Inspiring Futures - Lessons from the Worlds of Marketing and Advertising
Episodes
Neil Barrie- Global CEO and Co-Founder- 21st Century Brand
18 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Neil Barrie didn't take the conventional route into brand strategy. After studying modern history at Oxford, he spent six years trying to make it...
Kaye Symington- Head of Marketing- Newspaper Club
11 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Kaye Symington has spent 20 years in marketing, and right now she's working to keep one of the oldest media formats alive — the printed newspap...
James Nord- Founder Fohr
07 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
James Nord didn’t just build an influencer marketing company. He lived through the birth of internet culture from the inside. In this episode of In...
Ammunition- Kelly Heilpern Chief Strategy Officer and Chris Shadrick Director of Strategy
05 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This episode is really about how agencies evolve under pressure.Ammunition began with deep expertise in home and building, a category defined by compl...
AI and the Marketing Department- Mixtape Partners
30 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
AI and The Marketing Department For a recent Inspiring Futures podcast, I had the opportunity to spend time with Mixtape Partners' Nirm Shanbhag...
Amy Carvajal- Full Tank
29 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Amy Carvajal grew up in New York, and when she was a kid she ran a little rock painting business. She'd grab rocks from the park, take orders fro...
Todd Irwin and Craig Bagno - Fazer
28 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
For thirty years, the rules of branding felt settled. Find a story. Tell it loudly. Make people feel something. Repeat.That era is over.On the latest ...
Amar Chohan- Department of Creative Affairs
23 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Amar Chohan is the founder of Department of Creative Affairs (DCA), a venture built to map and champion the independent creative agency sector. A nea...
Chuck McBride- Cutwater
15 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Chuck McBride founded Cutwater in San Francisco. Before that he ran Nike at Wieden+Kennedy, sat alongside Lee Clow at TBWA\Chiat\Day North America, an...
Ace of Hearts and the Return of Creative Belief
08 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Ace of Hearts is one of those rare new agencies that arrives with real heat around it. Not just because the founders come from serious places, but bec...
Mike Doman- Hellions
07 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Australia’s indie agency scene feels on fire right now, and Hellions feels like part of that new wave.With new work already out in the world for Fig...
Changing China and Western Brands - A Conversation with Falk Fuhrmann
02 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Nike's stock dropped 15% yesterday. Greater China is down for the sixth consecutive quarter. Their CEO told staff he's "so tired of tal...
Bill Shea- Managing Director, Accenture
30 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
What happens inside a $20 billion creative technology operation when AI changes the speed of everything? When designers start coding? When two-week ...
Lucinda Bounsall- Sibling Studios
24 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Lucinda is the founder and head of strategy at Sibling, a culture-led strategy studio.In this episode, we track Lucinda’s unconventional path into s...
The Business of Different- Barry Labov
20 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Barry LaBov started as a rock and roll musician, then accidentally fell into running a full-service ad agency when a client convinced him to buy their...
Tower28- Making it Easy to Go Global
18 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This is an interview with Erin Emmerson, CEO, Founder, Kelsey Croos, President, Founder and David Young, Global Executive Creative Director of Tower28...
Justin Herber- Scaling Brands and Hollywood
17 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Send a textThis week on Inspiring Futures, we sit down with Justin Herber.He's a chief brand officer, consultant, and former screenwriter whose c...
Gigi Grimes- Founder- Pai
09 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Send a textGigi spent seven years at Google before leaving to start a research company.Pai isn't any old research company; it specializes in the ...
Elle McCarthy- VP- brand, creative and product marketing- McCaffe
23 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Send a textElle is the perfect person to talk to if you want an understanding of strategy inside organizations. She started her work life selling pun...
The Hidden Architecture of Japanese Running- an interview with Jeremy Kuhles
18 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Send a textJapan has one of the world’s deepest running cultures and at the center of it sits Ekiden: the long-distance relay that becomes a nationa...
