Math & Magic: Stories from the Frontiers of Marketing with Bob Pittman

Throughout the tumultuous pandemic, Christian Juhl kept a steady hand at the helm of GroupM at WPP—the world’s largest advertising and media investment company. The key to Christian’s powerful leadership lies within his early experiences in the eye of the dot com boom and bust. The memories of wondering whether his paychecks would cash have not faded, and neither have the corresponding lessons. Listen as Christian shares those lessons with Bob; plus, how Christian and his team are leveraging GroupM’s size to change the industry, and the world, for the better.

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After a brief stint as a Blackjack dealer, Mike Meldman thought he’d try his hand as a real estate developer. Cut to the present: Mike and his team at Discovery Land Company have created over thirty luxury communities worldwide. But Mike is not just providing four walls and a roof: he’s providing community. Bob sits down to find out how Mike has achieved that— and where Casamigos, the award-winning tequila brand Mike co-founded, fits in.

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Although Byron Sharp grew up on a sheep farm, he’s spent his career defying herd mentality. As Director of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science, Byron has debunked marketing conventions and helped brands stick to what works. Along the way, he wrote the seminal book “How Brands Grow,” which you can find on any CMO’s desk who is worth their salt. In today’s special episode of Math & Magic, Bob shares the mic with iHeart’s CMO Gayle Troberman for a conversation with Byron on the marketing strategies backed by science.

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It’s impossible to make good business decisions with bad information. That’s where truth-seeking reporters like Stephanie Ruhle come in. Host of the 11th Hour on MSNBC and Senior Business Analyst for NBC News, Stephanie has brought truth and accountability to power by breaking momentous stories like the London Whale loss. Bob talks to Stephanie about how she navigated a major career pivot, the surprising role New York City restaurants played in her career advancements, and how companies can get media coverage (spoiler alert: it’s easier than you think!).

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In 2019, the Black Information Network— a full-time news service by and for the black community— was in the early stages of planning at iHeartMedia. But when George Floyd was murdered, Tony Coles, one of iHeart’s Division Presidents who had been overseeing BIN’s development, knew the platform needed to launch immediately. Tony, now President of BIN, reflects on how he and his team were able to spring into action so effectively, some stories that have made the biggest impact, and why triumphs deserve as much coverage as tragedies.

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Jeff Bewkes started at HBO as something of a traveling salesman; his job was to urge motels to add HBO to their properties and their marquees. Later, Jeff would become the last CEO of Time Warner, and engineered the company’s sale to AT&T. Jeff shares the original programming gambles that paid off, what television in the 90s teaches us about the streaming wars and how spending childhood summers on a farm shaped his business sense. Plus, Bob and Jeff give their intersecting stories from the historic Time Inc. / Warner Communications merger.

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What do Enron, Warner Music Group and Krispy Kreme have in common? “King of the Turnaround” Steve Cooper’s guiding hand during key transitions. Bob sits down with the business legend to talk about the possibilities of web3, Steve’s upcoming departure from WMG and why we should all rewatch Disney’s “Wall-E.”

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If you think a neuroscientist couldn’t lead a master class in marketing, you haven’t met Dr. David Eagleman. Professor of Brain Plasticity at Stanford, best-selling author, TV host and CEO of neurotech company Neosensory, David has a passion for applying neuroscience to topics beyond academic science. In fact, Bob considers David’s book “Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain” as one of the most important marketing books ever written. In this episode, we find out why.

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Suzy Deering has been preparing to take the business world by storm since the second grade, and she certainly has. She’s shaped powerhouse brands like Verizon and eBay, and now serves as the Global CMO of Ford. Learn how Suzy’s experience shepherding landline customers to wireless is informing her marketing strategy around electric cars, and why your car isn’t just a car— it’s a lifestyle.

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Join Bob Pittman for the new season of Math & Magic.

This season, Bob sits down with visionaries—from CEOs, to neuroscientists, and everyone in-between—to hear how they’ve used data and creativity to successfully adapt to the biggest changes of our time: the metaverse, fake news, remote work, championing stories that matter, and more.

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