Building a legendary creative review board with Michelle Hillman, Chief Campaign Development Officer @ Ad Council
Release Date: 05/02/2024
How CMOs can avoid Super Bowl fumbles with NFL linebacker-turned-entrepreneur Dhani Jones
Question Everything
For the Super Bowl edition of Question Everything, we caught up with former NFL linebacker, now investor and entrepreneur, Dhani Jones. After founding two creative agencies, advising several startups, and serving as a board member across multiple categories, Dhani shares what it takes for brands to stand out in today’s increasingly crowded marketing landscape. In the episode, you’ll hear about Dhani’s journey on and off the field and the lessons he’s carried from the gridiron into the business world. He unpacks the parallels between the locker room and the boardroom, the Super Bowl ads...
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How to pitch and win in 2026 with Robin and Steve Boehler, Founders @ Mercer Island Group
Question Everything
How to pitch and win in 2026 with Robin and Steve Boehler, Founders @ Mercer Island Group Robin and Steve Boehler have seen the good, bad, and ugly in countless pitches for culture-shaping brands like Starbucks, Microsoft, Abbott, and Nintendo. Lucky for us, they wrote a book on how agencies can shift the pitch spotlight from core capabilities and humble brags to solving your prospect’s problems. Cause that’s how you win. In this episode of Question Everything, we cover major insights every agency needs to hear from the Boehlers’ new book, It’s Not About You:...
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The Gen Alpha strategy guide with Diana Kelter, Director of Consumer Trends @ Mintel
Question Everything
What CMOs need to know about Gen Alpha with Mintel’s Director of Consumer Trends, Diana Kelter Diana Kelter, Mintel’s Director of Consumer Trends, is always one step ahead of where consumer behavior is headed. By combining data, cultural observation, and brand analysis, she helps marketers understand not just what people buy – but why. In this episode, Diana unpacks the newest generation of consumers, Gen Alpha. You’ll learn what makes these 15 and unders an experimental and disruptive generation, how they discover and evaluate brands, and why cross-category...
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How CMOs can win in the never normal with best-selling author and technologist Peter Hinssen
Question Everything
Peter Hinssen has spent his career helping leaders make sense of a world that refuses to slow down. A technologist, bestselling author, and keynote speaker, Peter has advised companies like Apple, Amazon, and Google on how to thrive in what he calls the “never normal” a new era defined by nonstop disruption and exponential change. In this episode, Peter shares what CMOs must do to successfully lead in a world of constant acceleration, the power of “day after tomorrow” thinking for your business, and why failing fast has quietly become one of the biggest competitive advantages in...
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How legacy brands can innovate like startups with Nicole Ayers, Business Unit Director @ General Mills
Question Everything
Nicole Ayers has built a career out of scaling brands that make mealtime 1000x more fun. She once managed cereal icons like Lucky Charms and Cinnamon Toast Crunch. These days, she’s all about four-legged foodies. Partnering with Curiosity, Nicole and Blue Buffalo are stepping into the fresh pet food game with their newest product innovation: Love Made Fresh. In this episode, Nicole pulls back the curtain on how you can confidently bring new product innovations to market, why you should never let consumer testing dictate the fate of your work, and how to make the most of your...
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Building a challenger brand that wins with Stefan Lagerqvist, CEO @ Nick’s
Question Everything
Stefan Lagerqvist is a proven business leader best known for his unique blend of elevated financial expertise, strategic insight, and world-class brand-building experience, honed at P&G and Unilever. Currently, Stefan serves as the Group CEO at NICK’S, a Swedish better-for-you ice cream and protein bar brand that’s made a name for itself in snack aisles across Europe and the US. In this episode, we cover the unexpected difficulties Stefan and Nick’s faced during their high-growth era, the keys to pulling off the best experiential marketing, and how Nick’s crafted their...
