E137 Danielle Wiley: Why oddly specific requests are on the rise

Danielle Wiley is the founder and CEO of Sway Group, an agency that supports a large community of influencers and connects them to the right brands for high-impact marketing campaigns.

Prior to founding Sway, Danielle ran social strategy for Edelman’s Chicago-based digital group. Between working on the social campaigns for household-name brands and channeling her passion for cooking into a food blog, she realized there was a need to professionalize and streamline the process for connecting influencers with brands. She launched Sway in 2011.

With nearly 30 years of industry experience, Danielle is widely recognized as an industry leader in content marketing, influencer marketing, and social media strategy. She has the practical knowledge to understand what is doable and the creative energy to consistently push the envelope with her initiatives.

Danielle is a graduate of Vassar College and currently lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan with her family.

E136 Lisa Welborn: How to be great at marketing for good

Lisa Welborn, Director of Media at Civilian, has over 15 years of expertise in crafting data-driven media plans that effectively reach and influence target audiences in the unique places and spaces they frequent. Lisa led the media planning and placement for the Live Beyondcampaign, winning Media Planner of The Year. Her strategic approach, particularly in understanding the unique Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) that define impacted and traditionally underserved communities, has been instrumental in delivering impactful campaigns aimed at reaching youth and driving public health awareness.

Lisa’s media expertise spans across traditional and digital platforms, ensuring that each campaign not only meets its objectives but also fosters long-lasting engagement and positive change. 

Under Lisa’s leadership, the campaign which partnered with Twitch and The Drew League also delivered 58 million bonus impressions, valued at $2.477 million, through partnerships with Native American newspapers, Univision, and iHeart Media’s “Conversations in Cars” program.

E135 Kamp Grizzly's Secret to Disruption is Always Looking Forward

Dan Portrait is Kamp Grizzly’s Chief Creative Officer and founder. Portrait’s artistic upbringing in Portland’s hotbed of subcultures, music and film during the early 90’s helped to shape the young creative’s approach to founding and running Kamp Grizzly, one of the most accredited and forward-thinking creative agencies, known for blurring the lines between advertising and entertainment. Portrait’s natural curiosity and creative outlook has been instrumental in impacting Kamp Grizzly’s DNA and approach to immersive storytelling - no matter the medium. 

The agency boasts a growing portfolio of award-winning branded content and disruptive activations with client partners including adidas North America, Netflix, Amazon, Uber Eats, Moet, Fanatics, and Oakley. Kamp Grizzly received its first Lion at the 2023 Cannes Festival for the Halloween Uber Eats short horror film “Don’t’ Run Out” directed by Dan Trachtenberg starring Keke Palmer. The Kamp Grizzly team is also behind Oakley’s newest multimedia odyssey, Future Genesis, which continues to unfold with an animated fiction film and preview comic drop.

Portrait is based out of Portland, Oregon near the global Kamp Grizzly headquarters.

E134 Nycole Hampton: The most important thing you can be is curious

Nycole Hampton is a results-driven senior marketing leader with two decades of experience in integrated marketing and brand strategy, including 13 years in leadership roles. At her core, she is a builder—of brands, in-house teams, global agency practices, marketing frameworks, content engines, and full-funnel strategies that drive measurable results. 

Throughout her career, Nycole has worked with clients and strategic partners such as ALDI, Air New Zealand, American Airlines, Auntie Anne's, Barefoot Wines, Chicago White Sox, Impossible Foods, Kimpton Hotels, Microsoft, Milk PEP, New Zealand All Blacks, NFL, Rite Aid, Samsung, So Delicious, and USA Rugby.

With her extensive background in integrated and content marketing and early entry into both social media and influencer marketing, Nycole is the perfect person to talk to in the ever-changing marketing landscape. She enjoys leveraging her experience to educate and inspire the next generation of marketers, serving as an adjunct professor, active mentor and speaking at industry events.

E133 McKinney's Little Caesars Ad Raises More Than Eyebrows

The ad that has everyone saying, "whoa."

Lyle Yetman | Co-CCO

The best thing that ever happened to Lyle’s advertising career was not getting hired as an account person at BBDO. He would have sucked at that. Instead, he became a writer. After getting his master’s at the VCU Brandcenter, Lyle left his Boston roots, moved out west, and started his career at BSSP, where he worked on MINI, Chipotle, and El Pollo Loco, created the Priceline Negotiator and made award-winning spots for Google, among others. His work has been recognized by the One Show, Cannes Lions, Clios, Art Directors Club, Communication Arts, and the Effies. At McKinney, he is Co-Chief Creative Officer, overseeing all the work from the Durham and New York offices, including Little Caesars, Puma, Popeyes, and ESPN, where he continues to do award-winning work. He's got a deep and abiding love of telling stories and finding the untapped potential in every brand. After 19 years in the business, he could probably hack it as an account person now. No, he couldn’t. That’s a lie.

