What This Agency Founder Wishes He Knew Earlier | Sam Slaughter, Founder of Lighthouse Creative

How Three Students From Vietnam Created a Lollapalooza Idea That Impressed Highdive's Mark Gross

Every quarter, Breaking and Entering Media hosts the Crowbar Awards, a $1 global student advertising competition designed to help aspiring creatives build their portfolios, solve real-world briefs, and get their work reviewed by some of the industry's top creative leaders. The highest honor awarded each quarter is the Blue Crowbar, given to the single best submission across all entries. This quarter's Blue Crowbar winners came from RMIT University Vietnam. In this episode, Geno Schellenberger sits down with Vy Tran, Nguyen Minh Ngoc, and My Phung, alongside Highdive Co-Chief Creative Officer Mark Gross, to break down the campaign that earned them Best in Show. The brief challenged students to help Lollapalooza differentiate itself from Coachella by showcasing a deeper and more authentic music experience. The team's solution was a custom Monster Energy can capable of capturing festivalgoers' heartbeats and transforming those heartbeats into music, creating a soundtrack generated by the crowd itself. Mark explains why the idea immediately stood out, how creative leaders evaluate student work, and what aspiring creatives can learn from the campaign. View the winning campaign deck here: https://www.crowbarawards.com/previous-winners [https://www.crowbarawards.com/previous-winners] 💼 Follow on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/breaking-entering-media [https://www.linkedin.com/company/breaking-entering-media]  📖 Read our Publications https://www.breaking-entering.com/blog [https://www.breaking-entering.com/blog] 💬 Join our Unlocked GroupMe https://groupme.com/join_group/102437585/xg5Z5tei https://groupme.com/join_group/102437585/xg5Z5tei [https://groupme.com/join_group/102437585/xg5Z5tei] ✉️ Subscribe to The Vault https://breakingandenteringadv.substack.com/ https://breakingandenteringadv.substack.com/ [https://breakingandenteringadv.substack.com/] 📹 Subscribe to our :60 Advertising News Videos https://breakingandentering.beehiiv.com/ https://breakingandentering.beehiiv.com/ [https://breakingandentering.beehiiv.com/] 🏆 Check out the Crowbar Awards to break into advertising https://www.crowbarawards.com/ https://www.crowbarawards.com/ [https://www.crowbarawards.com/] 🤝 Work With Us - Email: breakingandentering@smoothmedia.co [breakingandentering@smoothmedia.co]

I Thought I Knew Everything Until Amazon Humbled Me

Anthony Reeves grew up in the Australian Outback, built a career across agencies, Amazon, WPP, and now serves as VP of Global Brand & Creative at Kohler.In this episode, Anthony shares the moment he walked into Amazon believing he had all the answers and left with one of the most important lessons of his career.We discuss discomfort, career growth, mentorship, specialization, breaking into advertising, and why the best opportunities often come from putting yourself in situations where failure is possible.If you're trying to break into the industry or level up your career, this episode is packed with lessons that only come from decades of experience.More from Breaking and Entering Media:💼 Follow on LinkedIn⁠ https://www.linkedin.com/company/breaking-entering-podcast/⁠📖 Read our Publications⁠ https://www.breaking-entering.com/blog⁠💬 Join our Unlocked GroupMe⁠ https://groupme.com/join_group/102437585/xg5Z5tei⁠✉️ Subscribe to The Vault⁠ https://breakingandenteringadv.substack.com/⁠📹 Subscribe to our :60 Advertising News Videos⁠ https://breakingandentering.beehiiv.com/⁠🏆 Check out the Crowbar Awards to break into advertising⁠ https://www.crowbarawards.com/⁠🤝 Work With Us - Email: ⁠breakingandentering@smoothmedia.co⁠

What This Agency Founder Wishes He Knew Earlier | Sam Slaughter, Founder of Lighthouse Creative

Sam Slaughter is the Founder of Lighthouse Creative Group. After getting fired from his previous job, Sam and his co-founder decided to build the kind of company they actually wanted to work for. Today, Lighthouse is a 40-person employee-owned agency working with brands like Amazon, Fanatics, and more. In this episode, Sam shares the lessons he's learned building an independent business, why relationships matter more than titles, how young people can stand out in the age of AI, and the advice he wishes more people heard early in their careers. If you're a student, recent graduate, young creative, strategist, account person, or aspiring founder, this episode is packed with practical career advice and honest reflections from someone who has built a company his own way. More from Breaking and Entering Media: 💼 Follow on LinkedIn⁠ https://www.linkedin.com/company/breaking-entering-podcast/⁠ ⁠💬 Join our Unlocked GroupMe⁠ https://groupme.com/join_group/102437585/xg5Z5tei⁠ ✉️ Subscribe to The Vault⁠ https://breakingandenteringadv.substack.com/ 📹 Subscribe to our :60 Advertising News Videos⁠ https://breakingandentering.beehiiv.com/⁠ 🏆 Check out the Crowbar Awards to break into advertising⁠ https://www.crowbarawards.com/⁠ 🤝 Work With Us - Email: ⁠breakingandentering@smoothmedia.co⁠

