The trendiest brands in America today have managed not only to thrive in the most trying of circumstances, but are well positioned to continue the momentum past the crisis of COVID-19. Ad Age’s annual list of America’s Hottest Brands chronicles the rise of the buzzy marketers that are having a moment.
On July 13, join Ad Age as we talk to some of the executives behind these brands to find out how they got to where they are today, and look at what’s ahead for them in 2021.
Watch live 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. EDT from your laptop, phone or other connected device
The new breed of retail
The pandemic paved the way for a host of new retail trends to take hold—and many are still going strong today. Executives from brands including NTWRK, the livestreaming shopping platform that just hired its first CMO, speak about riding the wave of consumer popularity and what’s next.
Rebranding the future of work
Sponsor session
Before 2020, the gig economy was still regarded by many as an outlier in the industry. But after a year of working remotely, the lines between full-timers and freelancers have blurred. Lars Asbjornsen, senior VP of marketing at Upwork, explains how the company introduced a new industry category to differentiate itself from its competition and spotlight the real value for its customers —and how Upwork was able to grow its own business by putting its own strategies to the test.
Shades of grey
Marketing in modern times is difficult enough, but add in navigating through state-by-state guidelines regarding marijuana legality and sports gambling, and it becomes much more complicated. Executives including Berner, the rapper founder of cannabis brand Cookies, talk about the advertising challenges they face.
For more information, please email aaevents@adage.com.
To inquire about available sponsorship opportunities, email aasales@adage.com.
“What I do with people is I empower” says Berner —Billboard charting rapper, cannabis trailblazer, documentary filmmaker, cultural ambassador and, quite literally, a budding business mogul. And like The Prophet of Kahlil Gibran’s classic stories on life and the human condition, Berner is both a healer and dealer of earned wisdom, too.
Berner knows what it is to make something from nothing, one of the most basic definitions of his beloved hip-hop culture. Born Gilbert Anthony Milam, Jr. , Berner comes from working-class parents in the San Francisco Bay Area of California. His father, Mexican American, owned a restaurant andworked everyday, all day, while his mother, mostly Italian American with a hint of Irish blood, was a headhunter for those seeking jobs, while working two jobs of her own.
“I think it's fair to say I got my work ethic from my mother and my father,” prides Berner. “But I got the business ambitions from being hungry and wanting more.”
In high school, a family move and subsequent divorce saw Berner shuttling back and forth between California and Arizona, finally settling in the Bay. He immersed himself in the underground rap scene, and in 2007 he self-produced and released his debut mixtape, Dirty Sneakers…Plenty of Ways to Get It.
Berner, like one of his rap Gods, Tupac Shakur, dropped out of high school to pursue something he admittedly knew very little about, music. Wanting to do something big, he saw music and, aspirationally, a film career as his ticket. The money earned from selling weed was his fare. He navigated the Bay Area independent music scene, not realizing that both his art and his side hustle would one day make him a game-changer in both industries.
With Bay Area legends E-40, Mac Mall, JT the Bigga Figga, and others as his personal soundtrack and ambition boosters, Berner re-mixed himself as a hip-hop artist, spitting autobiographical tales so raw, real, honest, as if he were the Chicano soul child of literary giants.
Eunique Jones Gibson is a creative powerhouse for good. She develops award-winning campaigns and products that ignite conversation, introspection & social change.
She began her career in online advertising with Microsoft and over the past decade she has produced campaigns for a variety of companies such as Warner Bros., American Family Insurance, Nickelodeon, 1800Flowers, Green Bay Packers, CodeBlack Digital, and Custom Ink to name a few.
Eunique not only conceptualizes and creates groundbreaking campaigns, she also frequently operates behind the camera to bring them to life as director and/or photographer. Always socially conscious with a burning desire to effect change, Eunique began exploring and developing ways she could marry her business acumen with her artistic passion and the results were tremendous.
In February 2012, following the death of Trayvon Martin, Eunique created her first photo awareness campaign - I AM Trayvon Martin. The campaign spread through social media and online news outlets around the world and inspired others to use their voice to highlight the need for change.