John Long- ECD and Author of Zombie Brands
22 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textJohn is an ECD at Digitas and the author of a new book, "Zombie Brands."In our conversation, we talked about his book and the ...
Tom Garland- Founder-Edition Partners
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textTom Garland founded Edition Partners, a London-based creative growth studio, in January 2023. His career spans record labels (Sony, War...
Justin Rashidi- Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer CDEX
05 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIntroductionJustin Rashidi is co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer at CDEX, a data-driven marketing and business consultancy approachin...
Neil Perkin- Only Dead Fish
17 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textNeil Perkin is a consultant, author, and self-described polymath working at the intersection of strategy, digital transformation, emergi...
Re-Imagining Havas Chicago- A Conversation with Chief Strategy Officer Chase Cornett and Chief Creative Officer Frank Dattalo
11 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIt's always interesting to see what a network agency in a local market is capable of, especially at a moment in advertising history...
Nick Thompson - CEO of The Atlantic- Author-- "The Running Ground"
29 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textA few months ago, in the middle of summer, I got a chance to sit down with Nick Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic, to talk about his brand n...
Brandon Murphy- Chief Strategy Officer- Trade School- Atlanta
29 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textBrandon runs strategy at Trade School which is the creative agency which was born out of 22squared in 2020.The agency's clients inc...
Kelsey Hodgkin- CEO and Partner- Special US
22 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a text5 Things I learned from talking to Kelsey Hodgkin- CEO-Special US In my conversation for the Inspiring Futures podcasts that spans Lond...
Nick Avaria- Inside The Unglamorous World of Agency Operations
21 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWhile most of us are obsessed with the creative and strategy side of the business, the harsh reality is that agencies succeed or fail ba...
What's to Be Done About Misaligned Briefs And a Broken Creative Process?
15 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThe latest Inspiring Futures podcast on better briefs and creative development featured a different format - instead of a typical one-on...
Mary Lou Bunn- CEO + Founder- Flower Shop
11 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textMary Lou Bunn is the CEO and founder of the agency Flower Shop. This is how the agency describes itself on its website. "Ad Age’...
Lucy Barbor - We Are Masterplan
29 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textFrom digital media planner to Chief Strategy Officer - and now she's on a mission to democratize strategy for everyone.This is a po...
David Aaker- The OG of Brand
24 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textDavid Aaker is widely regarded as the father of modern branding. Over a five-decade career, he transformed brand from a communications t...
Rachel Ramaswamy- Managing Partner - Work and Co
04 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textRachel has spent over a decade at Work&Co. In the episode, we discuss the company's unique origin story and how it has evolved ...
The Talent Architect: Christine Olivas (No Single Individual) on Building Today's Agency Model
01 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textChristine Olivas began her career by hand-delivering 50 resumes to San Francisco startups, which resulted in one startup hiring her. He...
Tara Lawall- Chief Creative Officer and Partner- Rethink NY
24 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textTara is the Chief Creative Officer at Rethink NY.She has extensive creative experience from agencies including Y&R, BBH, Mother, and...
Pip Bingemann- Co-Founder- Springboards.Ai
03 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThe latest Inspiring Futures podcast features an interview with Pip Bingemann- the co-founder of Springboards.aiAs strategy departments ...
Michael Miller and Chris Noble- Consiglieri
11 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThe latest Inspiring Futures podcast features an interview with Michael Miller and Chris Nobile- two of the three founders of consulting...
Ali Burton- Gate One and Catch
03 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThe latest Inspiring Futures podcast features an interview with Ali Burton. Ali is Head of Incubator at Gate One in London, which is a ...
Donna Dupont- Chief Strategist, Foresight and Design- Purple Compass
05 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThe latest Inspiring Futures episode is all about "Futures".My guest is Donna Dupont, Chief Strategist, Foresight and Design a...
