Speaker 1: What's up on Laura Curni And I'm Alexa Kristen. Welcome
Speaker 1: back to at Landia episode two. So we have a
Speaker 1: great guest this episode, Lisa Sherman, President and CEO of
Speaker 1: the AD Council. But before we get into the interview,
Speaker 1: we want to thank the ad Landia community. What welcome
Speaker 1: back tweets, the emails, the reposts. You gotta listen to
Speaker 1: this show. Amazing, it felt so good to be back.
Speaker 1: Didn't feel good to be back. It's awesome. And big
Speaker 1: shout out to Sara Fisher over at Axios for the
Speaker 1: awesome coverage on the relaunch of the show. If you're
Speaker 1: not already subscribing to Axios Media Trends newsletter, make sure
Speaker 1: you go check that out. One of the best newsletters
Speaker 1: in the business. So Alexa, with that, let's get into
Speaker 1: the interview. So we got in touch with Lisa actually
Speaker 1: at the beginning of COVID to do this episode because
Speaker 1: what the AD Council was doing was they were quickly responding,
Speaker 1: working with the White House and the CDC to get
Speaker 1: the message out about COVID safety, health, et cetera. And
Speaker 1: I think what's really important, and Laura, you said this
Speaker 1: to me was that there was such a focus on
Speaker 1: speed over perfection. And I think that that message for
Speaker 1: the industry and actually all of us as individuals. Sometimes
Speaker 1: we grind, right, we grind getting it perfect, but that's
Speaker 1: not the point. Always point is just get it out,
Speaker 1: start getting a response, start gathering community, start getting your
Speaker 1: audience rallied. And I think that the AD Council is
Speaker 1: one of the most important organizations in the industry and
Speaker 1: actually in the country to get things out into the
Speaker 1: world that are like critical societal issues. So really excited
Speaker 1: about this interview. Over to Visa Sherman. We'll be right
Speaker 1: back and we're back if Lisa Sherman, President and CEO
Speaker 1: of AD Council. So excited to have Lisa on the show. Welcome, Welcome, Lisa.
Speaker 1: I'm as excited to be here as you guys are
Speaker 1: to have me. Thank you so much, Lisa. We have
Speaker 1: so much to talk about. We want to turn it
Speaker 1: over to you to share with at Landia. What AD
Speaker 1: Council is A bit of a crash course on the
Speaker 1: history of it, um and and sort of where you
Speaker 1: see it going. Terrific. It's my favorite topic. Um So
Speaker 1: you know, I like to think of the ad Council
Speaker 1: as the place where creativity and causes converge, and our
Speaker 1: mission is really to use the power of communications to
Speaker 1: take on the most important issues facing our country and
Speaker 1: our roots. Interestingly enough, go all the way back to
Speaker 1: World War Two when the country was about to go
Speaker 1: to war. Was right after Pearl Harbor Um and FDR
Speaker 1: actually understood the power of communications and called all of
Speaker 1: the leaders of the advertising community to Washington to brief
Speaker 1: them on the war effort, and then he convinced them
Speaker 1: to develop advertising campaigns to get the country behind the
Speaker 1: war effort. So things like war bonds came out of
Speaker 1: that initial effort. It used to be called the War
Speaker 1: Advertising Council. Actually UM Loose lips sink ships a very
Speaker 1: famous ad um that came out of that period of time,
Speaker 1: and they use the model that we use today. Agencies
Speaker 1: and content creators developed the work. Media companies made sure
Speaker 1: that the messages were seen by by the right people
Speaker 1: and brands where they're supporting them UM, And that's exactly
Speaker 1: what we're doing today. Obviously, they're way more content creators,
Speaker 1: way more media platforms. Brands are playing very different roles UM.
Speaker 1: But that's what we do so, Lisa, fast forward to
Speaker 1: here you are as the CEO of the AD Council
Speaker 1: during a global pandemic. Can you take us through with
Speaker 1: the last few months have been like for the AD
Speaker 1: Council was wired for times like this, that's what we do. UM.
Speaker 1: When we heard the day that the WHO declared COVID
Speaker 1: nineteen a pandemic, we were on the phone with our
Speaker 1: partners at the CDC and and HHS asking what we
Speaker 1: could do, because it was very clear early on that
Speaker 1: we needed to get fact based, tangible information into the
Speaker 1: hands of the American public so they knew what to do,
Speaker 1: they knew how to take care of themselves. UM. And
Speaker 1: so literally we reached out to a couple of our
Speaker 1: partners are our friends at NBCUniversal, our friends at Viacom,
Speaker 1: CBS UM and over a weekend we stood up two
Speaker 1: massive campaigns that we got into the market in five days.