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Multiplying impact with unique perspectives with Damaune Journey, Global Chief Growth Officer @ 72andSunny
Question Everything
Multiplying impact with unique perspectives with Damaune Journey, Global Chief Growth Officer @ 72andSunny Damaune Journey’s leap into advertising was inspired by purpose. A lack of representation across media inspired his mid-career pivot, and since then, he's made historic strides as the Global Chief Growth Officer at 72andSunny. Damaune has helped lead the agency to global recognition, award-winning campaigns, and an internal creative culture rooted in optimism. From filming Super Bowl spots in Ghana to co-founding Sport Beach at Cannes, he’s proving that advertising is bigger...
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The Gen Z ad industry playbook with Geno Schellenberger, Co-founder @ Breaking and Entering Media
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Breaking and Entering's Media’s Geno Schellenberger is writing Gen Z’s ad industry playbook Geno Schellenberger’s Breaking and Entering Media takes pretension out of the press by using Gen Z-native content strategies to keep advertisers entertained and in the know. In this episode of Question Everything, Geno opens up about the power of personal brand building in the age of AI, the most impactful Gen Z marketing strategies, and trends the industry should retire. It’s a party, and Geno’s inviting the industry’s newest talent to dance. What you’ll learn in this...
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The strategy behind the stir with Oliver McAteer, Partner at Mischief @ No Fixed Address
Question Everything
Oliver McAteer shares Mischief’s secrets to successful disruptive creative campaigns Oliver McAteer is in the business of making brands unignorable. As Partner and Head of Development at Mischief @ No Fixed Address, he’s helped shape one of the world's most talked-about and awarded creative agencies. In this episode of Question Everything, Ollie gets candid about how Mischief arrives at their disruptive creative strategies, how agency culture fuels talked-about campaigns, and what it takes to get CMOs outside their comfort zone. From viral cheese pulls to deepfake diplomacy,...
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The future of AI-driven creativity with PJ Pereira, Founder @ Silverside AI
Question Everything
PJ Pereira schools us on the best AI tools for CMOs and overcoming AI anxiety. PJ Pereira is an industry legend whose success is fueled by creatively embracing eras of extreme innovation. Starting his career when the internet was in its infancy, he has conquered the digital age of marketing and is setting his sights on taming the AI giant in the room. His third agency, Silverside AI, has already solved creative problems for some of the biggest brands in the world using AI. Most of all, PJ is fiercely passionate about helping creatives facing AI anxiety head-on by retooling their...
info_outlineWhat’s it like to be in charge of deploying some of the nation’s most important messages? Just ask Ad Council’s Chief Campaign Development Officer Michelle Hillman. She gives us insight into launching public service campaigns that tackle complex issues such as gun violence, the opioid crisis, and buzzed driving. Spoiler alert, it ain’t easy, but after working on it for 24 years with a stacked Creative Review Committee she makes it look like it is.
In this episode, Michelle reveals how Ad Council uses emotional advertising to change behavior, how CMOs can build a world-class creative review committee, and tips for how to be a top-tier mentor.
Here’s a quick recap of the convo:
Why Michelle believes working at Ad Council is one of the best jobs in advertising
The importance of immersive research when creating effective emotional advertising
What grabs the attention of judges at the Effie Awards
How Ad Council’s legendary creative review committee evaluates ideas
How CMOs can build a creative review board to vet their ideas – including how to entice industry legends like Cindy Gallop, Susan Credle, and Margaret Johnson to sign on
How Ad Council uses influencers and the importance of a trusted messenger strategy
How Michelle creates separation between the tough issues she’s tackling at work and her home life
What it’s like to work with the government on public service campaigns
How to make it on Ad Council's trusted roster of agency partners
The most challenging public issues to build awareness for and why
What it takes to be a world-class mentor
Plus, some rapid-fire questions that reveal whether Michelle prefers puppies or kittens
Connect with Michelle on LinkedIn and find out more about Ad Council here.
Catch our latest work with Ad Council and the NHTSA for “Buzzed Driving Prevention.”
If you’d prefer to read the biggest takeaways from our conversation, catch the write-up here.