Ep 69: Cannes Lions 2026 Preview Episode

Ep 69: Cannes Lions 2026 Preview Episode

Cannes Lions week is here, and this one's a little different. No guest, no agenda, just Matt and Val running their own half-length 2026 Cannes preview before everyone scatters to the South of France. They get into the real stuff: packing strategies that border on neurosis, the color-coded calendar system Matt runs to survive five days on the Croisette, and the small essentials that actually save your week. Then they turn to what the festival will be talking about: sports and athlete-brand deals, AI and the rise of "agentic" as the buzzword everyone says and almost nobody has shipped, retail and commerce moving past the ad and into the experience, and the return of brand as the real moat after a decade of performance worship. The heart of it is a promise. There was a time the creatives were the celebrities at Cannes. This year, Matt and Val want to find the people holding the hardware, congratulate them, ask about the work, and make celebrating creatives a thing again. Plus IRL reunions, yacht plans, a 4 AM World Cup birthday, and the return of Mensch on a Bench. This is the Snarketing Podcast: for marketers, by marketers, talking to marketers, with just a touch of snark. Hosted by Matt Wurst and Valerie Vespa. Find us on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you listen. Subscribe to our Substack for more, and reach out if you'll be in Cannes. Come find Matt on the bench in front of the Mondrian. ⏱️ Chapters * 00:00 Welcome and happy Cannes week * 01:00 Packing strategies and the outfit barter idea * 04:00 Cannes survival kit and travel essentials * 07:00 Fewer, bigger, better: the color-coded calendar * 11:00 Celebrities, athletes, and seeing them in our element * 15:00 Make the creatives the celebrities again * 18:00 Predictions: sports, agentic AI, and IRL * 24:00 Brand as moat and the end of performance worship * 28:00 Sports, the World Cup, and a 4 AM birthday * 31:00 IRL for Good, yacht plans, and Mensch on a Bench

Ep 68: Amit Sharan - SVP, Marketing at Tatari

Connected TV took over the living room. Amit Sharan, SVP Marketing at Tatari, joins Matt Wurst and Valerie Vespa to break down how brands plan, buy, and measure TV across linear and streaming, and where AI actually helps versus where it's still hype. Amit built marketing at LiveRail, took it through the Facebook acquisition, ran product marketing inside Meta for four-plus years, and has spent nearly eight years at Tatari. He gets into convergent TV, why programmatic is an access point and not a strategy, performance TV versus brand building, competing against The Trade Desk and MNTN and Simulmedia, the SEO bet he skipped early, and the advice every first marketing hire needs: it's your job to teach the founder what marketing is for. Plus a lightning round, a sub-$40 wine worth writing down, and a wine-party game worth stealing. Topics: * Why the line between linear and streaming is fake (your YouTube TV sports feed is technically linear) * Selling LiveRail to Facebook, and the "winter's coming" logic that drove the deal * What marketing actually looks like at Meta scale * Where AI helps in TV today (media planning) versus where it's still theater (creative) * "Programmatic is an access point, not a strategy," and why 90% of CTV impressions go to 10 publishers * Performance TV versus brand building, and the ceiling every in-market strategy hits * Advice for the first marketing hire: your real job is educating the founder on what marketing is for * The one bet Amit skipped early (SEO) and why AEO changes the math now

