When it comes to advertising, what is the far edge of edgy? How much risk is too risky? Niclas Bornling thinks maybe we're playing it too safe, and letting the algorithms dumb down creativity. In this episode, he talks about his days at Salomon and the campaign that almost cost the brand its biggest retailer. We look back at the heyday of print advertising in ski and snowboarding and consider what we can bring to our marketing and brand campaigns today.

LINKS

Niclas Bornling on LinkedIn 

Fact check: 3,000 injuries a year by beach umbrella. One death. 

Ingemar Stenmark 

The New Canadian Air Force 

Intersport 

Jean-Luc Diard 

Salomon S-core surfboard 

Scott Mellin, Chief Brand Officer, Salomon 

Austin Hodges was running NBA partnerships at adidas when he got tapped to make what might sound like a surprising leap: lead global marketing at a baby brand. Since then he brought the adidas sports partnership playbook to life at Nuna—and Nuna's sub brands, Tavo and Hedgren—totally changing the game in marketing to parents. This episode is a masterclass in sports partnerships. It's also an incredible lesson in leadership—Austin spells out his distinct approach that has rocketed him from a single brand CMO to global oversight of three verticals for three brands.

Remember that shiver of excitement that comes with opening a fresh box of 64-count crayons? That's what Crayola CMO Victoria Lozano has been capturing for more than 15 years. In this episode we dive deep into the world of location-based brand experiences, creating original brand IP and how to keep a campaign fresh when it runs over multiple years. She even gives the secret to getting a competitive brand management role without an MBA.

LINKS

Victoria Lozano on Linkedin

Campaign for Creativity

Crayola Creativity Week

Creative Acts of Color

Crayola Experience

Pablo animated series

When you get a Nike VP on the show, you make the most of it. Julie Igarashi joined us to give the MBC treatment to 3 iconic Nike campaigns: the Air Max Day campaign that took over Shinjuku and garnered millions of views on Youtube; the Jordan sneaker revival in Japan that pushed the brand from #9 to #1 in youth consideration; and the global 2024 Paris Olympic campaign that marked a major reset for Nike. What's more, she gives us a playbook for working your way up at Nike, and a window into how Nike cultivates world-class creative ideas.

LINKS

Nike Secret Tournament World Cup 2002 campaign

Faith Kipyegon Breaking 4 attempt

You Can't Win, So Win Super Bowl campaign

Nike Unlaced at Paris Fashion Week

Is Nike Finally Winning With Women?

Charette

Nike Japan Air Max Day 2022 campaign

Naomi Osaka, Awich, Yuto Horigome and Hiroshi Fujiwara courtside in Jordans

Nicole Hubbard, Nike Inc. CMO

David Lynch: The Art Life

North Woods by Daniel Mason

Charlie Grinnell was one of the creative brains behind the viral Red Bull Raw 100 video series. In this episode he talks about the birth of Raw 100 and why it worked. He also goes deep into how to build a social calendar and budget that give you flexibility to jump on cultural moments, his process for inventing a viral content category, strategies for how to allocate your social ad spend, and his theory of how to work with the social algorithms right now.

LINKS

Charlie on Linkedin

Rightmetric

Aritzia

Arcteryx

Invoke Media

Redbull Raw 100

Brandon Seminuk & Rupert Walker's Raw 100

Everybody Lies by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz

Katie Wilson believes in trial and error, but she had no idea that her days of consumer research in the vitamin aisle at Walmart would unlock a viral TikTok strategy and 2,000% growth. In this episode she talks about how she cracked the code, how she evolves her TikTok strategy to keep up with algorithm, and why she's newly a believer in brand building that doesn't show an immediate ROI.

LINKS

BelliWelli Tiktok

BelliWelli Instagram

Fiber Fest

David Cod

Dillon Francis

Jen Gurecki is downright famous (infamous?) in the outdoor industry. She's outspoken, unabashed and not afraid to center women/their businesses/their pleasure. But more importantly, she runs the only women-owned and operated ski and snowboard manufacturer in the world—a business she grew by sharing her personal journey and using her incredible voice. It makes her brand a perfect fit for Substack. In this conversation, we discuss the ingredients for a successful Substack and how to run a sale that doesn't damage your brand.

LINKS

Jen's Go Fund Me - Donate to Cancer Messed with the Wrong Bish

Coalition Snow

Lady Parts Substack

Redefining Radical Substack

Jen on Instagram

Ergo Offers

Magical Make an Offer

Jeanine Pesce

Amanda Goad

The Portable Feminist Reader, ed Roxanne Gay 

Letters from an American - Heather Cox Richardson's Substack

Airplane Mode - Liz Plank's Substack

Cody Cook Parrot

Meet the fixer who will build your perfect marketing team. Brianna Showell spent 20 years at Nike—starting with the mysterious coveted role as an EKIN, moving on to product line management before roles as Global Brand Director for Innovation and for Nike Kids, then finally as VP of Marketing for Nike Swim.

It set her up for VP Marketing roles at two timeless California brands, Prana and Reef. In this episode, she talks about the single non-negotiable for high-impact creative: hiring world-class teams.

We talk about the one quality every marketing leader needs, the first hire a CMO should make, and at what point you need to switch from hiring generalists to specialists. It's a masterclass on building your marketing team whether you're starting from ground zero, or cleaning up an existing team.

LINKS

Nike EKIN program

LNDR

Liquid Death x Mary Ruth's - Killing Clowns Campaign

Liquid Death - Kegs for Pregs Campaign

SSENSE

Reef

Reef on IG

Reef Fanning Campaign

How do you get massive results on a tiny budget? Gillian Damborg cracked the code with a viral social campaign for period care brand Aisle. She had one shot and to save the business and sell 20,000 pairs of underwear. With a budget of CAD $30,000 the brand had a return of nearly CAD $1.1 million. In this episode, she spells out the formula for the video series that made it happen.

Watch this episode on YouTube

Episode Links:

• Save the Period Aisle landing page
• Save the Period Aisle video
• Megan Lee: Save my boomer mom's Light Shop
• Brood Care - Gill's business
• Kelly & Kelly - podcast production agency
• Lauren Bercovitch - Director
• Amanda's Crystal Baller 2025 Predictions
• Willet linen bedding
• Blume beverages
• Christine Day

From our sponsor

• Monday Creative
• Monday on Instagram
• Amanda Lee Smith on LinkedIn

When he was a VP at Dick's Sporting Goods, Ryan Eckel asked a simple question: what if we replaced just one 60-second TV spot with an anthemic full-length documentary? The result was a pair of films that hit film festivals, won awards and put Dick's in a new tier of brand equity. In this episode we hear how he did it, and follow Ryan's journey from speechwriter to head of marketing at Puma. We find out why he went from one of retail's biggest names to a scrappy running startup, and why he's now cast his lot with an Italian brand you might only remember if you grew up in the '90s.

EPISODE LINKS

• Ryan Eckel on Linkedin

• We Could Be King (full film)

• Keepers of the Game (full film)

• Dick's Sporting Goods

• Sports Matter / DSG Foundation

• Diadora

• Tracksmith

• Puma

• Connor Schell

• Judd Ehrlich

From our sponsor:

• Monday Magazine

• Monday Creative on Instagram

• Amanda Lee Smith on LinkedIn