Brent Vartan- Managing Partner- Bullish- Moving Strategy Upstream
30 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThe latest episode of Inspiring Futures features an excerpt from a webinar I hosted with Brent Vartan of Bullish. Brent began his career...
Mark Lester- Squint Consulting
17 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textMark is the co-founder of Squint Consulting. Before Squint, Mark was an experienced Head of Strategy working with clients like Nike, Ne...
The World of Pharma Marketing- Martin Stapff- Co-Founder, Chief Creative Officer, Michelle Rigot- Executive Creative Director/Strategy- Yama Group
03 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textYAMA Group was founded in 2009 and has steadily built a reputation as one of the leading small, independent pharma shops in the world. ...
Dr. Anastasia Kārkliņa Gabriel.- Understanding Culture
14 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textMy latest Inspiring Futures podcast episode features an interview with Dr. Anastasia Kārkliņa Gabriel.Anastasia is a cultural theorist...
Julianna Katrancha- Group Strategy Director - Johannes Leonardo
12 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThe latest episode of Inspiring Futures features an interview with Julianna Katrancha- Group Strategy Director at Johannes Leonardo. Thi...
Allen Adamson- Metaforce
11 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThe latest Inspiring Futures episode features an interview with Allen Adamson of Metaforce. Allen is a seasoned executive with experien...
The Future of Creative Services- Joe Nash and Patrick Kizny
23 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThe latest Inspiring Futures podcast is a discussion with Joe Nash and Patrick Kizny about the current and future state of creative serv...
Lori Bartle- Cultivagency- From Account Management to Account Leadership
17 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThe latest episode of the Inspiring Futures podcast features an interview with Lori Bartle of Cultivagency. Lori has over two decades o...
Tom Suharto - Global Strategy Lead - Forsman & Bodenfors
11 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThe latest episode of Inspiring Futures features an interview with Tom Suharto, Global Strategy Lead at Forsman & Bodenfors. Tom st...
Hyphenated- 4 Years On- William Esparza and Kelli Roberston
29 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWhen Hyphenated was awarded Silver, West Coast in Ad Age's Small Agency of the Year Awards the publication wrote the following intr...
Jonathan Wise- CoFounder - Purpose Disruptors
25 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThe latest Inspiring Futures podcast features an interview with Jonathan Wise one of the co-founders of the non-profit Purpose Disruptor...
Dr. Grace Kite- Founder- Magic Numbers and Magic Works
09 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThe latest episode of Inspiring Futures features an interview with Dr. Grace Kite, the founder of Magic Numbers and Magic Works, an anal...
Beth Bentley - Tomorrowism
26 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThe latest Inspiring Futures episode features an interview with Beth Bentley the co-founder of consultancy Tomorrowism. Beth's exp...
Caroline Johnson- Co-Founder- Business Model Company
19 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThe latest Inspiring Futures podcast features an interview with Caroline Johnson- Co-Founder of The Business Model Company. Caroline wor...
Andy Nairn- Co-Founder- Lucky Generals
12 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textAndy Nairn co-founded Lucky Generals- an ad agency with offices in London and New York. Beyond running an agency, Andy has written a b...
Maz Karimian- ustwo
11 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textMaz Karimian heads up strategy at ustwo an employee-owned product design company that brings emotional game-inspired thinking to produ...
Daniel Groh- Satisfy Running
27 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textDaniel Groh heads up brand at Satisfy Running.In this interview, we discuss the transformed state of the running category and Satisfy&ap...
John Geletka
16 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThe latest episode of Inspiring Futures features an interview with John GeletkaJohn is the owner and founder of Geletka + - a small agen...
Eliza Yvette Esquivel- Our Protopian Future
01 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThe latest Inspiring Futures podcast is an interview with Eliza Yvette Esquivel. Eliza has worked both on the agency and client side. Sh...
Warren Berger- Author and Journalist
29 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWarren Berger is an author and journalist who has spent the last 25 years writing about the worlds of design, advertising and innovation...