One year later, in February 2013, Eunique launched Because of Them We Can, an award-winning campaign and movement that helps people reimagine their possibilities. Launched during Black History Month with a mission to empower the next generation to honor the legacy of their ancestors, it has evolved into a global platform for Black Excellence that reaches millions of people each month, keeping with the goal of refuting
stereotypes and connecting the dots between the past, present and future.
Her mission to celebrate culture and community extends beyond the Internet. In 2017, she formed Culture Brands, designed to be an innovative agency model that fuels her ability to continue creating culturally relevant and affirming campaigns and content, some of which is amplified via Because Of Them We Can. Since its inception Eunique has served as the CEO & Chief Creative Officer.
In 2018, Eunique opened a physical space for like-minded individuals to build their dreams and their village called, Dream Village. And in February of 2020 she took another leap for the culture with her latest product, #CultureTags, a spirited game for people who love hashtags and the culture. #CultureTags is available at major retailers nationwide.
She has received numerous awards and recognition for her work, including being named an AdColor Rockstar and White House Champions for Change.
Eunique resides in Maryland with her husband and their three children.
For more information on Culture Brands, go to www.culturebrands.co and for more on Eunique go to https://www.euniquejones.com.
Jeanine Poggi covers the TV industry and how broadcast and cable networks and distributors are adopting to the changes in the world of TV advertising. She joined Ad Age in 2012, following six years covering the retail and media industries and other financial sectors for Women's Wear Daily, Forbes and TheStreet.
Adrianne Pasquarelli is a senior reporter at Ad Age, covering marketing in retail and finance, as well as in travel and health care. She is also a host of the Marketer’s Brief podcast and spearheads special reports including 40 Under 40 and Hottest Brands. Pasquarelli joined Ad Age in 2015 after writing for Crain's New York Business, where she also focused on the retail industry.
John Dioso has been the Editor of Ad Age Studio 30, the creative content arm of Ad Age, since August 2018. Built on the same bedrock of journalistic integrity, Ad Age Studio 30 specializes in multichannel membership content for Ad Age subscribers, as well as custom and sponsored content that resonates with its audience.
During his career, Dioso has overseen some of the most popular and celebrated media brands in the world, including Cosmopolitan, Rolling Stone, Glamour, Martha Stewart Living and Us Weekly. As Executive Managing Editor of Cosmopolitan, his management of the editorial team helped lead the magazine to the first National Magazine Award in its history.
Before that, Dioso was the longtime Deputy Managing Editor of Rolling Stone. During his tenure, Rolling Stone won numerous awards, including the 2007 National Magazine Award for General Excellence. In 2010, he edited Rolling Stone’’s best-selling special issue “The Beatles: 100 Greatest Songs.”
Dioso lives in Brooklyn with his wife, cat, and way too many guitars. They have three daughters.
Brekke Fletcher is a freelance Lifestyle Editor, currently working with Ad Age and Time Magazine. For the last five years, Fletcher was the Executive Editor of Style and Travel for CNN. Prior to that Fletcher was at The Wall Street Journal where she served as managing editor of WSJ Magazine, During her time at WSJ, she managed the magazine's editorial team, oversaw travel news coverage and frequently wrote destination and entertainment stories. She has worked at various publications, starting with the launch of Lucky Magazine and later taking on managing editor roles at publications such as Jane Magazine, Men's Journal and Newsweek.
Fletcher is a graduate of Northwestern University and is currently based in Brooklyn.
Loni Venti is a freelance writer, editor, and brand consultant based in Brooklyn, NY. In addition to contributing to AdAge, you can find her articles in publications like Allure, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, and Harper's Bazaar. Her editorial brand work includes creative direction, storytelling, and copy for IPSY, Smashbox, WASO by Shiseido, The Derm Specialists, The Makeup Museum and more.
Natalie Zfat is a social media entrepreneur and Ad Age Contributing Editor who has partnered with some of the most iconic brands in the world, including Facebook, Samsung, LinkedIn and American Express. Zfat's beloved social media community of 150K+ followers are dreamers, doers and entrepreneurs, from college students to CEOs.
