Inspiring Futures - Lessons from the Worlds of Marketing and Advertising
Inspiring Futures pulls back the curtain on the minds reshaping advertising and marketing today. Host Ed Cotton, former Chief Strategy Officer at Butler Shine and Stern & Partners, engages industry visionaries in raw, unfiltered conversations about their career pivots, creative breakthroughs, and strategic innovations. No canned responses. No PR filters. Just honest insights about navigating the complex world of brands, creativity, and agency life. Each episode delivers actionable wisdom from those who've mastered the craft and aren't afraid to share their failures alongside their successes.
Episodes
145 episodes
Rachel Ramaswamy- Managing Partner - Work and Co
Rachel has spent over a decade at Work&Co. In the episode, we discuss the company's unique origin story and how it has evolved alongside the transformative changes in the world of technology. We talk about..1. The importa...
•
55:34
The Talent Architect: Christine Olivas (No Single Individual) on Building Today's Agency Model
Christine Olivas began her career by hand-delivering 50 resumes to San Francisco startups, which resulted in one startup hiring her. Her entry into agency work came when an owner heard a webinar she produced and was impressed enough...
•
1:06:33
Tara Lawall- Chief Creative Officer and Partner- Rethink NY
Tara is the Chief Creative Officer at Rethink NY.She has extensive creative experience from agencies including Y&R, BBH, Mother, and Droga (x2).In our conversation, we discussed her experience at Miami Ad School, where she was...
•
58:59
Pip Bingemann- Co-Founder- Springboards.Ai
The latest Inspiring Futures podcast features an interview with Pip Bingemann- the co-founder of Springboards.aiAs strategy departments grapple with how to use AI, this podcast seems timely.Pip is an agency strategist who embraced...
•
47:54
Michael Miller and Chris Noble- Consiglieri
The latest Inspiring Futures podcast features an interview with Michael Miller and Chris Nobile- two of the three founders of consulting group Consiglieri.Before the founding of the consultancy, Michael and Chris worked together and help...
•
1:05:54
Ali Burton- Gate One and Catch
The latest Inspiring Futures podcast features an interview with Ali Burton. Ali is Head of Incubator at Gate One in London, which is a Havas-owned start-up incubator. He's also in the process of growing his own start-up ...
•
53:58
Donna Dupont- Chief Strategist, Foresight and Design- Purple Compass
The latest Inspiring Futures episode is all about "Futures".My guest is Donna Dupont, Chief Strategist, Foresight and Design at Purple Compass.As the Founder and Chief Strategist in Foresight & Design for Purple Compass, Donna...
•
1:00:34
Brent Vartan- Managing Partner- Bullish- Moving Strategy Upstream
The latest episode of Inspiring Futures features an excerpt from a webinar I hosted with Brent Vartan of Bullish. Brent began his career as a strategist at shops that included- BBDO and Deutsch. Bullish was founded in 2016...
•
34:43
Mark Lester- Squint Consulting
Mark is the co-founder of Squint Consulting. Before Squint, Mark was an experienced Head of Strategy working with clients like Nike, Netflix, Samsung, and Diageo. His career spanned New York, London, and Amsterdam and he spent his ...
•
59:02
The World of Pharma Marketing- Martin Stapff- Co-Founder, Chief Creative Officer, Michelle Rigot- Executive Creative Director/Strategy- Yama Group
YAMA Group was founded in 2009 and has steadily built a reputation as one of the leading small, independent pharma shops in the world. It has worked on brands including Botox, Humira, and Keytruda and works with Takeda, AbbVie, and...
•
57:03
Dr. Anastasia Kārkliņa Gabriel.- Understanding Culture
My latest Inspiring Futures podcast episode features an interview with Dr. Anastasia Kārkliņa Gabriel.Anastasia is a cultural theorist, writer, social critic, and strategist specializing in inclusivity within marketing, media, and tech....
•
54:13
Julianna Katrancha- Group Strategy Director - Johannes Leonardo
The latest episode of Inspiring Futures features an interview with Julianna Katrancha- Group Strategy Director at Johannes Leonardo. This is one of my favorite interviews because Julianna dives into the learnings from her journey from a media p...
•
57:42
Allen Adamson- Metaforce
The latest Inspiring Futures episode features an interview with Allen Adamson of Metaforce. Allen is a seasoned executive with experience client side at Unilever and in the agency world with the likes of Landor, Y&R, and Ogilvy...
•
50:49
The Future of Creative Services- Joe Nash and Patrick Kizny
The latest Inspiring Futures podcast is a discussion with Joe Nash and Patrick Kizny about the current and future state of creative services and creative studios. Joe was formerly the Director of Business Strategy at Buck and the co-founder of ...
•
1:04:53
Lori Bartle- Cultivagency- From Account Management to Account Leadership
The latest episode of the Inspiring Futures podcast features an interview with Lori Bartle of Cultivagency. Lori has over two decades of experience in Account Management although she much prefers to call it Account Leadership.<...
•
54:56
Tom Suharto - Global Strategy Lead - Forsman & Bodenfors
The latest episode of Inspiring Futures features an interview with Tom Suharto, Global Strategy Lead at Forsman & Bodenfors. Tom started in market research (quant) worked with Hall and Partners and helped to establish their off...
•
55:37
Hyphenated- 4 Years On- William Esparza and Kelli Roberston
When Hyphenated was awarded Silver, West Coast in Ad Age's Small Agency of the Year Awards the publication wrote the following introduction."When William Esparza and Kelli Robertson left their roles at R/GA in 2019 to establish their ow...
•
1:01:44
Jonathan Wise- CoFounder - Purpose Disruptors
The latest Inspiring Futures podcast features an interview with Jonathan Wise one of the co-founders of the non-profit Purpose Disruptors.Jonathan was once a strategist at JWT, but quit his job to study for an MBA in Sustainability....
•
1:02:23
Dr. Grace Kite- Founder- Magic Numbers and Magic Works
The latest episode of Inspiring Futures features an interview with Dr. Grace Kite, the founder of Magic Numbers and Magic Works, an analytics-focused consultancy that helps companies and brands understand how they grow.In our conversatio...
•
53:53
Beth Bentley - Tomorrowism
The latest Inspiring Futures episode features an interview with Beth Bentley the co-founder of consultancy Tomorrowism. Beth's experience includes- Deputy Head of Strategy- Adam & Eve, LondonExecutive Head ...
•
1:04:41
Caroline Johnson- Co-Founder- Business Model Company
The latest Inspiring Futures podcast features an interview with Caroline Johnson- Co-Founder of The Business Model Company. Caroline worked at Grey but then worked at KPMG as a consultant. The Business Model Company advises agen...
•
1:01:16
Andy Nairn- Co-Founder- Lucky Generals
Andy Nairn co-founded Lucky Generals- an ad agency with offices in London and New York. Beyond running an agency, Andy has written a best-selling business book "Go Luck Yourself" and has just completed his first novel- "Trail of Blood" a ...
•
1:12:43
Maz Karimian- ustwo
Maz Karimian heads up strategy at ustwo an employee-owned product design company that brings emotional game-inspired thinking to product design—some key quotes from our conversation below. About ustwo“Monu...
•
59:26