Ad Age Insider

In the AI era, company culture is the real differentiator. Ad Age's Senior Editor Adrianne Pascarelli breaks down the workforce gap nobody's solved, the AI overhype she's most suspicious of and the influencer disclosure loophole about to blow up in brands' faces. She also shares the three words marketers put in a live word cloud when asked to sum up the moment (humanity, insanity, never-ending change), and the one workforce question she's still trying to get answered.

Listen to the full conversation from Ad Age Insider wherever you're currently listening.

Rich Silverstein is stepping down as co-chairman of Goodby Silverstein & Partners after 43 years, with an AI hotline trained on his voice now fielding creative pitches in his place. Plus, Burger King turns its own product failures into ad material; Meta's Muse and Anthropic's Claude Commerce Blueprint push brands toward agentic holiday shopping prep; CampStudios, Pufferfish and StudioB pull creator-led work into agency rosters once reserved for traditional shops.

Host Parker Herren breaks down what each story means for marketers navigating agency succession, AI's expanding role in creative work, transparency as a trust-building strategy and the shift toward agentic commerce. Subscribe for weekly industry news roundups, plus biweekly deep-dive conversations with Ad Age reporters.

Dig deeper on the topics mentioned in this week's episode:

~Rich Silverstein steps away from Goodby Silverstein & Partners—inside the art director's storied career

~Rich Silverstein's unfiltered wisdom lives on in the AI-powered 'GPT Rich'

~Burger King's CMO on why the chain keeps turning failures into ad campaigns

~How brands should prepare for an agentic holiday shopping season

~Where creator-led agencies are winning work from traditional shops

Marketing budgets are tight across the board, but mid-size brands—companies roughly between $50 million and $1 billion in revenue—have been finding ways to make theirs work harder. Adrianne Pasquarelli, senior editor of CMO strategy and commerce at Ad Age, digs into how these brands operate with fewer resources, fewer layers of approval and a lot more speed. She breaks down what's driving bolder creative risks, how AI is showing up in unexpected ways and what bigger brands could actually learn from smaller ones.

Parker Herren talks with Pasquarelli about why mid-size CMOs are willing to take creative swings that bigger legal departments would shut down, how one baby food brand built an internal AI tool to keep its marketing on-brand without slowing anyone down and why leaner teams often mean less data and more gut instinct. It's a look at what happens when constraints force creativity instead of killing it. Subscribe to Ad Age Insider so you don't miss the next conversation.

Dig deeper on the topics mentioned in this week's episode:

~Introducing the 2026 Ad Age Mid Size Brand Leaders

~How mid-size marketers are turning budget constraints into a competitive edge

~What 15 mid-size brand leaders are prioritizing—and cutting—right now

X&O co-founders Brett Banker and Eric Segal play a game of overrated or underrated, dishing on the holding company vs. independents debate, spec work, content creators and more. Check out Ad Age's full conversation with the duo in the first episode of Agencies on Record, a new quarterly podcast from Ad Age.

Don't miss the full conversation with Brett Banker and Eric Segal

Develop the strategic idea, then step back—the client can take it in-house, hand it to another agency or bring X&O back to build it themselves. That's the split that co-founders Brett Banker and Eric Segal say powers their sprint model: five-to-six-day timelines, a top-to-top rule that puts C-level talent in the room from day one and a hard "no" on pitching for free, even against a strong prospect.

In Agencies on Record, Ad Age's new quarterly podcast, the pair also break down how their model scales into more complex categories, including an eight-week version built for healthcare's regulatory hurdles. Banker and Segal explain why they've stayed deliberately small—capping the agency at roughly 50 people—even as revenue climbed from $4.2 million in 2024 to more than $8 million in 2025, driven by fixed-fee project work with clients including Coca-Cola and Verizon and talent like Heated Rivalry's Connor Storrie.

The duo weigh in on Dentsu's move into the sprint space with its relaunched 360i unit, the challenges of maintaining focus inside a holding company, and why they've trademarked their own answer to the traditional agency-of-record model: what they call "answers on repeat." They also explain their hard line against speculative pitching, even when a prospective client all but promises the win.

Dig deeper

~Read the Small Agency Playbook

~Why agencies are adopting sprint models and how they work

~How small agencies choose the right pitches—and prepare to win

~Agency reviews in 2030—24 leaders predict what the marketing pitch process will look like

~CMO Survival Guide: What CMOs want from agencies—3 ways to improve relations

Creative studio Basura's satirical "Adopt a Data Center" campaign imagines AI data centers as rescue animals. Plus, Applebee's names BBDO Chicago its new creative agency as CMO Michelle Chin looks to reverse falling same-store sales; Subway casts Will Arnett as America's tempted subconscious in its first campaign from new AOR Martin; OpenAI rolls out chat-based ad formats, tightening advertising's ties to its enterprise business; Parke offers lessons in community-based brand building.

