Adweek 50: Shining a Well-Deserved Spotlight on the Behind-the-Scenes Stars in Media, Marketing and Tech

This year’s honorees brought their organizations safely to the other side of an ongoing pandemic, and despite such difficult circumstances, found opportunities to achieve personal and organizational excellence. That includes Betsy Wilson, vp of digital marketing and brand management at 114-year-old UPS, who saw an opportunity to partner with small minority-owned businesses during the pandemic; NBCUniversal’s ad sales chiefs Mark Marshall, Laura Molen and Krishan Bhatia, who saw their strongest upfront ever in 2021 and are now turning eagerly toward a record-breaking Super Bowl; Ryan Ford, president and CCO of full-service agency Cashmere, who took his expertise in culture and became Taco Bell’s first-ever culture agency of record in August; and Condé Nast CMO Deirdre Findlay, who kept traffic up through the pandemic and helped the publisher grow total subscriptions 16% year over year. Read on for more about these often-unsung industry heroes, including our cover star, Google vp of global marketing Marvin Chow. —Nicole Ortiz

Marvin Chow

Vp, global marketing, Google Between a global social movement that raised the stakes around racial equity and the harrowing peak of the pandemic, the last year has made clear that a perfunctory approach to purpose-driven marketing is no longer going to cut it. With these wake-up calls in mind, Google vp of global marketing Marvin Chow has emerged as a leading voice in modeling a new approach to cause marketing, one that engages with big societal issues in a sincere and impactful manner. “I’ve experienced the renewing energy that comes from being jolted out of autopilot,” Chow, one of our 2021 Adweek 50 recipients, says. “This experience has given us an incredible invitation—if not mandate—to burn it down and start again at first principles. Embracing that willingness to rethink everything is inspiring for me, personally, and for the team.” Partner and head of data science and connections, FCB Global Fusing data with creativity is one of the biggest challenges agencies face in 2021, and Allan, FCB’s head of data science and connections, is at the center of those efforts. She works closely with global chief creative officer Susan Credle to provide insights from within IPG’s data offerings Kinesso, Matterkind, Magna and Acxiom. “We’re constantly seeing the creative leads at various FCB offices look to their data partners, and witnessing this ‘hand-in-hand’ mindset more and more proves to me that we’re on the right track,” says Allan, who’s also had a hand in building out FCB/Six’s personalization, global CRM, data and technology efforts. —Jameson Fleming

Jessica Appelgren

Vp, marketing and experience, Impossible Foods Having made major inroads with meat-loving flexitarians and health-conscious foodies, Appelgren and Impossible Foods are now setting their sights on young Gen Z eco-warriors, planning to “focus on reaching the changemakers in the most disruptive way,” she says. A five-year vet of the Silicon Valley startup, Appelgren launched the brand into America’s school lunchrooms in 2020 (on the heels of Impossible’s first national ads, the muscular “We Are Meat” campaign) and aligned with Colin Kaepernick’s Know Your Rights Camp for kids. She was also instrumental in landing “official burger” status at the new Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, promising to “double down” on entertainment, celebrity and sustainability ties. As the brand works to “fill the entire freezer section” and the nation’s restaurant menus with its expanding faux meat line, Appelgren will help lead marketing, which she says will be “much more cohesive, much bolder.” —T.L. Stanley

Bela Bajaria

Global head of TV, Netflix The most important portion of Bajaria’s job title at the 214 million member-strong streaming service is the “global” part. “The last two years have proven to be a watershed moment for local language content,” Bajaria said in August—and she wasn’t kidding. Since 2019, non-English language viewing increased by 71% in the U.S., and 97% of U.S. subscribers have watched at least one non-English title in the last year. Bajaria is helping Netflix’s global hits only get bigger, like French heist thriller Lupin, watched by 76 million global households in four weeks, or the bloody South Korean survival series Squid Game, watched by 142 million households. This fall, viewers worldwide are bracing for big-budget global series like new seasons of The Witcher and Cobra Kai, and the new live-action remake of Cowboy Bebop—all of which will help Netflix keep growing its member base. —Kelsey Sutton

Rupert Bedell

Vp, b-to-b marketing for Europe, American Express Since joining American Express in 2018, Bedell has transformed the brand’s b-to-b marketing in Europe as a squarely digital-first operation. A financial services marketing veteran with 24 years in the industry, Bedell quickly gained the trust of Europe’s small- and medium-sized businesses. At a time when merchants were grappling with the uncertainty of supply chain and other business challenges, Bedell and his team tripled the amount of small- and mid-sized business that Amex card members acquired each month throughout the year. Bedell’s goal for 2022 is to maintain a digital-first focus while solidifying the loyalty accrued during the past year. “In our lead markets in continental Europe—France, Germany and Italy—we’re going to look to replicate the success and digital growth we have seen in the U.K.,” Bedell says. “This is already underway, with digital channels performing ever stronger and strong acquisition in France, Germany and Italy in October 2021.” —David Kaplan

