Ad Age Ad Block
72 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 3 years ago - ★★★★★ - 22 ratingsIntroducing Ad Block, a new Ad Age podcast. Hosted by Ad Age’s own I-Hsien Sherwood and Alfred Maskeroni, Ad Block features personal, casual chats with big names in the industry. We’ve got one rule on this show: no guests can talk about their company or their clients. Get to know the people behind the ads you love—as they talk about anything but.
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Episodes
AccuWeather's chief content officer on singing jazz
August 20, 2019 09:01 - 40 minutes - 55 MBJohn Dokes, chief content officer at AccuWeather and president of the AccuWeather TV network, is also a jazz singer with three albums to his name. He has a standing gig each week with a 10-piece big band and also performs with a quintet. Dokes also weighs in on what’s next for his musical career, Black Panther’s wedding and that time an accurate weather forecast saved Eddie Vedder’s life.
Wieden & Kennedy NY's Neal Arthur on teaching 8th grade sex ed
August 13, 2019 09:01 - 44 minutes - 60.7 MBNeal Arthur, managing director of Wieden & Kennedy New York, shares stories of his time as a sex ed teacher at a Catholic school. “There’s a weird sort of faux confidence in 8th grade that you have to have to make it,” he says. “You walk around acting like you’ve got it all figured out, yet you know nothing.” He also weighs in on his love of Nike’s “Mars Blackmon” ads and admits that he doesn’t like The Beatles or one particular Golden Girl.
Vimeo CMO, Harris Beber, on early rising and century rides
August 07, 2019 09:00 - 38 minutes - 53.3 MBHarris Beber, CMO at Vimeo, talks about the benefits of getting up before dawn and tackling physical tasks that feel impossible. Though he’s perpetually sleep deprived, it gives him more time to spend with his family late at night or to work out on his own schedule. Beber also weighs in on long-distance biking through New York City, dealing with his attention deficit disorder and his love of Mondays.
Grey CCO John Patroulis on hypnosis, odd jobs and niche interests
July 31, 2019 09:01 - 38 minutes - 53.2 MBJohn Patroulis, worldwide chief creative officer at Grey, talks about niche and counterculture topics that have captured his attention over the years, like hypnosis and the atonal musical creations of Jandek. He also gives a rundown of his odd jobs, like window-breaker and night watchman, names shades of gray and weighs in on movies he knows he never needs to see.
The Knot Worldwide CMO, Dhanusha Sivajee, on costume parties
July 24, 2019 09:01 - 39 minutes - 54.7 MBDhanusha Sivajee, CMO at The Knot Worldwide, talks about her love of themed costume parties. She and her husband have held masquerade balls, prohibition bashes and ‘80s parties. She also plays wedding matchmaker, learns new lingo for getting drunk and explains why she likes people who tell it like it is.
BBDO NY CCO Greg Hahn on 'mindhacking'
July 17, 2019 09:01 - 38 minutes - 52.2 MBGreg Hahn, CCO at BBDO New York, talk about ‘mindhacking.’ “It’s about how you approach problems and solve them, and how you can do it by thinking about them differently,” he says. He also weighs in on his love for ‘80s guitar shredding and the disaster epic “Chernobyl” and his hatred of bees.
OKCupid CMO Melissa Hobley on in vitro fertilization
July 11, 2019 09:01 - 52 minutes - 72.5 MBMelissa Hobley, CMO at OKCupid, describes the obstacles facing people who are undergoing in vitro fertilization. She is currently pregnant with her second child conceived using the technique. The process is stressful, time-consuming, painful and expensive, and it involves plenty of uncertainty. “It’s one of those things that so few people talk about, for obvious reasons.” She also weighs in on the best and worst couples, the allure of live TV and mixing politics and family.
The Martin Agency CEO Kristen Cavallo took her kids to 7 continents
July 01, 2019 09:00 - 38 minutes - 53.2 MBKristen Cavallo, CEO of The Martin Agency, talks about traveling to all seven continents with her children, beginning before they were teenagers. After hitting four continents, the family decided to visit them all, a feat they accomplished recently with a trip to Antarctica on an ice breaker that culminated in a polar plunge while on the lookout for hungry orcas. She also weighs in on the limits of casual conversation, going off on tangents and that time an angry customer called her a “fem-n...
Preacher CEO Krystle Loyland on smoking meat and cooking at home
June 19, 2019 09:00 - 38 minutes - 52.4 MBKrystle Loyland, CEO of Preacher, talks about her love of cooking, a talent she inherited from her own mother but didn’t discover until after college. “There’s hardly anything more instantly gratifying than cooking a meal. You get to come up with it and put it together and watch it transform and put it out for people, and you’re done.” She also started smoking meat at home about six years ago. Loyland also weighs in on the best deadly sin, her love of true crime and Beyoncé Knowles.
TBWA chairman Jean-Marie Dru on philanthropy in semi-retirement
June 12, 2019 09:00 - 33 minutes - 46.3 MBJean-Marie Dru, chairman of TBWA Worldwide, talks about the work he does with the French Academy of Medicine Foundation and UNICEF France, where he is president. “What’s the most important thing for the four of us in this room? Health. And then what’s the most important thing for the future of everybody? Our children.” He also talks about his love of classic films and the French rappers and poets called “slammers,” and he weighs in on the creative benefits of jetlag, Eminem's vocabulary and ...
