The Breaking and Entering Show

We kicked today off with the top story: Apple has been quietly making advertising moves, and we reveal what they’ve been up to and why.

Then we dove into the world-famous 2-minute drill. We started by taking a look at the ever-controversial Sydney Sweeney; American Eagle doubled down and released a new spot featuring her. Then, we looked at Dua Lipa in a brand-new Nespresso spot. Jack and Geno went full "Heated Rivalry" and explored Peloton’s collaboration with Hudson Williams. In one of the weirder stories we’ve covered, Allbirds is now an AI company? We stayed on the AI train and closed the drill by looking at a viral Runway AI ad.

Carl Johnson, Founding Partner & Executive Chairman at Anomaly, joined the show to discuss Anomaly’s brand-new Paris office. He told us why he picked that location, how Anomaly can leverage its new presence, and what marketers can learn from the decision.

Then, Patrick Coffee, Reporter at The Wall Street Journal, came on to talk about the recent call-out of Nielsen by NBCUniversal. Patrick reported that, “NBCUniversal [has alleged that] Nielsen publishes inaccurate numbers that damage the valuations of media companies.”

Finally, to round out the show, Co-Founder & Partner at Cousin Labs Paul Marvucic joined to talk about how Cousin Labs is changing brand marketing on social media. They have created “fan accounts” that drive organic social content unlike anything else on the market.

During the 2-minute drill we talked about the LA Chargers LinkedIn job post that has garnered a ton of heat recently. The internet is up in arms about the salary that comes with their Social Media Coordinator role. We also touched on Whoop's awesome marketing, Phoebe Gates and her controversial influencer marketing, a law firm marketing battle for the ages, and our reactions to Coachella.

Nicole Souza kicked off the guest portion by discussing her new role as Chief Growth Officer at Stagwell and how she plans to help the company.

Then, Jason Kreher, Chief Creative Officer at DE-YAN, came on to take a look at Luma's new Dream Brief competition and how A.I. is changing the industry as a whole. We also got a special call-in from Hal Curtis, Creative Director at Bespoke.

Aditi Rajvanshi, Head of Strategy at Portal A, joined and showed us how to do creator marketing right. We took a look at their Creator Odyssey campaign that garnered millions of impressions and learned how they approach creator strategy.

Finally, Jonathan Adashek, SVP of Marketing and Communications at IBM, hopped on and talked about the incredible work IBM did in collaboration with The Masters. He talked about how IBM implemented A.I. into their Masters Vault system and what that means for golf fans and the tech industry overall.

Check out today's episode, and don't forget we will be live tomorrow and Thursday at 11am. See ya!

Yo, yo, yo! It's Thursday. As this week wraps, we are reminded that it's already April. It feels like the year has just started, yet we've had the Super Bowl, the Oscar's, the Olympics...! We're just focused on the marketing behind it all. And that's what we talked about today, of course.

In the WORLD FAMOUS TWO MINUTE DRILL: Coca-Cola dropped "Uncanned Emotions" — the second film in its FIFA World Cup trilogy from WPP OpenX and Ogilvy — and they brought in real broadcasters Peter Drury and Luis Omar Tapia to narrate actual fan reactions; it's raw, real, and very Coke... RPA wins Acura's creative account away from MullenLowe – already the agency for parent brand Honda, so the family is back together. Poppi launched a new ad starring Jake Shane where he turns a middle seat into first class by drinking a Shirley Temple poppi – follow-up to their Charli xcx Super Bowl spot, same director, same vibes. And Alysa Liu, figure skating prodigy and one of Gen Z's most compelling athletes, is the new face of Sephora.

First on the show: Jessica Serrano, CMO of Bagel Brands. She was previously CMO of Dig Inn and held marketing roles at Taco Bell and Burger King. She once said she got into food because people gotta eat — but stayed because of the way people light up when they talk about their rituals with a brand. Mother of twins. First time on the show. We had a lot to talk about, one of the topics being the recent Einstein campaign for Valentine's Day where they made "broquets."

