Advertising is everywhere. Wieden+Kennedy CEO Neal Arthur explains how it works

Decoder with Nilay Patel

Vox Media Podcast Network

Technology, Business

4.3 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 23 August 2022

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

One thing that strikes me, in all these episodes of Decoder, is how little any of us really pay attention to the advertising industry, and how deeply connected it is to almost other every modern business. After all you can start a company and invent a great product, but you still need to market it: you need to tell people about it, and eventually convince them to buy it. And so you take out an add on a platform and, well, the platform companies we all depend on mostly run on ads. Google’s entire consumer business is ads. Meta’s entire business is ads. And when we talk to creators, they’re even more tied to ads: their distribution platforms like TikTok and YouTube are all ad-supported, and a huge portion of their revenue is ads. This week I’m talking to Neal Arthur, the CEO of Weiden and Kennedy, one of the few independent major ad agencies in the world, and maybe the coolest one? It’s got a rep. Weiden is the agency that came up with Just Do It for Nike and Bud Light Legends for Bud Light. They’ve done campaigns for Coke, Miller, Microsoft, ESPN – you name it. Coming off our conversation last week with Katie Welch about building a brand from the ground up using influencer marketing and potentially never hiring an ad agency, I wanted to get a view from the other side: how does a big ad agency work? Where does their money come from? So many of the big agencies are merging into what are called holding companies – why is Wieden still independent? Links: Bud Light puts creative account up for review after years with Wieden+Kennedy Mover Over Millennials -- Here Comes Gen Z How Selena Gomez's Rare Beauty Goes Viral, With CMO Katie Welch Mad Men (TV Series 2007-2015) Transcript: https://www.theverge.com/e/23081723 Credits: Decoder is a production of The Verge, and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. Today’s episode was produced by Creighton DeSimone and Jackie McDermott. It was edited by Callie Wright. And researched by Liz Lian. The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Our Sr Audio Director is Andrew Marino. Our Editorial Director is Brooke Minters. And our Executive Producer is Eleanor Donovan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for today's show comes from Slack.
0:04.6	A digital HQ in Slack brings your teams, partners and tools together in one space.
0:10.3	Slack helps companies stay flexible, accelerate projects and keep teams aligned, so work just
0:16.4	works.
0:17.4	How exactly?
0:19.2	Organised projects in channels work across time zones with huddles and clips and even streamline
0:24.5	partnerships with Slack Connect.
0:26.7	However you work, Slack is the flexible digital HQ for organised and efficient teams, no matter
0:32.9	where they're logging in from.
0:34.7	Get started at slack.com slash DHQ.
0:38.3	Slack with a future works.
1:08.3	Available November 28 on PC and Mac, learn more at wordofwarcraft.com.
1:15.3	Hello and welcome to Decoder.
1:17.7	I'm Neil Appetel, editor and chief of the Verge and Decoder is my show about big ideas
1:22.6	and other products.
1:24.0	So one of the ways that I think about Decoder is that we're just taking a tour through
1:28.2	all the parts of running a modern business.
1:30.8	Obviously, we talked to a lot of CEOs and heads of products, but we've have chief legal
1:35.3	officers and chief marketing officers on the show.
1:38.4	And you all know how much I love talking to people in the creator industry, which is
1:42.6	still basically inventing itself, figuring out what the right rules even are.
1:47.2	There's a reason I end up asking almost everyone about their org charts, understanding
	...

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