Special Sauce

John McCarus is the founder and co-creator of The NewFronts, the multi-week event each Spring featuring dozens of digital content companies and serving as a counterbalance to the television upfronts. He is also the operator of Content Ink, an executive recruiting, coaching and advisory practice that has worked with companies from MrBeast to TikTok. John and Jordan tap into their partnership in building The NewFronts as a framework to discussing what makes for a successful working relationship. They talk about how to use an event to tell a story, why working alongside people with different skill sets leads to better work, and how gaining the confidence of senior leaders can lead to greater creativity.

David Kenny's career has spanned media & marketing (as CEO of Digitas, The Weather Company and Nielsen), technology (Akamai and IBM) and the boardroom (Best Buy, Yahoo!, and Teach For America). He joins Special Sauce to talk about what he learned at "The West Point of the Automobile Industry," the pride he takes in the list of his employees who have gone on to become CEOs, and how to be a leader at companies both large and small. David and Jordan discuss what leaders should think about in order to successfully leverage AI and why he and his team at Weather named winter storms.

Sarah Hofstetter is a long time ad agency executive, public company board member and podcaster (check out "Brave Commerce"). She talks about the career journey that landed her at ad agencies, her early ground-breaking efforts in social media on clients like HGTV and Oreo, and how she prioritizes being a mentor. Sarah and Jordan discuss what past innovations in search, social and mobile can teach us about today's evolutions in retail media, and they realize that they threw themselves similar 50th birthday parties, albeit with different themes (hint: one was super spirited, the other a little bit rock n' roll).

Michael Kassan is the Founder of 3C Ventures, his follow-up to MediaLink, the legendary company he founded 20 years ago and left this past Spring. He shares how he operates "in the middle" of our industry and how a tagline from an old west coast telephone company inspired his professional credo. Michael and Jordan discuss the power of having strong relationships in business, the people Michael has met who have intimidated him, what characteristics impress him in other people, and the number of nights each year he gets to sleep in his own bed.

Marla Kaplowitz is the CEO of The 4A's. She joins Special Sauce to talk about the difference between running an ad agency and being charged with helping raise the fortunes of ALL of them. Marla and Jordan talk about how agencies are tackling AI, what burning issues she needed to address as she came into The 4A's, and why she's about to walk away from that job 8 years later. She also shares her thoughts about coming up through media departments and gives advice to young people just starting out.

Christine Cook is the Chief Revenue Officer at Bloomberg Media. Christine joins Special Sauce to reminisce about her post-college job as a high school teacher in Louisiana and how she lived on $1 pizza slices when she first moved to New York. She shares her thoughts on how having a well rounded career is critical for success, how the role of a CRO needs to change based on what's happening in the business and why it's helpful to be the same person at the office and on the weekends.

Jennifer Lotito is the President and Chief Operating Officer of (RED), the organization that has worked with the worlds largest brands to generate over $750 million to fight HIV/AIDS. If you've seen a red iPhone, you've seen the work of Jennifer and her team. She joins Special Sauce to talk about the mission of (RED), what she has learned from her co-founders Bono and Bobby Shriver, and how she works with major brands to bring them onboard. Jennifer and Jordan talk about what they got out of working at advertising agencies early in their careers and how the thrill of the (RED) mission keeps her excited every day.

Special Sauce is here. Our first episode will be our shortest. In less than 4 minutes, we'll tell you everything you'll need to know. Like: why this podcast exists and why you should listen.