Episodes
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Kathleen Saxton BioManaging Director, EMEA Advisory & Global Search
Kathleen Saxton is a Managing Director at MediaLink, who leads the firm’s operations in EMEA. An industry veteran with 25+ years of experience in sales, marketing, media and executive search, her remit is wide-ranging and spans business growth, agency selection, talent advisory and strategic consulting.
Saxton joined MediaLink in 2020 from The Lighthouse, a talent advisory firm she founded in 2009 to provide executive talent and counsel to companies across the marketing landscape. Prior to founding The Lighthouse, Saxton held commercial leadership positions spanning organisations including Sky Television, Global Radio and Bauer and later held board positions within Omnicom, Publicis and Virgin. She is also the co-founder of Advertising Week Europe.
Kathleen is a qualified and practicing psychotherapist and co-founder of Psyched Global, and as such applies psychology to all elements of her work. She is the Chair of the Ambassador Platform, sits on the board of NSPCC Childline and is an active member of WACL, the British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy (BACP), and the UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP). She is also a regular industry speaker and a mentor for the UK government’s Speakers For Schools program.
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In our next episode of “Spontaneously Candid,” Harjot sits down with one of the industry’s most revered creatives, Susan Credle, Global Chief Creative Officer and Global Chair of one of our IPG sister agencies, FCB.
Susan is an absolute powerhouse, leading with intention, building teams that flourish and leveraging her leadership role to infuse the industry with diversity. Susan is the first female chairperson of The One Club for Creativity, a non-stop champion of creative talent and a passionate advocate for industry inclusion.
Prior to joining FCB, Susan spent twenty-plus years at BBDO and was previously CCO of Leo Burnett USA. During her time at FCB, Susan has led the team to its strongest performance at Cannes yet, leading the agency to being named Global Network of the Year.
She was named on Ad Age’s “100 Most Influential Women” list and Business Insider’s “Most Creative Women in Advertising” list, was a Matrix Awards honoree and was inducted into the AAF’s Hall of Achievement.
Tune in to hear Susan chat with Harjot about everything from her early days as a child actress, her first foray into creative advertising, her current philosophies on being a creative leader and everything in between.
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Missing episodes?
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In April’s episode of “Spontaneously Candid,” Harjot is joined by long-time friend, colleague, and yet another one of the industry’s power players: Claire Beale, Co-Founder of The Creative Salon.
Prior to founding The Creative Salon, her latest endeavor, Claire served as global Editor-In-Chief of coveted, global industry trade publication Campaign for over 25 years. Reporting on the media industry for the lion’s share of her career, Claire witnessed the industry’s ebbs and flows, and was personally impacted by COVID-19 pandemic when she lost a job she truly loved.
Throughout the conversation, Harjot distills how Claire’s tenacity, determination, reputation, and connections led her to bounce back, creating a business that married all her passion points. She co-founded The Creative Salon, a consultancy based on her unique expertise having spent decades analyzing the industry. Part members-only website, part physical salon and part training service for agencies, the business is a community dedicated to the future of the advertising and marketing industry.
Take a listen to the conversation as Claire discusses everything from landing her first job as an advertising and media reporter, coping with change and using that change as an opportunity to lean into passion and build something brand new.
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“The Golden Age of advertising has not even begun because we have not even begun to see what this industry can be with the creativity, the talent and the skills of women and people of color.”
In this month’s episode of “Spontaneously Candid,” Harjot is joined by the one, the only Cindy Gallop, ad industry stalwart and Founder and CEO of the transformative MakeLoveNotPorn, where they discuss everything from how Cindy’s passion for the industry fuelled her into the ad tech space, how she uses her “free time,” how anyone can “wear Cindy’s confidence,” and so much more.
A constant champion for women, women’s rights, gender equality and all things DE&I in the advertising industry, Cindy stops at nothing to empower women around her and set an example for rising talent.
After a trailblazing career in the advertising industry, including founding the BBH US in 1998 after several years of working for the European offices and being named Advertising Woman of the Year from Advertising Women of New York in 2003, Cindy ventured into the ad tech space to create solutions through her unique lens. Believing in taking action where possible, she founded both If We Ran the World – an action-based software – and MakeLoveNotPorn – a social sextech platform designed to promote positive sexual behavior and values – both of which we dive into throughout the conversation.