Stacie Boney

President, Hanson Dodge During the pandemic, as many agencies flailed, Boney helped Milwaukee-based independent agency Hanson Dodge thrive by winning new business, offering new service capabilities like in-house production and investing in its digital expertise. Its media billings have more than doubled over the year, and revenue is tracking to be up more than 10% as the agency landed business including media for Creminelli Fine Meats and helping shoe company Keen Utility pivot from brick and mortar to ecommerce. “Grasping for inspiration in April 2020, I found this Ralph Waldo Emerson quote and brought it to the team: ‘In hard times, cultivate yourself. And you cannot lose your labor,’” says Boney. To that end, the agency focused on cultivating its people and culture, utilizing a PPP loan to make sure it held onto all its talent. —Kyle O’Brien

Aaron Braxton

Svp, business intelligence and performance marketing, general manager of Collective, Complex Networks If Braxton has a long job title, he has an even longer list of responsibilities. “I’ve begun to think about my functions as though they’re shaped like a dodecahedron,” he says. “There are facets to each, alternatively connected or disparate.” Over the past 18 months, he’s helped build a seven-figure revenue line for Complex by infusing the culture media company with a data-led approach that recalls his consulting days. By applying machine learning across business intelligence and folding it into all elements of the company, Braxton’s team uses data to inform programming, products, marketing and business strategies to amplify its mission of creating what’s next in pop culture. Identity is the next connective layer for our verticals,” he adds, “and refining our efforts within personalization will require that we continue to combine data, prediction, operations and audience research.” —Lucinda Southern

Lee Brown

Vp, global head of advertising business, Spotify Brown joined Spotify in 2019, bringing with him years of experience at some of the internet’s most well-known brands—BuzzFeed, Tumblr, Groupon and Yahoo. Despite the curveballs that 2020 dealt to every corner of the business world, Brown’s first calendar year with Spotify was a historic one. The brand inked a $20 million podcast ad deal with Omnicom last July—a number that speaks to the marketing opportunities within the exploding category. Industrywide revenue from podcast ads is on track to hit $1 billion this year, and Spotify is betting big with Brown at the helm. Ad-supported revenue on the platform was also up 110% year over year in the second quarter, and podcasting revenue skyrocketed, up 627% from 2020. “Two years [after joining Spotify], we’ve doubled our ad revenue, digital audio advertising is no longer experimental and advertisers are starting to appreciate just how rich of a marketing engine audio is,” Brown says.—Kathryn Lundstrom

Lee Brown

Vp, global head of advertising business, Spotify Brown joined Spotify in 2019, bringing with him years of experience at some of the internet’s most well-known brands—BuzzFeed, Tumblr, Groupon and Yahoo. Despite the curveballs that 2020 dealt to every corner of the business world, Brown’s first calendar year with Spotify was a historic one. The brand inked a $20 million podcast ad deal with Omnicom last July—a number that speaks to the marketing opportunities within the exploding category. Industrywide revenue from podcast ads is on track to hit $1 billion this year, and Spotify is betting big with Brown at the helm. Ad-supported revenue on the platform was also up 110% year over year in the second quarter, and podcasting revenue skyrocketed, up 627% from 2020. “Two years [after joining Spotify], we’ve doubled our ad revenue, digital audio advertising is no longer experimental and advertisers are starting to appreciate just how rich of a marketing engine audio is,” Brown says.—Kathryn Lundstrom

Ricardo Casal and Juan Javier Peña Plaza

ECDs, North America, and global partners, Gut Agency Through their leadership, Casal and Plaza have helped independent agency Gut’s rapid global expansion across the Americas, from Canada to Mexico. They also recently helped Gut land agency of record duties for heritage Canadian restaurant chain Tim Hortons. The multi-award-winning creatives—including several Cannes Lions—cite the agency’s focus on its people and chemistry with its clients for its success. Being a diverse agency helps them dive into multiple markets, especially the burgeoning Latinx market. The two consider themselves “ad nerds” and pride themselves on building a culture of creativity. “What excites me the most is getting together with creatives to come up with ideas that have not been done that are going to push culture forward, that are going to help drive the clients’ businesses and are going to help turn Gut into that creative powerhouse that we want it to be on a global scale,” says Plaza. —Kyle O’Brien

JP Colaco

President of advertising sales, WarnerMedia Colaco went right to work after joining WarnerMedia in October 2020, lining up marketers for the June rollout of HBO Max With Ads, which he will continue to scale and grow in the coming year. This year, he headed up the most successful upfront in company history, which should help surpass WarnerMedia’s overall $6.4 billion ad revenue haul in 2020. “We had a very clear strategy on how we wanted to approach the market, listened to our customers and understood and respected what they needed this past year,” says Colaco. He will also be focusing on expanding the company’s national addressable footprint in the coming year, or at least until the WarnerMedia-Discovery merger closes in 2022. —Jason Lynch

Bryna Corcoran

Director, social media and influencer marketing, Lyft Corcoran has been instrumental in Lyft’s bevy of recent creative campaigns, including “#ShouldveTakenALyft,” a White House partnership where Lyft provided free rides to vaccination sites, and another campaign where Lyft said it would pay the legal fees of any of its drivers sued for driving people to abortion clinics under Texas’ new abortion law. When Corcoran joined Lyft a year and a half ago, she saw social as an opportunity to reshape how the brand resonated with consumers. Within four months of its launch on TikTok, Lyft grew to almost 120,000 followers through a mix of entertainment and organic stories. In the first 12-24 hours of sharing its stance on the Texas abortion law, Lyft’s social media content reached between 10 million and 15 million people organically. “Continuously standing by our values led to some of the most viral social media content in the company’s history and some of the proudest work I’ve had the chance to spearhead in my entire career,” Corcoran says. —Rafael Canton

