In the ad, Williams hums softly as she puts her daughter in her crib, before quietly reciting the lyrics to LL Cool J’s 1990 classic “Mama Said Knock You Out.” The lyrics begin: “Don’t call it a comeback…” The ad spread like wildfire on social media, garnering praise for being a “nuanced” and “powerful” celebration of a working mother. In late August, the internet was buzzing about tennis superstar Serena Williams. It wasn’t about the U.S. Open, just about to kick off. Rather, it was about a new ad from JPMorgan Chase called “#ThisMama,” …

Jon Pearce, the global Chief Creative Officer of Hudson Rouge, deserves the accolade creative genius. He has helped transform the once-stodgy Lincoln Motor Company into a relevant and buzzworthy brand. Who can forget the infamous Matthew McConaughey spoken-word spots that were spoofed by everyone from “Saturday Night Live” to Ellen DeGeneres? Everyone was talking about them. “Making fun” is the best free advertising ever. While likes and recognition are wonderful, Pearce’s campaigns have also driven sales. The car company hasreported four consecutive years of global sales gains, expected to reach 300,000 sales by the …

With his shaved head and neck tattoo, Jeff Charney doesn’t look like someone you’d expect to find heading marketing at one of the country’s biggest insurance companies.  But it’s that affinity for the unconventional that has helped Progressive grow its sales, recently jumping over Allstate to become the third-largest insurance company in market share, according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.  The neck tattoo, an actual working QR code that takes you to Progressive’s website, is fake. But Charney’s relentless energy is real. (He says he uses the tattoo as a conversation starter.)  …

When Erick Dickens joined 60-year-old King’s Hawaiian as VP, marketing in 2013, the brand was at a tipping point. The Torrance, California-based company had expanded its production facility there and added a plant in Georgia, but it was still relatively little-known outside of the West Coast. About 40% of its sales volume was concentrated between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and much of the rest around Easter.  And with the fresh bread category as a whole in decline as consumers fled from carbs, the purchase frequency of the brand’s sweet dinner rolls and other products was …

“You will never walk away from a conversation with Helen Lin without having learned something,” says Publicis Media Global CEO Steve King about his peripatetic Chief Digital Officer, adding that “Helen is ‘the glue’ that connects Publicis Groupe’s digital leaders around the world.” That’s the one-two punch that is Helen Lin: a human connector par excellence — she  describes herself as an “extreme collaborator”— but also a relentless innovator. These twin characteristics made her being named a 2018 Online Media All-Star all but inevitable. That, and her adroit managing of the digital portion of …

When Omnicom launched next-generation agency Hearts & Science in 2016 and named Annalect founder-CEO Scott Hagedorn to run it, it needed another All Star to succeed him at the big data and insights shop. It turned to the unit’s Chief Analytics Officer Slavi Samardzija, a 15-year veteran of WPP’s data-centric unit Wunderman. After two years at Omnicom, he was the logical choice to build on Hagedorn’s work. Two years later, Samardzija has earned an induction as one of MediaPost’s All Stars for transforming not just Annalect, but all of Omnicom, serving as the …

One could, perhaps, ponder the irony of advancements in digital data technology creating new opportunities to talk to human beings like they were, well, people. But Angela Steele has no time for ironies. She’s too busy bringing that mission to life for Carat and its clients.  Since the digital media veteran was tapped to be Chief Strategy Officer for Carat U.S. in November 2017, her singular focus has been on transforming the Dentsu Aegis Network media agency brand’s domestic planning offering into an end-to-end marketing and media solution called The Path.  Powering The …

A primary source of inspiration back then was his grandfather’s supermarket, where Bailey helped create hand-painted signs used to draw attention to merchandise, prices and sales. “That was kind of the start of it,” Bailey recalls, noting that back in those days he also liked to pore over magazines — first and foremost for the ads they contained. That was three-plus decades ago. By the time he reached college, Bailey had focused on learning about the account and business sides of the industry.  While many young kids dream of being astronauts, big league ball …

After cutting her teeth repping media at radio broadcaster Emmis Communications, then leading digital for its seminal Emmis Interactive division, Tricia Clarke-Stone dove directly into branding. She joined hip-hop impresario Russell Simmons’ Global Grind, an agency created to help big brands tap into popular urban culture. After selling Global Grind to Interactive One, she co-founded Narrative_ with Simmons to continue the mission of hip-hop marketing services for various brands, such as Under Armour and Universal Pictures. They later sold the agency to Hollywood producer Will Packer and launched WP Narrative, a new kind of …