Breakfast First: An Empower Podcast

Empower's Andrea Book and Evan Dulaney are joined by Empower's Senior Director of Product, Leigh-Ann Bortz to discuss their newest proprietary social listening and trend-spotting tool: Culture Tap. Leigh-Ann runs down the different applications and benefits of the platform, including trend data analysis, keeping tabs on your competition and unearthing rising trends before they reach their apex. Plus, she hosts a new game on the show, "Trending or Nah?" which uses Culture Tap to put our hosts trend knowledge to the test.

Empower's Andrea Book and Evan Dulaney are joined by ad tech vet and president of Martin, Lewis Rothkopf, to talk about the phasing out of third-party cookies and what it means for digital marketers. Lewis shares why folks in the industry shouldn't panic and should, instead, embrace the change. He then shares possible solutions and ramifications that can quell any uneasy marketer.

Empower's Andrea Book and Evan Dulaney are joined by the SVP of Marketing at NBCU, Jamie Cutburth, to discuss the power of brand integrations on Bravo's hit show 'Top Chef.' Jamie details the process of brands appearing on the show and the work it takes to perfectly balance episode narratives with sponsorships. He also highlights Top Chef's diverse menu of cross-channel content that extends well beyond the weekly episodes. Bon appetit!

Empower's Andrea Book and Evan Dulaney are joined by Empower's VP of Strategy Sharon McCafferty to breakdown the media trends for 2021. Sharon recaps the turn of events that transformed media consumption over the past year and a half and analyzes three booming areas: video, audio and social. Then, Sharon turns the tables and asks the hosts their approaches to media (as creatives).

Empower's Andrea Book and Evan Dulaney are joined by two members of the dream meme team at Doing Things Media: Head of Brand Partnerships Austin Pollock and creator-turned-brand-partnerships expert Sam Graviet. They discuss memes' place in culture and commerce and the growing trend of branded collaborations across their diverse portfolio of meme social media accounts.

Empower's Andrea Book and Evan Dulaney are joined by the founder of Rosebud CBD, Alexis Rosenbaum. Alexis shares how she broke into what is now a booming DTC and retail category and why CBD and other cannabinoids are here to stay. She also talks about the importance of education and word-of-mouth in her marketing strategy and the gray areas in paid advertising for cannabis-based products.

Empower's Andrea Book and Evan Dulaney are joined by blogger, content creator, interior designer and mom extraordinaire Brittany Hayes to talk about influencer marketing from the perspective of influencers. Brittany details the launch and evolution of her popular blog and social media account, Addison's Wonderland. She also discusses the dos and don'ts for brands approaching content creators.

Empower's Andrea Book and Evan Dulaney are rejoined by Empower's President and COO Rob FitzGerald to discuss agencies and advertising a little over one year past the pandemic. The three dig into how culture and camaraderie were essential to agency success before discussing the new Empower initiatives including DEI, EMerge and MediaAgent. As always, Andrea and Evan get Rob's thoughts on what lies ahead for the industry and discuss things like NFTs and Clubhouse.

Empower's Andrea Book and Evan Dulaney are joined by Tziarra King, forward for the OL Reign of the NWSL. Last summer, Tziarra was a leading voice in the social justice movement when she courageously called out the owner of her previous team for racially ignorant and insensitive comments. She shares her path in her career to date, what it means to speak to power and how she's a part of progressing her sport. Empower's DEI Chair Connie Ross also joins the conversation and shares her perspective and personal ties to Tziarra.

Empower's Andrea Book and Evan Dulaney are joined by a super squad of Empower's very own to discuss advertising's biggest night. Then, they're joined by advertising vet and Auto Extremist author Peter DeLorenzo to discuss his work on various Super Bowl spots and his key ingredients to a great ad.