Speaker 1: They all focused on early days. UM, social distancing, a
Speaker 1: term we've never heard of really, UM, handwashing and hygiene
Speaker 1: focusing on high risk poppy relations people that were more
Speaker 1: at risk of getting sick. UM and UM. Yeah, it
Speaker 1: was an extraordinary It was an extraordinary effort. And you know,
Speaker 1: I'm sort of keeping my little list of sort of
Speaker 1: a COVID playbook, because you know, you don't like planned
Speaker 1: to be in a crisis or a pandemic, but speed,
Speaker 1: to me is one of the most important things that
Speaker 1: has to happen when something like this strikes. And um,
Speaker 1: we I think even surprised ourselves frankly at how quickly
Speaker 1: we were able to get it done. How are you
Speaker 1: guys actually able to produce this stuff? You know, the
Speaker 1: the creative shops within both of those media companies handled
Speaker 1: all of the production. UM. I know that one one
Speaker 1: round of work that we did were you know Dr
Speaker 1: Fauci talking to to camera, um. Dr Brex talking to camera.
Speaker 1: They were shooting that stuff at the White House and
Speaker 1: and literally just sending it via email to to folks,
Speaker 1: and that's how it got done. I mean, it is crazy.
Speaker 1: And then on the Viacom CBS side, they developed a
Speaker 1: really brilliant platform called Alone Together, really targeting young people.
Speaker 1: Um they used their own talent who were all calling
Speaker 1: in from home and shooting stuff on their phones. Um.
Speaker 1: They use great animation. And I think that the trick
Speaker 1: that allowed us to scale so quickly is that we
Speaker 1: did everything open source. So we created a set of assets.
Speaker 1: We then said, but if you don't want to use
Speaker 1: those assets, if you're a media, if you have a
Speaker 1: platform that you want to use, we'll send you the scripts.
Speaker 1: You can shoot your own stuff um or we'll give
Speaker 1: you a creative brief and you can do your own
Speaker 1: thing as long as it's true to the brief. And
Speaker 1: people were just grabbing stuff and wanting to help. It
Speaker 1: was like everybody just wanted a job. And everybody took
Speaker 1: that those assets and those the ability to do their
Speaker 1: own thing and just started producing tons of work and
Speaker 1: getting it out there. Like think in the first two
Speaker 1: weeks we had over fifty million dollars and donated media
Speaker 1: an hour, up over two hundred million in the first
Speaker 1: eight weeks, and you've reached like billions and billions of
Speaker 1: impressions and it's phenomenal. I mean, when you're talking about
Speaker 1: the ad Council and Laura and I have been in
Speaker 1: the industry for a while now, is that something that's
Speaker 1: going to last post COVID, This idea of open source,
Speaker 1: Like how do you take an issue and actually create
Speaker 1: open source you know, content creative? Well, I certainly think
Speaker 1: for the work that we do. I am all in
Speaker 1: on that idea because you know, we would traditionally work
Speaker 1: with a single agency UM to produce work, which was
Speaker 1: always fantastic. I mean, Smokey Bear has been around for
Speaker 1: seventy five years and FCB has been doing that work
Speaker 1: for seventy five years, which is extraordinary when you think
Speaker 1: about it. UM. But when you need to scale fast
Speaker 1: and you need to move quickly, I think the ability
Speaker 1: to give people the tools to do it themselves, UM,
Speaker 1: as long as it's true to the brief, why not.
Speaker 1: It's interesting because unfortunately I don't think COVID is going
Speaker 1: to be our last public health crisis, right, and so
Speaker 1: speed is now a new metric UM. But it's like
Speaker 1: absolutely critical. It's truly about people's lives. I think the
Speaker 1: other thing is that UM, the AD Council is that
Speaker 1: place where competitive brands, competitive agencies, competitive media companies really
Speaker 1: always come together because there is a higher calling and
Speaker 1: a higher purpose. And I think that you know, for CBS,
Speaker 1: viacom and and NBCUniversal to produce things that were brand agnostic, like,
Speaker 1: it wasn't about getting the credit. It was about helping
Speaker 1: solve a massive problem. And that's part of the the
Speaker 1: amazing secret sauce of the AD Council and this industry
Speaker 1: when we come together, um to to work on these issues.