Then Xanthe Wells, VP of Global Creative at Pinterest, joins us on Zoom. She's a Board Member for The One Club for Creativity and worked directly with the legendary Lee Clow on his last major endeavor: TBWA\MAL FOR GOOD. She joins us to talk about Pinterest's phone-free activation at Coachella – a brand showing up at one of the most photographed events on earth by asking people to put their phones down. Bold.

And to close: Gutes Guterman, Co-Founder of Byline – the new editorial platform born from an appreciation for niche observations, sartorial sagas, deep cuts and deep dives. Byline is currently nominated for a Webby. We had Gutes on the show today to talk about the impact and editorial style of her online publication.

Then, of course, as we do on Thursdays, we wrapped by talking about our weekend plans. Notably, Geno has two tickets to the MoMA, but there is no confirmed guest. Only time will tell, and we'll find out on Tuesday if he finds someone to go with him. According to sources close to the matter, Ellie of Breaking & Entering is a backup option to bring along.

It is Wednesday my dudes *Spiderman vine meme here*

Todd Kaplan built something the marketing industry has needed for a long time. It's called the Jell-O-meter. We're talking about it today.

In the WORLD FAMOUS TWO MINUTE DRILL: US Bank just hired a Chief Financial Playmaker. That's Fernando Mendoza's actual title and we wouldn't expect anything less. KFC dropped a real Spotify single called "Finger Lickin' Machine" with the Colonel dancing on boardroom tables before heading to LA to hand out fried chicken to the people. Three senior executives including CMO Ian Colley just departed The Trade Desk – the stock dropped 7% on the news. And Five Guys launched its biggest brand campaign in history, "Your Burger Guy," from indie agency Chemistry. This is a brand that built itself for 40 years almost entirely on word of mouth. Big deal.

First on the show: Jill Cress, the first-ever CMO in Babylist's history. She's been CMO at H&R Block, held marketing roles at PayPal, Mastercard, and National Geographic, and has been recognized by Forbes, Adweek, and Business Insider. She joins us to talk about what it means to build a brand in a category that most marketers underestimate.

Then Sinan Dagli, Executive Creative Director and Partner at BSSP, comes through. He's led award-winning work for MINI, ESPN, NBA2K, Amazon, Rao's and Uber, and was named one of Adweek's Top 100 Creatives. He started at BSSP in 2009 as a Junior Interactive Designer. But today we're talking about the latest work for Kikkoman, a 350-year-old brand looking to reposition itself for Gen Z audiences. They're using anime to tap into the original culture of the brand and all that it stands for.

And to close, Jamie Falkowski and Josh Rosenberg — CCO and CEO of Day One Agency — join us to talk about Side Projects, their brand new editorial and strategy offering for clients. They started Day One in 2013 and work with Canada Goose, Chipotle, L.L. Bean and more. This is a new chapter for the agency and we're excited for the trajectory.

TOP OF THE MORNING TUESDAY

NASA's Artemis launched this week and brands were ready. Apple got the Shot on iPhone moment. Nutella somehow also made it into the frame. A great day for opportunistic marketing.

In the WORLD FAMOUS TWO MINUTE DRILL: LinkedIn reportedly tried to buy beehiiv. MrBeast pulled 1.66 million concurrent viewers on YouTube for a $1M streamer finale – YourRAGE walked away with the bag. Instagram is launching its own version of TikTok Shop. Coca-Cola revived the legendary 1971 "Hilltop" ad for America's 250th birthday. McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski sat down with the WSJ to respond to the viral Big Arch bite – his Instagram is up 30% since. And Pepsi and Diageo both pulled out of London's Wireless Festival the minute Kanye was announced as headliner.

First on the show: Mr Doodle. He did a project recently with Hellmann's Mayo and the creative agency VML. This was his smallest canvas yet. Mr Doodle is known for these intricate drawings on a mass-scale, but for this project, he showcased his talents on something out of the ordinary for him. A different type of canvas if you will... a jar of mayo. This collab went live for Easter, and we're here to talk about it. Thank you Sam Cox for joining the show.

