one of Fast Company's 100 Most Creative People in Business. GUEST: Shannon Washington, Chief Creative Officer at R/GA. Making her the first-ever Black female Chief Creative Officer in the history of holding companies! Her path to R/GA includes stops at Grey, Droga5 and Deutsch. Board Member at The Marcus Graham Project. She is a maker of award-winning work, and a maker of history.