Speaker 1: Are there best practices as you look back over the
Speaker 1: course of the last few months that you might offer
Speaker 1: to brands who are still sort of in this space
Speaker 1: of figuring out when is the right time to step
Speaker 1: in with what message. I have really been like listening
Speaker 1: to others and and trying to absorb and learn and
Speaker 1: and so just just observe our own teams and what
Speaker 1: we're doing. And I do have a couple of things
Speaker 1: that I'm certainly happy to share. I mean, one of
Speaker 1: the things I will share is that people should be
Speaker 1: sharing more, you know, um, we can all learn from
Speaker 1: each other. And and there's no pride of authorship in
Speaker 1: some of this stuff. Quick decisions, not time for perfection,
Speaker 1: The ability to be agile, the ability to pivot. I mean,
Speaker 1: we were talking to the CDC every single day, and
Speaker 1: on any given day there was a pivot and we
Speaker 1: would have to figure out, literally in a phone call,
Speaker 1: what we were going to do the next day to
Speaker 1: adopt to either a new set of messaging or an
Speaker 1: adjustment to a message like that stuff we never thought
Speaker 1: we could do before. So speed is critical. I think
Speaker 1: what's so interesting is that as we all adjust to
Speaker 1: a new reality, we might reveal a better reality. We agree,
Speaker 1: what's the thing that surprised you or your team the
Speaker 1: most in this process? You know? I think, look, we
Speaker 1: all have process right, and our processes are especially at
Speaker 1: a seventy five year old company organization like ours, like
Speaker 1: they're very entrenched, and we tell ourselves all the reasons
Speaker 1: why we can't change the process until you have to,
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, you just got to get
Speaker 1: stuff done. You know, you don't have to get it
Speaker 1: approved by ten people. Two people say let's go, and
Speaker 1: you go. Now, look, I mean that's what happened, and
Speaker 1: I don't think you can survive in that mode, you know,
Speaker 1: when you're sort of back to normal. But but there's
Speaker 1: a version of that that has to go forward. How
Speaker 1: do you start to set the agenda and what you're
Speaker 1: focusing on. So look, I mean, you know, if if
Speaker 1: your mission, our mission is to take on the most
Speaker 1: boordant issues facing the country, and we know there are
Speaker 1: no shortage of issues, it's mostly really about how do
Speaker 1: you prioritize the ones that warrant the resources and the
Speaker 1: talents of this industry to get behind. And so, you know,
Speaker 1: many many people come to us with issues. But we
Speaker 1: we have an Advisory Committee UM, which is really like
Speaker 1: a think tank that's made up of educators, social scientists,
Speaker 1: UM policy people that are studying, educators that are studying
Speaker 1: what these issues are, and then they help us really
Speaker 1: think about is the issue of big enough scale right?
Speaker 1: Is it is? It doesn't warrant us really sort of
Speaker 1: convening the industry behind it. Is it something that communications
Speaker 1: can really make a difference in moving the needle? Is
Speaker 1: there a specific target audience? Is there a specific call
Speaker 1: to action? What are you asking people to do? We also,
Speaker 1: I think and I think one of the reasons that
Speaker 1: the ACT Council is so successful, especially in times like this,
Speaker 1: is that we are a nonpartisan organization, you know, and
Speaker 1: I like to say that while I don't believe any
Speaker 1: of these issues are political issues, I believe almost every
Speaker 1: issue today seems to get politicized in some way, and
Speaker 1: so we're sort of the honest broker. If it comes
Speaker 1: from the ad Council, people understand that it's science based,
Speaker 1: it's fact based. We're able to speak to both sides
Speaker 1: and have this amazing ability to thread the needle on
Speaker 1: issues that can be difficult. And so we take all
Speaker 1: of that into consideration, um and then we make some
Speaker 1: decisions about what we're gonna what we're going to support.
Speaker 1: On any given year, we'll probably take on two to
Speaker 1: three new issues, and many of the issues we have
Speaker 1: we've been running for a long time because the other
Speaker 1: thing is we don't take we don't do short term
Speaker 1: stuff like our goal is to solve the problem, and
Speaker 1: when you're trying to change behavior, that doesn't happen over
Speaker 1: now stop amazing for every marketer out there, If you're
Speaker 1: really truly trying to solve something, it's usually not going
Speaker 1: to be a short term thing. You've got to be in.
Speaker 1: So we make commitments for a minimum of three years.
Speaker 1: When we take an issue on, we know we're taking
Speaker 1: it on for a minimum of three years. And then,
Speaker 1: as I said, many of our our issues have been
Speaker 1: around for ten twenty more more than that. How do
Speaker 1: people currently get involved in AD Council supporting AD Council
Speaker 1: and what are things that you've been thinking about that
Speaker 1: might be different than the way things have been done,
Speaker 1: But you're you're very open to potentially exploring. So I think, look,
Speaker 1: the model really still holds. We are comprised of every
Speaker 1: aspect of the ecosystem of our industry. So we've got
Speaker 1: agencies who want to help and be assigned an issue. UM.
Speaker 1: And when we get a new issue and we're thinking
Speaker 1: about taking a new issue on, we think about who
Speaker 1: would be the right agency to do that. And we've
Speaker 1: broadened our portfolio of agencies so much in the last
Speaker 1: several years. UM, as we're talking here, I think going
Speaker 1: forward we might think about multiple agencies or other content
Speaker 1: creation partners who can participate in a more open sourced way. UM,
Speaker 1: we look at how do we develop the right media
Speaker 1: strategy and get these messages to the right person at
Speaker 1: the right place at the right time. If you have
Speaker 1: a platform, we would love to work with you in
Speaker 1: helping to get our messages out. And then of course, UM,
Speaker 1: we're always looking at innovation, and UM we're working you know,
Speaker 1: just in COVID, like two or three weeks in we
Speaker 1: created the first private marketplace for nonprofits with partners like
Speaker 1: Cadrion and Engine and the Trade Desk who helped us
Speaker 1: stand this thing up and was we're I think we've
Speaker 1: served I don't know, a hundred million oppressions already all
Speaker 1: donated like that something that we talked about doing, and
Speaker 1: we knew that it would really be helpful to us
Speaker 1: in our longer term strategy. But again, quickness, speed, necessity.