Advertising Isn't Dying. You're Just Listening to the Wrong People. | Ad Legend Chuck McBride

For nearly 30 years, Chuck McBride has heard the same prediction: advertising is dying. He's heard it through the rise of the internet, social media, YouTube, streaming, creators, and now AI. Yet after helping launch the iconic Got Milk? campaign, leading work for Nike, working alongside Lee Clow at TBWA\Chiat\Day, and building Cutwater into one of advertising's most respected independent agencies, Chuck remains optimistic about the future. In this conversation, Chuck joins Geno Schellenberger to discuss why creativity thrives under constraints, why media fragmentation creates more opportunity than most people realize, how agencies should think about charging for impact instead of time, and what young creatives need to do to stand out in a rapidly changing industry. Along the way, he shares stories from the early days of YouTube, explains how a small Ray-Ban experiment generated 20 million views, and makes the case that the best thing the next generation can do is stop listening to the doomers and start building. If you're worried about the future of advertising, this episode is for you. More from Breaking and Entering Media: 💼 Follow on LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/breaking-entering-media [https://www.linkedin.com/company/breaking-entering-media]  📖 Read our Publications https://www.breaking-entering.com/blog [https://www.breaking-entering.com/blog] 💬 Join our Unlocked GroupMe https://groupme.com/join_group/102437585/xg5Z5tei [https://groupme.com/join_group/102437585/xg5Z5tei] ✉️ Subscribe to The Vault https://breakingandenteringadv.substack.com/ [https://breakingandenteringadv.substack.com/] 📹 Subscribe to our :60 Advertising News Videos https://breakingandentering.beehiiv.com/ [https://breakingandentering.beehiiv.com/] 🏆 Check out the Crowbar Awards to break into advertising https://www.crowbarawards.com/ [https://www.crowbarawards.com/] 🤝 Work With Us - Email: breakingandentering@smoothmedia.co [breakingandentering@smoothmedia.co]

Patrick Coffee on the Real State of Advertising

Patrick Coffee of The Wall Street Journal joins the Breaking and Entering Advertising Podcast to break down the current state of the advertising industry. We talk about why creative departments feel increasing pressure inside holding companies, how AI is changing expectations for marketers, why creator marketing still struggles with measurement, and how brands are trying to evolve into entertainment companies. Patrick also shares insights from covering the industry for more than a decade, including what today’s agency world has in common with the fallout from 2008, why marketers are obsessed with measurable outcomes, and how Gen Z’s “analog movement” is influencing brand strategy. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Patrick Coffee and His Role 01:57 Current State of Advertising 05:56 Challenges for Creative Agencies 10:12 Historical Context of Advertising Challenges 13:56 Impact of AI on Advertising 16:55 Exploring the Creator Economy 22:52 The Evolving Landscape of Creator Partnerships 25:23 The Rise of the Analog Movement 30:11 Skills for the Next Generation in Marketing 36:10 Branded Entertainment: The Future of Marketing More from Breaking and Entering Media: 💼 Follow on LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/breaking-entering-media [https://www.linkedin.com/company/breaking-entering-media]  📖 Read our Publications https://www.breaking-entering.com/blog [https://www.breaking-entering.com/blog] 💬 Join our Unlocked GroupMe https://groupme.com/join_group/102437585/xg5Z5tei [https://groupme.com/join_group/102437585/xg5Z5tei] ✉️ Subscribe to The Vault https://breakingandenteringadv.substack.com/ [https://breakingandenteringadv.substack.com/] 📹 Subscribe to our :60 Advertising News Videos https://breakingandentering.beehiiv.com/ [https://breakingandentering.beehiiv.com/] 🏆 Check out the Crowbar Awards to break into advertising https://www.crowbarawards.com/ [https://www.crowbarawards.com/] 🤝 Work With Us - Email: breakingandentering@smoothmedia.co [breakingandentering@smoothmedia.co]