Droga5 is synonymous with creativity grounded in solid strategy. And that's the purview Jonny Bauer and his team, which, among other things, came up with the wholesomeness insight that drove the memorable Honey Maid campaign. Mr. Bauer puts the focus on helping brands be more influential by creating cultural references "through focused, rigorous and thoughtful strategy that's deployed out into the world in a way that people are open and receptive and want to engage with."

Chris Beresford-Hill leads creative efforts on Foot Locker, Red Stripe and Guinness with partner Dan Lucey. But in his own words he "barely graduated from Boston College with a degree in English." No one would know after seeing the buzzworthy work the duo has created, including 2013's "Wheelchair Basketball" for Guinness—highly emotional storytelling featuring people not often seen in beer ads.

Each blue globe on Tumblr or Snapchat can probably be traced back to Catherine Borda. Ms. Borda never worked in millennial marketing before joining the carrier two years ago but she jumped right in, managing its "Mobile Movement" platform by using lessons from her time in the consumer packaged-goods world and even her undergraduate training in neuroscience. "In science you're solving very complex problems, but you're really focused in one particular area—a very small, sometimes very specific part of the brain," she said. She's putting that experience to work by making sure the telecom giant is up to speed on young consumers ever-changing media habits.

Kraft and McDonald's have joined forces to sell McCafe-branded coffee in stores. Adam Butler is responsible for overseeing the brand, which Kraft Foods Group describes as the biggest product launch in its history. The high-stakes effort comes as Kraft seeks broader penetration in the cut-throat bagged-coffee market, where Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts also compete. Previously, Mr. Butler worked on iconic brands at Kraft such as Philadelphia Cream Cheese and Crystal Light.

Raised on a family farm in rural North Dakota, Chris Carlson went from Capitol Hill, where he worked as a speechwriter focused on agricultural policy, to writing and producing TV shows. Now, as senior VP at Viacom Velocity, the company's dedicated branded-content arm, Mr. Carlson is charged with creating content that's both appealing to Viacom's audiences and delivers marketers' messages. Just over a year old, Velocity played a role in 90% of Viacom's 2014 upfront deals.

Lavall Chichester is charged with redefining search as one of the most vital elements of content marketing. Last year, he grew Profero's small search group into a million-dollar business and he has spent the past eight years developing search strategies for brands like Apple, Western Union and Smirnoff. That's on top of a background that includes running a video-production studio, earning a Second Degree Black Belt in Hapkido, break dancing and building a personal passion project called Spreadlove.org.

Tricia Clarke-Stone is not one to make a capricious career move. When Russell Simmons asked her to run a digital agency blending tech and culture, she did her due diligence. "I didn't want to work on something that was more of a hobby for him," said Ms. Clarke-Stone, who wasn't convinced until Mr. Simmons backed Narrative with his own cash.

It's no surprise the hip-hop mogul wanted her on board. She'd already turned his pop-culture site Global Grind profitable in two years after her promotion from marketing exec to president.

Audrey Cooper became the San Francisco Chronicle's first-ever female editor-in-chief this year. At 37, she's also the youngest woman to hold the job at any large U.S. newspaper. "I find it really funny that people think I'm so young," she said. "In San Francisco, 37 is positively ancient." But her (relative) youth also means she likes screens more than paper. "I prefer to read journalism on my phone and on the computer," she said. What does that mean for a company whose very soul is paper? "To be able to continue for another 150 years, we'll have to get new digital products that reach new audiences that can support the newsroom," she said, before throwing a jab at the digital competition. "I'd rather be at a profitable company trying to negotiate change than at an unprofitable company with no journalistic tradition."

Jason Damata has earned a reputation for being a biz-dev savant since founding Santa Monica, Calif.-based Fabric as a media-strategy shop in 2007. An early deal with social-analytics firm Trendrr (which Twitter acquired in 2013) paved the way for a string of strategic relationships with high-profile social-meets-data startups, including iSpot.tv. And his agency brokered the funding for "The Internet's Own Boy," the Oscar-shortlisted Aaron Swartz documentary.

Rana el Kaliouby is revolutionizing marketing. Her facial-recognition technology helps computers analyze how people feel about ads and political speeches. The former MIT researcher, who originally developed the concept to help autistic children better communicate, has collected more than 7 billion emotional reactions from more than 2.5 million faces in 75 countries. "Emotionally engaged customers are good for business: Emotions are memory markers, and it is these emotions that influence consumer behavior such as sharing behavior, brand loyalty and purchase decisions," said the Cairo native.

