The Ad Podcast

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Mary Knight - President - Hydrogen Advertising Aug 17, 2026

Show notes

Mary Knight is an advertising executive, creative director, and the President and Co-Owner of Hydrogen Advertising, an award-winning independent agency based in Seattle, Washington.

With decades of industry experience, Knight spent years as an Executive Creative Director at major global agency networks—including FCB Global and DDB Worldwide—before stepping into leadership at independent shops. Honored with the American Advertising Federation (AAF) Silver Medal Award for outstanding contributions to advertising, she has served on juries for prestigious industry awards like The One Show, Effie, and Communication Arts.

Philosophy: Known for advocating against the "sea of sameness"—the trap of safe, forgettable brand marketing.

Brand Portfolio: Has led campaigns for major global and regional brands including Boeing, DiGiorno, Tabasco, American Airlines, Motorola, and Group Health Cooperative.

John Dawson - VP Strategy - Jellyfish Aug 13, 2026

Show notes

John Dawson is VP Strategy at Jellyfish, with 15 years of experience working across Australia, Denmark, China and the United States. He brings an international perspective to developing strategies for global brands at a time of media convergence and disruption. He helps clients navigate the evolving landscape through AI, data and media innovation, and importantly, helps them understand and improve how they are represented across large language models and AI-powered search. He is a regular industry speaker and thought leader on AI, marketing effectiveness and the future of brand discovery.

Christina Garnett - Chief Customer Officer - Neuemotion Aug 12, 2026

Show notes

Christina Garnett is a fractional Chief Customer Officer, trust strategist, author, and keynote speaker. Operating through her venture Neuemotion (neuemotion.com), she advises executive teams and high-growth companies on building Customer Trust Infrastructure, scaling customer advocacy, and treating brand-customer relationships as emotional, high-leverage assets.

She is the author of Transforming Customer–Brand Relationships (Kogan Page) and the creator of the Customer Trust Equation. Previously, she served as Principal Marketing Manager at HubSpot, where she built and scaled the HubFans customer advocacy program. Today, her work at Neuemotion helps organizations bridge the gap between audience engagement, community-building, and long-term customer lifetime value.

Monetizing Exit Traffic & Mastering Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) | Mark Mamber, Tiki, Chief Executive Officer Aug 11, 2026

Show notes

As search funnels compress and over 60% of digital queries end without a website click, enterprise leaders are forced to rethink how they monetize audience attention and maintain search visibility.

Dylan Conroy sits down with Mark Mamber, CEO of Tiki, to break down the mechanics of monetizing lost web traffic and leveraging Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) to capture market share across AI platforms.

Key Topics Covered:

Monetizing the 95% Exit Void: How contextual page signals and automated exit triggers convert lost site traffic into high-margin ad yield.
Enterprise Auction Mechanics: Deep-linking intent-driven consumers directly to tier-one global travel networks like TripAdvisor, Expedia, and Kayak.
Interactive AI Ad Syndication: Deploying custom brand LLMs as interactive chatbot units across third-party media networks (Envoy Reach).
Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) via Reddit: How human-in-the-loop AI posting seeds clean source data into Large Language Models (Envoy Join).
Real-Time Market Intelligence: Turning interactive consumer ad queries into strategic data dashboards for C-suite decision-makers.

Mark Mamber is the CEO of Tiki, a proprietary ad-tech engine that has served the global travel vertical for over 15 years. He specializes in yield monetization infrastructure, interactive media solutions, and generative search strategies for publishers, OTAs, and Destination Marketing Organizations.

Connect & Resources:

Connect with Guest Mark Mamber: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markmamber/
Visit Tiki: https://www.tiki.com/
Follow Host Dylan Conroy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dylanconroy/
Scaled Performance Automation by Strike Social: https://strikesocial.com/guaranteed-paid-social-media-ads-outcomes/

Priscilla McKinney - founder - Little Bird Marketing Aug 10, 2026

Show notes

Priscilla McKinney is a CEO, serial entrepreneur, author, keynote speaker, and the founder (or "Momma Bird") of Little Bird Marketing. Known for her irreverent, no-nonsense approach to B2B growth and digital transformation, she has built Little Bird Marketing into an award-winning content marketing and lead generation agency.
She is the author of Collaboration is the New Competition and the creator of proprietary frameworks like the SOAR™ System, designed to help business leaders create sustainable, repeatable lead generation. A veteran podcaster herself with over 450 episodes hosted across her shows Ponderings from the Perch and Digital Transformation Success, McKinney is also a prominent figure across the market research and insights industry.
Background: Trained in cultural anthropology, she spent her childhood traveling the world (living in Denver, Spain, and Germany).

