AI is everywhere, that’s no longer a secret. But few legacy financial institutions are putting it to work at scale.

In this episode of The Speed of Culture, recorded live at CES in Las Vegas, Matt Britton sits down with Michael Lacorazza, chief marketing officer at U.S. Bank. Michael shares how U.S. Bank is operationalizing AI across synthetic audiences, personalization, CRM intelligence, and product bundling to drive measurable growth. 

The conversation explores balancing innovation with risk, building cross-functional buy-in, the cultural power of sports, and why understanding the P&L is the ultimate unlock for modern marketing leaders.

From cutting campaign development timelines in half using synthetic audiences to generating tens of millions of dollars through personalization, the bank is embedding AI directly into its growth strategy. 

But technology alone isn’t the story. The real differentiator lies in trust, cross-functional alignment, cultural relevance, and a relentless focus on business fundamentals.

In the AI-saturated landscape, U.S. Bank is striving to move away from running behind AI as hype and towards leveraging it to uncover insights, quickly and reliably, and create products, services, and bundles to cater to those insights.

Prior to U.S. Bank, Michael spent nearly a decade at Wells Fargo and served as CEO of a consumer technology company. His career spans automotive (Lexus and Toyota), hospitality (Marriott), agency leadership, real estate, and financial services. 

This cross-industry experience has shaped his business-first approach to marketing: one grounded in not just data but also creativity, and most importantly, fluency in how the P&L works.

Key takeaways:

[00:02:34] Synthetic audiences cut campaign timelines in half — U.S. Bank used AI-powered synthetic audiences during the development of its 2024 brand campaign, The Power of Us. After running parallel human validation testing, the team found a roughly 95% correlation in results. The impact? Campaign development time was reduced from six and a half months to roughly half that. For Michael, as a consequence, synthetic audiences are accelerating insight and speed to market.

[00:03:41] The real unlock of AI Is growth, not cost savings — While automation efficiencies are obvious, Michael emphasizes that the bigger opportunity lies in growth. U.S. Bank feeds behavioral data into its CRM so when customers encounter friction digitally and call the contact center, representatives already have context. Faster problem resolution drives satisfaction which in turn drives loyalty. Loyalty ultimately drives measurable economic upside.

[00:05:00] Personalization is already delivering tens of millions in value — With permissioned, transparent data and high customer expectations, U.S. Bank personalizes advice, offers, and product recommendations at scale. The impact is already in the tens of millions of dollars. The differentiator is in it’s proprietary data and a clear value exchange with customers who expect the bank to “know” them.

[00:13:27] Why sports still matter in a fragmented culture — As streaming, short-form content, and algorithmic feeds dominate consumption, sports remain one of the last communal cultural experiences. U.S. Bank sponsors teams like the Vikings, 49ers, Timberwolves, and Clippers; but the involvement doesn’t end there. It also banks them. For Michael, sports represent shared identity and cultural relevance in a fragmented media landscape.

[00:15:36] Bundling over bombardment — Rather than pushing one product at a time, U.S. Bank is reorganizing around bundled financial solutions. The Smartly suite combines checking, savings, and credit cards, rewarding deeper relationships with better rates and rewards. The result: larger initial relationships, stronger loyalty, and higher customer satisfaction.

[00:23:28] Learn the business or limit your career — Michael’s clearest advice: learn the P&L. Understanding growth drivers, competitive dynamics, and financial levers builds credibility at the executive table. CEOs don’t care about impressions. They care about growth. Marketing leaders who understand how to unlock influence and long-term career mobility.

In this episode of Brave Commerce, hosts Rachel Tipograph and Sarah Hofstetter speak with Zena Arnold, chief marketing officer at Sephora U.S., about how one of the world’s most influential beauty retailers stays at the center of culture in an industry that moves at lightning speed.

Zena shares how Sephora discerns which trends represent fleeting moments versus real behavioral shifts, why beauty discovery has become continuous in the age of creators and social feeds, and how the company balances digital personalization with high-impact in-person experiences like SephoRia. 

She also discusses how Sephora approaches AI—from powering skin scans and product discovery to enabling more relevant personalization—while remaining thoughtful about how new technology enhances, rather than dilutes, the client experience.

Key takeaways:

• Not every trend deserves a brand response; successful marketers build systems to filter signal from noise.
• Beauty discovery is now continuous, requiring brands to show up consistently across creators, culture, and community.
• The strongest brand partnerships come from clear identity and products that fill a true consumer white space.

Production has long been part of Rethink’s business. Now the independent creative agency is making it a priority.