Speaker 1: We got it done in two weeks. UM. So I
Speaker 1: think if you have ideas, um and then if there
Speaker 1: are certain issues, like Laura, you and I have talked,
Speaker 1: if there are issues they you and your team are
Speaker 1: interested in, we have lots of groups that sort of
Speaker 1: deepen those issues. If it's something around climate change or immigration,
Speaker 1: we will find ways to plug people in. Because our
Speaker 1: model doesn't work unless we've got lots of hands on deck.
Speaker 1: How are you measuring impact coming out of activity that
Speaker 1: the ADD Council's leading every single campaign, before we even
Speaker 1: presented for approval, we lay out what's success look like.
Speaker 1: How do we define whether we're gonna really move the
Speaker 1: needle on this issue? So it tends to be very
Speaker 1: issue specific. Um. You know, just recent example, early days
Speaker 1: of COVID, our goal was to get as many people
Speaker 1: to this CDC website to get information on how to
Speaker 1: take care of themselves. Um. And so we were able
Speaker 1: to track what we were able to do there, you know,
Speaker 1: with the media that we had and the scale that
Speaker 1: we were able to quickly create. I can tell you
Speaker 1: how many people went to the website, probably thirty million people.
Speaker 1: But I do think some of that did help to
Speaker 1: begin flattening the curve that we've seen. But I look
Speaker 1: at Love has No Labels. I think about a much
Speaker 1: bigger impact into the zeit geist of the country. How
Speaker 1: are you looking at that? I mean, if you have
Speaker 1: the think tank and the data scientists and folks like
Speaker 1: that are are you are you looking at the lasting
Speaker 1: fabric of a conversation that you're creating as well? So
Speaker 1: for Love has No Labels, I mean that is true
Speaker 1: behavior chains right, Um? How do I first of all,
Speaker 1: am I aware of my own unconscious by us? Um?
Speaker 1: Does that allow me to think differently with that awareness
Speaker 1: about how I see other people? And that we're really
Speaker 1: tracking and have been tracking over the last five years
Speaker 1: through uh continuous tracking study, asking these very specific questions
Speaker 1: and have seen double digit increases in in that. But
Speaker 1: look here we are. I mean, xenophobia is rearing. It's horrible,
Speaker 1: you know, ugly head um, And so we have a
Speaker 1: we have a lot of work to do. Are there
Speaker 1: insights are best practices that you can share that brands
Speaker 1: should consider can consider when they think about taking on
Speaker 1: initiatives that have that level of impact that go far
Speaker 1: beyond transaction. To me, it all starts with values, like
Speaker 1: I think you have to you have to be very
Speaker 1: grounded in values and the sense of purpose of an organization.
Speaker 1: Like if you don't have a cultural compass that guides you, um,
Speaker 1: then you're not really able to authentic lee fulfill this
Speaker 1: idea of purpose driven marketing. Um. I'm much more about
Speaker 1: substance over form, Like I feel like you've gotta walk
Speaker 1: the talk. You've got to put your money where your
Speaker 1: mouth is, And I think, um, more and more brands
Speaker 1: are starting to do that. You know, I always think
Speaker 1: about Beth Compstock when she says, if you see a
Speaker 1: better way to do things, you have an obligation to
Speaker 1: do them. And I think people in our industry are
Speaker 1: looking for ways to give back that go beyond our
Speaker 1: daily works. So, Lisa, how are you seeing people collaborating
Speaker 1: right now? Well? Look, I mean I really feel like
Speaker 1: the way we've been able to show up in the
Speaker 1: last eight weeks has set a new bar for US
Speaker 1: as an organization. And I think this idea of coalitions
Speaker 1: and people coming together. I think this idea of open
Speaker 1: source and brand agnostic work that allows things to scale quickly. UM.
Speaker 1: I I think that UM, you know, even for us.
Speaker 1: Like somebody called the other day and they wanted to
Speaker 1: know if this was an AD Council thing, and I
Speaker 1: heard what they were doing, and they had already put
Speaker 1: a lot of the pieces together, and I'm like, we
Speaker 1: don't need to own this, but if there's a place
Speaker 1: in this group that you're putting together where we can
Speaker 1: add some value that's not being covered, like, I'll sign
Speaker 1: up for that. You know, it doesn't have to be
Speaker 1: all owned and operated all the time anymore, UM, which
Speaker 1: is new for us and I think it may be
Speaker 1: new for others. And so I think there's something in
Speaker 1: all of those elements UM that I believe we will
Speaker 1: take forward and that will allow us as an industry
Speaker 1: to do more and and drive even more impact UM
Speaker 1: and to do it at a much larger scale. I'm
Speaker 1: totally thinking there's an AD Council at Landia Collaboration. So
Speaker 1: we're in here. It's cause Landia I can see it.
Speaker 1: I love see it. But Lisa, if we can UM
Speaker 1: pivot for a second, because it feels like this is
Speaker 1: something you've been doing the entirety of your career. UM.