Suzy Deering

Global CMO, Ford Deering joined Ford as its CMO in February after five years as eBay’s global and North American marketing head. As such, she managed the launch of two new nameplates and spearheaded Ford’s fuller embrace of sustainability. Within just 24 hours of its launch, the Ford F-150 Lightning, the electrified version of the 40-plus-year-old pickup, secured more than 20,000 vehicle reservations. As of mid-June, the Lightning had more than 100,000 reservations, and the all-new compact pickup Ford Maverick, which debuted last month, racked up 36,000 reservations. As Deering wraps up her first year in the role, she plans to continue her aggressive effort to expand Ford’s customer base to a new, more diverse generation of first-time Ford buyers. “Simply put: We’re putting [customers] and their needs and wants at the center of our business and also our communications plan,” Deering says. —David Kaplan

Carla Eboli

Evp and DEI lead, Energy BBDO If Eboli has learned anything from working in diversity and inclusion, it’s that there is no shortcut to change. “The work is labor intensive, and it requires heavy support from white males as allies,” says Eboli, who joined Energy BBDO March 2019. In her role, Eboli identifies roadblocks that prevent diverse talent from entering the industry, signals that her agency is a welcoming space during the recruitment process and helps retain talent through an individualized approach to inclusion. An example of the agency responding to external forces and prioritizing employee needs was when it “completely shifted its calendar” to check in on employees on Jan. 6 following the U.S. Capitol riots. Eboli hopes to pay her success in the marketing industry forward. She has worked at Omnicom agencies in the U.S. and Brazil for almost 20 years and was named Adcolor’s Unsung Community Hero in 2020. “I busted my ass to get here, but I had advocates who fought for me even when I wasn’t in the room,” she says. “That’s what I want to do for every woman.” —Emmy Liederman

Juanjo Feijoo

COO and CMO, Weedmaps Expect to see the cannabis version of No Reservations, not a redo of Half Baked, when Weedmaps launches its first original programming in early 2022, says Feijoo, who’s also overseeing the brand’s upcoming integrations into mainstream entertainment via an alliance with Wheelhouse Labs. The goal for both ventures, as with every marketing move he makes at the delivery platform, is to “toss out the old stoner cliches and present cannabis in a real way,” while being a staunch advocate for the exploding $24 billion category. Feijoo’s 2020 hits include a groundbreaking three-year deal with the NBA’s Kevin Durant and an industry-first takeover of Times Square. The digital marketing vet spearheaded the brand’s second virtual 4/20 celebration, which logged 750,000 views, adding a mini summit on social justice to its A-list musical lineup, and presided over a 75% year-over-year growth spike to 12.3 million monthly active users. Next, Feijoo will try to forge a Weedmaps relationship with Super Bowl 56, extending his mandate of “destigmatizing and normalizing cannabis everywhere.” —T.L. Stanley

Rita Ferro

President, advertising sales and partnerships, Disney After overseeing $10.9 billion in Disney ad revenue during fiscal year 2020, Ferro wrapped what she calls “our strongest upfront in history,” securing double-digit CPM increases, with more than 40% of upfront dollars in streaming and digital. After leveraging Disney’s new NFL, NHL and MLB deals for the portfolio, “this is truly an exciting time in the sports and streaming landscape, and we feel great about our position,” she says. And while DEI was a priority across all the media companies this year, only Ferro pushed for brands to make multicultural commitments in all of their upfront deals, securing $100 million in commitments from every major holding company. —Jason Lynch

Deirdre Findlay

CMO, Condé Nast Findlay became Condé Nast’s first chief marketing officer in January 2020 and is responsible for driving revenue through its direct-to-consumer businesses, print and digital subscriptions, newsstand sales, ecommerce, affiliate and box business, and membership programs. The numbers speak for themselves: Total subscriptions are up 16% year over year, affiliate and commerce revenue has grown 42% year over year and Condé titles are maintaining traffic peaks from the pandemic. Findlay has growth plans for branded products, immersive experiences, memberships and commerce expansion, but maintaining that focus requires some balance. “I am a big believer that you can’t be your best self at work if you’re not giving to yourself first,” she says. For Findlay, that’s a morning Peloton workout. —Lucinda Southern

Ryan Ford

President and chief creative officer, Cashmere In a world where brands must earn increasingly precious consumer attention, Ford helps marketers understand how they can mold, impact and align with culture. And as the relationship between consumers and brands becomes more intimate on social media, Ford advises clients on how to make their consumer-facing image authentically reflect their internal values. Cashmere, which has grown 164% in the past three years, became Taco Bell’s first-ever culture agency of record in August and created content and buzz around Lil Nas X’s appointment as the brand’s chief impact officer. As a former Taco Bell employee and an icon in the LGBTQ+ community, the agency believes Lil Nas X’s commitment to social justice and journey to stardom reflects the brand’s values. “The average brand has a belief system, but it might not be connected to your consumers,” he says. “There’s a huge opportunity to fill that void with some real truth about who you are as a company. What is your cultural strategy, and where do you see yourself resonating the most?” —Emmy Liederman

