Great Minds

What does it take to build a media brand that audiences genuinely connect with, and what can marketers learn from a company that has made humor, honesty, and cultural relevance its calling cards?

On this episode of Great Minds, we welcome Lexi Novak, Vice President and Creative Director at Betches Media, for a conversation about the changing relationship between brands, entertainment, and audiences. Lexi shares how Betches maintains its distinctive voice while expanding across platforms, why the best branded content doesn't always feel like advertising, and how marketers can participate in culture without simply chasing trends.

We also explore why brands need to trust the people who understand their audiences, how social sharing is becoming an increasingly valuable measure of creative effectiveness, and why AI makes authentic human perspectives more important than ever. Looking ahead, Lexi explains why the future of media belongs to companies that prioritize relationships over distribution channels, and why marketers shouldn't overlook the enormous influence and spending power of millennial women in their pursuit of younger generations.

Joining us is Jerome Shimizu, CEO of ABCS Insights, whose company takes its name from the four areas it measures: Audience, Brand, Consideration, and Sales. Jerome explains how ABCS applies the same measurement methodology across 16 marketing channels so advertisers can compare results consistently. We discuss how its tools connect those findings, including a Net Opportunity Score designed to identify growth opportunities, and why clearer measurement can give overlooked channels credit for the business they help create.

Joining us is Victoria Hoyle, Global VP of Intelligence at The Social Element. Victoria takes us through the agency’s Brand Currency research, explaining how brands build relationships through fandom, conversation, and moments people want to share. We discuss what Formula One’s storytelling reveals about emotional connection, why listening needs to extend beyond a brand’s own channels, and how marketers can use those insights to decide what to do next.

Joining us is Kerel Cooper, Chief Marketing Officer at MarketCast. Kerel shares why he believes marketers can learn from the strongest consumer brands and how human judgment should guide the use of AI in creative work. We also discuss a question he feels deserves more attention: how do organizations prepare people to become strategic thinkers when AI begins taking over the tasks that fill their working day?

Joining us is Ty Stafford, Founder and CEO of Hello Party, whose experience spans making YouTube videos in his dorm room and working at Red Bull Media House. Ty shares how his agency brings creators into the work from the beginning, and how developing Music Therapy with musical comedian Morgan Jay led to a partnership with Live Nation. We also discuss hiring people who can both imagine and make the work, his concerns about AI-generated creative, and his “three beer rule” for helping brands loosen up online without losing who they are.

Welcome to Great Minds, recorded live at Advertising Week New York 2026 in the Salesforce Podcast Studio.

Joining us are Jake LaDuke and Khushboo Beniwal, Industry Go-to-Market Leaders for Media, Entertainment, and Advertising at Databricks. With backgrounds spanning agencies, advertising technology, and media businesses, Jake and Khushboo share how they work with both the buyers and sellers of advertising. We discuss where AI agents can help with planning and ad sales, why business and technical teams need to learn from each other, and how to choose a worthwhile problem before choosing the technology to solve it.

Welcome to Great Minds, recorded live at Advertising Week New York 2026 in the Salesforce Podcast Studio. Joining us is Laurel Burton, CEO of Instrument, a design and technology company whose work includes Nike, Oura, Google, and Nordstrom. Laurel shares why she pushes back on the language of AI efficiency, how Instrument builds technology into its work from day one, and what delivering Nordstrom’s brand tools directly into its team’s hands looked like. We also discuss creative judgment, the responsibility of leading an agency through change, and why she believes the future still depends on people making things together.

Welcome to Great Minds, recorded live at Advertising Week New York 2026 in the Salesforce Podcast Studio. Joining us is Emeka Okafor Jr., Senior Product Director at Dropbox, who leads product for its applied AI division. Emeka shares how his work across research, consulting, Instagram, and Instacart shaped his approach to building products, and how Dropbox is expanding beyond storing files to help customers work with them. We discuss learning from existing user behavior, keeping people in control when AI takes action, and making sure a company’s brand story reflects what its product can deliver.

Joining us is Abhay Singhal, co-founder and CEO of InMobi Advertising. Abhay explains what he means by agentic advertising and where early experiments with conversational ads are taking the industry. We discuss the data and infrastructure brands need to prepare, how to set limits on autonomous decisions, and why investment should follow demonstrated results. He also shares why marketers may be expecting too much in the short term while underestimating the longer-term change.

Joining us is Leah Malone, Chief Revenue Officer at Pixability, a YouTube advertising intelligence company. Leah shares how brands can find relevant creators beyond subscriber counts, approach YouTube viewing on television screens, and distinguish content improved by AI tools from low-value videos generated entirely by AI. We also discuss which campaign decisions need human judgment and what her experience at The Onion and Foursquare taught her about recognizing a lasting industry shift.

Welcome to Great Minds, recorded live at Advertising Week New York 2026 in the Salesforce Podcast Studio. Joining us is Madeline Schofield, VP, Experience Strategy and Executive Marketing at Salesforce, fresh from Dreamforce. Madeline shares how her team designs different experiences for developers and senior executives, assesses success through both data and conversations with sales leaders, and carries the event’s story into the months that follow. We also discuss why curiosity matters when building marketing teams and how AI can free up time for deeper creative and strategic thinking.

Welcome to Great Minds, recorded live at Advertising Week New York 2026 in the Salesforce Podcast Studio. Joining us is Will Cohen, CEO and co-founder of Downtime, whose background in retail media led him to build a business around customer participation. Will shares how the company works with retailer loyalty programs, the challenge of distinguishing meaningful feedback from behavior driven by incentives, and his thoughts on using AI to personalize advertising while preserving a human connection.

Today, we're joined by Pauline, CEO of Gradient Experience, an experiential agency working across luxury, spirits, beauty, and technology. We talk about how experiences have moved closer to the center of the marketing mix, what brands should expect from them, and how to measure their value. Pauline also shares examples of how a strong experience can become a larger brand program, with a focus on making sure the creative work delivers on the business goals behind it.