Gerard Crichlow- Global Strategist- Axe/Lynx/Unilever- IPG
22 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThis episode features an interview with Gerard Crichlow, who heads up Global Strategy on the Unilever brands- Axe/Lynx at IPG.Gerard col...
Peter Semple- CMO- Depop
16 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThis latest episode of Inspiring Futures features an interview with the CMO of Depop. Depop is one of the most interesting brands in th...
Tass Tsitsopoulos- Global Strategy Director, McDonald's at Wieden + Kennedy
28 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn this episode, I talk with Tass Tsitsopoulos, the Global Strategy Director of McDonald's at Wieden + Kennedy. We discuss his earl...
Ian Murray- Co-Founder-Burst Your Bubble
20 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textLast month, I sat down for a conversation with Ian Murray- the co-founder of Burst Your Bubble. Ian has no shortage of contrarian views ...
Jae Goodman- The Future is Super Connected
15 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textJae Goodman is unique. He worked on Madison Avenue. He has a deep understanding of brands. He knows Hollywood, and he understands the po...
Amy Daroukakis- How to Be a Cultural Strategist
07 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThe latest Inspiring Futures podcast features an interview with Amy Daroukakis, a cultural strategist. Our conversation stretched far an...
Peter Spear- All things Qualitative
23 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textPeter Spear started his career at Tattoo in San Francisco, where he fell in love with qualitative research and has been a practitioner e...
Keely Adler- VP, Cultural Futurist- Dentsu Creative and Core Team, RADAR
08 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textLast December, I recorded a podcast with Keely Adler, who heads up Futures at Dentsu Creative. This was before the agency's huge T...
Laura Hutfless, FlyteVu Co-Founder
05 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textBack in November, I had a fascinating conversation with Laura Hutlfess, the co-founder of FlyteVu. FlyteVu is an entertainment marketin...
Neal Mann- Co-Founder- NOAN
19 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textA few weeks back, I got to talk to Neal Mann.Neal has had a fascinating career. Working in the literal frontlines of journalism, he got ...
Joe Carter- Co-Founder- The Ironclad Pan Company
09 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textJoe Carter spent time working in independent ad agencies in the UK, landed a sales job at Contagious, became enamored with Colenso BBDO,...
Katie Dreke- Part 2- Three Years On
12 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThe latest episode of the Inspiring Futures podcast features an interview with Katie Dreke. Katie has spent time with the likes of 180,...
George Prest- From BBH Copywriter to Local Politician
10 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThe latest Inspiring Futures podcast features an interview with George Prest.George started his career in the creative department of BBH...
Sophie Ayles
02 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThe latest episode of Inspiring Futures features an interview with Sophie Ayles. Sophie is one of Australia's most experienced stra...
Dan Gardner- Co-Founder- Code and Theory
25 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn the latest Inspiring Futures podcast, I spoke with Dan Gardner, the co-founder of Code and Theory. A 22-year-old- digital-first agenc...
Ivan Kayser- CEO- Redscout
21 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIvan heads up Redscout and is the CEO of the consulting company. Founded over 20 years ago, Redscout focuses on "making change real...
Kyle Duckitt - Strategy Director- BBH Singapore
03 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textKyle is the Strategy Director of BBH Singapore, where he works on a roster of great brands, including; Heineken, Nike, and Riot Games. ...
Escape Pod- Tyler Moore and Evie Psarras
02 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWay too many months back, I had the chance to speak to Evie and Tyler at the Escape Pod in Chicago. It was an excellent opportunity to t...
Craig and Bridget- Two Years On
05 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textCraig Mawdsley and Bridget Angear are Craig and Bridget - brand strategy consultants based in London. They started a couple of years aft...
Kin- An Agency with Purpose- Sophie Ozoux
23 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThe Inspiring Futures podcast has been on hiatus for the past few months. In that period, a few recordings made last year never made it ...