Marianne Gambelli

President, advertising sales, Fox Corp First Gambelli brought in $4.5 billion in ad revenue during the last fiscal year, then her focus on the power of ad-supported TV paid off in what she calls an “unprecedented” upfront—the biggest in Fox history, with CPM hikes as much as 20% across Fox’s entertainment, sports and news offerings. She also more than tripled ad-supported streamer Tubi’s upfront business from a year ago and doubled the number of new advertisers for Tubi and Fox Digital. As Fox returns to the office this fall, Gambelli says she’ll “look to capitalize on what we learned working remotely during Covid and modernize the way we approach our in-office experience, making it a more productive and effective work environment for all.” —Jason Lynch

Sandie Hawkins

Gm, North America, global business solutions, TikTok

With an average organic reach of 118% for brands, social media platform TikTok is an attractive avenue for brands to reach consumers. The leader of the company’s ad operations, Hawkins oversees the strategic business direction and sales and marketing teams in North America. TikTok’s major draw for brands is its ability to offer a way to reach creators and fans through viral content. TikTok found that 61% of its users discover brands and products on TikTok, and the community’s users are almost 1.5 times more likely to immediately go out and buy something they discovered on the platform. “TikTok’s participatory nature is creating an entirely new way for brands to connect with their audiences, and when done so in an authentic way, they are able to build real human connections with the TikTok community,” Hawkins says. —Rafael Canton

Karen Horne

Svp, equity and inclusion, WarnerMedia

Horne is no stranger to making her industry more inclusive. Throughout her extensive career, the svp of equity and inclusion has made it her mission to build direct pipelines for diverse creators at places like Disney/ABC, Nickelodeon and NBCUniversal. After only a year in her newest post, she’s doing the same for WarnerMedia with the Access Writers Program, which is geared toward educating and developing writers from marginalized communities across the company’s enviable slate of IP. “When I believe in a talent, it is my goal to make sure that everybody else believes in that talent,” Horne told Adweek earlier this year. “It’s really our goal to make sure that the talent that we find knows that they can shape their stories within WarnerMedia.” —Shannon Miller

Tim Hubbell

Vp, marketing, MSNBC

In a chaotic year filled with competing, often contradictory narratives, clear messaging around critical subjects was vital. At MSNBC, Hubbell spearheaded two initiatives whose aim was just that: Plan Your Vote, which helped 1.6 million Americans find their way to the polls during the pandemic, and Plan Your Vaccine, which cut through a miasma of disinformation to get 4.6 million much-needed needles in arms. “Last year, there was a lot of confusion over voting,” Hubbell says. “So we shifted our creative and media resources, and we focused on communicating that, knowing how you would vote was just as important as who you voted for.” In addition to the PYV initiatives, Hubbell also oversaw the expansion of MSNBC onto streaming service Peacock and played a key role in developing The Memory Box, a series of reflections on 9/11. —Mark Stenberg

Craig Hughes

Vp, corporate development and strategic partnerships, Outbrain

Initial public offerings were a key trend in ad tech in 2021. The process typically relies upon grueling face-to-face road shows as companies attempt to woo Wall Street. However, during the pandemic, such marketing efforts had to be conducted (primarily) via Zoom—and not all were successful. It was there that Outbrain’s Hughes proved himself exemplary. Yaron Galai, Outbrain co-CEO, gives Hughes much of the credit for the content recommendation platform’s billion-dollar IPO. “A lot of the IPO effort and success is in telling a cohesive, truthful story of what the company is,” he says. “Craig was the mastermind.” —Ronan Shields

Juan Isaza

Vp, strategic planning and innovation, DDB Latina

For Isaza, inclusion isn’t just a priority—it’s a requirement. “I truly believe that diversity is a precondition for creativity,” he says. “I have strived to foster a very inclusive working space that increased motivation and teamwork despite the challenges of a remote work environment.” And his efforts paid off: Through diligent recruitment and strong advocacy, Isaza—the president of DDB Mexico and vice president of strategic planning and innovation, DDB Latina—managed to increase the agency’s diversity while remaining instrumental in raising its ranking in Effie Index’s list of most effective agencies in Latin America from eighth to third. The DDB Mexico office grew 86% as an inclusive environment index, according to its internal survey for employees. Isaza also hired DDB Mexico’s first female vp in the office’s history and is leading a certification in LGBTQ+ for the workplace. —Shannon Miller

Cadi Jones

Commercial director, EMEA, Beeswax

Ad tech is hot again, with legacy tech eager to future-proof their offerings and competition among startups in the space. In the case of Beeswax, purchased by Comcast in late 2020, Jones proved invaluable in helping the new breed of demand-side platform (DSP) stand out. Ari Paparo, Beeswax’s founder, describes Jones as crucial to building the company’s international presence. “For years she’s been a thought leader in the space,” he says. But disrupting the male-dominated stages of digital media’s conference circuit is where Jones has had a more profound impact on the industry. This has involved co-founding WomenPresent.com, a social enterprise to better address gender diversity among conference speakers. —Ronan Shields

