Ad Age and Meta present The List 2023

On July 18, Ad Age and Meta convened on the 47th floor of Meta’s brand-new New York headquarters at 50 Hudson Yards in Manhattan to welcome members of the 2023 edition of The List. The select group of marketing, advertising and media leaders also joined virtually from points around the globe, including Sweden, Israel and India. 

Dan Peres, president and editor-in-chief of Ad Age; Julie Hogan, VP of global experiential and industry marketing at Meta; and John Dioso, editor of Ad Age Studio 30, welcomed the incoming class, which includes:

Ellie Bamford, chief strategy officer, Wunderman Thompson; Apoorva Bapna, chief culture officer, WPP India; Jenna Berg, VP, brand marketing, Motel 6; Åsa Borg, chief marketing officer, Polestar; Obele Brown-West, president, Tracer; Megan Cameron, senior VP and retail media practice lead, Merkle; Judith Carr-Rodriguez, CEO and partner, Fig; Yael Cesarkas, senior VP and executive strategy director, R/GA; Heidi Cooley, senior VP and CMO, Crocs; Amani Duncan, board member, Fender, and former CEO, BBH USA; Asmirh Davis, founding partner and chief strategy officer, Majority; W. Joe DeMiero, U.S. CEO, UM Worldwide; Tiffany Edwards, global head of diversity and inclusion, Droga5; Fri Forjindam, co-owner and chief development officer, Mycotoo; Melissa Grady Dias, CMO, Cadillac; Caroline Gregory, global brand director, Axe/Lynx, Unilever; Ann Hand, chairman and CEO, Super League Gaming; Tyler Harris, managing director, Mischief @ No Fixed Address; Pip Hulbert, CEO, Wunderman Thompson.

Also, Willie Jackson, executive VP and director, Starcom; Samantha Jacobson, chief strategy officer, The Trade Desk; Tiana James, director, PR and partnerships, Victoria's Secret & Co.; Sarah Kramer, CEO, Spark Foundry; Laurie Malaga, executive VP and head of integrated production,The Community; Alycia Mason, Denver field VP, McDonald's; Kerry McKibbin, president and partner, Mischief @No Fixed Address; Vivian Odior, global head of marketing, WhatsApp; Priyanka Rathore, senior manager, marketing strategy, The Walt Disney Company; Jenn Renoe, director, partner direct, Publicis Health Media; Michael Roca, executive director, Elevate, Omnicom Media Group; Gianmaria Schonlieb, senior creative director, Lyft; Jade Smith, community manager, Wieden+Kennedy's Bodeg; Matt Withington, senior director of marketing, Boston Beer.

Also attending the kickoff meeting were List 2021 members, including Whitney Headen, co-founder and CEO, 19th & Park, and Lindsey Slaby, founder, Sunday Dinner; List 2022 member Bonnie Wan, partner and head of brand strategy, Goodby Silverstein & Partners; and Generation Next 2022 mentor Kelly Killian Smith, chief content officer, Wright Creative. They were joined by Sylvia Zhou, head of global industry marketing, Meta, and Ad Age Editor Jeanine Poggi; Senior Reporter Brian Bonilla and Contributing Editor Devon T. Smith. 

The elephant in the room

After introducing the incoming members, Dioso presented the group with The List's 2023 mission: proving that marketing and creativity can drive growth for brands during a down economy. To achieve this goal, The List will produce four thought leadership articles focusing on the greatest challenges facing the industry using Ad Age Studio 30's Publishing Partner platform. 

The group discussed potential topics for the thought leadership series. The major theme was acknowledging "the elephant in the room": With macroeconomic pressures forcing an industry obsession with ROI—and with CMO tenure growing ever shorter—innovative, risk-taking marketing campaigns are usually the first casualties of tightened budgets. 

The risk-versus-reward calculations of such campaigns can generate trepidation among brand leaders. Members proposed producing a guide providing practical advice for marketers that addresses the fear among many CMOs of how to make an impact on the culture without being accused of performative activism—especially in light of the recent Bud Light debacle with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney. 

Another theme that emerged from the conversation was demonstrating how shifts in demographics and generational values have made diversity, equity and inclusion a critical factor in marketing ROI. Members discussed how DE&I in the workforce is essential to authentic DE&I marketing strategies, which tied The List's 2023 mission with that of previous years.

Previously on The List

Ever since Ad Age and Meta, formerly Facebook, partnered to launch The List in 2019, the group has sought to confront the most pressing issues facing the industry. 

The first class took on equitable family leave with the "Ask About It" marketing campaign and partnered with Fatherly to name the "10 Companies That Get Family Leave Right." In 2020, The List focused on diversity, equity and inclusion, particularly the ongoing retention crisis of diverse talent. Shortly after the program launched, the COVID-19 pandemic paused the group's activities for a brief period. But the murder of George Floyd and the vigor of the Black Lives Matter movement that year strengthened The List's resolve to create a pilot mentorship program to provide support for professionals of diverse backgrounds with three to five years of experience and help them successfully navigate the early to mid-career challenges that often cause too many to stall—or drop out of the industry completely.

The 2020 and 2021 classes banded together to launch Generation Next. Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT), and the Asian American Advertising Federation (3AF) partnered with The List to feed mentee candidates to the program. The mentees and mentors collaborated on a project to pitch marketing campaigns that would spread the word about the importance of mentorship to improve DE&I in the industry. Representative mentees from each project team presented their projects during Advertising Week New York 2021. 

Given the success of Generation Next, the 2022 List was charged with growing the program. To do so, The List partnered with the Hispanic Marketing Council (HMC), Color Vision, Asians in Advertising (AIA), the Commercial Directors Diversity Program (CDDP), the Marcus Graham Project (MGP), P.O.C.C., Do the WeRQ and Future Now Media Foundation, in addition to MLT and the 3AF.

Through the partnership with these organizations, Generation Next 2022 doubled the size of  the mentee class from the first year. To meet the demand for more mentors, The List tapped recruits not just from previous List classes but also from leaders and allies throughout the industry. Despite the official "end" of the 2022 program, many of the mentor-mentee relationships continue. Ad Age will share some of their stories in the coming months. 

What's next

The List's thought leadership series will launch in late August/early September and will publish on a monthly cadence through the end of the year. The articles will be found on The List's AdAge.com vertical as well as the Publishing Partner channel. The List will also be discussing some of the themes of the series and its missions on panels at live events, such as Advertising Week New York.

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