Are You Paying Attention?

What does it take to build an authentic creator strategy without chasing virality? In this episode of Are You Paying Attention?, Protected by Mediaocean's Sara Maskivish sits down with Charlyn Okigbo, who leads marketing at Bolden, the direct-to-consumer skincare brand built for women of color, to unpack how Bolden turns cultural moments into organic brand growth, including the viral-without-trying Bolden Walk Clubs. The two dig into the real difference between brand safety and brand suitability, why every creator KPI should map back to the specific job that creator was hired to do, why creative briefs work best when they're directional rather than directive, and why picking creators with genuine affinity for a brand matters more than reach alone. They also cover the shift in power from brands choosing creators to creators choosing brands, and close with a lightning round on the most overhyped beauty trends in social media right now.

What does a truly clean, transparent supply path look like in 2026—and how can verification become more than just a gatekeeper?

In this episode of Are You Paying Attention?, Protected by Mediaocean's Sara Maskivish sits down with FreeWheel's Christina Chung to explore how verification and authentication are evolving to create more value across the advertising ecosystem. They discuss the growing importance of quality signals, transparency, AI-driven decisioning, supply path optimization (SPO), and reducing unnecessary hops in the supply chain.

The conversation also digs into how publishers, suppliers, and advertisers can work more collaboratively—from the executive level down to the “hands-on-keyboard” teams actually executing campaigns—to build a more transparent, efficient, and valuable advertising ecosystem.

In the premiere episode of "Are You Paying Attention?", host Sara Maskivish sits down with April Weeks, Chief Investment & Media Officer at Basis, to unpack one of advertising's biggest shifts: moving beyond traditional brand safety toward smarter, more nuanced brand suitability.

Together, they explore why advertisers need to rethink outdated blocking strategies, how AI is changing contextual understanding, what publishers can do to improve transparency, and why the future of media planning starts long before a campaign goes live.