Ramon Jones

CMO, Nationwide

While most brands had to adjust to new norms in 2021, Nationwide’s long-running “On your side” messaging remained unchanged. To Jones, the tagline is more than a catchy slogan: “It’s our brand promise, and it’s been resonating with consumers and our business partners for decades,” he says. A Nationwide operations leader earlier in his career, Jones spent time in regional service centers. He was able to see the devastation and heartbreak insurance policyholders have to reckon with firsthand, an experience that informs his marketing strategy. “We’re leveraging data analytics to inform our approach and brand investments in 2022,” Jones notes. Aside from launching the “On Your Side Soundtracks” campaign with singer Jill Scott this year, Nationwide also revamped its visual platform to give the logo a more modern feel, a slight change that allows the brand to stand out in the crowded financial services market. —David Kaplan

Jason Kahner

Global president, health and wellness, Grey

Health care may not have been seen as the coolest category before the Covid-19 pandemic, but a global crisis brought its crucial role to the forefront. Kahner saw that firsthand when Grey’s Health and Wellness created Pfizer’s “Science Will Win” campaign. What started as a corporate reputation campaign became a poignant rallying cry about the power of science to improve people’s lives. The tagline was the most used hashtag during the pandemic and was referenced by world leaders. Under Kahner’s leadership, Grey’s Health and Wellness became WPP’s fastest growing health company, winning 14 new clients in 2020—including Johnson & Johnson’s Covid vaccine assignment—and six in 2021. “Our biggest challenge is also my biggest source of pride: our ability to build an amazing team of people virtually around the world; craft impactful and important work in the health and wellness space; and deliver unprecedentedly high double-digit growth,” he says. —Brittaney Kiefer

Eric Karp

Svp, brand licensing, Vox Media

For publishers with strong brand identities and a desire to diversify their revenue portfolio, product licensing has become the hot way to make cash out of cachet. But rather than build out a program from scratch, some publishers have enlisted the help of an expert––the same one, in fact. At BuzzFeed, Karp turned Tasty into a licensing behemoth, generating more than $250 million in sales in 2020. In August, Vox Media hired Karp to replicate his success for its stable of brands. Now, with a richer palette of titles and a familiar remit, the licensing guru has the opportunity of a career ahead of him. “What’s super clear is that we have an authoritative voice in the culinary world, sports, video gaming, pop culture and fashion,” Karp says. “So that’s where I’ll be focusing first.” —Mark Stenberg

Suresh Kumar

Evp, global CTO and CDO, Walmart

When Kumar—a former Amazon and Google executive—joined Walmart in 2019, a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic hadn’t yet upended the retail industry. Since then, however, Kumar has helped the U.S. retail giant pivot to meet evolving consumer needs. That includes using AI, machine learning and voice technology to predict demand, manage stock levels and optimize the supply chain, all of which contributed to bringing the retail giant to $560 billion for 2021. Meanwhile, Walmart continues to build out its advertising business and a soon-to-launch DSP as it seeks to further monetize the data generated by its 150 million weekly shoppers in the U.S. “I believe new technologies such as cloud, AI/ML, 5G, voice and computer vision are powering the next evolution [of the retail industry],” Kumar says. “We’ll lead the next retail disruption by remaining at the forefront of innovation and investing in tech.” —Lisa Lacy

Linda Lee

CMO, meals and beverages, Campbell Soup Company

Lee, who considers herself a scientist at heart, approaches problems by identifying core questions and testing hypotheses. She’s also an optimist. “I believe all problems can be solved,” she says. This mindset has been critical during the pandemic, a period of turmoil and change. To meet consumers in the moment, Campbell’s unveiled “The New Pantry,” a campaign featuring easy-to-follow recipes using household staples, along with Thanksgiving dinner assistance for America’s many first-time cooks. Efforts like these have worked, as shoppers continue to buy more soup and pasta sauce even after the days of quarantine. Campbell Soup Company’s meals and beverages segment generated $4.5 billion in net sales during the 12 months ending Aug. 1, up 7% from its 2019 fiscal year. —Paul Hiebert

Beth Lester Sidhu

Chief brand and communications officer, The Stagwell Group

As head of both operations and marketing, Lester Sidhu played an outsize role in the recent merger of Stagwell Marketing Group and MDC Partners. The deal not only created a top 10 marketing network, but it also boosted the company’s stock price from $1.27 per share in June 2020, before the offer was announced, to $8.29 as of Oct. 18, 2021, giving the entity a market cap of nearly $2.4 billion. “The combination really came about due to the vision of Mark Penn, our chairman and CEO, the efforts of the corporate team and—most of all—our agencies who are doing amazing client work,” she says. To grow the business, Lester Sidhu will continue to integrate Stagwell’s product suite and build a centralized brand and communications team. “Stagwell is only two months old, so I’m genuinely excited to share our vision with marketers and to support the incredible work our agencies are doing around the world,” she says. —Richard Collings