Speaker 1: In a bit of our research, reading an article, UM
Speaker 1: that was written by your alma mater at Dickinson, we
Speaker 1: found this paragraph that I was like, Alexa, I'm going
Speaker 1: to read this on on the show. UM. So if
Speaker 1: if you're just a second, UM. Realizing that the newly
Speaker 1: founded w n b A and the victorious US women's
Speaker 1: soccer team had raised the public's awareness of women's sports,
Speaker 1: this former Dickinson student athlete, which I found out you
Speaker 1: played basketball and lacrosse, UM, took a calculated risk and
Speaker 1: co founded a women's sports marketing agency. It was a
Speaker 1: big leap after seventeen years of the same company. But
Speaker 1: I learned at Dickinson that you learned by doing, and
Speaker 1: that when something is right, you feel it in your gut.
Speaker 1: It sounds like you've never deviated from that. Lisa, can
Speaker 1: you just take us for a second on the journey
Speaker 1: from founding a women's sports marketing agency, UM, fast forward
Speaker 1: to CEO of ad Counsel. Well, I will say about
Speaker 1: my career that it was not a linear career at all.
Speaker 1: But what I will say in sort of looking backwards,
Speaker 1: because that's the only way to sort of figure out
Speaker 1: where the dots are connected. Um. Every twist and turn,
Speaker 1: every up and down, every success and failure led to
Speaker 1: the next thing. And so when people ask me, you
Speaker 1: know what advice I have for them if they're starting out,
Speaker 1: I'm like, gotta take risks you've got. You've got to
Speaker 1: change it up and shake it up, because you just
Speaker 1: stay in the same thing for too long, you're just
Speaker 1: not going to grow. UM. So I left the company
Speaker 1: after seventeen years. UM and I followed my passion, which
Speaker 1: was sports, and at a time when women's sports was
Speaker 1: really emerging. Um and and you could just see the
Speaker 1: enthusiasm and the excitement for really in the piece that
Speaker 1: you just read, um around the Olympics and the w
Speaker 1: n B A and um these women athletes who are
Speaker 1: these heroes for so many of us. UM And I thought,
Speaker 1: we've used sports it's as a vehicle to reach men
Speaker 1: through advertising and marketing forever. But women are making all
Speaker 1: the so many of the decisions in the household, Like
Speaker 1: why wouldn't we use women's sports as a vehicle two
Speaker 1: for brands to reach their audiences. So that was the idea.
Speaker 1: We went out and we you know, tested it with
Speaker 1: a bunch of people. We raised some venture money, and
Speaker 1: we uh launched the Women's Sports Network, and UM, it
Speaker 1: was the first time in my life that I did
Speaker 1: something where I lined my passion with the work that
Speaker 1: I did. And honestly, that was a cocktail that was
Speaker 1: completely intoxicating. UM. I worked harder than I'd ever worked,
Speaker 1: and I was more energized and excited than I'd ever been. UM,
Speaker 1: and we had some great clients. UM, and we were
Speaker 1: cooking along pretty well. That was sort of Internet one point. Oh,
Speaker 1: and fortunately we got caught up in nine eleven. Nine
Speaker 1: eleven happened the world changed. Um. You know, when you're
Speaker 1: like the new thing that brands are trying in their budgets,
Speaker 1: it's the first thing to go sort of like a
Speaker 1: moment like now, like things are getting cut. And it
Speaker 1: was very clear we were going to make it work,
Speaker 1: and so we had to shut our business down and
Speaker 1: it was one of the hardest things I've ever done.
Speaker 1: But honestly, I look back and even in that moment,
Speaker 1: I had zero regrets. I learned so much about myself
Speaker 1: and about this idea that I could never ever again
Speaker 1: work at a place where I didn't have that. I
Speaker 1: didn't feel that thing in my gut, and so um
Speaker 1: I went on from there. I spent a couple of
Speaker 1: years at an agency um doing new business development and
Speaker 1: account management. But I got a call um to uh
Speaker 1: see if I was interested in launching a new cable
Speaker 1: network at Viacom called Logo, which was going to be
Speaker 1: the first ever AD supported cable network on the at
Speaker 1: it targeting the LGBT audience. And I thought it sounds
Speaker 1: like an amazing job, but I have no TV experience,
Speaker 1: and I told the recruiter I wasn't sure I was
Speaker 1: the right person, and he said we should meet anyway.
Speaker 1: So we had our breakfast, and it turns out that
Speaker 1: they were looking for somebody who could build a brand,
Speaker 1: was entrepreneurial, could run a business um and do new
Speaker 1: business development. And the guy who was gonna be developing
Speaker 1: all the content and the TV shows was somebody who
Speaker 1: was a genius and we were going to partner together.
Speaker 1: And I got the job. And that took this notion
Speaker 1: of combining my passion with my work and put it
Speaker 1: on steroids because to do something that was that groundbreaking
Speaker 1: and that important um and and for me um as
Speaker 1: a gay woman, like it was just I can't even
Speaker 1: begin to describe to you what it felt like when
Speaker 1: we turned that. We literally flipped the switch and saw
Speaker 1: it on the TV. It's amazing. UM. So I did that,
Speaker 1: and again it was a very mission driven culture that
Speaker 1: we built, and we really gave gave people a home
Speaker 1: based on television for the first time. Um. We were
Speaker 1: running a very successful business. And nine years later I
Speaker 1: got a call from another recruiter about this thing called
Speaker 1: a council. And I will tell you that day, I
Speaker 1: literally felt lightning run through my body when they mentioned
Speaker 1: this because I wasn't that involved in the act council.