The agency has appointed Jon Legere to the new role of chief production officer. Legere spent 14 years at Anomaly, where he built and ran Unreasonable Studios, the agency’s in-house production arm. At Rethink, he will scale production capabilities across advertising, PR, and design, reporting to global chief operating officer Caleb Goodman.

Legere’s appointment is designed to embed production into Rethink’s workflow from the start rather than treating it as a downstream function. “Production these days is too important to sit at the end of the process,” Legere told ADWEEK. “By creating this role, it’s a real sign that it’s just as important to be right at the beginning.”

Goodman said the hire was driven by an “unmet need” he has observed across the industry, both among clients bringing production in-house and agencies struggling to adapt their own models. As Rethink has expanded its practice areas, he sees an opportunity for production to operate not as a siloed unit, but as an integrated service offering that runs through all of them.

“There’s just some amazing outcomes for our work and for our clients in doing that,” Goodman said.

At Unreasonable Studios, Legere oversaw operations across studios in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. Goodman said he is one of the few people who has successfully built high-quality production at scale inside an independent organization. Legere also had a front-row seat to what happens when an indie gets absorbed into a holding company, after Anomaly was acquired by Stagwell, an experience Goodman said brings useful perspective to Rethink’s own journey.

For Legere, Rethink’s independence was the draw. “The fierce independence and commitment to its culture and putting ideas first is rare,” he said. “That freedom is essential to the future of production.”

That independence also shapes how Rethink thinks about production versus the in-housing trend sweeping the industry. Legere was careful to distinguish between the two: Internal production capabilities solve different problems than external partners, he argued, and best-in-class external talent will always have a role.

AI investment is already woven throughout Rethink’s process, and Legere sees production as uniquely positioned to introduce and integrate new tools across the agency as they emerge.

A year from now, Goodman said he wants production at Rethink to stand on equal footing with every other discipline at the agency. He acknowledged that the department hasn’t always gotten the credit it deserves and said further investments and expanded capabilities are already in the works.

“I want Rethink production to be on at least an equal pedestal with the other parts of the agency,” Goodman said. “Because I don’t feel like it’s gotten the credit it’s deserved to date.”

OMD USA has named Bradley Rogers its new CEO, with outgoing chief Chrissie Hanson heading straight to a competitor in turnaround mode.

Hanson, who led OMD USA for four years, is joining Dentsu as North America media CEO and global brand president of Carat. She arrives as the Japanese holding company tries to claw back from a record net loss of ¥327.6 billion ($2.18 billion) for 2025, driven by a massive goodwill impairment in its international business.

Rogers, who takes over March 23, brings more than 25 years of experience across media, creative services, and digital platforms. He comes from Red Ventures, a digital marketing and customer acquisition company, where he served as president.

Previously, he was global president and COO of MRM, part of McCann Worldgroup, overseeing 16 markets for clients including IBM, Mastercard, Microsoft, and Nestlé. Earlier in his career he held senior roles at Ogilvy and Mindshare.

“Bradley brings meaningful business acumen and specialized expertise shaped by leadership roles across media, creative services, commerce and consumer platforms,” said Omnicom Media North America CEO Ralph Pardo. “This unique combination—along with his entrepreneurial mindset and deep understanding for how to be a strategic partner—makes him exceptionally well suited to lead OMD.”

Rogers takes the helm of the top-ranked global media network by Recma for 10 consecutive years. He arrives as Omnicom integrates its recently completed acquisition of IPG—a deal that created the world’s largest advertising holding company—with media expected to be the engine of that combined entity’s growth.

“He knows how to connect capabilities, teams and ideas in ways that help clients navigate that complexity and translate it into real business outcomes,” Pardo said.

At an investor day Wednesday, the company projected 4% constant currency gross revenue growth with media expected to drive the bulk of it, estimated at roughly $6 billion in net revenue on a pro forma basis.

As CMO of Suntory Beverage & Food Europe (SBFE), François Bazini shaped some of the region’s biggest beverage brands, from Schweppes to Ribena.

Now, after 11 years working in various roles across seven countries for the business, he’s leaving to write, teach, and support startups.

Bazini joined sister business Beam Suntory in 2014 as vp of marketing for the company’s global spirits division, overseeing brands such as Jim Beam before rising to international CMO and then global managing director of Scotch, gin, and Irish whiskey. He took on his most recent role in 2022, helping revive sales of legacy brands, and developing a framework for marketing excellence across the business.

As he looks to the next chapter, ADWEEK reflects on some of Bazini’s most recent game-changing campaigns, rooted in nostalgia and honest customer insights.

2024: La Casera | ‘Si No Hay La Casera, Nos Vamos’

When one of Spain’s most iconic sodas, La Casera, faded from the cultural spotlight, Bazini and his team decided to revive the brand’s classic 1980s tagline, “Si No Hay La Casera, Nos Vamos,” which literally translates to: “If There’s No La Casera, We’re Leaving.”

The result was a funny 40-second cinematic ad produced by Little Spain that felt straight out of a Pedro Almodóvar film. It shows a family dining in a traditional Spanish restaurant and suddenly revolting when the signature drink is revealed to be unavailable.

Bazini’s insight was simple: the brand’s legacy and emotional connection to Spanish culture were its strongest assets.

“We gave the brand confidence again,” he told ADWEEK. “Suddenly it wasn’t apologising for being there – it had a point of view on Spanish culture and on what quality means.”

He said System1 testing placed it in the top 1% of ads tested in Spain, and the commercial drove the first growth in share and penetration in over a decade.

2025: Ribena | ‘No Taste Like Home’

A staple of British childhood since 1938, by 2022, purple-hued juice Ribena had slipped out of the top 20 U.K. supermarket soft drink brands following years of inconsistent targeting, flavored water experiments, and rainbow rebrands.

Bazini’s solution? Again, go back to the brand’s roots. With help from BBH London, he spearheaded a campaign that riffed on market research linking Ribena with nostalgia and comforting family traditions.

“Consumers told us, unprompted, that they’d grown up with Ribena,” he explained. “Some even described themselves as a ‘Ribena family.’ Our job was to stop diluting that and put those emotions back at the center of the brand.”

“No Taste Like Home” celebrated this truth, using heartfelt storytelling to re-anchor the brand in family life.

Ribena stabilized sales in the aftermath and reclaimed its place as a household staple.

2025: Schweppes | ‘Take Your Time’

Last year in France, soda and mixer brand Schweppes faced up to the consequences of having ignored its core mature consumers who loved the bitter taste of products like tonic water.

The brand had spent years testing its products on and marketing to millennials, but since 75% of its sales were coming from those aged 50 and older, sales were falling flat.

So, Bazini reframed the brief. Instead of chasing 25- to 35-year-olds, he embraced the older demographic’s desire for connection, leisure, and indulgence.

Partnering with BETC Paris, the resulting campaign, “Take Your Time,” launched with a TV spot showing an astronaut delaying a rocket launch to enjoy a tonic. Centered on the premise that Schweppes was designed for those who liked to slow down and enjoy life, the ad was complemented by 10- to 15-second social vignettes expanding the storyline.

“The moment we accepted who really loved the product and built a campaign around their desire to connect, slow down, and enjoy life, the brand started to perform the way it should,” driving sales and engagement, Bazini said.

Horizon Media, among the world’s largest independent ad agencies, underwent a round of layoffs this week, cutting 50 roles out of a headcount of over 2,000 globally as part of a broader restructuring. 

In a company-wide email sent Monday evening, obtained by ADWEEK, CEO Bill Koenigsberg said that the layoffs were “part of a skills optimization effort and broader realignment across the agency.” 

The cuts affected various departments across the organization, according to a source familiar with the matter who spoke under the condition of anonymity. Horizon declined to specify which departments were impacted.

The reorganization came as a surprise to many, according to the source. “It was definitely out of nowhere,” they said. The cuts affected some employees who had been with the company for over 10 years, they added, sparking concern that “anyone is vulnerable.”

A Horizon spokesperson confirmed the layoffs to ADWEEK, and said in a statement that the agency is “strategically focusing our current and future talent in the areas that drive the most value for our clients.” 

In his email, Koenigsberg noted that Horizon is changing some roles while “actively investing and hiring” in areas including “data, technology, AI, product innovation, and integrated capabilities.” 

The company is currently hiring for over 100 roles, the company spokesperson told ADWEEK.  “While these changes have unfortunately resulted in the elimination of some positions, this realignment allows us to continue delivering exceptional work for our clients and build on our momentum,” the spokesperson added.

“We are deeply grateful for the contributions of our departing colleagues and are providing them with support during their transition.”

The company is increasingly focused on scaling its tech and AI offerings. In December, it launched HorizonOS, a central hub integrating AI, data analytics, and external tech partners that help marketers plan media, activate, and measure more efficiently. HorizonOS is powered by Blu, the agency’s proprietary AI system designed to generate marketing insights.

Koenigsberg said that additional details about Horizon’s planned “evolution” in capabilities and “path ahead” would be shared in a town hall in April.

Suntory Beverage and Food Europe (SBFE) CMO François Bazini is leaving the company after more than 11 years, during which he held multiple roles across seven countries.

The marketing veteran originally joined sister business Beam Suntory in 2014, fresh from 10 years at Pepsi.

He started as vp of marketing for the company’s global spirits division, overseeing brands such as Jim Beam and Double Oak in the region. He quickly rose to become international CMO before becoming global managing director across the Scotch, gin, and Irish whiskey portfolio.

In 2022, Bazini moved to Suntory Beverage & Food Europe (SBFE)—the soft drinks arm of the Japan-headquartered Suntory Group—taking on the role of CMO. There, he led campaigns to revive sales for brands including La Casera in Spain and Schweppes in France.

Now, the exec told ADWEEK, he is taking a sabbatical to “give back” to the ad industry. This will include writing three books in parallel, teaching at business schools, serving on the boards of startups, and offering advisory support to high-growth brands.

Frank Suyver, SBFE’s people and culture director, told ADWEEK Marketing Stars, the group’s marketing excellence programme stands as one of the marketers’ most tangible legacies.

“By championing capability building and personally contributing to the development of our marketers, he has ensured that his impact will continue well beyond his time in the role,” Suyver said.

The business plans to announce a successor shortly.

In 2024, when it last reported its financials, the Ribena and Lucozade owners’ revenues were up 6.6% for the year at $10.78 billion.

A gap in the market

The first in Bazini’s literary series will focus on helping regional marketers navigate the leap to international and global roles.

The idea was born out of a set of notes he wrote to coach struggling colleagues, which evolved into a lunch‑and‑learn, then a formal half‑day training, and finally a two‑and‑a‑half‑day workshop.

Once he realized how widespread the problem was, he spotted a gap in the market.

“In my CMO role, I was famous for teaching, and people always told me ‘you should do that, or write books, because that’s when your eyes light up,’ so now I’m going to make that a bigger part of my life.”

Susan Credle, the ad industry luminary who added a literary twist to McDonald’s Happy Meals and led the highly visible makeover of the M&M’s mascots, will receive Cannes Lions’ prestigious Lion of St. Mark award.

The honor recognizes a lifetime of creative achievement—a suitable match for Credle, whose career is now in its fourth decade.

In a statement, Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity chief executive (CEO) Simon Cook called Credle “a trailblazer and a creative force,” lauding her skill for “building cultures where creativity thrives” and “producing iconic work while shaping the values, standards and conditions for success.”

She joins advertising luminaries such as Droga5 founder David Droga and Wieden+Kennedy alumna Colleen DeCourcy in receiving the honor.

A storied career

Though Credle’s advertising career had an inauspicious start—she was the “bathroom-break girl” (in her own words) for the receptionist at BBDO New York—her imagination and drive led to a swift ascent.

After working her way from BBDO’s front desk to the job of executive creative director and executive VP, Credle landed the CCO posts at Leo Burnett Chicago and FCB New York, where she rebuilt the agency’s culture under the mantra of “Never Finished,” often expressed online as #NVRFNSHD.

While emerging as one of the ad industry’s most prominent and influential leaders, Credle was the guiding force in memorable campaigns. Her portfolio includes a culturally current update of M&M’s characters; a literacy campaign built around McDonald’s Happy Meal in which kids’ books replaced the toys; and “Mean Stinks,” an effort for P&G’s Secret brand to build awareness of the harms of bullying among girls.

In 2024, Credle was named global creative advisor for all agencies under the IPG umbrella.

Following Omnicom’s acquisition of IPG in December, the newly combined business laid off around 4000 staff and sunset legacy agency brands, including FCB. At the time, it was reported that Credle would not be joining the new business.

She is scheduled to accept her St. Mark laurels in person and also speak at the Lion of St. Mark seminar in Cannes on June 22.

In a statement regarding her win, Credle recalled being inspired by a poster in BBDO’s reception area commemorating the agency’s Grand Prix win for Pepsi’s “Archaeology” campaign in 1985.

“That Cannes Lions Award taught me something I’ve carried with me ever since: the best ideas don’t just succeed in the moment – they strive to be NVRFNSHD,” she said.

This week on Adspeak by ADWEEK, host Will Lee sits down with Jeff Greenspoon, CEO of the Americas at Kantar, on the sidelines of Brandweek, about why brand tension fuels growth. 

From meaningfulness versus differentiation to short-term performance versus long-term investment, Jeff shares Kantar’s framework for predicting brand success.

Through examples like Nespresso and Barbie, he explains how CMOs protect their north star while experimenting boldly, and why sustained brand investment drives stronger ROI, resilience, and lasting enterprise value.

What you’ll learn:

• The “Meaningful and Different” framework
• How to protect your brand’s north star while experimenting
• Why cutting brand spend during budget constraints sacrifices 3-5 years of growth
• The four-to-one ROI ratio of brand salience
• Nespresso and Barbie as case studies in navigating competing tensions
• How to translate brand metrics into CFO language in B2B organizations

Jeff Greenspoon is CEO of the Americas at Kantar, a global leader in brand measurement and marketing effectiveness backed by 50 years of proprietary research.

Previously with Dentsu, he brings deep expertise in brand strategy and marketing transformation. 

Jeff partners with organisations to navigate the tensions between consistency and innovation, and short-term performance and long-term growth, helping brands unlock sustainable, measurable impact.

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Personal finance is just that—personal, often emotional, and can be overwhelming.

In this episode of The Speed of Culture, recorded live at CES in Las Vegas, Matt Britton sits down with Natasha Madan, head of marketing at Intuit Credit Karma. Natasha shares how Credit Karma is evolving from a credit score provider into a personalized financial assistant powered by AI and over 80,000 data points. 

With 140 million members and 40 million monthly active users, the company sits on one of the richest consumer financial datasets in the world. But scale alone isn’t the story. 

The opportunity is to turn that data into ready-made financial experiences ranging from automated tax filing to personalized next-best actions that move members from credit building to wealth building. In an AI-saturated landscape, Credit Karma’s edge isn’t just automation. It’s trust, empathy, and relevance at scale.

At Credit Karma, Natasha Madan oversees end-to-end marketing strategy, driving growth, engagement, and financial progress through data, AI, and consumer-first storytelling. Previously, Natasha held leadership roles at Amazon, Meta, and Nestlé, where she developed deep expertise across technology and brand building. 

Her career reflects a blend of EQ-driven consumer empathy and IQ-powered performance marketing, a combination she now applies to scaling personalized financial guidance in a rapidly evolving AI and increasingly digitally informed consumer landscape.

Key takeaways:

[02:31] Simplifying Financial Decisions at Scale — With 140 million members, 40 million monthly active users, and 7–8 million daily users, Credit Karma operates at an extraordinary scale. But Natasha emphasizes that data is only powerful if it simplifies complexity. During tax season, for example, members can upload documents and complete a DIY filing in under 30 minutes. Guidance then becomes actionable and clear to the member, whether that means paying down debt or moving money into a high-yield account. Credit Karma strives to create and offer effective “done-for-you” experiences from the wealth of data that it has.

[04:26] 80,000 Data Points and the Next Best Action Frontier — Credit Karma leverages more than 80,000 data points to personalize financial guidance. If a member checks their credit score, they’re shown how to improve it. If they’re shopping for a credit card, they receive pre-qualified recommendations. But Natasha identifies the next frontier to be long-term goal orchestration, which means not just next best action, but long-term financial trajectory curation. The ambition is to connect short-term behaviors with lifetime financial progress.

[06:53] From Credit Score Provider to Financial Dashboard — Credit scores have become commoditized, and the next thing to tackle is becoming a comprehensive financial health platform. Natasha outlines the shift from “unblocking the financial system” to maximizing money outcomes across credit, taxes, savings, investments, and debt consolidation. Credit Karma is positioning itself as a personal financial dashboard, in effect, a “financial assistant in your pocket” that adapts to each member’s engagement style, whether set-it-and-forget-it automation or guided hands-on control.

[11:23] Financial Literacy in the Age of FinTok — Younger consumers increasingly turn to social platforms for financial advice, often receiving generic, non-personalized guidance. Natasha sees this as both an opportunity and a risk. Through CreditSmart and other tools, Credit Karma focuses on durable and personalized habit-building, like helping members build credit through rent payments, develop long-term savings habits, and understand their financial identity step by step. The goal is sustainable progress instead of firefighting steps.

[14:49] Trust Over Targeting in the AI Era — As AI democratizes targeting and content production, Natasha argues differentiation will shift toward trust. Credit Karma is investing in micro-influencers and creators, particularly for Gen Z acquisition. In an environment where creativity can be generated instantly, credibility becomes the moat. “Who” delivers the message will matter more than the message itself. Medium over message.

[20:55] Drive or Be Driven — Natasha’s personal mantra — “If I don’t drive, I will be driven” — reflects her leadership philosophy. In an AI-accelerated world, there is no room for reactive teams. Marketers must look around corners, experiment aggressively, and empower teams to challenge the status quo. The biggest risk, especially for younger professionals, is waiting for permission in the way of reacting to readymade market signals, instead of pre-empting and innovating, in a world moving too fast to pause.