Upwork is the world’s work marketplace that connects businesses with independent talent. We serve everyone from one-person startups to 30% of the Fortune 100 with a powerful, trust-driven platform that enables companies and freelancers to work together in new ways that unlock their potential. Our talent community earned over $2.3 billion on Upwork in 2020 across more than 10,000 skills, including website & app development, creative & design, customer support, finance & accounting, consulting, and operations. Learn more at upwork.com
Undertone creates memorable ad experiences by thoughtfully orchestrating solutions across video, advanced TV, rich media, and social, to drive unmatched brand lift and audience engagement on virtually every screen, and every device. Their award-winning creative team uses the company’s 20 years of experience, and billions of impressions worth of data to intelligently craft campaigns that can drive full-funnel KPIs while making meaningful connections with the 200MM+ unique users they can reach every month. Undertone brings the art and science of advertising together to intelligently craft campaigns that uplift consumers, brands, and publishers alike. Visit undertone.com to learn more.
Ed Plummer currently serves as Senior Vice President – Chief Marketing Officer at DICK’S Sporting Goods. In this role, Ed is responsible for the Company’s overall marketing strategy and implementation, including building the DICK’S brand, all traffic-driving elements and continued digital transformation. He is also a member of the board of directors for The DICK’S Sporting Goods Foundation.
Ed joined the Company in 2010 as Vice President of Customer Relationship Management in marketing, and in 2016, he was promoted to Senior Vice President – Team Sports HQ. In February 2019, he assumed the role of interim Chief Marketing Officer and Senior Vice President – TSHQ.
Prior to joining DICK’S, he spent 12 years at American Express in various leadership roles.
A thought-leader, mentor and innovator in the sports and entertainment marketing space, Jason Brown currently serves as Chief Marketing Officer for NTWRK. Having recently joined NTWRK from Foot Locker, Inc, his focus is on directing and guiding all marketing efforts for the leading livestream shopping platform and upholding the Company’s mission to inspire and empower youth culture. He began his career over 15 years ago, during which he led in various roles at Fox Sports, NBC Sports and PepsiCo, where he earned the Charles ‘Professor X’ Xavier Collaboration award in 2017. Reflected through all of his work, he is passionate about serving and uplifting young people to help ensure future generations are on a path of least resistance forward.
Matt Kalish (“Kalish”) is Co-founder and President of DraftKings North America. Kalish conceived the original concept for DraftKings in early 2011 and launched the product with two partners in 2012 after specking and building the product out of a spare bedroom in Watertown Mass. Today, DraftKings is a multi-billion dollar public company after its 2020 SPAC public offering and concurrent acquisition of SBTech. DraftKings was the first high profile SPAC transaction and the success of which started a macro trend of SPAC offerings to follow that captivated the financial markets. The public offering was well received and DKNG traded up multiples of the initial offering price in the first year as a public company.
Kalish is accountable for all North America operations and revenue. Kalish brings together all of DraftKings consumer brand, marketing, operations, and related analytics functions. At the core of Kalish’s success as a entrepreneur and executive is a mind for creating disruptive products and technologies at the intersection of technology, media, and gaming and how to bring them to market to drive mass market consumer adoption.
Matt was born in Lowell, Massachusetts and grew up in a blue collar former military family. His parents never went to college and were state employees. He was one of the top distance runners in the nation in high school and gained admission to Columbia University as a student athlete, where he double majored in Computer Science and Economics. Kalish played online poker throughout college successfully during the online poker boom, earning entry to the World Series of Poker main event twice, and also competed in dozens of fantasy sports leagues with his friends. These experiences formed a foundation for the idea that would later become DraftKings.
After a brief corporate career where Kalish got his MBA at Boston College’s evening MBA program, Kalish left corporate America to persue entrepreneurship by investing his life savings of a little over $9000 as seed capital in DraftKings.
Kalish is a lifelong gamer and avid collector, who has been a competitive player of fantasy sports, poker, sports betting, and strategy games. He is currently one of the largest non sports card collectors in the United States and has been an early adopter of digital investments such as a strong position in CryptoPunks NFTs (#7996!). He is known for a hands on approach with the community and products he is operating, and has combined his first hand customer insight and experiences with a corporate analytics and e-commerce background to become the “game master” of DraftKings.