Speaker 1: I mean, I knew what it was, of course, but
Speaker 1: I thought, wow, I could use the power of media
Speaker 1: and marketing and advertising, not just to work on one
Speaker 1: issue against a single audience, but I could work on
Speaker 1: many issues. And I decided that day I had to
Speaker 1: have this job. And I literally was like I set
Speaker 1: up a war room in my house. I had pictures
Speaker 1: of all the people on the search committee. I was
Speaker 1: doing deep dives into the history of the ad Council.
Speaker 1: I just was all in and luckily I got the job.
Speaker 1: And I and I will say I say it all
Speaker 1: the time, I do have the very best job on
Speaker 1: the planet for me to align all the work that
Speaker 1: I've ever done. I worked at a media company, I
Speaker 1: worked at an agency, I worked at a brand, I
Speaker 1: started my own business, and now I get to take
Speaker 1: all that experience, UM and use it all with our
Speaker 1: amazing industry to make the world a better place. Like
Speaker 1: it just doesn't get better than that. The article from
Speaker 1: Dickinson goes on to quote you as saying when you
Speaker 1: were the CEO and co founder of the Women's Sports Network,
Speaker 1: every day was electrifying. She remembers, I felt there was
Speaker 1: a purpose in my work. I like, I get chills
Speaker 1: reading that because and and just hearing the story you
Speaker 1: just went through. Because it's so evident, UM that you
Speaker 1: never looked back. And I think, you know, for Alexa
Speaker 1: and I and I'm assuming the community that's listening to
Speaker 1: this episode, UM, if we could all be so fortunate,
Speaker 1: UM to have that, Uh wow, you know, it's just incredible,
Speaker 1: So thank you for sharing that story with us. What
Speaker 1: would the name of your book. Bay, huh, the Sherman Eader.
Speaker 1: That's what my called me. Can I just tell you
Speaker 1: that's what my team calls me, the Sherman. Really we
Speaker 1: need to get you a T shirt that Sherman Eader. No,
Speaker 1: but you can answer that question. I want to answer
Speaker 1: for you. There's a there's a phrase that I use
Speaker 1: and I think I would use it on the book.
Speaker 1: It's a boat that doesn't rock, doesn't move mm hmm.
Speaker 1: I love that, And so Lisa. Our final question, which
Speaker 1: is when we ask all of our guests, what is
Speaker 1: your kill? By d I y, if you could kill anything,
Speaker 1: buy anything, or do anything yourself in the industry or
Speaker 1: in the world, what would it be? Guy's a limit? Wow,
Speaker 1: Well this won't surprise you. But I think what I
Speaker 1: would kill is all of the vitriol and hate that
Speaker 1: is showing up on social media. It's just horrible. And
Speaker 1: I think these social platforms have done a lot of
Speaker 1: good and they've connected a lot of people, but honestly,
Speaker 1: what lives there um uh in addition is just awful
Speaker 1: and I would kill it if I could. What would
Speaker 1: you buy? Well, I really want to set of golf
Speaker 1: clubs because I've just decided I'm going to take up golf.
Speaker 1: But um, I think what I you know, if this
Speaker 1: has taught me this sort of stay at home thing,
Speaker 1: I buy time like you can't like, I just would
Speaker 1: love to have. I've enjoyed the time at home, which
Speaker 1: I've never really got very much of before. I have
Speaker 1: enjoyed the time with my family, um and, so I
Speaker 1: would buy more time. I think that's one of the
Speaker 1: best answers we've ever actually had on this show. Is
Speaker 1: that right? Yeah? I think so, And it's uh, I
Speaker 1: couldn't agree more. I'm with you on time. Let's double
Speaker 1: down on time. What would you do yourself? Well, you know,
Speaker 1: Laura at Alexa like that women's sports network idea was
Speaker 1: ahead of its time. Let's bring it back. And I
Speaker 1: really really really would love to find a way to
Speaker 1: do more with girls in sports, um and and and
Speaker 1: figure out the right value proposition. I'd probably do a
Speaker 1: one for one model now, because of course we can,
Speaker 1: you know, so with every dollar we'd raise, we'd give
Speaker 1: a dollar to you know, Girls Inc. Or some you know,
Speaker 1: the Women's Sports Foundation or whomever. But um we got
Speaker 1: to get with the fact that when girls play sports,
Speaker 1: you learn I always said I learned more life lessons
Speaker 1: playing sports than in any other place. Agreed, Well, this
Speaker 1: has been an amazing conversation. Thank you for the time, Lisa. Lisa,
Speaker 1: if people want to get in touch with you to
Speaker 1: talk about all things AD Council, how can they do that, Well,
Speaker 1: you can email me at l Sherman at AD Council
Speaker 1: dot org, or you can find me on LinkedIn or
Speaker 1: on Twitter or on Facebook. I'm pretty much everywhere. Be
Speaker 1: pretty easy to track down. I think you're gonna have
Speaker 1: to change your email to Shermanator. We so appreciate the
Speaker 1: time and insight you shared. Thank you guys so much.
