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
165 episodes
Lucinda Bounsall- Sibling Studios
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 strategy. Originally an aspiring journalist, she spent her early career...
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59:20
The Business of Different- Barry Labov
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 marketing department. That unlikely path led him to become one of the foremost experts on bra...
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53:13
Tower28- Making it Easy to Go Global
This is an interview with Erin Emmerson, CEO, Founder, Kelsey Croos, President, Founder and David Young, Global Executive Creative Director of Tower28.This is how they describe themselves on their website. "Like the Santa Mon...
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50:00
Justin Herber- Scaling Brands and Hollywood
This week on Inspiring Futures, we sit down with Justin Herber.He's a chief brand officer, consultant, and former screenwriter whose career has moved between Hollywood and the brand world. Justin got his start working for Mic...
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1:07:08
Gigi Grimes- Founder- Pai
Gigi spent seven years at Google before leaving to start a research company.Pai isn't any old research company; it specializes in the creation of "digital twins". These are digital replicas based on real consumers.Pai ...
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58:46
Elle McCarthy- VP- brand, creative and product marketing- McAffe
Elle is the perfect person to talk to if you want an understanding of strategy inside organizations. She started her work life selling punk fashions in London's Camden Market, but found her way into adland, landing strategy roles at...
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58:27
The Hidden Architecture of Japanese Running- an interview with Jeremy Kuhles
Japan has one of the world’s deepest running cultures and at the center of it sits Ekiden: the long-distance relay that becomes a national obsession every winter. In this episode, I’m joined by Jeremy Kuhles, a translator, wr...
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54:26
John Long- ECD and Author of Zombie Brands
John is an ECD at Digitas and the author of a new book, "Zombie Brands."In our conversation, we talked about his book and the why, what, and how behind the rise of the Zombie Brand.Some of John's quotes from our chat.On the...
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56:08
Tom Garland- Founder-Edition Partners
Tom Garland founded Edition Partners, a London-based creative growth studio, in January 2023. His career spans record labels (Sony, Warner, Universal), Red Bull's experiential marketing peak, and seven years at Highsnobiety where he...
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55:40
Justin Rashidi- Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer SeedX
IntroductionJustin Rashidi is co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer at SeedX, a data-driven marketing and business consultancy approaching its tenth year. In this episode of Inspiring Futures, he talks about his unlikely path ...
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55:49
Neil Perkin- Only Dead Fish
Neil Perkin is a consultant, author, and self-described polymath working at the intersection of strategy, digital transformation, emerging technology, and leadership. With roots in media transformation at Time Inc during the dot-com...
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52:57
Re-Imagining Havas Chicago- A Conversation with Chief Strategy Officer Chase Cornett and Chief Creative Officer Frank Dattalo
It's always interesting to see what a network agency in a local market is capable of, especially at a moment in advertising history when geography matters less than it ever has. A few weeks back, I got a chance to sit down with Hava...
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1:00:31
Nick Thompson - CEO of The Atlantic- Author-- "The Running Ground"
A 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 new book, "The Running Ground." We got to talk about the book—what inspired it, how he approached it, and how...
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48:43
Brandon Murphy- Chief Strategy Officer- Trade School- Atlanta
Brandon runs strategy at Trade School which is the creative agency which was born out of 22squared in 2020.The agency's clients include- Makita, Home Depot, Shark Ninja, Publix and Advent Health. Brandon's experience includ...
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59:22
Kelsey Hodgkin- CEO and Partner- Special US
5 Things I learned from talking to Kelsey Hodgkin- CEO-Special US In my conversation for the Inspiring Futures podcasts that spans London, Buenos Aires, and Los Angeles, Kelsey Hodgkin — CEO and Partner at Special U.S. — ...
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1:08:06
Nick Avaria- Inside The Unglamorous World of Agency Operations
While most of us are obsessed with the creative and strategy side of the business, the harsh reality is that agencies succeed or fail based on their operational competence. For this recent episode of Inspiring Futures, I spent time ...
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1:01:41
What's to Be Done About Misaligned Briefs And a Broken Creative Process?
The latest Inspiring Futures podcast on better briefs and creative development featured a different format - instead of a typical one-on-one conversation, I gathered together an expert panel to examine and explore the issue.Matt Davie...
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57:23
Mary Lou Bunn- CEO + Founder- Flower Shop
Mary Lou Bunn is the CEO and founder of the agency Flower Shop. This is how the agency describes itself on its website. "Ad Age’s Small Agency 2024 Newcomer of the Year. That’s right, we’re a creative agency. We may be b...
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56:47
Lucy Barbor - We Are Masterplan
From digital media planner to Chief Strategy Officer - and now she's on a mission to democratize strategy for everyone.This is a podcast interview I did with Lucy Barbor, a strategy consultant and educator who's flipping the scrip...
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1:07:32
David Aaker- The OG of Brand
David Aaker is widely regarded as the father of modern branding. Over a five-decade career, he transformed brand from a communications tool into a strategic asset. His groundbreaking concept of brand equity, introduced in Ma...
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48:05
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...
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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...
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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...
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58:59