Episodios

  • #98: What Makes a Brand Worth Betting On | John Lowe, Managing Director at Amok Consumer Growth

    #98: What Makes a Brand Worth Betting On | John Lowe, Managing Director at Amok Consumer Growth
    Sep 21 2025
    How do you recognize a “super concept” before it goes mainstream?

    John Lowe, Managing Director at Amok Consumer Growth and former CEO of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, joins Jason Harris to share his playbook for identifying breakout food and beverage brands.

    During his 14 years as CEO, John scaled Jeni’s by more than 100x in revenue—while also serving on the boards of White Castle, Watershed Distillery, and more. Today, he’s bringing that experience to founders through Amok Consumer Growth, backing companies like Fox in the Snow and DOUGH.

    Key Takeaways:
    ✅ Bet on founders with self-awareness—they’ll build the right team around them
    ✅ Growth pace is determined by organizational bandwidth, not ambition alone
    ✅ Cultural relevance (from Twitter to TikTok) is a marketing lever worth investing in
    ✅ Copycats come fast—brands need a defensible “moat” in product, process, or community

    Memorable Moments:
    💡 “When you’ve got people lining up every day, you know there’s some magic around it.”
    💡 “Private equity doesn’t make the food taste better—it’s about the founder and the product.”
    💡 “Jeni’s on a stick was right in front of us. I regret not pounding the table harder.”
    💡 “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.

    ”Brought to you by Mekanism.
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    37 m
  • #97: Meta CMO & VP of Analytics Alex Schultz | Measuring the Unmeasurable

    #97: Meta CMO & VP of Analytics Alex Schultz | Measuring the Unmeasurable
    Sep 15 2025
    What you can measure drives growth, but what you can’t often drives breakthroughs.

    Alex Schultz, Chief Marketing Officer and VP of Analytics at Meta (and author of the upcoming book Click Here), joins Jason Harris to unpack the soul and science behind decisions that move billions of people: the rebrand from Facebook to Meta, launching Threads to 400M MAU, the retention curve that signaled Ray-Ban Meta glasses were a hit, and why a great creative brief is the beating heart of iconic work.

    Key Takeaways:
    ✅ Retention is the clearest signal of product-market fit—and the metric that decides whether to scale
    ✅ Separate goals from metrics to avoid chasing numbers at the expense of strategy
    ✅ Measure the measurable with rigor to earn credibility for the initiatives you can’t perfectly track
    ✅ AI will transform marketing in three ways: making current work cheaper, unlocking previously uneconomical tactics, and enabling entirely new formats

    Memorable Moments:
    💡 “The decision to change the brand was science. Everything else was art.”
    💡 “We couldn’t test the Meta rebrand—we had to keep it secret.”
    💡 “A metric can never perfectly describe a goal.”
    💡 “Incrementality is everything. If I do something, I want it to make a difference.”

    Brought to you by Mekanism.
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    47 m
  • #96: Hinge CMO and President Jackie Jantos | Long-Term Thinking in a Short-Term World

    #96: Hinge CMO and President Jackie Jantos | Long-Term Thinking in a Short-Term World
    Sep 8 2025
    In a world obsessed with instant results, Jackie Jantos makes the case for brand building that lasts.

    From Coca-Cola to Spotify to Hinge, Jackie has spent two decades shaping brands that endure by focusing on cultural insights, inclusive teams, and work that actually serves audiences. Now, as President and CMO at Hinge—the dating app “designed to be deleted”—she’s proving that long-term growth comes from products that deliver real outcomes.

    In this episode of Soul & Science, Jason Harris sits down with Jackie to explore why usefulness beats flash, how empathy and courage guide her leadership, and why staying patient pays off in brand building.

    Key Takeaways:
    ✅ Design for outcomes, not vanity metrics—Hinge optimizes for “great dates,” not swipes
    ✅ Big insights upstream fuel creative ideas that can scale globally
    ✅ Credibility-rich programs compound more than week-long activations
    ✅ Empathy and courage work best as operating systems inside the company
    ✅ Long-term brand consistency beats short-term distraction every time

    Memorable Moments:
    💡 “What better way to encourage people to try your product than to be a product that really works?”
    💡 “I get most excited upstream—at the insight—when it feels unique and true.”
    💡 “Not every brand needs another stunty activation. Put resources where they’re genuinely useful.”
    💡 “Empathy and courage mean saying the hard thing, even if you botch it the first time.

    ”Brought to you by Mekanism.
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    37 m
  • #95: Why Clients Don’t Want Collaborators | Michael Palma, Founder of The Palma Group

    #95: Why Clients Don’t Want Collaborators | Michael Palma, Founder of The Palma Group
    Aug 25 2025
    What do basketball, brand reviews, and $400M in agency wins have in common? Michael Palma.

    From being a Parade All-American athlete to coaching under Jim Valvano, Michael Palma pivoted into advertising recruitment—eventually placing more than 1,300 top talents and helping agencies win over $400 million in revenue. Today, as founder of The Palma Group, he manages reviews for global brands like Coca-Cola, Heineken, Peugeot, and Zaxby’s.

    In this episode of Soul & Science, Jason Harris sits down with Michael to unpack what makes partnerships last, how to spot red flags before they sink a pitch, and why true leaders walk with a “humble swagger.”