Then we had Candice Drakeford, Creative Director at the WNBA, to talk about brands getting into women's sports, what good looks like, and what's still being left on the table. Their new campaign for the WNBA is released for the 30th anniversary of the league. They worked with ad agency Lucky Generals to talk about the creative work. In the W, a lot has changed, but a lot has not; we're here to talk about where the future of the WNBA and women's sports are headed.

Britton Upham, CEO of McGarrah Jessee joined us to talk about fixing the pitch process. He's been pretty vocal about it. We got into it. He brings with him 23 years of experience at McJ, 7 of those being as CEO.

And to close, WPP just won Wendy's media business in a multiyear deal that ties their compensation to actual business results. We broke it down LIVE on The Breaking & Entering Show.

Thursday! The last day of the week for The Breaking & Entering Show. Hope y'all enjoyed this week's run as much as we did.

Our first story: LEGO unites Ronaldo, Messi, Mbappe, and Vini Jr. in new World Cup ad. This one's just a good time with the star-studded soccer-striking assembly of co-stars in this one. The World Cup has been announced, but now we're really starting to see these marketing efforts ramp up for the 2026 World Cup.

In Breaking & Entering's WORLD FAMOUS TWO MINUTE DRILL, we started with some news that came roaring in from Publicis. HOT off the press, Publicis wins Microsoft's media account over dentsu. Publicis – on their push into sports marketing – is set to purchase 160over90, WME Group's sports marketing and culture agency. GM hires Uber exec to be Cadillac's CMO.

Dan Kelly joined us IN-PERSON in our studio. Dan the Man is the Executive Creative Director at BBDO New York. He’s known for orchestrating the Blake Griffin dunk over a KIA in the NBA Slam Dunk Content. He spent 8 years at Droga5 before becoming ECD at FCB NY, and he has twenty-two (22) total posts on LinkedIn over the past 6 years. Incredible stats, but that’s not why he joined us today, no it is not. He joined us to discuss the continuation of the campaign from the Pringles Super Bowl spot with Sabrina Carpenter. It was Pringleleo before, this time it’s Pringlelina. Thanks for coming in to talk with us, Dan.

Ellie’s Room!!!!! YEAHHHHH! Renata Black, Founder of EBY, joined Ellie McCarron to discuss their latest campaign. Not only did Renata call from one of the coolest places we’ve ever had the pleasure to host, but EBY dropped a really seductive campaign. To sum it up in one word, Ellie used: empowerment. We’ll keep our eyes open for more drops from EBY, who is continuing to push creativity forward in the beauty apparel space.

The Kansas City Chiefs are starting a petition to let girls play flag football in the schools. The creative agency behind the efforts is BarkleyOKRP. We had the mohawked Buchun Jiang (Senior Art Director) and his partner-in-crime Connor Schrock (Senior Copywriter). They discussed the work, the creative process, the initiative, and what it means for them and the Kansas City Chiefs (though, to be clear – they did not speak on behalf of the Chiefs, Patrick Mahomes, or Coach Andy Reid).

To close out the show, and the week, we discussed our weekend plans. The platoon is going to find a happy hour this Thursday, and Jack and Geno are not invited. Absolutely not. Peace out ad fam.

It's April Fools! Jack and Geno got married. Ellie stormed the stage. Ross went on a cousin's walk by himself during the middle of the stream. JR skipped leg day. And Quincy made a lot of noise.

We kicked things off on this day with the WORLD FAMOUS TWO MINUTE DRILL. 

TikTok Rizz Parties are out. YouTube Rizz Parties are in. We covered what Gen A is up to at their dances, surprised to see they’re socializing IRL. The kids are gonna be just fine.

We discussed the latest KitKat updates regarding the heist of hundreds of thousands of their chocolate bars. We thought it was a stunt. It’s starting to look less and less like a stunt, and more and more like reality… Only time will tell. There are still skeptics. We’re still trying to get to the bottom of it.

