GUEST HOST: Ryan Kutscher, award-winning writer, creative director, and founder of the independent agency Circus Maximus, winner of multiple Ad Age Small Agency of the Year honors. Former ECD at CP+B, former CCO at JWT. GUEST: Aaron Starkman, Global Chief Creative Officer at Canada-based agency Rethink. Campaign Magazine named him Global Creative Leader of the Year. Rethink won 2022 Global Independent Agency of the year by Campaign and Clios. Winner of Ad Age’s # 1 ad in the world. Adweek Creative 100. Former CCO at CP+B Toronto. 

Chris Beresford-Hill hosts Jeff Goodby, co-founder of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners. They discuss their experiences in the office, the importance of collaboration, working from home during the pandemic, fostering a supportive culture for creativity, rebellion and love in advertising, the importance of honesty and empathy, perspectives on creative awards, and experiences with people leaving and returning.

Pancho Cassis is Partner and Global Chief Creative Officer at David. Winner of 112 Cannes lions, 4 Grand Prix, 1 Titanium, a Black Pencil at D&AD, and a pile more awards too long to list. Under Pancho’s leadership, David has been named Agency of the Year by Ad Age, Clio, One Show and D@AD. These recognitions are the result of consistently outstanding creative, anchored by Burger King’s Moldy Whopper campaign, one of the bravest and most iconic campaigns of all time. 

Simon Cook, CEO of Cannes Lions, discusses the evolution and challenges of CanLions, the importance of non-traditional work experience, and the process of managing the judging and creating quality case studies. They also touch on the significance of winning awards and the power of creativity to drive change in the industry.

Greg Hahn, Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of Mischief@No Fixed Address, talks about his background, the challenges of maintaining high performance in an agency, and the growth of Mischief from one client to 30. They also discuss the evolution of the creative process, the cost of entries for advertising awards, the fears and responsibilities of agency founders, and the power of the name 'Mischief' in attracting clients.

Devika Bulchandani is Global President of Ogilvy, making her the first ever woman of color to run a global agency network. In 2022, Ogilvy won Global Network of the Year at Cannes. Prior to joining Ogilvy in 2021, Dev had a storied 26-year career at McCann, most recently as President of McCann North America. She led Mastercard’s Priceless campaign. In 2017, she helped bring to life the iconic Fearless Girl, making Mccann one of the most awarded agencies in the world. In 2019 she was recognized by Campaign Magazine as U.S. Advertising Agency Head of the Year. Dev is also a founding member of Times Up Advertising, where she has tirelessly championed equality for women in advertising. 

Alex Lopez is President & Global Creative Chairman at McCann Worldgroup. Before that, he spent 23 years at Nike, where he became one of the most accomplished and awarded brand marketers of our generation. Pick any of your favorite Nike campaigns of the past two decades, and chances are you’ll find Alex’s fingerprints. Including on the now legendary Dream Crazy campaign starring Colin Kaepernick. Alex also led efforts to launch new sport categories like Nike Skateboarding, the brand’s launch into Digital Sport via the Fuel Band, and most recently Nike’s foray into long-form content with Waffle Iron Entertainment. Alex has won every major creative marketing award including an Emmy, seven Cannes Grand Prix Lions, the D&AD Black Pencil, One Show Brand Of The Year, and hundreds more. His work is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in NYC. 

Mike Cessario is the founder and CEO of Liquid Death, the fastest growing nonalcoholic beverage brand EVER. Mike is hacking the bottled water market, inspired by heavy metal and punk rock culture, and a motto to "murder your thirst." Using 100% recyclable aluminum packaging and zero plastic, Mike’s evil mission is to make health and sustainability fun and disruptive. Since the inception of his brand in 2018, Mike has raised $125 million in funding. Liquid Death products are currently sold in over 29,000 retail locations nationwide, including Whole Foods, 7-Eleven andTarget. From its branding to its marketing, the food and beverage category has never seen anything like Liquid Death.  

Melissa Proctor is Chief Marketing Officer of the Atlanta Hawks and State Farm Arena, and author of “Ball Girl to CMO.“ She was the subject of a 2021 ESPN profile titled: "The revolutionary path of Hawks CMO Melissa Proctor." She is a brand leader recognized for her creativity, work ethic, and empathy. As CMO of an NBA franchise, Melissa's responsibilities include: day-to-day marketing, team branding, advertising and promotions, managing the internal video production and creative agency Hawks studio, fan experience and game-day production, community outreach and more. Melissa started her career with Turner Broadcasting, serving in senior brand development and strategy positions for Turner Entertainment Networks, Cartoon Network, and Turner Media Group.  In 2019, the Caribbean American Arts Foundation awarded Proctor with a Captains of Industry award. She is not only an senior executive but also an artist, mother, author and speaker.

Ricardo Viramontes is Chief Creative Officer at The Springhill Company, the brand and content studio founded by Lebron James and Maverick Carter in 2020. Ricardo’s 20-year path to his current role includes stops at BSSP, Wieden + Kennedy, CAA, B-Reel, Apple and Lyft. His work has earned him awards and accolades at every major advertising show including Cannes, where he won the Film Grand Prix and the first Branded Entertainment Grand Prix. In 2021 Ricardo was named to the Adweek Creative 100.