Due to Kalish’s foresight and guidance preparing for the overturn of PASPA, DraftKings Sportsbook was the first legal, online and mobile sports betting platform in New Jersey – the first state outside of Nevada to legalize sports betting. Kalish has been named to SBJ’s class of 2019 “Forty Under 40” for all of his excellence and innovation. Kalish has led his team to go beyond the industry standards by finding ways to improve DraftKings’ customers’ game experience by introducing more sports and ways to play, driving DraftKings towards offering the most comprehensive platform for skin-in-the-game sports fans available in the US. Moreover, Matt maintains a strong focus on DraftKings’ consumer protections to ensure the company maintains high standards of integrity and responsibility, and is continuously optimizing the protections in place, operating in the best interest of its customers and community.
Kalish is passionate about Inclusion and Equity in the workplace and serves as DraftKings Executive Sponsor of Inclusion, Equity and Belonging efforts. The company was recently ranked top 10 in this area by Boston Globe in their inaugural corporate rankings.
Since going public in 2020, Kalish has also become an avid private investor with dozens of private investments across a multitude of industries, from SpaceX, to leading a round in Powered by People, and everything in between.
An expert in the staffing industry and marketing innovation, Lars heads up Upwork’s marketing team. He leverages a background in leading cross functional teams in strategy formulation to deliver on customer-centered value propositions and marketing strategies that drive results. Prior to joining Upwork, Lars spent 17 years honing his expertise in marketing, digital service development, and global candidate sourcing as an executive at global staffing firm Robert Half, where he was a key driver of the company’s marketing transformation efforts.
Elizabeth Brennan is the Head of Advertising Sales for Permutive, which is powering the future of targeted advertising on the Open Web. With over decade of experience in digital advertising, Elizabeth is a champion of women in business and a strong believer in the power of mentoring. A graduate of The University of Reading, Elizabeth is a former winner of the prestigious NABS Fast Forward award and has gone on to achieve Code First certification as part of the organisation’s initiative to increase the number of women in tech.
Jessica Wohl is a senior reporter for Ad Age, covering the food and restaurant industries for Ad Age. She also hosts the Marketer’s Brief podcast and Creativity Top 5 Live. Jessica also leads the editorial team’s annual Ad Age Leading Women awards and programming. Jessica previously reported for the Chicago Tribune and Reuters.
E.J. Schultz is the News Editor for Ad Age, overseeing breaking news and daily coverage. He also contributes reporting on the beverage, automotive and sports marketing industries. He is a former reporter for McClatchy newspapers, including the Fresno Bee, where he covered business and state government and politics.
John Dioso has been the Editor of Ad Age Studio 30, the creative content arm of Ad Age, since August 2018. Built on the same bedrock of journalistic integrity, Ad Age Studio 30 specializes in multichannel membership content for Ad Age subscribers, as well as custom and sponsored content that resonates with its audience.
During his career, Dioso has overseen some of the most popular and celebrated media brands in the world, including Cosmopolitan, Rolling Stone, Glamour, Martha Stewart Living and Us Weekly. As Executive Managing Editor of Cosmopolitan, his management of the editorial team helped lead the magazine to the first National Magazine Award in its history.
Before that, Dioso was the longtime Deputy Managing Editor of Rolling Stone. During his tenure, Rolling Stone won numerous awards, including the 2007 National Magazine Award for General Excellence. In 2010, he edited Rolling Stone’’s best-selling special issue “The Beatles: 100 Greatest Songs.”
Dioso lives in Brooklyn with his wife, cat, and way too many guitars. They have three daughters.
Matt Kalish (“Kalish”) is Co-founder and President of DraftKings North America. Kalish conceived the original concept for DraftKings in early 2011 and launched the product with two partners in 2012 after specking and building the product out of a spare bedroom in Watertown Mass. Today, DraftKings is a multi-billion dollar public company after its 2020 SPAC public offering and concurrent acquisition of SBTech. DraftKings was the first high profile SPAC transaction and the success of which started a macro trend of SPAC offerings to follow that captivated the financial markets. The public offering was well received and DKNG traded up multiples of the initial offering price in the first year as a public company.
