Greg Butler, chief commercial officer at Cresco Labs, explains how the cannabis firm has pivoted during COVID-19, which has forced the firm to rely more on digital and less on retail and experiential activations that had been critical components of cannabis marketing. The former Molson Coors marketer also discusses Cresco’s strategy on taking a brand portfolio approach with each offering geared for a specific set of consumers.

Goodby, Silverstein & Partners’ Chief Creative Officer Margaret Johnson explains how the agency has created more than 30 campaigns for 80 percent of its clients remotely--and how working from home has opened up new avenues of inspiration.

Longtime agency exec Sarah Hofstetter joins to talk about her new role as president of e-commerce analytics firm Profitero, which serves more than 4,000 clients. We discuss the coronavirus-induced e-commerce surge and whether or not it’s sustainable. She also talks about her career journey and why she took this job after previous stints at 360i and Comscore. And, Sarah shares some personal tips on how to stay calm during the pandemic.

Today's podcast guest is, well, me. After three wonderful, challenging, intense, stressful and exhilarating years, I’m sad to say I’m parting ways with this iconic institution. Friday was my last day. Working with the Ad Age newsroom in both good times and weird has been an honor. In a conversation with my colleagues Judy Pollack and Alfred Maskeroni, we take a look back on my time. Thank you for listening.

As the coronavirus has become the new reality for all of us, Jason DeLand has some thoughts about the likely lasting implications of the pandemic, from brand behavior to consumer behavior, the environment, the cannabis industry and more. There will be no "returning" to life as it was. Rather this is an opportunity to bounce forward. This conversation is a recording of a live video broadcast that was streamed online last week.

The U.S. restaurant industry is in a grim predicament, particularly high-end, dine-in restaurants that can't be open as the coronavirus pandemic grinds on. Chicago-based restaurant executive Nick Kokonas has helped prepared his restaurants as well as others to navigate the situation in creative ways. The moves include a shift to carryout, something that until now was unheard of for high-end eateries like his.

With a striking head of frizzy red hair, Mira Kaddoura learned early on how to live life as someone who stands out: The themes of inclusion, representation and the other have all colored her work. Kaddoura joins the podcast today discuss the Red & Co. ethos. The agency has partnered with Google on an initiative to teach girls to code and developed global brand strategy for Netflix and created the “Make Room” campaign to boost representation of those missing in most mass media.

When Debra Lee stepped down as Chairman and CEO of BET in May of 2018, she put a cap on a 32-year run at the network. We talk about her legacy (among other things, she took programming in a new direction, pivoting away from music videos and into original fare), and about life after BET. Lee also sits on a number of corporate boards and is a champion of diversity and inclusion, herself having paved the way for others like her.

Taylor Lorenz covers internet culture and trends for the Gray Lady--memes, yes, but also influencers, TikTok, YouTubers and more. She has a knack for identifying zeitgeisty moments just before they break through to mainstream consciousness. Her recent headlines include a look at the Bloomberg campaign’s meme strategy, a visit to the so-called Hype House group home for LA Tok Tok influencers and more. She may be the reason you've heard the expression OK Boomer, quite possibly leveled directly...

The founder of the world’s largest privately held media company joins us to look back on a career that flourished along with the rise of the modern media agency era. We talk about the explosion of data that digital has brought with it, and why he has chosen to rent rather than own data. We look at the streaming wars and talk about Horizon's loss of Disney as a client last year, plus where the company is growing today.

For the first decade of her career, Louisa Wong worked at pioneering digital media outlets in the U.K., starting with CNET and then Skye. Today, as the chief operating officer at Carat, Dentsu Aegis Network’s flagship media agency, Wong applies that background in media as she navigates at the intersection of tech and disruption. Here, we discuss addressable TV, data as the new currency, privacy and regulation, life in a post-cookie world, the coronavirus and more.

Today’s guest needs no introduction. And yet, over the past 21 months, the financial wizard who built WPP into the world’s largest advertising holding company has been busy reintroducing himself as the executive chairman of S4 capital. Days before his 75th birthday, we discuss everything from what motivates him today, why the holding company model he helped create is an “albatross,” what the game plan is for S4 and why he bristles at the old criticism that he is not a creative person.