Vasanth Seshadri- The Sunny Side- Singapore
31 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textVasanth is a polymath- he's a creative director, but he's also an author, he has an engineering background is a graduate of co...
Neel Williams- Group Creative Director- The Martin Agency
26 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textA few weeks back I was fortunate to chat with Neel Williams - Group Creative Director at the Martin Agency. Neel runs all things creati...
Bonnie Wan- Partner and Head of Brand Strategy, Goodby, Silverstein and Partners
22 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textBonnie Wan has been working at Goodby since 1998. In 2022, she was named Advertising Age/Creativity Chief Strategy Officer of the Year...
Stevie Archer and Kevin Skobac - SS+K
07 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThis podcast episode features an interview with Stevie Archer- ECD and Kevin Skobac-Managing Director, Strategy- SS+KSS+K is part of the...
Kierstin De West- From Strategist, to Sustainability Researcher to Marketer
17 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textKierstin De West is the Chief Marketing Officer of Alpha Foods.This podcast is the story of Kierstin's journey from ad agency strat...
Nick Steel of HarrimanSteel- Two Decades as a Creative Independent
26 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textNick Steel is the co-founder of the creative independent agency HarrimanSteel. The shop has worked with the likes of Uber, Seedlip, Tom...
The Current State of Social Media- Nikita Walia-Blank
19 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThe latest episode of Inspiring Futures features an interview with Nikita Walia- the founder and CEO of Blank.Nikita studied at NYU and ...
Thomas Papadopoulos- Possible Future
11 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThe podcast episode features an interview with Thomas Papadopoulos who is the CEO and co-founder of the Paris-based innovation consultan...
The Future of Emerging Art- Wayne Chang- Saatchi Art
31 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWayne Chang is the General Manager of Saatchi Art. Wayne is an emerging artist himself but also has significant experience in the web an...
Post-Purpose- Thomas Kolster
29 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThomas Kolster is a former ad agency copywriter who when the climate conference came to his hometown, Copenhagen- asked himself some ser...
Inspiring Futures- Ukraine- Lidiya Zabrodska- Strategist- Lviv
14 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textLidiya is currently in Lviv and up until a week before the war began was working as a strategist at TBWA in Kyiv.In the conversation, we...
The Future of Transformation- Rachel Mercer and Mike Rigby- Proto
10 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textProto is a consultancy that was founded just over a year ago by some of the leadership of R/GA.'s business transformation unit. In...
The Future of Purpose- Rob Holzer - Matter Unlimited
09 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn a world where every marketeer is talking about purpose, it is interesting to find an agency that has been working in this domain for ...
Branding with Sound- Paul Amitai and Connor Moore of Listen
23 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textConnor Moore and Paul Amitai are the Executive Creative Director and Executive Strategy Director of Listen. Listen is a sound agency tha...
Ben Dietz- The Worlds of Bitcoin, NFTS and More
15 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textBen Dietz led commercial partnerships at VICE Media and is now a consultant for media and consumer brands. He publishes the [SIC] Weekly...
Neil Parker- Deep Brand Thinking- co:collective
22 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textNeil Parker is the co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer of co: collectiveOver a decade ago co: collective was born- founded by Neil, Ro...
The Future is 30 minutes- Dr. Gordon Euchler - Deloitte
21 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textOne of the best things strategy-wise to come out of the last couple of years is the 30-minute University of Planning which was the brain...
The Future is Better Briefs- Matt Davies and Pieter-Paul von Weiler
20 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textMatt Davies and Pieter-Paul von Weiler are freelance strategists based in Melbourne, Australia who have created a consulting service to ...
Lindsay Stein- Havas- Social Impact and the Agency
18 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textLindsay Stein is the new chief of social impact at Havas in NY. Havas has been making some big moves around social impact recently and L...
Rob Walker- The Art of Noticing Culture
27 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textRob Walker is a writer, teacher, and journalist. He studied journalism and started his career working for trade magazines. In the early...