310. AI That Works for Creative Agencies, with Hikari Senju
Release Date: 08/13/2025
334. Create Predictable Profitability, with Marcel Petitpas
The Innovative Agency
On this episode of The Innovative Agency Podcast Sharon Toerek is joined by Marcel Petitpas, CEO and co-founder of Parakeeto. Their conversation focuses on one of the most persistent and misunderstood challenges facing agency leaders today: profitability. Often when margins feel tight, we blame pricing, overhead, or “the market.” But even agencies with growing revenue can struggle to take home real profit. Marcel helps us look beneath the surface to uncover what’s actually driving (or draining) your margins. From breaking the habit of measuring success by revenue alone to...
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333. Succession Under Pressure, with Christy & Whit Hiler
The Innovative Agency
On this episode of The Innovative Agency Podcast Sharon Toerek welcomes Christy and Whit Hiler of Cornett, for a candid conversation about what happens when leadership, legacy, and marriage all intersect. As a married couple stepping into agency ownership, Christy and Whit share the real story behind succession and transition: the uncertainty, the high-stakes decisions, and the mindset shifts required to reimagine what ownership can look like. They unpack how intentional decision-making became their anchor, how they strengthened culture while the ground was moving, and why betting on...
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332. The Value of Brand Today, with Marc Rust
The Innovative Agency
Branding is often treated like decoration. Something you polish after the “real” business decisions are made. But when agencies are navigating growth, mergers, acquisitions, or fundraising, that mindset can quietly erode value. Today on The Innovative Agency Podcast, Sharon Toerek is joined by Marc Rust, CEO and Founder of Consequently Creative, to challenge that thinking head-on. Marc works with venture-backed and high-growth organizations, and has seen firsthand how intentional branding becomes a strategic asset, not a risk. In this conversation, he breaks down why branding is far more...
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331. Visibility Beats Perfection, with Carrolee Moore
The Innovative Agency
So many agency owners struggle with the tension between wanting to be visible and waiting until their message feels “perfect.” On this episode of The Innovative Agency Podcast, Sharon Toerek sits down with Carrolee Moore, CEO and founder of Podcast Pitching Society, to challenge that mindset and unpack why visibility, not perfection, is the true foundation of agency growth. Drawing from her journey running a multi-six-figure agency to building a business around strategic storytelling, Carrolee explains why so many agency leaders struggle to get noticed by the right clients. She reveals how...
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330. Advance Your Agency’s Operational Maturity, with Harv Nagra
The Innovative Agency
This episode of The Innovative Agency Podcast welcomes Harv Nagra, host of The Handbook podcast and Head of Brand Communications at Scoro, to unpack a hard truth many agency owners overlook: growth stalls when operational maturity can’t keep up with success. Harv draws from his own agency experience to explain why chaos, burnout, and shrinking margins are often symptoms of broken systems, not broken strategy. He breaks down the five pillars of operational excellence, the stages agencies move through as they grow, and the exact moments when “winging it” stops working. If your agency feels...
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329. What Clients See That Agencies Miss, with Armando Turco
The Innovative Agency
This episode of The Innovative Agency Podcast features a guest that has truly seen our industry from every angle. Armando Turco, President of Mojo Supermarket, has built a career that spans major creative agencies, brand consultancies, media companies and crucially, leadership roles on the client side. That journey gives him a rare, unfiltered perspective on what’s really happening inside client organizations right now. Armando discusses what agency leaders often don’t see: the internal pressures brands face, where agencies unintentionally create friction, and why smaller, independent...
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328. Find Opportunity in Uncertainty, with Brook Shepard
The Innovative Agency
On this episode of The Innovative Agency Podcast Sharon Toerek welcomes CEO and co-owner of Mason Interactive, Brook Shepard, for a conversation about one of the most pressing realities every agency leader is feeling right now: uncertainty. Brook offers a candid look at navigating volatility, understanding what today’s clients truly expect, and why deep industry expertise has become one of the most powerful differentiators an agency can cultivate. He also shares smart, practical ways to uncover pockets of optimism, from demographic changes reshaping higher education to the relentless...