Jeff Goodby and Rich Silverstein, founders of Goodby Silverstein & Partners, worked on four Super Bowl brands this year, including Pepsi, Cheetos, Doritos and SodaStream. In the podcast, the duo discuss some of their Big Game top hits, such as the E-Trade monkey and the Budweiser lizards. They also talk about Donald Trump and Michael Bloomberg advertising in the game, the inclusionary nature of many of the spots, the boundaries of taste in Super Bowl spots and the demise of Mr. Peanut.

In 2016 Astley, a Condé Nast lifer, inherited a stodgy brand and was tasked with brining a fresh voice and new vision to it. Architectural Digest, which turns 100 this month, had hardly any digital presence to speak of: No video footprint, fewer than a million followers on Instagram. Today it is coming up on 5 million Instagram followers and has more than 2.5 million subscribers on YouTube. Astley joins the podcast today to talk about modernizing the mag without losing touch with its DNA.

In a wide-ranging conversation on all things WPP, Read discusses his early moves, including merging agency brands VML with Y&R and JWT with Wunderman. In the past 18 months, WPP has shared more than 40 assets in a bid to become more streamlined. Read, the chief executive of the world's largest advertising holding company, talks about creativity, and examines what’s holding WPP back in North America, the companies data play, his response to his feisty predecessor’s potshots and more.

The founding Fugee has in recent years become a fixture at CES and at Cannes Lions, where he will be the president of the music jury this year. Here, he describes what brands can better understand about working with music and musicians. We talk about his childhood in Haiti, where he lived until he was 9 before emigrating to Brooklyn. He also shares a bit about his relationships with two very different mentors: Quincy Jones and, uh, Gary Vaynerchuk.

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. In this conversation, recorded in July, he discusses the three-year journey toward acquisition—and what comes next.

Andrew Robertson is by all accounts the longest-running agency CEO working today. Renowned for its creativity, you've seen BBDO Worldwide’s imprint on work for Ford, Snickers, Sandy Hook Promise, Avocados from Mexico and more. It's been named network of the year at the International Festival of Creativity in Cannes seven times in the last 12 years. We discuss BBDO, the work, parent company Omnicom, Ford as a client and more.

In a conversation that ranges from the upcoming streaming wars to the ongoing direct-to-consumer trend to a look ahead at next month’s CES, Terence Kawaja gives a general sense of the state of things from his vantage point of an investment banker obsessed with digital media and marketing. Oh, he is also, pretty funny. For an investment banker.

Now in their 24th year, the Webbys are currently accepting submissions for what’s been called the Oscars of the internet. Joining the podcast today is David-Michel Davies, the CEO of the Webbys, presented annually by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. We discuss the trends he’s been watching in the online space and what it even means to be a website in 2020.

Last week in New York, Ad Age brought together execs from some of the best media brands in the world to explore the industry’s challenges and opportunities. This podcast is a live recording of a conversation with three of them. Joining us on stage were Pam Wasserstein, president of Vox Media, Scott Havens, global head of digital and media distribution for Bloomberg Media Group and Nina Lassam, executive director of ad innovation at the New York Times.

David & Goliath co-founder David Angelo looks back at a career that started as a junior art director at DDB New York, followed by stints at Chiat/Day and Cliff Freeman & Partners. We talk about what prompted him to hang his own shingle 20 years ago, how the industry’s changed in the past three decades, about the acquisition of David & Goliath by Innocean, life in LA, and his cause célèbre: bravery.

In a space where the word “innovation” gets tossed around a lot, Jarrod Dicker seems to actually be building a better mousetrap. Dicker’s remit is to make advertising, subscriptions and technology better at the Bezos-owned media giant. He’ll discuss how media companies can no longer rely solely on advertiser and subscriber revenue alone, plus we get into his early career as a music blogger and Deadhead.

Paul Woolmington is the founding CEO of media agency Canvas Worldwide and a keen observer of the marketing landscape. He is a former vet of holding companies IPG and WPP, founded Media Kitchen, and can rock a jaunty cravat. Paul joins us for a wide ranging conversation on just about everything in the media space—from the holding company existential crisis to the recent Disney media agency review.

In October of last year, at just 32 Jessica Pels was named the youngest-ever editor in chief at Cosmopolitan. Now exactly one year into the gig, web traffic is through the roof, even as single issue print sales continue to decline (just as they do everywhere else). We dig into her web-driven, data-centric approach to content strategy as we discuss where she’s taking the storied glossy.