We looked over digital_chadvertising’s March Chadness bracket. The platforms vs. the brands vs. the agencies vs. the publishers.

Then we talked about the greatest of April Fools advertising. Geno found some stones from Parting Stone. Nudd posted a banger on LinkedIn. And Rachel Karten had an awesome tweet about CRUNCH candy bars.

First on the show was Tameka Bazile. She is a Social Media Strategist and Influencer at Business Insider. We talked about social content in the B2B world, what brands are doing it right, and where B2B social strategies are shifting in the next year. We also got into some nitty gritty about the harm and impact of social media on the younger generations. There was a lawsuit filed against Meta and YouTube – claiming both platforms were causing harm as addictive social media platforms. Thx for coming on, Tameka.

What do protein vapes, the chiropractor, and crispy chicken tenders all have in common? CRUNCH! Crunch Fitness just released a “protein-infused vape” this April Fools.Chad Waetzig, CMO of Crunch Fitness, came on the show, vape-in-hand, and blew some FAT CLOUDS on stream. Chad, thanks for joining the show. Thanks for taking us through the history of the company, the cool history of the Polk Street location in San Francisco, and other April Fools-related marketing Crunch has gotten into. 

Last, and certainly not least… THE BEAUTY MACHINE! Dove, backed by Ogilvy, launched “The Beauty Machine” to fight the sea of sameness beauty standards. They launched this in Waterloo, and are dropping a second location in Germany soon. Directly, they’re taking on the algorithm. Two creatives from Ogilvy joined us, Claire Golladay and Olivia Simone, to talk about the latest launch. Twenty-two years in, Dove and Ogilvy still amaze us with their tight-knit partnership and creative executions. Geno, on the record, stated he thinks “Real Beauty” is the best brand platform of the 21st Century.

Even in the April Fools episode, a lot of this episode was rooted in serious discoveries. A common thread seems to be doomscrolling, fighting algorithms, and overall digital safety. Thanks for tuning in, y’all. See ya tmrw.

Well well well... whuddduyaknow? Another Tuesday? Another stream.

We kicked things off with the WORLD FAMOUS TWO MINUTE DRILL. Notion dropped a new manifesto. Oliver McAteer made some observations about new business. Kalshi dropped some new ads. CVS did a creative and media review. Dentsu won Farmer’s Insurance. Lastly, Allbirds fled the nest and sold for $39M.

First on the show was LEGEND Susan Credle. She began her advertising career as a receptionist at BBDO, and worked her way up to Global Chief Creative Officer at FCB Global, and has been the Global Creative Advisor for IPG since January 2024. But most recently, she is the honoree for the St. Lion of Mark at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2026.

After we talked with Susan, we jumped gears to talk about Spotify Ads. Bridget Evans joined us on the show to talk about the latest updates to the music platform. They are rolling out carousel ads, sponsored playlists – designed to reach over 430 million free users in a more integrated way.

Tombras acquired Öpınıonated in January 2026. Ashley Davis Marshall has been appointed as Chief Creative Officer of Öpınıonated, soon to be named Tombras West. With her, she’ll be bringing a wide array of experiences – ranging from The Martin Agency to Wieden + Kennedy. She’s led campaigns for Old Spice, Samsung, Facebook, and Adidas. She joined the show to discuss plans for Tombras, rooming with Craig Allen before she left New York, and more.

Next up, our very own Ellie McCarron got in the hot seat to test the boys on their Emma Chamberlain knowledge. Geno knew quite a bit. Jack? Not so much. Emma Chamberlain is launching a line of furniture with West Elm. Emma used to be known online as a thrifter, and has since propelled herself into mainstream celebrity status, with features from Architectural Digest.

Last? KitKat. There was a theft overseas over the weekend, where thousands of KitKats were STOLEN. The investigation is ongoing. No one was hurt, but so many KitKats are missing. The suspect(s) are still at large, and there is no probable cause at this time. Jack Westerkamp has been conducting research, finding sources, reading articles, and putting two and two together. He currently believes that the heist is a marketing scam! However, he asked Claude about it, and Claude thinks it’s a legitimate heist. So… only time will tell.

