Good Company with Michael Kassan

The Super Bowl. The Oscars. Stories that captivate generations. Few companies command the world's attention quite like The Walt Disney Company, and Rita Ferro knows how to turn that cultural influence into a thriving advertising business. The Disney Advertising President joins Michael Kassan to explore the extraordinary value of fandom, how AI is rewriting the economics of advertising, and what nearly three decades at Disney have taught her about leading through uncertainty, staying ahead of change and never losing the appetite to learn.

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From Shazam and GIPHY to FaZe Clan and Discord, Adam Bauer has made a career out of spotting cultural shifts before the advertising world catches up. Now, Discord’s Global VP of Advertising joins Michael Kassan to make the case for gaming as one of the most powerful forces in media, explain why community is poised to define the next era of the internet, and reveal how he’s building an advertising business around a generation that wants to participate on its own terms.

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Warren Kornblum has spent decades building some of the world’s most recognizable brands around a deceptively simple idea: attention can be bought, but belief has to be earned. The former Toys “R” Us CMO and author of Notes from the Brand Stand joins Michael Kassan to explore the value of “Share of Heart,” why loyalty demands as much attention as acquisition, and what happens when AI gives companies the power to do more before they’ve decided what’s even worth doing.

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Henry Innis has built Mutinex around a deceptively simple question: with more data at our fingertips than ever, why is it still so hard to make a good decision? The candid Australian entrepreneur joins Michael Kassan to unpack why speed and judgment have become competitive advantages, how advertisers are reclaiming control of the economics behind their marketing, and why AI is forcing companies to rethink how they learn, allocate capital, and measure what matters. And with the machinery of execution becoming increasingly automated, Henry makes a provocative case for what may follow: a new golden age of creativity, strategy, and storytelling.

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Michael Nyman has spent decades operating at the crossroads of entertainment, media, and culture. He built one of Hollywood's most respected communications businesses inside the traditional holding company world, then set out to do it differently, founding Acceleration Community of Companies, a network of specialized firms spanning PR, experiential, data, and talent. In this episode, he joins Michael Kassan to unpack why speed and courage now beat scale, why great brands can survive bad products, and what it takes to lead through multiple business cycles without losing your edge.

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Christine Cook has navigated nearly every major shift in modern media, from early digital days at The New York Times, to to the rise of mobile and social at Flipboard, the scale and speed of CNN, and now Bloomberg Media, where she serves as Chief Commercial Officer overseeing one of the most influential audiences in the world. In this episode, she joins Michael Kassan to explore why trust and context are reasserting themselves in an AI-saturated media landscape, and what it means that audiences are gravitating toward human-curated sources precisely when algorithmic convenience is at its peak. They unpack Bloomberg's multidimensional evolution across video, live events, data, and original content, and why the live experience business is most powerful when it's built around journalism first, not sponsorship dollars.

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As media, commerce and technology converge, Nili Klenoff is helping shape one of the most consequential shifts in modern marketing. She joins Michael Kassan to explore commerce media, AI-powered decision-making, consumer trust, and the challenge of driving innovation at global scale, offering a rare look inside the systems increasingly influencing how people discover, choose and buy.

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Bill Wise and Zvika Netter have spent decades building the invisible machinery that powers modern advertising — and now, with Mediaocean and Innovid under one roof, they’re creating a rare alternative to the industry’s increasingly closed ecosystems. In this candid conversation, the two architects of modern ad tech unpack the collapse of the traditional marketing funnel, the AI revolution reshaping media and creativity, and how they’re positioning advertisers to reclaim greater control, transparency, and independence in a market increasingly dominated by big tech.

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Don Kurz has lived enough lives for three careers - from championship lacrosse fields to Studio 54 dance floors to Wall Street trading desks to the boardrooms of modern advertising - and in this candid conversation with Michael Kassan, he reflects on the chaos, reinvention, and hard-earned instincts that shaped them all. With the release of his new book, Do the Hustle, Don opens up about resilience, risk, leadership, and why the most valuable lessons rarely come from the wins, but from the moments when everything veers off script.

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Music is no longer just something we listen to... it’s something we interpret, share, and use to make sense of the world around us. In this episode, Michael Kassan sits down with Jackie Vignone, CRO of Genius, to explore how the platform has evolved from a lyrics destination into a powerful meeting point for artists, fans, and brands. Together, they unpack what music reveals about culture, why context now carries as much weight as content, and how the relationship between artists and audiences is evolving in a more participatory world.

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