Tune in as we dive into Cindy’s journey, from getting her start at a small theatre to becoming a prominent Twitter influencer with a growing platform used for good.
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In our next episode of “Spontaneously Candid,” Harjot is joined by our very own Alex Lopez, President and Chief Creative Officer, who recently joined McCann Worldgroup after a 20-year career at Nike, making a huge career shift from the client to agency business.
One of the most accomplished and awarded brand marketers and creative storytellers in the world of consumer marketing, Alex has a history of defining, differentiating and activating consumer engagement across Nike’s brand. During his career there, Alex was at the leading edge of evolving how the brand connects with consumers, spearheading some of its most influential efforts, including: Dream Crazy, Equality and You Can’t Stop us among many others.
Alex’s work has impressively won every important creative marketing award, including multiple Emmy nominations and wins, Cannes Grand Prix Lions, a D&AD Black Pencil and hundreds of others. He even has work featured in the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC.
Tune into learn about Alex’s past, his tricks of the trade and what parts of his personal life have helped pave the way for him.
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New year, new “Spontaneously Candid!” To kick off 2022, Harjot is joined joined by the unstoppable Amy Armstrong – Global CEO of Initiative, one of the top media agencies in the world and a sister IPG agency to McCann Worldgroup.
In this episode, we scratch the surface of everything Amy has accomplished. Perhaps even more importantly, Amy shares her complex and inspiring personal story.
Amy has held leadership positions at IPG for over 20 years, including serving as President of BPN Worldwide and of ID Media, which is even more impressive when you consider that she was at the helm when the ad world had few female leaders. Her strategic acumen, ability to identify and develop talent and continued focus on accountable and impactful D, E&I efforts have made her one of the agency world’s most effective and admired leaders.
While serving as Initiative’s U.S. CEO, Amy’s role at the agency before taking on the global leadership role, the agency won virtually every U.S.-based accolade there is, including being named U.S. Comeback Agency of the Year by Ad Age, U.S. Media Agency of the Year by Adweek, and a Best Place to Work by Ad Age.
Tune in to find out about Amy’s journey, how she got to where she is, what personal and professional barriers have stood on her way and how she conquered them.
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In this episode of “Spontaneously Candid,” Harjot is joined by Eureka O’Hara – widely-regarded as one of the best-known and one of the most entertaining and successful drag queens in recent her story – for a fascinating discussion about identity, self-love, life in the spotlight and more.
Eureka competed on the 9th and 10th seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race and, most recently, was a finalist in RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 6. Eureka is also currently one of a trio of hosts of “We're Here” on HBO, where they help find and mentor small-town residents to participate in one-night only drag shows. Eureka is also an accomplished singer. Among their singles are “The Big Girl” and “Body Positivity” – which happens to also be a key issue for which this “Elephant Queen” has long championed.
Eureka’s personal and professional journey – from starting off as David Huggard born in Tennessee to a life of fame and fortune, from being born male, living as a transgender woman and then re-transitioning to identifying as genderfluid and non-binary, from Drag upstart to All-star and mentor – Eureka’s story is as compelling, layered and engrossing as it sounds.
With everything Eureka has accomplished, what has remained frustratingly outside of their grasp? What do they wish they have done differently? What would they never change? Tune in to this episode to find out.
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In this episode of “Spontaneously Candid,” Harjot turns the tables on accomplished advertising and marketing reporter, Jeff Beer – instead of him telling us a story we want to hear his. What are the key themes of his personal narrative? What drives him? What scares him? What is he proud of and what does he wish he could take back? If we were writing a full feature on Jeff Beer – what would the headline be?