This is the first IRL interview since it’s been announced that Kristen Cavallo is returning to MARTIN* (previously The Martin Agency). After two years working with The Branch Museum, hiking the Camino de Santiago, and recalibrating – Kristen Cavallo is making a return to MARTIN*. 

We joined Kristen Cavallo and Danny Robinson at the beautiful Branch Museum for this interview. Danny was the CEO from January 2024 to January 2026, succeeding Kristen. It’s a full circle moment for her, for the agency, and for the industry as a whole. A lot has changed at MARTIN*, including the name, but a lot has stayed the same as well. In our exclusive interview, we dug into what the future looks like, how the past led us here, and what she’s got in store for the agency.

Whatzzzzgoooderrrrybody!

Today's Top Story: WPP's New Business Approach

We kicked things off with Breaking & Entering's WORLD FAMOUS TWO MINUTE DRILL™.

The ACLU dropped a campaign, using Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A." just one week before Trump v. Barbara, challenging President Trump's executive order aimed at ending or restricting birthright citizenship. Filed by the ACLU of New Hampshire and others, the lawsuit argues that the 14th Amendment guarantees citizenship to all children born on U.S. soil, regardless of parents' immigration status.

The US Army is launching an RFI for its $4 billion (with a B) account, which is currently with Omincom. The account was originally with DDB Chicago since 2018, before the agency was folded into TBWA after Omnicom acquired IPG. The official review process is slated to begin in late spring 2027.

72andSunny wins Indeed. Battle of the networking sites. LinkedIn recently launched a campaign with McCann. S/o Jessica Jensen.

Omnicom launches an audit with The Trade Desk. This comes after Publicis's audit of The Trade Desk. There's been some beef coming to light. Will it get cooked well-done or remain medium-rare?

Jack went to Yahoo NewFronts last night, and Leon Bridges performed at the event. Exclusive information is that someone there own Cardi B tickets.

Next up, B&E discussed the latest Zoom campaign, "Take Back Lunch," with Whitney Magnuson, Zoom's Head of Brand Strategy & Activation. They're launching this campaign to remind people to take a lunch. Especially with AI optimizations that are marketed to only help the leaders, Zoom is reminding us that AI is supposed to give us more time throughout the day – so, take that extra time. Get that slop bowl, corporate final boss. Get that 24Karat Matcha Labubu Dubai Chocolate Latte. Something like that... Zoom is hosting a pop up called "Hard Stop Burger Shop," in an attempt to restore balance to the workday.

Do... Do... Do we know who's coming up next? Dooley!!!!! We spoke with President of Tombras, Dooley Tombras, about their recent win. This was BREAKING NEWS btw: Tombras wins Regions Bank. For the agency, it's a huge win, and proof that what they're doing is working. Tombras recently acquired Opinionated in Portland, OR (soon to be renamed Tombras West). Tombras was also #20 on Fast Company's Top 20 Most Innovative Marketing Companies

Content Creator Garrett Thomas joined the show! Garrett just started a creator marketing business, like an Uber for brand partnerships. It's the vessel from point A to point B. He is starting a company called BizMeet Creator. His goal is to connect creators with the companies, to make the best matches for influencer partnerships. He's a very exciting person! And his energy was contagious. Thanks for coming on and chatting with us G Man.

Over a 25-year career, motherhood will cost a woman more than $271,000 in lost earnings. Jess Watts, Chief Strategy Officer of DNA&STONE, entered Ellie's Room (hosted by our very own, charismatic, Irish-blooded, and East Village-living Ellie McCarron) to discuss this persisting gender pay gap. "We need to talk about our salaries more."

We closed out this show with some shenanigans (as per usual), chopping it up, talking shop. Geno broke a record for the longest Millennial Pause by a Gen Zer. That's all folks. See ya next time ya party animals. Looking at you, JR.