June Sugiyama has served as the Director of the Vodafone Americas Foundation for over 20 years. During that time, she has seen an extraordinary evolution of initiatives, as well as changes in consumer and corporate attitudes toward ventures that advance the use of technology for social good.  As International Women’s Day approaches on Monday, she talks about why the Vodafone Americas Foundation now focuses entirely on empowering women and girls through technology.

Allyson Stewart-Allen has been considering how the US will be viewed by the rest of the world as an attractive trade and investment destination—even as the country’s domestic agenda takes center stage for a new administration. She also anticipates a US-EU Free Trade Agreement to take priority over a US-UK trade deal.  The size of the European Union would be a commercial prize for US companies post-Brexit as a trading bloc with nearly 450 million consumers compared to the UK’s 66 million.

Emerson is a $16.8 billion global industrial software and engineering company with over 80,000 employees. Founded in 1890 in St. Louis, Missouri, as a manufacturer of electric motors and fans, over the past 100-plus years, Emerson has grown from a regional manufacturer into a global technology solutions powerhouse. While much growth came through acquisitions, management has worked diligently to create tighter company integration-- mostly through brand solutions and marketing strategy. Emerson’s work in exploring Values to build consistency, defining key Causes that align with various business units, and now identifying Purpose through employee participation has been remarkable.

Ask Doug Wood what’s on the minds of marketers as they consider advertising legal concerns in 2021, and his answer outlines a broad range of critical topics.  He says, “The evergreen subjects – media transparency, privacy, data security, ad taxes, and efforts to regulate the influence of the big digital platforms will continue to be in the top ten.  As we move forward, commercial production post-COVID will garner a lot of attention as precautions adopted to address the pandemic may become norms and add costs.  Digital fraud will also come to the forefront, as well as brand safety.  MRC certification efforts will expand; GARM will move forward, and the ANA will make strides in MarTech oversight.  As we’ve seen in the past few years, we can expect brands to continue asserting their clout in the industry.”

Sonsoles Gonzalez has done what many marketers dream about.  After almost 3 decades in senior roles at global beauty giants-- L’Oréal and Proctor and Gamble—she created her own company. She is the Founder and CEO of Better Not Younger, the only haircare brand specifically designed for women over the age of 40.

Manos Spanos, Senior Vice President of Brand Marketing for the Yogurt Business Unit at Danone North America, believes that marketing needs to stand for positive change.  “If something is not doable,” he says, “innovate to make it doable.”  And while that sounds like a tall order, especially for these times, he has been able to demonstrate what happens when purpose and passion intersect in branding.

Sir Martin Sorrell's success has always been built on anticipating what's next for an advertising industry that must continually reinvent itself. His company, S4 Capital, has had quite a year with seven acquisitions to date since the first Covid-19 lockdown began last March. This includes two recent US acquisitions in early January: integrated media agency Decoded and marketing agency Metric Theory.

Today we’re talking with him about his views of the advertising and marketing business, new geographic balances and what’s ahead for an industry that needs to validate growth.

Whitney Fishman Zember has been helping brands and businesses understand media and communication trends, as well as technology-driven consumer-based insights, for over fifteen years. As Managing Partner, Innovation & Consumer Technology at Wavemaker US, she uncovers opportunities to harness technology to connect marketers with audiences in new and meaningful ways.  Her ability to spot trends is second to none, and she has been tracking developments at CES for years.  Whitney’s perspectives are always eye-opening.

Jonathan Barnard, Head of Forecasting and Global Intelligence at Zenith, and Brian Wieser, Global President of Business Intelligence for GroupM, have been in the business of advertising forecasting, intelligence, and trend watching for an exceptionally long time. Given their experience through numerous financial swings and business precedents, few are more likely to aptly guide the industry after a year like 2020. Jonathan joins us from London, while Brian joins us from Portland… and despite the number of time zones in between, they agree on potential outcomes for several macro issues, but often differ somewhat on a variety of specific industry concerns going forward.

ransformational Marketer, Perry Kamel, Creates New, Remarkably Purpose-Driven Company. Perry Kamel has a 30+ year track record for transforming companies—from giants like Siemens ICN and Ciena to his role as Founding Global Managing Director of Accenture Interactive.  He has extensive experience in applied innovation, as well as degrees in electrical engineering and in business. If one could apply a personal motto to Perry Kamel, it would be— “He dreams big and leads others to achieve what may have been considered impossible.”  He is no stranger to working with cutting edge technology solutions, or the organizational and operational aspects so vital to enduring success.