Jeff Beer, Staff Editor at Fast Company, covers advertising, marketing and brand creativity. He is one of the most well-regarded reporters covering our space, having written at the famed publication for years and for a suite of the industry’s top outlets prior, including Canadian Business Magazine, Marketing Magazine, AdAge, and Creativity Magazine.Jeff writes in-depth stories on the trends and brands reshaping and redefining the industry. With co-author Nicole Laporte, he recently wrote the cover story for Fast Company’s coveted “Most Innovative Companies” on Lebron James’ SpringHill Company. He is also the host/producer of Fast Company’s weekly video series, “Brand Hit & Miss.”
In this episode, we’re the reporter and the reporter is our subject. -
From the jungles of Panama and Honduras, to fighter jets in the Navy, to decoding the genome of one of the world’s most dangerous pathogens, to leading a next-generation vaccine program, to tracking chimpanzees with Jane Goodall, to creating one of the world’s most creatively awarded health campaigns, there isn’t much Dan Carucci hasn’t seen or done.
Dan’s credentials and experience are unlike those of any other leader in our network. He’s a physician and molecular biologist with over 30 years of experience in cutting-edge science. As a research physician with the US Navy, he led ground-breaking programs in genomics and proteomics, and next-generation vaccine development against malaria. After retiring from the Navy with the rank of Captain after 20 years active service, he was appointed as the first Director of the Grand Challenges in Global Health Initiative, a $200 million program for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. As Vice President of Global Health at the United Nations Foundation, Dr. Carucci served on the board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria.
He has published more than 80 peer reviewed papers in high impact journals such as Nature and Science, and holds two U.S. patents for vaccine technologies.
His professional credentials are well-known…his personal story and journey has remained hidden until now. Listen to this fascinating discussion between Dan and Harjot in this episode of “Spontaneously Candid”.
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Sure, Kathleen is one of the most awarded and admired brand executives in the world. But how does she feel when she is sitting next to Carolyn Everson?
Our very own Harjot Singh digs deep learning about the person who has either personally won or led her team in winning too many awards to list, but just a few: the 2016 Clio Advertiser of the Year, 2019 Cannes Lion Titanium and Grand Prix, 2019 Grand Clio and The One Show 2020 CMO Pencil Award. She was also selected as an honoree for the Advertising Women of New York’s 2016 Changing the Game Awards in the Brainwave category, which is bestowed upon executives viewed as being game changers in the way a business or product is marketed. This year, under Kathleen’s leadership, Microsoft was awarded the coveted 2021 Cannes Lions Marketer of the Year Award.
All that said, this conversation is not about her accomplishments but about the person who achieved them…this is a fascinating discussion about an extraordinary person driven by passion, guided by her grandmother’s wisdom, bolstered by the confidence required to become one of the world’s leading marketers.
At the same time, her personal story is both relatable and fascinating. Kathleen gets candid about her humble beginnings, how being part of a big family required her to find her voice early or risk not getting heard, and about how, despite all her success, she still has insecurities and self-doubt just like the rest of us.
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Embrace uncertainty rather than avoid it, says Bill Kolb, Chairman & CEO, McCann Worldgroup. Throughout his successful career, Bill’s found that fear and uncertainty are the great equalizers…all of us have it, including the most successful leaders.
Surprising words from someone with career like Bill’s. Taking the helm as Chairman & CEO of McCann Worldgroup at the beginning of 2021, Bill has spent his career building brands and businesses from the ground up. Previously Chief Operating Officer of the network and before that Global President, Bill’s long and successful history within McCann spans over two decades working worked with both large and entrepreneurial companies, and with multinational clients including GM, Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Merck and Anheuser-Busch.
His vision has led both Commonwealth//McCann and MRM to great success winning both client and industry award. In 2020, for the first time, five MRM agencies were named in WARC’s top 40 effective digital agencies listing, as part of WARC’s global Effective 100 ranking. MRM has been recognized with some of the industry’s highest accolades, including being designated for four consecutive years (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020) as a “Leader” in Gartner Inc.’s Magic Quadrant for Global Marketing Agencies. The agency was named Ad Age’s B-to-B Agency of the Year in 2018 and as the Top Large Agency of the Year at the Digital Analytics Association’s Quantities.
How did he get there? Who is the person sitting behind the executive desk? Find out in our inaugural episode of “Spontaneously Candid.”