    Key Takeaways:

    ✅ Clients don’t want collaborators—they want leadership that listens
    ✅ There’s no “perfect” agency, only the ideal fit for the moment
    ✅ Good agencies get comfortable; great ones never stop bringing ideas
    ✅ A pitch is won or lost in the first five minutes of emotional connection
    ✅ Agency culture—not case studies—ultimately drives client choice

    Memorable Moments:

    💡 “Clients want leadership that listens. They don’t want collaborators.”
    💡 “If you’re gonna lose, lose as you. Don’t lose pretending to be someone else.”
    💡 “There is no perfect agency—only the best possible fit.”
    💡 “The mortal enemy of good agencies is efficiency. Great ones never stop caring.”

    Brought to you by Mekanism.
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    38 m
  • #94: Future-Proofing Your Brand | Jason Feifer, Editor-in-Chief of Entrepreneur magazine

    #94: Future-Proofing Your Brand | Jason Feifer, Editor-in-Chief of Entrepreneur magazine
    Aug 18 2025
    Change is inevitable—but the most successful leaders know how to turn it into their greatest advantage.

    In this episode, Jason sits down with Jason Feifer, Editor-in-Chief of Entrepreneur magazine and author of Build for Tomorrow. From walking away from his first reporting job to pitching national outlets cold, Feifer has built a career on spotting opportunities no one asked him to pursue—and helping others do the same. They unpack how to future-proof your career or brand, the filter he uses to separate hype from lasting change, and why your personal mission statement should never hinge on a single role.

    Key Takeaways:
    ✅ “Opportunity Set B” can unlock your biggest career leaps
    ✅ Anchor your identity to transferable value, not your current title
    ✅ Trends that last solve old problems, not new ones
    ✅ Redefining productivity can help you sustain growth and avoid burnout

    Memorable Moments:
    💡 “Never be satisfied with the thing you already have. It’s a launching point for what’s next.”
    💡 “If nobody’s asking you to do it, that’s probably where the best opportunities are hiding.”
    💡 “Your mission statement should survive any change in title, industry, or medium.”
    💡 “Things that last are things that solve old problems in better ways.”
    💡 “Change doesn’t mean losing your value—it’s a chance to apply it somewhere new.”

    Brought to you by Mekanism.
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    39 m
  • Mini: Cannes Lions Scandal — When AI Crosses the Line

    Mini: Cannes Lions Scandal — When AI Crosses the Line
    Aug 11 2025
    This year’s Cannes Lions Festival — the world’s biggest celebration of creativity — made headlines for all the wrong reasons. Brazilian agency DM9 was stripped of multiple awards — including a Grand Prix — after using AI to fabricate campaign case study results.

    Jason Harris breaks down how they pulled it off, why it’s a symptom of a bigger problem in the industry, and what Cannes is doing to prevent it from happening again. From deepfakes to fabricated results, AI is making award scams easier than ever — and the fallout could change the way we measure creative success.

    Key Takeaways:
    ✅ AI has made it easier to manipulate case studies and campaign results.
    ✅ Cannes Lions is implementing stricter AI disclosure rules and expert reviews.
    ✅ If we can’t trust the work we celebrate, what’s the point of celebrating it?

    Brought to you by Mekanism.
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    3 m
  • #93: AI-Native Storytelling Is Already Here | Jason Zada, Founder of Secret Level

    #93: AI-Native Storytelling Is Already Here | Jason Zada, Founder of Secret Level
    Aug 4 2025
    AI isn’t just speeding up production—it’s rewriting the rules of storytelling.

    In this episode, Jason sits down with award-winning director and creative pioneer Jason Zada, founder of the AI-native entertainment studio Secret Level. From Elf Yourself to Take This Lollipop to an AI-generated Coca-Cola ad that sparked headlines and backlash, Zada has spent his career pushing the boundaries of how audiences engage with content.

    They dive into the power of participatory storytelling, what it means to build with AI from the ground up, and why creative leaders need to think less like traditional producers and more like technologists.

    Key Takeaways:
    ✅ AI-native production requires a totally new mindset—not just new tools
    ✅ Participatory storytelling builds deeper emotional connections
    ✅ Virality often comes from imperfection, not polish
    ✅ Creative leadership means placing long bets before the industry catches up

    Memorable Moments:
    💡 “Pre-production is the new post-production.”
    💡 “You can’t apply a traditional production mindset to AI. It just won’t work.”
    💡 “People didn’t hate the Coke ad until they found out it was AI.”
    💡 “The best thing about launching Secret Level? Being right.”
    💡 “Make something people love or hate. Anything else, why bother?”

    Brought to you by Mekanism.
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    36 m
  • Mini: Leading with AI: C-Suite Strategies That Work

    Mini: Leading with AI: C-Suite Strategies That Work
    Jul 28 2025
    If you're in the C-suite, it's no longer enough to delegate AI experimentation to mid-level staff. In this Soul & Science mini, we unpack three smart, actionable ways senior leaders can stay sharp in the age of AI—from reverse mentorship to hands-on sprints to rewarding the AI-forward thinkers in your org.This is your leadership playbook for getting off the sidelines and into the AI sandbox.

    ✅ Key Takeaways:
    • Reverse mentorship helps leaders learn directly from internal AI experts.
    • Blocking time for AI experimentation keeps the C-suite hands-on and informed.
    • Rewarding innovation signals that AI curiosity is a company value.
    Brought to you by Mekanism.
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    5 m