Clio Awards editor-in-chief Tim Nudd on Maine living
June 05, 2019 09:00 - 38 minutes - 52.8 MBTim Nudd, editor-in-chief of the Clio Awards and editor of Muse by Clio, talks about living the not-so-quiet life in Maine, where he goes fishing, camping and lobstering. “You slowly, through a catapult motion, let out more and more line,” he says. “You try to throw a fly in a particular part of a river where the fish are congregating.” He also weighs in on the appeal of Billy Joel and British period dramas and relates a tale of a bachelor party at sea—though not his own.
The Daily Beast CRO Mia Libby on rediscovering skiing
May 29, 2019 09:01 - 39 minutes - 53.6 MBMia Libby, chief revenue officer at The Daily Beast, talks about getting back in the game after years of skiing competitively when she was younger. “I need to be able to do something that is not doing my job, that is not being a mom, that I really enjoy. It’s really fun to rediscover this thing that I was once good at and be good at it again,” she says. She also weighs in on proper cold-weather attire, ineffective ad jingles and the inexplicable allure of tapas.
Squarespace CCO David Lee on meditation through photo manipulation
May 22, 2019 09:01 - 32 minutes - 44.1 MBDavid Lee, chief creative officer at Squarespace, talks about how he discovered that editing photos gave him time to himself to think about everything else going on at work and in his life. “It’s like this repetitive task that you’re doing, and you’re not really even thinking about it, so your mind can drift. You can actually multitask very well.” He also weighs in on skateboarding as a kid, awkward anagrams and buying a technically-road-legal electric bike.
Jeff Goodby on his tequila business
May 15, 2019 09:01 - 36 minutes - 50.7 MBGoodby Silverstein & Partners founder Jeff Goodby talks about his tequila importing business—a small-batch, high-end liquor aged for 5 years in three kinds of barrels. “It makes you do your other job better to have things on the side, whether it’s fishing or painting or playing soccer or whatever you take seriously,” he says. He also chooses the best vandals throughout history, recommends alarming audio books and takes a milk-based pop quiz.
RPA's Jason Sperling on graphic novels and comic books
May 08, 2019 09:00 - 34 minutes - 47.3 MBJason Sperling, SVP, chief, creative development at RPA, talks about his affinity for graphic novels, comic books and trade paperbacks. In advertising “these days, there’s absolutely no shame in saying, ‘I love Star Wars, I love Battlestar Galactica,’” he says. “And of course, comic books—in some ways they’re saving cinema.” He also recommends science fiction titles, picks a superpower and tells a story about his first meeting with Gerry Graf.
Noble People CEO Greg March and his pinball machine collection
May 01, 2019 09:00 - 27 minutes - 38 MBNoble People CEO Greg March talks about his nascent collection of pinball machines—an homage of sorts to his father’s love of watches. “There is no less impermanent business than advertising,” March says. "I guess to have a hobby that is tactile and physical, but also incorporates art and storytelling all at the same time, it touched a lot of buttons for me.” He also weighs in on screen time for his kids, too much cheese, and the dangers of reckless entrepreneurship.
Mekanism CEO Jason Harris on sparring in the ring
April 24, 2019 09:01 - 30 minutes - 42.4 MBMekanism president and CEO Jason Harris talks about sparring in the boxing ring—for charity at first—which evolved into his preferred workout after a long day at the office. “It was terrifying. You don’t really know until you go in there for your first sparring match how you’re going to take a punch,” Harris says. “And then you kind of get into it, and you enjoy getting hit after a while, which is a really weird thing to say.” He also weighs in on growing up near Washington, D.C., what it wa...
Virtue CCO Cameron Farrelly on hoarding
April 17, 2019 09:00 - 34 minutes - 47.8 MBVirtue CCO Cameron Farrelly talks about the obsessive need to curate—some might say hoard—items that strike his fancy. Collecting “vinyl is like having a hobby that doesn’t have a finish. It’s going to torment you, because you’re never going to master that hobby, so you will never be complete,” he says. He also weighs in on his own virtues, creativity as an obsessive tendency and the recursive cultural critique of “The Truman Show.”
Tiffany R. Warren, chief diversity officer and SVP at Omnicom, founder and president of the diversity advocacy organization AdColor
April 10, 2019 09:00 - 33 minutes - 46.4 MBTiffany R. Warren talks about the skin care tradition handed down through her family and the ways she’s improved upon it. “In a way, when I take care of my skin, it’s a connection to my grandmother,” she says. She also weighs in on her ideal breakfast, what to do with your privilege and the enduring legacy of New Edition.
Deutsch North American CCO Pete Favat on woodworking
April 03, 2019 13:26 - 28 minutes - 38.9 MBPete Favat talks about building useful things from scrap and renovating his home on “This Old House.” The C-suite leaves less time to get his hands dirty on the job, he says. “You’re using your brain, which is good, but there’s no physical gratification at all. We weren’t put on this earth to just bang keys on a keyboard.” So he creates on his own time, putting together whatever strikes his fancy: a dog sled, a chandelier, a garden.
Joan CCO Jaime Robinson on knitting
April 02, 2019 12:55 - 33 minutes - 45.4 MBJoan Creative CCO Jaime Robinson keeps both a spinning wheel and a loom in her closet so she can spin yarn and knit blankets and sweaters, “like the lady in Rumpelstiltskin.” She also reveals her favorite Joan and goes deep on the allure of “Russian Doll” and her childhood memories of the Sears Wish Book.
What is Ad Block? Why you should listen.
April 01, 2019 15:29 - 18 minutes - 25.5 MBHosts I-Hsien Sherwood and Alfred Maskeroni discuss the concept of Ad Block, future guests and what listeners can expect. They also talk about what they didn’t name the show.