It’s a Friday-afternoon roundtable with Adam, Richard, and Emerson—covering what’s actually top-of-mind in business, marketing, and culture right now.

We start with the “Super Bowl vs. The Big Game” trademark nuance (and the surprisingly fun debate: are there 1,000 U.S.-born adults who don’t know what the Super Bowl is?). From there, we break down why alcohol brands are largely sitting out this year’s Super Bowl—and what that says about Gen Z drinking trends, category saturation, and whether Super Bowl ads are truly “underpriced” like Gary Vee claims.

Then we pivot into one of the wildest brand collabs in recent memory: Costco’s Kirkland x Nike SB Dunk. Is it a hype play or a volume play? Who approached who? And what can any business learn about scarcity, licensing, and collaborations—especially if you’re in a commodity category?

We close on two personal reflections: the way everyday people are starting to trust ChatGPT like it’s “Google with confidence,” and a real conversation about time—work, family, attention, and why audiobooks might be the ultimate “found time” hack.

Plus: quick Super Bowl predictions, and a candid sidebar on politics + celebrity brand risk (Nicki Minaj, Kanye, apologies, and the difference between PR and sustained change).

Topics we cover:

• Why brands say “The Big Game” instead of “Super Bowl”
• Are Super Bowl ads actually underpriced?
• Why alcohol brands are pulling back this year
• Kirkland x Nike: scarcity, resale culture, and brand lift
• Why collabs can outperform big ad spend
• ChatGPT adoption + trust (in the real world)
• Time, attention, family, and “reading” via audiobooks

The traditional social media advertising formula is broken for most businesses. CPMs have made the cost advertising much more expensive. Increased competition has made advertising noisy. And most smaller brands aren't seeing success with social ads. We've spoken to so many entrepreneurs who have been frustrated they're not seeing the same results they were on social media from years back.

The good news is there's a new way to do social advertising that blends organic and paid. 

In this episode we break down the formula step by step.

I had the honor of sitting down with my good friend, Jessica Kennedy. I wanted to talk to Jess because she's got a fascinating journey, one that I've witnessed from the start of her business.

Jess had a very successful career at a Top 4 Accounting Firm. But even with all her professional growth, she felt like she was in the wrong line of work. So she left and pursued her passion, coaching.

We'll go through how Jessica made the decision to leave, how she grew her business, navigating being pregnant and then a Mom as she scaled, how she acquires new clients, and a lot more.

If you're an aspiring coach, you'll get a lot out of this. But even if you're not interested in coaching but you feel like you're in the wrong line of work, and want to start a business. This episode will be super valuable to all aspiring entrepreneurs.

Jessica Kennedy's Website: www.jessicakennedycoaching.com

Jessica Kennedy's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jessicakennedycoaching/

In this episode we talk about marketing specifically for small businesses. We go through the common challenges and mistakes many smaller businesses make, how to overcome them, and how to grow into a larger business.

In this episode I had our CMO and COO join me to discuss what marketing and business strategies will change in 2025. We discuss everything from paid ads to creative trends, as well as new platforms that will emerge as opportunities for brands.

Follow Adam Benjamin
https://instagram.com/adamcbenjamin/
https://tiktok.com/@adamcbenjamin

Visit the Agency Website
https://wearestarke.com/

In this episode we talk about how to create a real marketing strategy. I say "real" not to imply that other strategies aren't. But many strategies are conceptual and lack practical application. In this episode you'll learn:

1. Determining where to advertise
2. Building a funnel based on consumer psychology
3. Understanding the variables for conversion
4. How to track success
5. How to adapt based on what's happening.

In this episode we talk about creating ads that actually work. If you're going to run social advertising, creating high performing ads is essential. It doesn't 
matter how good you are at platform execution if you don't nail the ads. 

In this episode I sit down with our CMO, Emerson Guerrero, to discuss how a brand can go from $0 to $1,000,000 in sales.

This information comes directly from the work we've done and brands we've worked with at our agency. $1M is an arbitrary number, but it signifies a milestone.

I hope you enjoy this, but more importantly I hope it provides value that you can use in your company.

We started testing TikTok shop when it launched, and after 6 months we've determined that it can be a massive opportunity for ecommerce brands. 

In this video, we'll talk about the 3 main features that make TikTok shop powerful. Combine that with the fact that TikTok has the highest daily usage rate of of all the social platforms, and you're got massive potential.

META Ads have changed. What worked in years past doesn't work today. In this episode, we'll cover:

- What's different about META Ads in 2024
- What strategies are working now
- Testing and scaling campaigns
- Measuring the success of creative
- The importance of the actual ads now vs in years past
- How to think through attribution
- The correlative effect of META on other platforms
- Using Google as a part of your META campaign

And a whole lot more! 

To watch the entire episode on YouTube click here: 

https://youtu.be/MYVyFFVKY3s?si=b2CrnqNlEA9zeC5J