Good Company with Michael Kassan

The Female Quotient’s CEO, Shelley Zalis, has earned a reputation on the conference circuit as “Chief Troublemaker” – and she’s definitely not sorry about it. In this episode, we talk to the equality trailblazer about how she’s working to rewrite the rules to close the gender pay gap and what leadership traits are behind the undeniable success of female heads of state in battling COVID-19. Plus, she tells us how she’s recreating the communal magic of TFQ’s Equality Lounges in a socially distant world and offers some frank advice on DEI pipelining. 

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Condé Nast’s new Global Chief Marketing Officer, Deirdre Findlay, spent only six weeks on the job before having to tear up the rulebook when the world shut down. In this episode, we sit down with her to hear how she laid out a strategy for the storied media brand to cater to the needs of its newly homebound readers and double down on audience insights and loyalty. We also discuss why the company’s portfolio publications like Vogue, GQ and others are riding the eCommerce wave beautifully; and the importance of sensitive messaging towards a global audience that’s experiencing widely varying levels of crisis at the same time.

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McCann Worldgroup Global Creative Chairman Rob Reilly knows a thing or two about brand ideas that both stand the test of time and reinvent themselves for the cultural zeitgeist. His company did, after all, put the “Fearless Girl” in front of the New York Stock Exchange and help Mastercard evolve its “Priceless” campaign with a feature for transgender and nonbinary people to use their chosen name on cards. In this episode, Reilly dives into this work and reflects on the role of marketing in a time of a crisis. He also tells us what he really thinks about making lightning-in-a-bottle creative over Zoom and why he’s bullish on in person connection for the future of young talent. 

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Applebee’s President John Cywinski likens the early days of the pandemic to the terror of an aborted mission: “We literally woke up in the middle of March having to Apollo 13 the whole thing.” In this episode, we talk to the casual dining executive – whose company enjoyed a significant bounce back in Q3 despite being in one of the hardest hit categories – about the long road back to business after dining rooms were shut in the spring. We also dive into the challenging marketing decisions the brand had to make this year and what went into the delightful comeback of its ads over the summer.

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Legendary investor Alan Patricof and wellness entrepreneur Abby Miller Levy have teamed up on a new venture, Primetime Partners, that’s focused on investments in products, services, technologies and experiences for a wildly underserved cohort: older adults. In this episode, we sit down with the duo to discuss why they’re betting big on a generation that controls 60% of our country’s net worth. Plus, hear how they’re working to change the narrative around aging, what they envision the older adult consumer to look like five to 10 years down the road, and how to service them.

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Recently dubbed “a calm voice in the political storm” by Town&Country, longtime political journalist Jessica Yellin is on a mission to banish disinformation with her Instagram-based news feed, #NewsNotNoise. In this episode, the former CNN Chief White House Correspondent discusses how she’s built and is catering to an audience that craves a different kind of news delivery – one that diverges from the way most media outlets speak by sorting fact from fiction and drama. Plus, we dive into what it really means to be authentic and to establish trust with people in an environment fraught with distractions. 

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This week on C-Inside: Holding Company Titans, we sit down with IPG Chairman and CEO Michael Roth. He fills us in on the holding company’s longstanding history of taking bold steps on diversity and inclusion efforts and his advice for making an impact that focuses on action over talk. Plus, we hear his prognosis for consolidation in the ad industry, why he’s betting on the company’s deal to acquire Acxiom as a major competitive advantage, and his take on the future of agencies in a post-COVID world.

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This week on C-Inside: Holding Company Titans, we talk to WPP CEO Mark Read, who’s hitting his two-year milestone at the helm of the world’s largest advertising holding company. Mark fills us in on how he’s evolved the organization to fit what modern marketers want, from creativity to technology to simplicity; and why companies need to demonstrate purpose first through action before they can talk about it in an ad campaign. He also muses on the future of work and why he’ll still be traveling when the pandemic ends. 

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In this episode, we sit down with Janet Fitzgerald, master instructor at SoulCycle beloved by Hollywood, and her confidante and fellow former instructor Eliza Cohen. They fill us in on turning their podcast, Witch & Famous, into a docuseries that takes them on a journey across the country meeting with healers, psychics and spiritual teachers. Plus, hear their thoughts on the future of fitness in the “new normal,” and why a focus on spirituality is so compelling during difficult times.  

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Senator Nikema Williams of the Georgia State Senate is embarking on the ride of her career, launching a Congressional campaign to replace the late John Lewis. We sit down with her shortly after her announcement – the same day of the 55th Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act – to hear her plans to champion mail-in voting and end voter suppression, as well as her goals to uplift the marginalized in Washington. Plus, she reflects on growing up black in the South and succeeding, as well as how she hopes to pave the way for other black women to thrive. 

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