Snark Snack 1: Highway Mangos and Subway Fortune Cookies

iPhone Duo jokes as a real-time marketing event... and an IAB forecast bump, all in Snark Snack # 3. Matt and Val break down whether brands newsjacking Apple's foldable launch counts as clever or just fast, then turn to IAB Creator Week and what's really behind the raised ad spend numbers. Short, unscripted, two I's in one episode.

Branded content isn't a side hustle anymore, it's becoming the main event. Adam Puchalsky, President of Blink49 Brand Studio, joins Matt Wurst and Valerie Vespa to break down how brands, creators, and Hollywood are colliding, and why he thinks brands will eventually stand on stage accepting Oscars, Emmys, and Grammys.Adam walks through his path from agency life (JWT, BBDO, UM, Wavemaker) to running Kevin Hart's brand partnerships at Hartbeat, to building Blink49's brand studio from scratch since January 2025. The conversation covers why he calls most branded content "unwatchable garbage," the rise of micro-dramas and why China is already watching more of them than movies, the real story behind "Murder at the Mansion" (yes, an Uber Eats driver solves a murder), and why 2026 is the year of singles and doubles instead of home runs.Marketers, agencies, and anyone trying to understand where entertainment funding is actually headed need to hear this one. For marketers, by marketers, with just a touch of snark.

Snark Snack # 2 isn't the first pancake, but it does start with pancakes and ends with real questions: Do SMBs have to be creators... And are creators becoming production companies? Matt's neighbor is a shoe designer moonlighting as a sourdough baker with his own Instagram following, and it kicks off a genuine back and forth about what it actually takes to run a creator handle like a studio. Short, unscripted, and once again, entirely about food.

Liane Nadeau, Chief Media and Investment Officer at Digitas North America, joins Matt Wurst and Valerie Vespa on the Snarketing Podcast to talk networked experiences, the death of channel planning, advertising to LLMs, and the fluid funnel.We get into why sports keeps taking a bigger share of the upfronts, how Digitas converged its direct and programmatic teams years ahead of the pack, and why programmatic was never a channel to begin with. Liane makes the case that context is back, that addressability got confused with targeting, and that too many brands optimized themselves out of growth by chasing the last click.She also breaks down the fluid funnel and the living, liking, loving, loyal framework, why agencies still beat in-housing, and what it actually means to build media for humans and the LLMs deciding what those humans see. Plus a lightning round, an unpaid Dunkin' placement, and a running joke about recording the whole thing in French.For marketers, by marketers, talking to marketers, with just a touch of snark.--Topics: media strategy, upfronts, sports media, programmatic, retail media, commerce media, AEO, GEO, SEO, AI, LLMs, agency value, in-housing, media measurement, marketing funnel, Digitas, Publicis Groupe.

The first "Snark Snack" is here. The off-mic conversations Matt Wurst and Valerie Vespa have been having for years, now on the record. Episode 1 riffs on selling mangos in traffic and somehow ends with a fortune cookie side hustle aimed at the sad commuters on the LIRR. Short, unscripted, and exactly what happens when the mic stays on a little longer. New Snarketing episodes every other week, with Snark Snacks "lite bite minisodes" in between.

StrawberryFrog founder Scott Goodson and new CEO Steve Scutellaro join Matt Wurst and Valerie Vespa on Snarketing for a rare two-guest conversation on succession, independence, and the future of agency culture. Scott built StrawberryFrog into one of advertising's most durable independent shops over nearly 30 years, then handed the CEO seat to Steve earlier this year. They talk candidly about what actually changed, why independence still wins against big holding companies, how AI is reshaping comms planning and agency culture, and the career philosophy Scott has carried through 35 years in the business. Movement marketing, the Heineken pitch that almost didn't happen, and a lightning round to close it out. For marketers, by marketers, talking to marketers, with just a touch of snark.

SharkNinja Global Head of Media Dave Kersey joins the Snarketing Podcast to break down how one of the fastest-moving brands in consumer products runs media without a traditional media plan. Dave talks with hosts Matt Wurst and Valerie Vespa about ditching agency life for the brand side, why SharkNinja treats media planning as a thing of the past, and how the company engineers virality into products before they ever hit a production line.This episode covers programmatic transparency and what it actually takes to earn trust with a media partner, why decision-making systems matter more than media strategy, how a company launching 20-25 products a year keeps pace with 4-hour SLAs, and Dave's honest take on retail media, CTV, and TikTok. Plus a Date, Marry, Kill lightning round and the shark vs ninja debate you didn't know you needed.For marketers, by marketers, talking to marketers, with just a touch of snark.

Micky Ogando, Founder and Chief Creative Officer of Austin agency Bakery, joins Matt Wurst and Valerie Vespa on the Snarketing Podcast to talk craft, AI, weird hiring, holding-company chaos, and why he will never cut his rate.Bakery is a three-time AdAge Small Agency of the Year with work for Nike, Diageo, Shiner, and Tree Hut, and Micky is one of the most candid creative leaders in the business. We billed this one as the SXSW make-good we never pulled off in person, and it delivers. Micky gets into why Austin indies root for each other instead of fighting over the pie, how the agency tripped into its name, and why Bakery builds work for an audience that hates advertising.From there it covers the singing bathtubs that landed in a Super Bowl spot for Tree Hut, the unhinged ways he hires for weird, and what a creative director actually does now that anyone can generate a bad ad in four minutes. Micky makes the case that AI is a net positive for any shop built on craft, reframes the Omnicom and IPG merger as opportunity rather than threat, and brings it home to fundamentals, effectiveness, and the dull tax. Stick around for a lightning round on the most overrated word in a creative brief.A sharp, funny listen for anyone in marketing, advertising, creative, agency life, or brand building in 2026.Keywords: marketing podcast, advertising, creative agency, independent agency, AI in advertising, agency culture, brand building, Austin advertising, Bakery, Micky Ogando, Matt Wurst, Valerie Vespa, Snarketing.

Cannes Lions week is here, and this one's a little different. No guest, no agenda, just Matt and Val running their own half-length 2026 Cannes preview before everyone scatters to the South of France.They get into the real stuff: packing strategies that border on neurosis, the color-coded calendar system Matt runs to survive five days on the Croisette, and the small essentials that actually save your week. Then they turn to what the festival will be talking about: sports and athlete-brand deals, AI and the rise of "agentic" as the buzzword everyone says and almost nobody has shipped, retail and commerce moving past the ad and into the experience, and the return of brand as the real moat after a decade of performance worship.The heart of it is a promise. There was a time the creatives were the celebrities at Cannes. This year, Matt and Val want to find the people holding the hardware, congratulate them, ask about the work, and make celebrating creatives a thing again.Plus IRL reunions, yacht plans, a 4 AM World Cup birthday, and the return of Mensch on a Bench.This is the Snarketing Podcast: for marketers, by marketers, talking to marketers, with just a touch of snark.Hosted by Matt Wurst and Valerie Vespa.Find us on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you listen. Subscribe to our Substack for more, and reach out if you'll be in Cannes. Come find Matt on the bench in front of the Mondrian.⏱️ Chapters00:00 Welcome and happy Cannes week01:00 Packing strategies and the outfit barter idea04:00 Cannes survival kit and travel essentials07:00 Fewer, bigger, better: the color-coded calendar11:00 Celebrities, athletes, and seeing them in our element15:00 Make the creatives the celebrities again18:00 Predictions: sports, agentic AI, and IRL24:00 Brand as moat and the end of performance worship28:00 Sports, the World Cup, and a 4 AM birthday31:00 IRL for Good, yacht plans, and Mensch on a Bench

Connected TV took over the living room. Amit Sharan, SVP Marketing at Tatari, joins Matt Wurst and Valerie Vespa to break down how brands plan, buy, and measure TV across linear and streaming, and where AI actually helps versus where it's still hype.Amit built marketing at LiveRail, took it through the Facebook acquisition, ran product marketing inside Meta for four-plus years, and has spent nearly eight years at Tatari. He gets into convergent TV, why programmatic is an access point and not a strategy, performance TV versus brand building, competing against The Trade Desk and MNTN and Simulmedia, the SEO bet he skipped early, and the advice every first marketing hire needs: it's your job to teach the founder what marketing is for. Plus a lightning round, a sub-$40 wine worth writing down, and a wine-party game worth stealing.Topics: Why the line between linear and streaming is fake (your YouTube TV sports feed is technically linear)Selling LiveRail to Facebook, and the "winter's coming" logic that drove the dealWhat marketing actually looks like at Meta scaleWhere AI helps in TV today (media planning) versus where it's still theater (creative)"Programmatic is an access point, not a strategy," and why 90% of CTV impressions go to 10 publishersPerformance TV versus brand building, and the ceiling every in-market strategy hitsAdvice for the first marketing hire: your real job is educating the founder on what marketing is forThe one bet Amit skipped early (SEO) and why AEO changes the math now