The Ad Podcast

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Don Strom - Co Founder - Pinch Creative Agency Jul 01, 2025

Show notes

With over 20 years of global experience in production and creative leadership, Don Strom's journey began in technical theatre and live performance, igniting his passion for entertainment. He launched his career in TV and live broadcast with major networks like ABC, FOX, and NBC before transitioning to executive producing large-scale events for Fortune 500 companies, including Google, Netflix, Nike, and Apple. After serving as VP of Production and Operations for a global non-profit (2009-2017), leading 500+ events across 17 countries, Don co-founded Salt and Pinch. His leadership blends agency, theatre, broadcast, and non-profit expertise, driving both agencies to deliver award-winning work. By balancing creative and production disciplines and fostering "healthy tension," Don creates environments that inspire teams, enhance quality, and ensure brand satisfaction.
Today, he continues to travel the world producing high profile events, overseeing production teams and continue to work towards establishing stronger connections within the experiential marketing, live event and television production community. He considers himself an inspiring leader who focuses on producing quality events by creating a safe and fun workplace for both the production team and client. He believes, having an environment that promotes creative thinking, and encourages personalized growth is key to a successful event and developing long lasting relationships.

Greg Williams - President - Backbone Media Jul 01, 2025

Show notes

Greg Williams graduated from Susquehanna University in 1992 with a degree in accounting, but quickly pivoted toward the outdoors, co-founding the Philadelphia Rock Gyms (PRG) Gym in 1993 and helping build one of the region’s first indoor climbing communities. He later moved to Colorado to work in advertising at Climbing Magazine Inc, combining his professional skillset with his passion for the outdoors. Greg joined Backbone in 1997 as a PR Account Manager and went on to launch the agency’s Paid Media and Social Media services—becoming VP of Media and helping shape Backbone’s integrated approach. In 2022, he became President and now oversees all 11 service areas across paid and earned media. He serves on the boards of Mountain Projects, Inc, RootsRated Media, and 5Point Film Festival. Outside the office, he’s a 10-year youth basketball coach and enjoys climbing, biking, and rucking.

Gabby Ludzker - CEO - Rapp UK Jun 30, 2025

Show notes

Gabby Ludzker is CEO of Rapp UK, joining the agency in 2020. She spent 11 years at Proximity: 3 years running the International business in the Paris office and 8 years in Proximity London as MD and then CEO.
Coming from a Digital background at the start of it all, Gabby is passionate about the constant evolution of Marketing, finding new and better ways to solve meaty client problems, make consumers happy and deliver outstanding creative work! She is also obsessed with harnessing the collective genius of the Agency to make magic.

Niki Herr - COO - Xpedition Jun 30, 2025

Show notes

Agencies are a trip.
She should know. After spending 20 years at some of the largest and most influential agencies, she's come to appreciate the unique power of independent and inclusive teams. Now, as the COO of Xpedition, she is part of a team committed to revolutionizing agency and entertainment work and delivering world-changing results in partnership with clients like Google, YouTube, Amazon and more.
Her mission is to build systems that drive industry-leading creative and elevate underrepresented voices that reflect the diversity of the world we live in. She believes that true innovation and the future of marketing are built by embracing a multitude of perspectives.
In partnership with her colleagues, Xpedition is setting new standards for creative excellence and collaboration. Thier focus on inclusive processes and groundbreaking strategies is paving the way for a more dynamic and representative industry. Looking ahead, she is excited to continue driving change and setting new benchmarks for creativity and belonging.
She is always eager to connect with like-minded professionals who share a passion for innovation. Let’s explore how you can collaborate to create meaningful and impactful work together.

Tamara Francois - CEO and co‑founder - The XP Agency Jun 29, 2025

Show notes

Tamara Francious is CEO and co‑founder of The XP Agency, an award‑winning experiential and multicultural marketing firm based in New York. Since launching the company in 2016, she has led the agency’s growth, championing immersive, culturally resonant activations for clients like Netflix, Coca‑Cola, Procter & Gamble, Ghirardelli, and Aflac

Under her leadership, The XP Agency earned a spot on Inc.’s 2023 Northeast Regionals list (#79) for its innovative brand experiences inc.com.

Tamara draws on over 20 years of experience in entertainment and marketing to bridge real-world events with virtual and digital storytelling, crafting campaigns that deeply engage multicultural audiences blackenterprise.com. A respected voice in the industry, she’s been recognized among BizBash’s 2025 “Industry Innovators” alongside co-founder Adolfo Vasquez

Tom Morrissy - Chief Growth Officer - Noble People Jun 27, 2025

Show notes

Tom is an accomplished senior agency leader and executive advisor with proven expertise in accelerating revenue growth in both large corporate and independent entrepreneurial environments. Significant experience creating sales and marketing strategies that have generated revenues for ad agencies, publishers and ad tech startups. Highly adaptive with versatile sales skills and reputation as innovative, marketing-driven revenue builder. Collaborative leader and mentor. Experienced at attracting, training, and scaling teams. Exceptional and vast industry relationships across marketing clients, creative agencies, and senior level executives at media companies.