Claudine Lilien

SVP, global sales and partnerships, WWE

When you market wrestling, you have to work through a few bumps. Lilien joined WWE in April after nearly two years at Fox Sports overseeing properties including the National Football League, Major League Baseball and WWE’s Friday Night Smackdown. As sports shut down during the pandemic, WWE kept producing live events year-round without an audience. “When brands were ready to come back, WWE was here at the ready,” she says. As a result, WWE resigned existing partner Cricket Wireless and wooed Netflix, GrubHub, DraftKings, Snickers, Old Spice, Chevrolet and Constellation Brands’ Victoria beer. WWE partnership revenue for 2021 already exceeds 2019’s partnership revenue. Last year, the company’s overall revenue came in at $974.2 million. —Jason Notte

Chris Marino

Global head of performance marketing and media, Bloomberg Media

Few newsrooms are more devoted to data than Bloomberg Media, and that dedication has already paid dividends in its fledgling subscriptions program. The 3-year-old initiative has accrued more than 325,000 digital subscriptions, a feat Marino attributes to an obsessive, sophisticated understanding of its audience. “Having so much success only three years into the program indicates that the market is very receptive to the product that we are delivering,” Marino says. Marino and his team comb through reams of granular first-party data to make marketing decisions that rival the firms of Silicon Valley in their precision. But, understanding that a purely quantitative approach has its limits, Marino is also an avid mentor, a reminder that shrewd marketing is ultimately rooted in relationships. —Mark Stenberg

Mark Marshall and Laura Molen / Krishan Bhatia

Presidents / President and chief business officer, NBCUniversal advertising sales and partnerships

Following Bhatia’s promotion in January, he joined Marshall and Molen in overseeing NBCUniversal’s record upfront, where they bested 2019’s upfront haul of nearly $7 billion. That included $1.5 billion in digital sales (67% over last year) and volume and price increases in the low 20% through its entire portfolio. Together, they’ve been responsible for more than $13 billion in global, national and local ad sales commitments during what they call a “historic, transformational year” across linear, digital and streaming. After wrapping the Tokyo Olympics, they shifted focus to the Winter Olympics and Super Bowl 56, where they have only a handful of in-game units remaining with a record price tag of $6.5 million per 30-second spot. —Jason Lynch

Patrick McIntyre

Director, global retail, Mars Retail Group

Although the pandemic has hobbled physical retail, M&M’s appears to be sprinting. This year, the 80-year-old brand opened not one but three new stores—in Berlin, Minneapolis and Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Fla.—adding to its existing locations in London, Shanghai, Las Vegas and New York. But don’t think each additional outlet is merely a carbon copy of the others. “Each of our M&M’s stores are custom designed and built to create incomparable consumer experiences,” McIntyre says. Aware that some consumers might be hesitant to explore the latest shopping destinations in person, M&M’s created 3D virtual tours for people who, for now, prefer to browse and buy at a distance. —Paul Hiebert

Isaac Mizrahi

Co-president and COO, Alma

Even with the financial constraints of 2020, Alma reported growth for the 12th consecutive year. Mizrahi was key to maintaining growth, as he helped the multicultural agency become stronger in various disciplines, adding additional layers of African American insights and Asian American insights, as well as investing in its studio to produce higher quality video in less time. He has his hand in Alma’s strategic vision, as well as its performance and functional areas like account services, business development and planning. “We understand that multicultural is not a box that you check anymore; multicultural is the market right now,” says Mizrahi. —Jameson Fleming

Emeka Ofodile

Vp, sports marketing, ESPN

Amid the pandemic, sports seasons matter less than the stories behind them. So, Ofodile developed ESPN’s 365 marketing strategy, which markets leagues to both fans and potential sponsors during and after the season to keep fans and brands engaged when leagues weren’t playing. ESPN minimized ratings declines by letting locked-down fans know: “We’re always with you,” and its 2020 revenue reached almost $17 billion. The network’s “Ready for Football” NFL campaign driven by Celine Dion and Shania Twain songs and its season launching and D&AD Wooden Pencil and Webby honoree “It’s NBA on ESPN Time” ads mixed sports narrative and social justice messaging to deliver the network’s message of hope and care. “Whatever we did in the marketing had to have that lens of care and acknowledgment of what was happening, but also had to have this hope and cautious optimism of the role sports can play in helping us recover and heal,” Ofodile says. —Jason Notte

Lena Petersen

Chief brand officer, MediaLink

As chief brand officer at strategic advisory MediaLink, Petersen’s biggest role is to advise and build the company’s brand. She was brought into MediaLink five years ago by CEO Michael Kassan to drive brand strategy and prepare it for acquisition by increasing the company’s value. Petersen did that by showcasing MediaLink’s diversified skills, services and talent. And when Ascential purchased MediaLink in February 2017, she crafted the communications strategy for the announcement. So when the pandemic hit, slowing the pace down, Petersen partnered with digital agency Siberia to reevaluate the website to better reflect the firm’s scope, size and capabilities. “There was too much mystery around what we did,” Petersen says. “We needed to remove the mystery but maintain the mystique.” The goal was to clearly define MediaLink’s practice areas and reflect its sense of optimism. She also wanted the site to properly reflect the breadth of content its thought leaders produce. The result was an increase of 32% in site engagement, 16% growth in newsletter subscribers and 77% above industry averages for marketing newsletter opens. —Tara Weiss