Host Parker Herren breaks down what each story means for marketers navigating skepticism toward AI infrastructure, legacy brand reinvention and community-first retail growth. Subscribe for weekly industry news roundups, plus biweekly deep-dive conversations with Ad Age reporters.

Dig deeper on the topics mentioned in this week's episode:

~Cuddly toy emits the hum of an AI data center in biting satirical campaign

~Applebee's turns to BBDO Chicago in a bid to regain growth

~Subway casts Will Arnett as your 'SUBconscious'—inside the campaign with CMO Jeff Klein

~How OpenAI is connecting ChatGPT ads to its enterprise business—and what it means for brands

~How DTC brand Parke is turning its social-first community into retail growth

Creators aren't just making content anymore—they're getting pulled into the actual strategy conversation. Ad Age social and influencer marketing reporter Gillian Follett explains how creators are shaping product decisions and campaign direction with brands, not just showing up in the final cut. She also weighs in on the branded-series gold rush (and why most of it isn't landing), a friend-group content format quietly gaining traction, and the one question about AI companies and creator partnerships she's still trying to get answered.

Listen to the full conversation on your favorite podcast platform.

Viral videos of influencers disrupting US Open matches exposed how many brands still lack clear systems for briefing talent, picking the right creators or vetting whether an event even fits their brand. Plus, WPP is set to retain Coca-Cola's global media, data and technology business but won't compete for its North America media pitch; KFC's new Open House concept restaurant joins a wave of experimental formats as quick service chains test menu, pricing and design ideas before rolling them out at scale; Amazon Ads becomes ChatGPT's biggest ad tech partner, letting marketers reserve ad inventory inside the chatbot; and QuikTrip's Home Bun activation drew more than 230 million views.

Host Parker Herren breaks down what each story means for marketers navigating creator accountability, agency fragmentation, experimental innovation and the rise of conversational advertising. Subscribe for weekly industry news roundups, plus biweekly deep-dive conversations with Ad Age reporters.

Dig deeper on the topics mentioned in this week's episode:

~WPP is set to win Coca-Cola's global agency review

~Inside fast food's big bet on experimental restaurant concepts

~Amazon becomes a new funnel for buying ChatGPT ads

~3 creator event mistakes the US Open exposed—and how to avoid them

~How QuikTrip dreamed up its viral in-stadium MLB hot dog game

Gillian Follett, social marketing and influencer reporter at Ad Age, breaks down how brand-creator partnerships have evolved in 2026, from creators taking on strategic roles in product development and marketing decisions to equity deals reshaping the influencer economy. The conversation covers creator advisory boards at holding companies, the rise of creator-founded agencies producing social-first branded content and the growing use of livestreaming creators in brand campaigns. It also gets into an emerging trend: brands working with creators to optimize content for AI search tools.

Host Parker Herren digs into where traditional, one-off sponsored posts still fit, why influencer fatigue is pushing brands toward more selective partnerships, and what's overhyped in the scripted branded-content boom right now. Subscribe to Ad Age Insider for more conversations that turn Ad Age's reporting into strategy marketers can implement now.

Dig deeper on the topics mentioned in this week's episode:

~Subscribe to The Creator Brief by Ad Age!

~A new creator agency with an advisory board model gives talent a seat at the strategy table

~How four friends built a creator business—and landed 30 brand deals in four months

~OpenAI's creator trip fallout—what to do before signing an AI brand deal

~Inside the rise of creator-brand equity deals—and how they're reshaping creator marketing

~4 ways creator-brand partnerships are evolving

Planters named Martin, the agency behind the Geico Gecko, its creative agency of record without running a formal review, betting on character-driven branding to sharpen Mr. Peanut's point of view. Plus, Callaway ended its Good Good Golf partnership after a controversial ad, exposing gaps in how brands vet creator-made content; The Trade Desk overhauled Kokai with more visibility into automated ad buying OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, Microsoft and Google are marketing AI to two audiences at once, exposing a marketing dilemma; and new sunscreen brand Pasty Man is targeting men with a an elderly dancer's backside.

Host Parker Herren breaks down what each story means for marketers navigating agency hiring strategy, creator content oversight, ad tech transparency and AI trust building. Subscribe for weekly industry news roundups.

Dig deeper on the topics mentioned in this week's episode:

~Planters hires Martin to help Mr. Peanut win the protein wars

~Callaway controversy reveals gaps in how brands review creator ads

~The Trade Desk is overhauling its ad-buying platform—here's what marketers need to know

~Why AI CMOs have a problem that goes beyond advertising

~Pasty Man uses a 90-year-old butt to make its case for sunscreen