Kalish is accountable for all North America operations and revenue. Kalish brings together all of DraftKings consumer brand, marketing, operations, and related analytics functions. At the core of Kalish’s success as a entrepreneur and executive is a mind for creating disruptive products and technologies at the intersection of technology, media, and gaming and how to bring them to market to drive mass market consumer adoption.
Matt was born in Lowell, Massachusetts and grew up in a blue collar former military family. His parents never went to college and were state employees. He was one of the top distance runners in the nation in high school and gained admission to Columbia University as a student athlete, where he double majored in Computer Science and Economics. Kalish played online poker throughout college successfully during the online poker boom, earning entry to the World Series of Poker main event twice, and also competed in dozens of fantasy sports leagues with his friends. These experiences formed a foundation for the idea that would later become DraftKings.
After a brief corporate career where Kalish got his MBA at Boston College’s evening MBA program, Kalish left corporate America to persue entrepreneurship by investing his life savings of a little over $9000 as seed capital in DraftKings.
Kalish is a lifelong gamer and avid collector, who has been a competitive player of fantasy sports, poker, sports betting, and strategy games. He is currently one of the largest non sports card collectors in the United States and has been an early adopter of digital investments such as a strong position in CryptoPunks NFTs (#7996!). He is known for a hands on approach with the community and products he is operating, and has combined his first hand customer insight and experiences with a corporate analytics and e-commerce background to become the “game master” of DraftKings.
Due to Kalish’s foresight and guidance preparing for the overturn of PASPA, DraftKings Sportsbook was the first legal, online and mobile sports betting platform in New Jersey – the first state outside of Nevada to legalize sports betting. Kalish has been named to SBJ’s class of 2019 “Forty Under 40” for all of his excellence and innovation. Kalish has led his team to go beyond the industry standards by finding ways to improve DraftKings’ customers’ game experience by introducing more sports and ways to play, driving DraftKings towards offering the most comprehensive platform for skin-in-the-game sports fans available in the US. Moreover, Matt maintains a strong focus on DraftKings’ consumer protections to ensure the company maintains high standards of integrity and responsibility, and is continuously optimizing the protections in place, operating in the best interest of its customers and community.
Kalish is passionate about Inclusion and Equity in the workplace and serves as DraftKings Executive Sponsor of Inclusion, Equity and Belonging efforts. The company was recently ranked top 10 in this area by Boston Globe in their inaugural corporate rankings.
Since going public in 2020, Kalish has also become an avid private investor with dozens of private investments across a multitude of industries, from SpaceX, to leading a round in Powered by People, and everything in between.
Ed Plummer currently serves as Senior Vice President – Chief Marketing Officer at DICK’S Sporting Goods. In this role, Ed is responsible for the Company’s overall marketing strategy and implementation, including building the DICK’S brand, all traffic-driving elements and continued digital transformation. He is also a member of the board of directors for The DICK’S Sporting Goods Foundation.
Ed joined the Company in 2010 as Vice President of Customer Relationship Management in marketing, and in 2016, he was promoted to Senior Vice President – Team Sports HQ. In February 2019, he assumed the role of interim Chief Marketing Officer and Senior Vice President – TSHQ.
Prior to joining DICK’S, he spent 12 years at American Express in various leadership roles.
A strategic, creative and trusted marketing executive, Dennis Seydel currently serves as Chief Brand Officer at FIGS, a direct-to-consumer healthcare apparel and lifestyle brand revolutionizing the medical apparel industry.
Dennis has extensive global experience launching innovative products and programs for some of the most popular and disruptive brands on the planet. Dennis joined FIGS in March from Uber, where he was the head of marketing for Uber Eats. Prior to that role, Dennis worked as global head of marketing and director of YouTube Music and as senior director of global brand marketing in Nike’s Entertainment Marketing function. In these positions, Dennis developed and drove fully integrated, strategic and results-oriented initiatives.
Driven by relentless curiosity, Dennis lives his life at the intersection of culture and technology and has a deep understanding of youth culture, the global influencer community, and the entertainment industry. Dennis is a graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology.