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321. AI, Your Agency & Keeping the Human Connection, with Pete Sena

The Innovative Agency

Release Date: 10/29/2025

334. Create Predictable Profitability, with Marcel Petitpas show art 334. Create Predictable Profitability, with Marcel Petitpas

The Innovative Agency

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The Innovative Agency

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The Innovative Agency

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The Innovative Agency

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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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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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The Innovative Agency

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The Innovative Agency

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The Innovative Agency

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Today on The Innovative Agency Podcast Sharon Toerek sits down with Pete Sena, multi-hyphenate founder, brand experience visionary, and creative provocateur, to tackle one of the most urgent questions facing agencies today: How do you keep innovating when AI is rewriting the rules of marketing in real time?

If you’ve ever wondered how AI is reshaping not just how your agency works, but how your clients’ customers feel, connect, and build trust with brands, this episode is a must-listen.

Pete introduces his groundbreaking “VIBE Marketing” framework, a call to arms for agency leaders ready to blend technology with humanity. He’ll challenge how you think about creativity, empathy, and ethics in the age of AI, and share practical strategies to help your team build resonance instead of resistance.

What you will learn in this episode: 

  • Why traditional consumer research methods are becoming obsolete

  • What agencies must do to truly connect with buyers in the age of AI

  • Pete’s “VIBE Marketing” framework, and how it helps agencies create faster, more emotional, boundaryless connections between brands and consumers

  • Why the real risk isn’t AI replacing jobs, but agencies that refuse to adapt getting left behind

  • The ethical considerations agencies must navigate when AI amplifies their capacity to influence buyers’ emotions

  • How agencies can shift from commodity providers to strategic partners by institutionalizing and packaging their expertise

  • Practical strategies for using AI to accelerate agency workflow, improve client retention, and optimize creative output without burning out your team

Bio

Pete Sena is a creative entrepreneur and forward-obsessed business builder. He partners with founders and business leaders to 10x their growth through marketing innovation, branding, and digital-experience design. As Founder of Digital Surgeons, a forward-obsessed brand experience consultancy, Pete designs results-driving strategies that unlock new possibilities and growth for ambitious brands and businesses. For nearly 20 years, he has built and led cross-functional teams that have delivered innovative, bottom-line boosting activations and multi-channel programs, ranging in scale from venture-backed startups to Fortune 500 organizations. As a human-centered problem solver, Pete focuses on the behaviors and systems that drive people, products, and experiences.

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