Melanie Cohn Rabino

Director, brand engagement, Dunkin’

With a discerning eye for the latest online trends, Rabino has wielded social platforms and savvy online marketing to turn Dunkin’s dedicated customer base into a full-fledged fandom akin to that of a lifestyle brand. That talent was on display in a collaboration last year with social media megastar Charli D’Amelio in which the influencer designed her own menu item called The Charli, a cold brew with whole milk and three pumps of caramel swirl, and later, The Charli Cold Foam by popular demand. Buzzworthy campaigns like these have helped Dunkin’ earn its spot as the most popular quick-service restaurant (QSR) brand on TikTok, with around 3 million followers. “I’m most proud of the projects that have transformed Dunkin’ into a true lifestyle brand,” Rabino says. —Patrick Kulp

Ashley Richardson-George

Chief content officer and partner, Circus Maximus

Authentic creative is all in the details for Richardson-George. Over the past year, she’s worked with clients like Procter & Gamble’s King C. Gillette and Shake Shack, prioritizing casting talent of color in shoots and ensuring they’re accurately portrayed in ads. Under her creative watch, Procter & Gamble’s launch of its men’s beard care brand became No. 1 in its category in three months and an overnight success at Walgreens. Meanwhile, a campaign to promote a Shake Shack delivery kit organically reached 12 million customers and resulted in more than 34,000 engagements. Through it all, Richardson-George has remained unafraid to challenge a client, noting that Circus Maximus doesn’t just “take” a brief—they “challenge it” and “send it back.” She recalls telling a vendor: “Diversity is not a checkbox for me. We are going to do this correctly or we’re not going to do it.” —Tiffany Moustakas

Romina Rosado

Evp, gm, Hispanic streaming, NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises

At nearly 20% of the population and a buying power estimated to reach $2.3 trillion by 2024, U.S. Hispanic consumers are a crucial demographic for streaming services—and that’s where Rosado comes in. The entertainment executive, who has been twice promoted since December, oversees Telemundo programming on Peacock in addition to developing Spanish-language content for services such as Netflix and Hulu, with more than 50 projects in development. For Rosado, it’s paramount to develop shows that perform well while ensuring rich and accurate onscreen representation of Latinos. As she said at a recent Adweek event: “We can come up with content ideas that reach both English-language U.S. Hispanics, Spanish-language [viewers] and anyone in the middle.” —Kelsey Sutton

Scott Rosenberg

Svp, platform business, Roku

Rosenberg and his team spearheaded Roku’s record-breaking year in the connected TV space as linear television continued to decline. Operating with the belief that all television will ultimately be streamed, Roku’s platform business represents 82% of the company’s revenue and increased 117% year over year to $532 million, with the platform hitting 55 million active accounts. Rosenberg guided Roku to its biggest upfronts to date, securing commitments from all major agency holding companies, doubling the dollar commitment from last year and finishing conversations a full quarter earlier than usual. His team also led the growth of The Roku Channel and Roku Originals, helping the AVOD more than double its streaming hours and premiere more than 50 titles under the Originals banner. “We are witnessing a mass migration in consumer behavior that won’t ever revert back to traditional TV,” Rosenberg says.

Emma Rosenblum

Chief content officer, lifestyle and parenting portfolios, Bustle Digital Group

In July, while on the hunt for a new media area to revitalize, Bustle Digital Group acquired Some Spider Studios and its collection of media brands. That added another 100 staffers to Rosenblum’s team. “There is a real space for an authoritative voice in parenting media,” she says, “and BDG aims to be that for its readers.” Kicking off the week with a quick hour of tennis—after getting her 3-year-old and 6-year-old off to school—helps get Rosenblum in gear to deliver on that promise. Since joining BDG in July 2019, Rosenblum has been focused on a two-yearlong project to redesign all of BDG’s lifestyle publications—Bustle, Elite Daily, Nylon, Romper and The Zoe Report—for its millions of readers, from new logos, typography and iconography to article and section designs. —Lucinda Southern

Jo Ann Ross

President and chief advertising revenue officer, domestic advertising sales, ViacomCBS

Ross sold out Super Bowl 55 in February, despite the pandemic, bringing in 17 first-time advertisers after some perennial brands stayed on the sidelines. She also lined up launch sponsors like General Motors and Procter & Gamble for Paramount+’s debut in March. After overseeing $8.6 billion in 2020 ad revenue, she landed historic pricing this year in what ViacomCBS president and CEO Bob Bakish called an “off-the-hook” upfront, with significant investment in the EyeQ video platform, including Paramount+ and Pluto TV. Going forward, Ross says, “fostering a culture of diversity, inclusion and belonging is a main priority, and we’ve been full steam ahead on an action plan that’s galvanizing transformation at every function and level of the ad sales organization.” —Jason Lynch