Speaker 1: It's been a pleasure. Thanks so much. Thanks Lisa, so
Speaker 1: thank you Lisa Sherman for coming on the show the Sherminader.
Speaker 1: We're going to call her the Sherminader from now on,
Speaker 1: and we're gonna do Germinader shirts. Yeah, it's totally going
Speaker 1: to be part of our capsule collection merch drop coming soon.
Speaker 1: But Lisa had a great note at the top of
Speaker 1: the conversation talking about the need for speed um in
Speaker 1: times of crisis and really thinking about speed over perfection
Speaker 1: and curiously at your perspective as a CMO and thinking
Speaker 1: about her notes and how to do that really relying
Speaker 1: on open source briefs, thinking about collaboration, getting outside of
Speaker 1: the roster of agencies and partners that the AD Council
Speaker 1: had worked with in the day to day in an
Speaker 1: effort to do that. What are your thoughts as a
Speaker 1: CMO on that being a future model that we work within.
Speaker 1: I think it's really critical. Having that center of gravity
Speaker 1: that your brand is always pivoting around is critical. And
Speaker 1: I think you know, we talked about quote cause marketing,
Speaker 1: cause there is no such thing as cause marketing anymore.
Speaker 1: In my mind, it's what's that center of gravity? What
Speaker 1: is your purpose? And then actually pushing yourself and your
Speaker 1: organization to find partners to find ideas that are going
Speaker 1: to bring a freshness to that perspective is just it's
Speaker 1: kind of table stakes now. Um. The other thing that
Speaker 1: I think is really interesting. You know, you and I
Speaker 1: are always been a fan of the non brief brief.
Speaker 1: What's the idea, not the strategy, Who were trying to
Speaker 1: really reach or what community are we trying to create?
Speaker 1: I think is really critical and this idea of an
Speaker 1: open brief briefs that are really focused are great, but
Speaker 1: they're also extremely limiting. I think you really got to
Speaker 1: this on the Malcolm episode where you really punt at
Speaker 1: home what he was saying, which was great, our briefs
Speaker 1: actually really limiting us to be thinking in a very
Speaker 1: different way. And so times that way is just what's
Speaker 1: the obvious thing that needs to be solved, what's the
Speaker 1: obvious thing that needs to be said? And so I
Speaker 1: think this idea of open brief pushing for new partners,
Speaker 1: new ideas is kind of the is the new kind
Speaker 1: of I don't want to say normal, it's a new standard.
Speaker 1: There's a point in the episode Alexa where Lisa talks
Speaker 1: about having a cultural compass, which I believe sums up
Speaker 1: what you're saying in terms of having that that center
Speaker 1: of gravity to operate from. And when we think about
Speaker 1: the idea of an open brief, perhaps we shouldn't be
Speaker 1: starting with the objective. We should be leveling up thirty
Speaker 1: thousand feet and starting with what is our cultural compass?
Speaker 1: And so that is that is something I absolutely am
Speaker 1: going to take away from this conversation. Yeah, I love that,
Speaker 1: and you know, um, I also think that it's really important,
Speaker 1: you know, the Council has been around a long time,
Speaker 1: Lisa explained it to us, um and I'm a big
Speaker 1: believer right now and the power of institutions like AD Council.
Speaker 1: I think they're actually more important right now because what
Speaker 1: the AD Council is doing for the industry is actually
Speaker 1: giving us that center of gravity, and it's also giving
Speaker 1: us this kind of um very overt sense of a
Speaker 1: collective consciousness that talk about it being the home base,
Speaker 1: the home base in a nonpartisan way, yes, as a
Speaker 1: platform for where all brands can operate from. So you
Speaker 1: can say, you know, it's so funny because like in
Speaker 1: the industry, the AD Council Gala, it's one of the
Speaker 1: biggest events in the fall of every year, and you're
Speaker 1: gonna say that's a gala. You can say that's an event.
Speaker 1: You can say it's fancy, and you can say that
Speaker 1: there's all these you know, who's who, who to know
Speaker 1: and who's who of the industry there. But the point
Speaker 1: of actually gathering right the industry at something like that
Speaker 1: is about actually putting a fine point in a moment
Speaker 1: in time around that collective consciousness. So I think it's
Speaker 1: actually critical that we all especially in a time where
Speaker 1: we're dispersed, right, we're dispersed physically, is that we're constantly
Speaker 1: always going back to and have a kind of a
Speaker 1: center and a central voice. To your point, that's nonpartisan.
Speaker 1: That is really galvanizing, that collective consciousness is is critical.
Speaker 1: So yeah, as you were saying that really uh connected
Speaker 1: with me in terms of thinking about that galat Yes,
Speaker 1: at a moment of time, um, but really agenda setting
Speaker 1: for the industry. And speaking of agenda setting, we have
Speaker 1: Nate Nichols, co founder of Allyship and Action, dropping in
Speaker 1: to talk to us about the agenda for next week's
Speaker 1: State of Equity Summit on October thirty. Nate, Welcome to Atlantia.