Hawken Ritter - Head of Growth - Convey Aug 07, 2026

Show notes

Hawken Ritter is an AI engineer, product strategist, and tech leader specializing in agentic workflows and enterprise automation. He is the Head of Growth at Convey, an enterprise platform that enables non-technical teams—across publishers, agencies, and adtech platforms—to design, train, and deploy autonomous "digital teammates."Focus & PhilosophyThroughout his career in software engineering and product design, Hawken has focused on bridging the gap between complex software systems and everyday operational workflows. Rather than treating AI as a simple conversational "copilot" or writing code for custom API integrations, Hawken's work at Convey centers on screen-observation technology and deterministic AI execution.

Steve Red - CCO & Eric Bertrand - CEO - Mod Op Aug 06, 2026

Show notes

Steve Red is the Co-Chief Creative Officer at Mod Op and the founder of the renowned creative agency Red Tettemer O'Connell + Partners (RTO+P), which joined Mod Op. With decades of experience touching creative and strategic direction across industries, he leads brand identity, creative storytelling, and campaign strategy with a conviction that advertising should be as intelligent and engaging as the audiences it serves.
Eric J. Bertrand is the CEO of Mod Op, an independent, PE-backed platform agency spanning creative, media, technology, and analytics. Since leading Mod Op’s formation in 2017, he has scaled the organization to over 500 team members through strategic growth and acquisitions, positioning the agency at the intersection of human creativity and advanced technology. He is also the author of Getting Digital Done and was named a 2024 Transformative CEO by The CEO Forum Group.

Alladan Flinn - Founder and CEO - Based Trading Cards Aug 06, 2026

Show notes

Alladan Flinn is an artist, musician, and entrepreneur who is fundamentally reshaping the physical collectibles market as the Founder and CEO of Based Trading Cards. Alladan’s mission sits right at the intersection of high-end physical art, Bitcoin philosophy, and hard-asset economics. By combining elite craftsmanship—using heat-receptive thermal inks, 3D holographic patterns, and physical security features—with a strict 'digital-meets-analog' mindset, he’s teaching a new generation about digital scarcity, low-time preference, and physical asset ownership. Today, we’re diving into physical product marketing in a digital-first world, how to build a cult-like collector community, and turning art into a Trojan Horse for financial education.

The Infrastructure of Experiential World-Building | Don Strom, Salt & Pinch, Co-Founder, Managing Partner Aug 06, 2026

Show notes

Enterprise marketing teams face growing digital fatigue, as screen-based advertising alone struggles to capture deep customer loyalty.

Don, Managing Partner at Salt & Pinch, breaks down how leading brands leverage experiential world-building and physical production to turn digital IP into high-converting real estate.

Key tactical themes covered:

- Scaling flexible production teams up to 240 members during peak production windows.

- Translating entertainment and streaming IP into immersive pop-up retail environments.

- Shifting B2B corporate keynotes from static product booths to human-centric spaces.

- Engineering multi-acre brand installations on raw parking lot footprints.

- Implementing circular, sustainable fabrication setups to minimize event waste.

Don is the Managing Partner at Salt and its sister agency Pinch, managing experiential strategy, circular fabrication, and large-scale builds for clients including Amazon, Netflix, Lululemon, and Expedia.

Connect with our guest

Follow Don on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/don-strom/

Explore Salt Creative: https://www.pinch-creative.com/

Simplify Paid Social with Strike Social: https://strikesocial.com/guaranteed-paid-social-media-ads-outcomes/

Connect with Host Dylan Conroy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dylanconroy/

Sara Brooks - Chief Growth Officer - BetterHelp Aug 05, 2026

Show notes

Sara Brooks is the Chief Growth Officer at BetterHelp, the world’s largest online therapy platform. In her role, she leads global marketing, growth transformation, international expansion, and member acquisition, scaling the network to serve millions worldwide.
With over 18 years of marketing leadership experience, Brooks has a proven track record of scaling consumer tech brands from early-stage startups through high-profile IPOs. Prior to joining BetterHelp, she held key growth and marketing roles at Meta (Facebook) and The RealReal during their pivotal scaling and public market phases.
Known for combining hard performance data with empathetic brand storytelling, she has led landmark initiatives at BetterHelp, including the global "Feel Lighter" campaign and high-impact partnerships with figures like Lewis Capaldi and collegiate athletes to destigmatize mental health care.

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