Ad Age Insider

What do you do after writing a book called "The End of Advertising?" If you're Andrew Essex, you co-found an advertising company. But Plan A, he says, is built on a different model than the traditional holding company. A former journalist and the co-founding CEO of Droga5, Essex brings with him an impressive pedigree. We get into that background, where the industry is going, consultancies, the breakdown of the traditional models and what's next for Plan A.

With a trade war brewing, there's a lot more focus on products Made in the USA—but don't believe everything you see. There are some cases of marketers blurring the lines when it comes to products actually made here, and the FTC rules enforcing truthful "Made in USA" claims lack teeth. But that could be changing.

Ryan Kutscher may have been a noted chef if he didn't decide to go into advertising. Today he is chief creative officer and founder of Circus Maximus, a New York shop which has won its fair share of Ad Age Small Agency awards over the years. In this Ad Lib podcast, he talks about everything from his early days at Crispin Porter & Bogusky and the creation of "Whopper Freakout" to where he and his agency fit into today's project-led world.

An associate operations director at the GroupM shop Essence by day, Lawson writes and podcasts extensively and candidly about diversity and inclusion issues on the side—on the Mixed Company podcast and her own blog. In an industry where young black women are too often unseen and unheard, she's making a point of speaking up.

The industry's collective mind was blown when David Droga announced in April that his namesake agency, Droga5, would be acquired by Accenture Interactive. The consultants are coming for the creatives, the narrative went. Not so fast, says Droga. Here, he discusses the three-year journey toward acquisition—and what comes next.

Lindsey Slaby is a one woman three ring circus: In one ring is her brand consultancy, Sunday Dinner, which coaches clients through various stages of organizational transformation. The second ring is networking on steroids, be it on her invite-only Slack channel or through the invite-only brainstorming dinners that gave Sunday Dinner its name. The third ring is, well, just any old conversation with her, like this one, which can ricochet into myriad directions at any moment.

Laurent Ezekiel has his work cut out for him: The Publicis vet joined WPP in May to serve as its first CMO and growth officer. It's a new position at the world's largest advertising holding company, which was the worst performing agency holding company in 2018. He discusses how WPP aims to dig out of its hole and explains what his new boss, WPP CEO Mark Read, means when he talks about becoming a "creative transformation company."

David Fischer started Highsnobiety in 2005 as personal blog dedicated to his passion for sneaker culture and fashion. Today it is a multi-pronged media brand, a magazine that prints twice a year and a creative agency. With 500 million social media impressions, and nine million unique visitors a month, Highsnobiety is about to enter a new phase: The company is partnering with Prada this month for a limited edition product launch this month as it rolls out its new commerce business.

In an industry with no shortage of Negative Nancies, Rob Reilly is a perpetual, evangelical optimist. But he wasn't always: He once had an employer require him to take a year's worth of classes to learn how to be more respectful of others. Reilly credits that work—among other things—with why he's having such a good run now: The Global Creative Chairman for McCann Worldgroup since 2014, Reilly and his team picked up network of the year for the first time in the agency's history.

According to a global survey of more than 25,000 respondents, consumer trust in brands is down across the board — and expectations of social responsibility from brands is up. That is the core takeaway from the 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report, released last week. Richard Edelman joins the podcast to discuss this crisis of brand trust and opportunities for companies. We talk about what his clients increasingly want from him as he evolves his own business—the largest PR firm in the world--to include more advertising capabilities. We also get a little personal and discuss what it's like running an independent family-owned company that was started by his father, Daniel J. Edelman. Plus he describes a visit from Orville Redenbacher.