Donna Speciale

President, advertising sales and marketing, Univision

Since joining Univision in January, Speciale has transformed the Spanish-language U.S. company’s go-to-market ad sales strategy. After helping launch the free, ad-supported streamer PrendeTV, she tackled her first upfront, securing the highest rate of change in company history and putting Univision on track to surpass its $1.2 billion in 2020 ad revenue. Speciale, who is building Univision’s first branded content studio (set for early 2022) has already brought more than 100 new brands into the company, but says she’s just getting started. “Univision’s client list shouldn’t be a subset of the English-language advertisers—it should be all of them,” she says. “It’s my job to break down barriers and make it turnkey for brands to jump in.” —Jason Lynch

Jon Steinlauf

Chief U.S. advertising sales officer, Discovery

Steinlauf, who presided over $4 billion in 2020 domestic ad revenue, will certainly top that figure this year following January’s launch of the Discovery+ streaming service, in addition to Discovery’s most successful upfront ever. He more than doubled upfront revenue for his Discovery Premiere offering, which allows advertisers to buy a mix of the 30 most-watched shows from across the Discovery portfolio, and now has more than 200 clients on board. This year, “we have significantly increased our scale, reach and leadership, putting us on par with the broadcast networks in terms of the scope and significance of what we can deliver to advertisers,” Steinlauf says, which will be even more vital when Discovery’s merger with WarnerMedia closes next year. —Jason Lynch

Lizzie Widhelm

Svp, ad innovation and b-to-b marketing, SXM Media

Widhelm’s 15 years at Pandora have seen the podcasting business explode. Starting in sales for the audio streaming platform in 2006, she now leads ad innovation and b-to-b marketing for SXM Media, the combined ad sales organization that services Pandora, SiriusXM and Stitcher, which SiriusXM acquired in late 2020. Widhelm stepped into the role in May when SXM Media was formed, leveraging her years of audio ad sales experience to shepherd the growth of its three platforms. With 150 million listeners across its properties, “we give a platform to some of the most diverse and influential personalities and voices in audio and provide marketers a way to tap into an unparalleled, powerful audience,” Widhelm says. In its second-quarter earnings report, SiriusXM posted $2.2 billion in revenue, a 15% year-over-year increase, and with Widhelm at the wheel, ad sales powered that growth. Ad revenue increased by 82% year over year to $383 million. —Kathryn Lundstrom

Betsy Wilson

Vp, digital marketing and brand management, UPS

As minority-owned small businesses were taking a hit at the onset of the pandemic, Wilson and her marketing team at UPS saw an opportunity to help—and make the 114-year-old brand look hip in the process. Wilson partnered with The Martin Agency to create “Proudly Unstoppable,” a campaign that featured three artists’ work—each from a minority community—on Express packages. According to UPS, there was a direct correlation between the company’s Q2 2021 financial results and the “Proudly Unstoppable” campaign, with small business volume up by 21.6% and total U.S. revenue per piece up by 13.4%. Wilson and UPS also partnered with nonprofits in minority communities to offer small forgivable loans to help with necessities like payroll and rent. “It’s all about lifting up and giving voice to these small businesses who need a helping hand or some extra exposure,” Wilson says. —Tara Weiss

Jen Wong

COO, Reddit

It’s been a big year for Wong. Between Reddit’s content policy updates to disallow hate speech and its acquisition of video streaming platform Dubsmash, Wong also had a hand in helping the company reach its first $100 million revenue quarter in Q2. And now Reddit’s on course to hit $10 billion in valuation for 2021. Internally, Wong has leveraged her leadership to be an executive sponsor of Reddit’s Trans@Reddit and Reddit Asian Network employee resource groups to foster “a diverse and inclusive workplace.” And now that Reddit has publicly shared its values, Wong is glad the platform is invested in telling its story “about the power of community [because] it’s had so much resonance with people,” she says. —Tiffany Moustakas

Takafumi Yamaguchi

Vp, digital commerce, Uniqlo

For Yamaguchi and Uniqlo, 2021 is proving to be a pivotal year after revenue at the retailer increased 7.6% globally to $15.5 billion in fiscal 2021 from $14.4 billion in fiscal 2020. It began in early spring with a refresh of the Japanese brand’s flagship store in New York. In May, Uniqlo unveiled a fresh ad campaign that ran through July under the familiar tagline “LifeWear: Made for all.” “LifeWear is the term we give our clothing and is also how we approach everything we do: thoughtfully considering how we can best serve our customers, and adjusting to the current circumstances to make everyday life better,” Yamaguchi says. The retailer is also introducing a new live shopping feature, Uniqlo Live Station. Parent company Fast Retailing says Uniqlo’s operating loss in the U.S. for the fiscal year ending Aug. 31 was cut in half compared to the prior year. —Richard Collings

Marvin Chow

Vp, global marketing, Google

Tina Allan

Partner and head of data science and connections, FCB Global

Jessica Appelgren

Vp, marketing and experience, Impossible Foods

Bela Bajaria

Global head of TV, Netflix

Rupert Bedell

Vp, b-to-b marketing for Europe, American Express

Aaron Braxton

Svp, business intelligence and performance marketing, general manager of Collective, Complex Networks

Lee Brown

Vp, global head of advertising business, Spotify

Chris Bruzzo

Chief experience officer, EA

Ricardo Casal and Juan Javier Peña Plaza

ECDs, North America, and global partners, Gut Agency