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327. Cracking the ROI Code, with Sam Piliero
The Innovative Agency
On this episode of The Innovative Agency Podcast Sharon Toerek is joined by someone who understands the real pressures agency owners face in today’s results-driven digital world. Sam Piliero, Founder of The Moonlighters, went from running entrepreneurial lemonade stands as a kid to leading a high-performing agency serving nearly 100 clients across Facebook, Google, and the ever-shifting digital advertising landscape. Sam digs into the challenges that keep agency leaders up at night: proving tangible ROI when the metrics get murky, navigating client churn, recruiting and retaining top-tier...
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326. Breaking the Trust Recession, with Ari Galper
The Innovative Agency
This episode of The Innovative Agency Podcast features one of the world’s foremost authorities on trust-building in the sales process, Ari Galper. If you’ve been feeling the squeeze of longer sales cycles, increasing commoditization, or the growing “trust recession” impacting today’s marketplace, this conversation will hit home. Founder of AriAI, Ari joins Sharon Toerek to unpack the very real challenges agency owners face as AI accelerates competition and prospects become more skeptical than ever. He digs into the shift from outdated, high-pressure selling to a trust-centric...
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325. Your Agency + Small Businesses = Big Opportunities, with Aya Kikimova
The Innovative Agency
On this episode of The Innovative Agency Podcast Sharon Toerek welcomes Aya Kikimova, Founder and CEO of LeapEngine, for a conversation that hits directly at one of the biggest questions agency leaders are wrestling with today: How do you build a profitable, innovative marketing practice while serving small and midsize businesses for clients who need high-quality work but often operate with leaner resources? Aya shares her intentional journey from working with major enterprise brands, both at top agencies and inside Microsoft, to crafting a service model purpose-built for entrepreneurial...
info_outlineAI isn’t just a buzzword anymore. It’s reshaping how agencies build, deliver, and scale creative at lightning speed. But for every opportunity it unlocks, there are just as many questions: How do you keep your creative edge? What are the legal landmines? And how do you actually integrate AI in a way that drives results and protects your agency?
On this episode of The Innovative Agency Podcast Sharon Toerek sits down with Hikari Senju, Omneky Founder and CEO. Omneky is at the forefront of AI-powered advertising and Hikari shares what it really looks like to adopt AI inside a creative business. This conversation covers how agencies can strike the right balance between human brilliance and machine efficiency, how to navigate intellectual property concerns, and how to build systems that amplify, not replace, your team’s best work.
If you want to make AI a true asset in your agency, this episode is a must-listen.
What you will learn in this episode:
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How AI is being used to supercharge creative and production processes within agencies
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Common fears and misconceptions agency leaders have about AI adoption
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Strategies for navigating intellectual property and liability risks when working with generative AI
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Where the true power of AI lies, and where human ingenuity still makes all the difference
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What questions to ask and what red flags to look for when evaluating AI tools for your agency’s workflow
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How agencies can begin integrating AI today to gain a competitive edge, without compromising creative integrity
Bio
Hikari Senju is a computer science graduate from Harvard University with a passion for technology and design.
He founded his first startup, QuickHelp, an on-demand tutoring app, which he later sold to Yup.com and became their Head of Growth.
During his time at Yup.com, Senju observed inefficiencies in content spending and the potential of AI in advertising, which inspired him to establish Omneky in 2018.
Senju’s background in computer science, entrepreneurship, and his experience with AI technologies led him to create Omneky, an AI platform that generates, analyzes, and optimizes personalized ad creatives at scale.
Resources:
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Website: https://www.omneky.com/
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LinkedIn Personal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hikari-senju-63780199/
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LinkedIn Business: https://www.linkedin.com/company/omneky/