Speaker 1: Pe peo peo, peo pew pew. Thanks you appreciate having me. Nate,
Speaker 1: tell us what Allyship and Action is, What ally Ship
Speaker 1: in Action is as a platform for us to really
Speaker 1: understand the different dynamics and experiences of people, UM that
Speaker 1: you know, our black, non black lgbt Q plus non
Speaker 1: binary understand their experience in our rule as an industry,
Speaker 1: to ensure that they feel safe, to ensure that they
Speaker 1: feel like they have a home and a place to thrive.
Speaker 1: Professionally and be retained and be moded and not feel
Speaker 1: like they have to leave. Actually see you know, fifty
Speaker 1: years in this industry where they can be promoted and
Speaker 1: have a C suite opportunity because to date that doesn't
Speaker 1: exist for people in marginalized communities in our industry. And
Speaker 1: so our platform exists to really be a space in
Speaker 1: place for you know, us to come together to design
Speaker 1: ourselves in a better way, to be a platform for
Speaker 1: communities that have been marginalized in this industry forever. Now
Speaker 1: tell us about the ally Ship and Action event that's
Speaker 1: happening next week. So next week we're doing our annual
Speaker 1: State of Equity and so this is our annual kick
Speaker 1: As summit where we have the CMO of Levi, CMOS Force,
Speaker 1: you know, Fernando Machado from Burger King and Popeye's from
Speaker 1: rb I. I'm doing a fireside shot with Mark Reid,
Speaker 1: you know, to talk about, you know, what he's gonna
Speaker 1: do with that thirty billion dollars, talk about what it
Speaker 1: means to be a white man in this industry and
Speaker 1: have other white men as friends who are making millions
Speaker 1: of dollars a year and ask him like, so, what
Speaker 1: are you'all and your friends talking about regarding this, like
Speaker 1: what do you doing personally and professionally? You know, to
Speaker 1: ensure your friends are doing things to make change in
Speaker 1: the industry because you are influential and you have an
Speaker 1: ability to create change in communities that I don't have
Speaker 1: access to, that we don't have access to on this podcast.
Speaker 1: So it's really to have those conversations and really have
Speaker 1: people who have influence and the ability to make true change,
Speaker 1: systemic change to get them to speak on what their
Speaker 1: truths are personally and professionally. And that's what next week
Speaker 1: is going to be about. So how do people sign up? Yeah,
Speaker 1: you go to allyship and action dot com. You click
Speaker 1: the sea event details on the in the in the header,
Speaker 1: and you roll down and registered. So we're gonna assume
Speaker 1: these are not he are conversations. These are real human
Speaker 1: conversations with people and leaders in this industry talking about
Speaker 1: what they're really going to be doing and as you said,
Speaker 1: how they and how we can all be responsible for
Speaker 1: the change. So Atlantia, you need to be in this conversation.
Speaker 1: It's not optional and to make that happen. Laura, what
Speaker 1: are we doing? We are partnering with Allyship and Action
Speaker 1: to give away twenty five tickets to next week's summit.
Speaker 1: Follow us on Twitter at at Atlantia podcast for more
Speaker 1: information and the Allyship and Action is also offering corporate
Speaker 1: packages where can organizations find out more. They can go
Speaker 1: to the registration page and find a link for the
Speaker 1: corporate packs, or just hit us up at Let's connect
Speaker 1: at ally shape and Action dot com. The Allyship and
Speaker 1: Action Summit is coming to screens everywhere next Thursday and Friday, October, Atlantia.
Speaker 1: We'll see you there. And before we forget, we are
Speaker 1: two weeks from the election, it's time for good Landia, Atlantia.
Speaker 1: We are two weeks out from the general election November three.
Speaker 1: Have a voting plan. We are partnering up with the
Speaker 1: AD Council to bring you good Landia, which you may
Speaker 1: have heard on the episode, evolved from our initial thought
Speaker 1: of cause Landia. So big thank you to Lisa Sherman
Speaker 1: and team. We are bringing you this message from good Landia.
Speaker 1: So for this month of October, we're gonna be totally
Speaker 1: focused on voting. Make sure you have a plan to vote. So,
Speaker 1: speaking of having a plan, the AD Council developed a
Speaker 1: campaign in partnership with Viacom CBS called Vote for Your Life.
Speaker 1: It makes it easy for potential voters to register to
Speaker 1: vote and make a plan to vote early. If you
Speaker 1: want to vote by mail or if you prefer to
Speaker 1: drop your ballot off in person at a local drop
Speaker 1: box our county election office, time is running out. The
Speaker 1: election is just weeks away November three, so request a
Speaker 1: ballot in time to be counted. Don't wait, go to
Speaker 1: vote real life dot com and make sure you vote.
Speaker 1: This is a message from good Landia. Laura hit it
Speaker 1: with a list of all of our friends and family
Speaker 1: I heart who have been so good to us and
Speaker 1: helped us get back on air. Big thank you to
Speaker 1: Bob Conal Carter, Andy, Eric Gayle Val, Michael Jen We
Speaker 1: appreciate you. Thank you so much for this opportunity. We'll
Speaker 1: see you in two weeks.