Adam Charles - Chief Growth Officer - Sparks Jun 27, 2025

Show notes

Adam has 30 years of global experience across a number of areas in marketing and the live event industry, leading diverse projects such as fashion shows, live broadcast events for TV, theatre, music, ceremonies for international sporting events, complex consumer marketing campaigns, and corporate brand experiences. Over the years, he developed a reputation as a world-class event and experience producer.
In 2003, he was appointed by Jack Morton Worldwide as the Producer of the Closing Ceremony of the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia. From 2007 to 2018, he was based in China, one of the biggest and most dynamic markets in the world, before relocating to Dallas, Texas, in August 2018 to join Freeman’s corporate headquarters and lead its agency business globally.
In 2023, Freeman acquired Sparks, and he proudly became the Chief Growth Officer at Sparks. Sparks is a global brand experience agency specializing in creating meaningful connections between brands and their audiences through innovative event marketing, experiential design, trade shows, and more. Sparks partners with some of the world’s most renowned brands to deliver unforgettable experiences that inspire and drive action.
He prides myself on establishing and maintaining long-serving relationships with clients, staff, and partners. He is passionate about building creative, supportive, and collaborative environments that empower employees to constantly challenge themselves to do what they do better.
He believes that the positive culture of a company is the key to its success. It creates value for the company’s stakeholders, both in the short and long term.
He builds creative, supportive and collaborative environments that empower employees to constantly challenge themselves to do what they do better.
He believes that the positive culture of a company is the key to its success. This is what creates value to the company’s stakeholders both in the short and long term.

Steve Erich - Co-Founder and President - Erich & Kallman Jun 27, 2025

Show notes

Steve Erich is the Co-Founder and President of Erich & Kallman, which has been named AdAge 2024 North American Agency of the Year, honored as an ADWEEK Fastest Growing Agency, named on the AdAge A-List and has three times been awarded Small Agency of the Year - West by AdAge. Erich & Kallman has produced award winning work for Hershey, Disney+, General Mills, Great Wolf Lodge, iRobot, Take 5, Kelly Services, Chick-fil-A, Fisher Investments and Zero Cancer.
Prior to starting Erich & Kallman, Steve was President of Crispin Porter Bogusky with responsibility over seven global offices. He oversaw CPB’s expansion into Europe in 2006 with the management of its London, Madrid and Munich offices, and Asia in 2014 with the launch of its office in Hong Kong. Prior to CPB, Steve worked at TBWA Chiat/Day, Vitro and The Martin Agency. He has overseen work which has been awarded two Grand Effies and over 300 other strategic and creative awards, been a guest lecturer at both the University of Missouri and University of Colorado Schools of Journalism, and a featured speaker for the 4A's MPF Program, Minneapolis Ad Club, the AdAge Small Agency Conference in Los Angeles, the Mirren CEO Summit in Chicago, the Word of Mouth Conference in Hamburg, and Marketing 2.0 in Paris. He currently sits on the BBB's National Advertising Review Board and AAAA's
Western Leadership Committee, is the Jury Chair for the Jay Chiat Awards for B2B Strategy and has judged the Effies and the Association of National Advertisers B2B awards multiple times.

Aaron C. Lang - President - MSQ Jun 27, 2025

Show notes

Aaron C. Lang is the President of MSQ, a global marketing group known for its collaborative, multi-disciplinary approach to building modern brands. With a career spanning leadership roles across agencies and client-side organizations, Aaron brings a deep understanding of integrated marketing, digital transformation, and growth strategy. At MSQ, he champions innovation and creative excellence, driving cross-agency collaboration to deliver impactful results for some of the world's most ambitious brands.

Anders Bergstrom - Chief Brand Officer - Calico Jun 27, 2025

Show notes

Anders just completed an unprecedented 21 year run at Deckers Brands, one of the most dynamic and powerful companies in the world of footwear - and consumer brands broadly speaking. Over the course of that time, he grew from an entry level Marketing Coordinator to his most recent post as the VP and Global GM of the Teva Footwear brand. Throughout his tenure at Deckers he was a central contributor and leader during 2 separate eras of astronomical growth and organizational transformation. Between 2002 and 2011, UGG grew from $36m to just short of $1bn, and his small team built one of the most enduring and essential brands in the history of the industry. In his next capacity as Director of Strategy Development, they acquired a very small but compelling running brand called HOKA, and built a broad and insightful consumer strategy for the brand that enabled to mass adoption that we see today.

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