Ep 67: Brooks Miller- EVP, Creators at Edelman

Brooks Miller helped invent creator marketing at Twitter, then landed at Edelman after Elon's takeover. Now she runs three jobs at once across Edelman and UEG, shaping global creator strategy for one of the most trusted communications firms in the world. Matt Wurst and Valerie Vespa sit down with Brooks for a wide-ranging conversation on trust, humanity, AI, NIL, and what creator marketing actually looks like in 2026. In this episode: * The Creator Trust Score: Edelman's proprietary vetting protocol * Why creators and influencers are not the same thing * AI in advertising — the unsexy wins and the generative dread * Inventing creator marketing at Twitter post-Niche acquisition * Getting laid off by the richest man in the world (three weeks postpartum) * Running three jobs at once across Edelman and UEG * NIL, Arch Manning, and localized creator marketing through sports * Why only 7% of a creator's followers actually see their posts * "They're not billboards, they're people" — creator burnout and agency responsibility * Brooks's origin story: Texas, child actor, pageants, 72andSunny * Why she started posting on TikTok like she means it * Lightning round: the most overused word in a creator brief, the best brands on TikTok right now, and which pageant skills translate to the C-suite Chapters: * The snarkiest thing in Brooks's life right now * AI in advertising: the unsexy wins * Creators vs. influencers and the trust hierarchy * Origin story: Texas, child actor, 72andSunny * Building creator marketing at Twitter * Getting laid off by Elon * Three jobs at Edelman and UEG * NIL, Arch Manning, and sports marketing * Creators aren't billboards: the 7% reach problem * The Creator Trust Score * Creator burnout & agency responsibility * Brooks as creator: practicing what she preaches * Lightning round Hosted by Matt Wurst and Valerie Vespa. Featuring Brooks Miller, EVP of Creators at Edelman and UEG. 🔔 Subscribe for more conversations with the marketers shaping the industry. 🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

Ep 66: Megan Lindstrand - VP, Global Marketing at Combe

Megan Lindstrand, VP of Global Marketing at Combe, joins Matt Wurst and Valerie Vespa on the Snarketing Podcast to unpack her "Mad Men + Data" approach to modern brand building. Megan leads marketing for storied legacy brands including Vagisil, Astroglide, and Just For Men, and brings two decades of experience spanning top creative agencies (BBH, Strawberry Frog, 360i) and a transformative ten-year run at Cole Haan, where she built strategic partnerships, scaled global e-commerce, and stewarded the brand through its IPO prep. In this episode, Megan breaks down what agency-side marketers misunderstand about the brand side, why creative presentation is a skill at risk of being lost in the Zoom era, and how she decides when data enhances a creative idea versus when it dilutes one. She also shares her philosophy on hiring in 2026 — arguing that hunger and curiosity now matter more than category experience — and gets candid about the real work of destigmatizing personal care categories for Gen Z and younger millennial consumers. The conversation covers AI's current limits in creative work, why influence is the underrated skill of senior marketing leadership, what it takes to position a company for IPO from a marketing perspective, and Megan's admiration for LEGO as a masterclass in brand extension. Plus a lightning round featuring creative director vs. data analyst, the one product category Megan couldn't market, and Valerie's mysterious "butt blaster." Hosted by Matt Wurst and Valerie Vespa.

Ep 65: Dan Buttling - General Manager, Feast

Dan Buttling started his career counting inventory. 30+ years later, he's built brands for some of the biggest spirits companies on the planet — and now runs an agency from scratch. Dan Buttling, General Manager of Feast Agency, joins Matt Wurst for a wide-ranging conversation that spans three decades of brand building, a pandemic-era pivot, and a brutally honest look at where the alcohol industry is headed. Dan traces his arc from accounting to Schieffelin & Somerset to Diageo executive to Stoli North America CEO — and explains why COVID was the catalyst that finally pushed him to scratch the entrepreneurial itch he'd been carrying for years. He and Matt dig into what "brand experience" actually means beyond the buzzword, why the social mandate to drink alcohol is structurally gone (not cyclical), how the rise of RTDs, sober-curious consumers, and cannabis are reshaping the BevAlc landscape, and what brands — big and small — need to do to stay relevant. Along the way: war stories from Captain Morgan, Smirnoff Ice, and Cîroc; a masterclass on building a Scotch renaissance in the '80s; and Dan's honest take on AI, agency partnerships, and what it means to build something you're proud of. Hosted by Matt Wurst, watch the full episode for more on: — The death of the social mandate to drink — Brand experience vs. experience with a brand — How to brief an agency like a real partner — What Feast Agency is building — and why