Theo Gibson, ECD of Joan Creative and visual artist Bank Moody, joins us from Joan's NYC office to share his Jedi-like wisdom around authentic artistic creation, and how it has served him during an award-winning advertising career, from his early days building a creative community in Toronto, Canada, to his current role and life in NYC.

Our favorite stories:

• How a friend's words, "sketchbook Theo is the best Theo," reminded him to re-prioritize making art with his hands
• Intentionally curating your own inspiration; "our experiences shouldn't just stay with us"
• Being a horror buff and Theo's favorite quote (and solid advice) from "Hellraiser"

Big moments from doing the work:

• Learning how to and the value of picking your agencies even as agencies are picking you
• Straddling/pushing the line of safety to make good work
• While others are focused on RTBs, KPIs, etc. focus on making the work resonate with those who are watching

Career advice we'll live with:

• Your own essence will inform the work better than the industry standard
• If you haven't made anything in 2 years, it's on you, not the agency
• Never think of it as a performance

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This episode, we sit down with Lameya Chaudhury, the driving force behind social impact at Lucky Generals, the UK-based advertising agency known for work that doesn't just resonate—it challenges perceptions and drives meaningful change.

With over 15 years of experience connecting brands to their communities, Lameya shares her journey of being curiosity-led, collecting mentors, and helping brands align their actions with their words.

Our favorite stories:

• Making a complicated topic simple and working with an oil-drinking national treasure for Make My Money Matter with "Oblivia Colemine" (Olivia Coleman)
• Matchmaking client partners e.g. The British Army + The Black Curriculum, educational partnership
• The difference between UK and US cultures in business and social impact

Big moments from doing the work:

• Getting brands to be brave, invest robustly, and have receipts
• The value of forging relationships and partners within an industry where a Head of Social Impact has few to no peers
• Navigating the stages of a client relationship

Career advice we'll live with:

• The benefits of curating a curiosity-led career
• "Never stay in my own lane"
• How can we make social impact "a core component of the brand platform, not an addition?"
• Collect mentors everywhere you can

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Multi-hyphenate creative legend JoRoan Lazaro, ECD of Experience.Monks joins us to talk all things emerging technology, career lifecycles, and getting his start AOL in a time when UX design was still a nascent discipline.

Our favorite stories:

• One of the odd birds in both product design and brand communications
• Going against the grain: started in client-side and transitioned to agency
• "Instead of choosing one major I chose three. Computer science, psychology, and art - it didn't make sense at the time. It goes back to the Asian experience because you're afraid to tell your parents that... I want to do art..."

Big moments from doing the work:

• "One of the first things I did was the actual concept of the yellow running guy with a pencil... the idea was an easily identifiable icon or visual." - it changed how people use technology and helped usher in social
• "There was no usability testing. We just did it."
• "In general, I already know all the questions I want to ask, but I'm always still really really surprised when I land."
• Pitching: receiving a standing ovation but losing the pitch. It is about relationships and it is about chemistry. There's just so much you don't know.

Career advice we'll live with:

• Financial safety-net to take risks; "if I don't like it, I could always move again."
• "Nothing replaces doing it."
• "A little bit of luck, a little bit of bravery" - the idea of working in a space that is deeply unsexy to designers, but makes a gigantic difference for every day people.
• "The following your passion sounds really obvious but it makes more sense the older you get, because if you are doing something you are deeply interested in, you're gonna stick with it and work hard, and that's important for longevity."
• "The contact in America is... you have a job. They will pay you for the work you are supposed to be doing. Everything else is up to us to make great or wonderful... nothing is entitled."

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Suzie Bao, IW Group's new VP Account Director for McDonald's stopped by the Bad Pod to talk about...

• Joy work; engaging career growth and creativity with a focus on multicultural representation
• Lessons on finding mentorship early and often; the courage it takes to embrace people willing to tell you what you are bad at
• Accelerating and championing Asians in Advertising, a non profit organization dedicated to elevating traditionally overlooked voices and faces.
• Superpower: being a “fixer” and “client whisperer” — someone who packages an idea in a way that will get it across the finish line
• “It’s so nice to not be the only. I collaborate with clients that want to be a cultural icon.”
• Virtually every brand wants to capture the Gen Z audience. To them, multicultural marketing IS marketing.
• Learning by osmosis: "I know how to be an Account person. I’m NOT a strategist, so how can I become more strategist? I hang out with Strategists. I'm NOT a creative, so I hang out with creatives. I rather be around what I cannot do for a living."
• “Account is a thankless role and people often don’t fully appreciate it until I leave”

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You'll be glad you caught this one. Matt Johnson has paved his ad career as a strategist and now agency founder with determination, humility, and of, course, a heaping helping of creativity. He cut his teeth at some of the most iconic names in LA advertising; Goodby, 72&Sunny, 180LA, and now Haymaker

Matt tells us about sharing an alma mater with Dan Weiden and “growing up” in his career path alongside the rise of Jordan in the ‘80s when, for the first time, a single athlete was defining the culture of sports and beyond.

Episode Quotes:

• Almost leaving advertising: “when you’re a competitive person, and a really hard worker, advertising is really easy to get sucked up into because it’s such a tough business and demands a competitive fire.”
• “There’s never an end to the work… you could go forever.”
• "Strategy IS creative." Say it back.
• On new business: “Hire the partner not the idea”
• On modeling the agency: "Haymaker is a reflection of the founders’ partnership and friendship"
• Industry friction/ truth: “Not everyone can eat a Creative Idea”
• On life: “I found my way into opportunity and listened.”

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• Introducing our guest all the way from Lincoln, Nebraska… Clint Runge, CEO & Founder of Archrival!
• Turns out, advertising was a second chapter for Clint, who actually started out in architecture and design.
• Archrival is a youth culture agency setting out to reinvent how brands with the hearts and minds of young adults, teens to twenty-somethings.
• Clint and his team of 65 have worked with brands like Spotify, Adidas, and Epic Games, and they aren’t slowing down.
• “Rewriting the Ten Z playbook” - Vogue, March 2024
• Gen Z is breaking the traditional marketing funnel, moving away from a top-down broadcast model towards a bottom-up, grassroots approach to building brand identity
• We chat about the job search, career satisfaction, creativity vs creativity management

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After 3 years and over 60 guest interviews, The Bad Pod co-founder, Amelia is leaving the podcast.

AND Eric L. Hu, Head of Strategy FinTech at Walmart and our episode 37 guest from August '22, is taking over as co-host!

Eric & Brian talk with Amelia about the pod past, our futures, what makes the work "worth it," and what is most important in our professional lives.

Please join us in bidding a fond farewell to Amelia and wishing her all the best as she continues to dominate over at VML Chicago!

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Look no further than this episode's thumbnail image to see that Ryan Mack likes doing things differently. And it's that ability to go with his gut, even and especially when unconventional, that has ushered him through a truly inspiring career.

In his words, Ryan Mack's special talent is making small things medium. As the former President of Virtue Worldwide, he did just that, building Vice's agency into an advertising juggernaut.

As Chief Commercial Officer at Made In Network, he has overseen the brand-building of cultural superstars like Matty Matheson, Action Bronson, and many more. This episode is a masterclass in modern creator marketing and what big brands are missing in the conversation of how to stay relevant.

Episode Links:
Made In Network
Matty Matheson on YouTube
Babish Culinary Universe

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