Kerry O'Connor | Group Strategy Director

Kerry started her career working in communications for the Navy in Washington, D.C., before deciding to pursue a career in advertising. She attended the VCU Brandcenter where she graduated with an MS in business and a concentration in branding and strategy. Kerry joined McKinney in 2015 and honed her passion for insights on brands like CarMax, Jared, and ESPN. She was promoted to strategy director in 2021 and is creating award-winning work using her strategy smarts on Sherwin-Williams and Little Caesars. Outside of advertising, Kerry is working her way through the NYTimes Cooking archives.

E132 Amy Widdowson: Everyone has a story worth telling

In nearly two decades in the communications field,Amy Widdowson has guided organizations through inflection moments and critical public relations challenges, with work across executive visibility, messaging and storytelling, thought leadership, and crisis management. Prior to her role as VP Communications at Medium, she spent over ten years agency-side in both corporate and public affairs leadership capacities, where she developed strategies for organizations in the technology, consumer goods, and professional services sectors.

We talk about this more in the pod but everyone should be writing about their jobs on the Internet (Medium, obviously) because we all have so much to share. Amy wrote a piece called 'Blogging About Your Job For Fun And (Emotional) Profit.' where she goes into how to do it in a way that is actually interesting and helpful. 

She has also been writing a newsletter on tech, policy, and media (The Morning Missive), where you can find her ranting about everything from housing policy to boneheaded PR stunts.

E131 Cheryl Toussaint: From Borrowing Sneakers to Building Olympians

Growing up in Brooklyn with modest means, Cheryl Toussaint knows first-hand how sports can change the direction of one’s life. After discovering a local track meet by chance at age 12, she ran her first race in a pair of borrowed sneakers and went on to earn the silver medal in the 1972 Olympic Games, even after an early mishap forced her to run with only one shoe! Now, Cheryl has turned her lifelong passion for running (she remains active today, even in her 70’s) and the lessons she learned about courage and perseverance into an ongoing personal mission to empower generations of athletes -- past, present, and future -- to achieve athletic and academic success through theColgate Women's Games.

Preparations are underway to celebrate its milestone 50th season next year. And it was a pleasure to speak with Cheryl about her remarkable journey, the legacy of the program, and how organized sports can shape lives.

Photo credit: DeSean McClinton-Holland

E130 Andy Lambert: The heart of marketing is always...

Andy Lambert is a serial entrepreneur with a proven track record of building and scaling successful software businesses over the past 12 years. As a founding member of ContentCal, a social media marketing platform, he helped grow the company from inception to acquisition by Adobe Inc. in 2021, raising $10M in funding and serving thousands of customers globally. Andy is passionate about education and sharing knowledge, which led him to author the best-selling book 'SOCIAL 3.0' in 2022. Drawing from his extensive experience, he now advises and consults with businesses, helping them scale and harness the power of social media.

E129 Foram Mehta: Meet Ally, The Chatbot That Does Way More Than Answer Questions

Foram Mehta is a leader in the social impact sector with over 13 years of experience driving initiatives in sexual and reproductive health, gender equality, and youth empowerment. As the Global Partnerships Manager at Women First Digital, Foram has spearheaded innovative solutions to address access gaps in abortion care, contraception, and digital security, particularly in underserved regions like Latin America and Africa.

She specializes in building meaningful partnerships, leveraging technology for social change, and designing scalable programs that challenge the status quo. A passionate advocate for feminist and anti-colonial approaches, Foram is committed to creating equitable and inclusive opportunities for marginalized communities worldwide.

Ally - 2x winner at the 9th Annual Shorty Impact Awards

E128 Keith Bendes: Creator campaigns can fuel the entire marketing engine

Labeled a leading voice in the intersection of marketing and technology by Forbes, Keith is the Vice President of Strategy at Linqia, the leading influencer marketing agency for enterprise brands. Keith also co-hosts the renowned Creator Economy Live podcast, is a contributor for Forbes on influencer marketing, and speaks at conferences around the world on the topic of the creator economy.

Keith has developed marketing and influencer strategies for some of the largest brands in the world including Unilever, Anheuser Busch, Kraft, McDonalds, Pepsi and more. Keith lives (and works) in San Francisco, California with his wife and two daughters.