Not so long ago—2007 to be exact—Chris Esposito was in public accounting at Ernst & Young, working with Publicis and Omnicom clients he really liked. Now chief financial officer at WPP's Grey North America, he's at an agency that posted a healthy 8% revenue growth in 2014, following a stellar 2013 that yielded big account wins like Gillette. His involvement in contract negotiations and advice on smart investments are no small part of why the creative shop has come into 2015 looking strong.

Though based at J. Walter Thompson Atlanta, Perry Fair also oversees all accounts and operations for the network's Dallas and Houston offices. Since he took that role in 2012, the agency has brought in clients like Pennzoil, Quaker State, Shell Rotella, Build-A-Bear Workshop and, most recently, successfully retained the Marine Corps account. Creatively, he and his team last year executed one of the most talked about activations at SXSW: a life-size Mario Kart experience for Pennzoil.

Adrian Franks is design director and creative strategist at IBM Interactive Experience, a division of the tech giant that helps clients create interactive experiences using data and IBM products. Since being hired last year, one of his projects was working with a global bank to help it "redefine what it means to be a bank in the digital era," said Mr. Franks, who comes from the agency world.

David Hayes influenced what brands can do on Tumblr before he joined the Yahoo-owned social network. While VP-marketing for Lionsgate, he created a Tumblr blog for "The Hunger Games" that Yahoo execs have since used as a paragon of what's possible using Tumblr's creative canvas. "I spent all day in Tumblr looking for inspiration on how to design banner campaigns, never knowing the irony that I would go over to Tumblr," said the USC film major and MBA grad. Now he's helping other brands get their creative juices flowing through Tumblr's Creatrs Network.

Eric Hirschhorn's path to Burger King's North American CMO post isn't typical. Mr. Hirschhorn has a law degree and started his career at a big Washington, D.C., law firm focused on technology and mergers and acquisitions. He later went to Brazilian investment firm 3G Capital in New York, where as general counsel he was part of the team that brought in the Burger King acquisition. He later wound up at the chain, working in VP roles in consumer insights and global innovation. His favorite effort as CMO so far has been the reintroduction of Chicken Fries, a wildly popular item brought back to market in August.

Shafqat Islam forgot his age during a telephone conversation. "I'll be 33 in two weeks," he said. Then, after a long pause, "Actually, I'm going to be 34." He's just too busy to stop and count. Fueled by a $25 million investment last year, NewsCred, the company he co-founded that helps brands with content marketing, more than doubled its staff to 230 people in the last year. They've now spilled onto a second floor of NewsCred's New York headquarters. Clients include Pepsi, Diageo, SAP, Bank of America and GE. "It's been fast and furious," he said.

Dmitry Ivanov took the marketing reins of the world's largest privately held spirits company in January. He was promoted after serving as VP-global category director of rums. In that role he launched a campaign called "Untameable Since 1862," which plays up the heritage of the company and the Bacardi family. Going forward he will be charged with overseeing all of the marketer's brands, including Grey Goose vodka, Bombay Sapphire gin and Dewar's scotch.

72andSunny is on an explosive growth kick thanks in large part to Rebekah Jefferis, who earlier in her career worked in interactive production. Ms. Jefferis said she shifted into the new-business track because she'd found an agency she loved and wanted to be invested in its growth. She's doing something right, leading new-business coups including the Legacy Foundation's Truth anti-smoking effort, and, more recently, Unilever's global Axe work.

Jason Klein's passion for biology led him to the White House for an AIDS policy internship in 1997 and eventually to medical school a few years later.But he left in 2001, starting an ad agency just a year later.

"It was a lot easier to brag about your son being a doctor than brag about your son being someone who does something with the internet that they can't really understand," Mr. Klein said. But his parents came around after seeing the agency's early success.

Using what he learned at the agency, he co-founded ListenFirst with longtime business partner Christian Anthony in 2012. The company offers a data-management platform that matches client data against contextual data from third-party sources. His clients include NBC Universal, Sam Adams and Columbia Medical School, where he was once a student.

Dave Knox has led the charge for digital marketing since spearheading the all-digital launch of Procter & Gamble Co.'s Secret Sparkle body spray a decade ago. He left P&G in 2010 to become CMO of digital shop Rockfish as he also helped launch the Brandery in Cincinnati for marketing-oriented startups. The Brandery was named one of the top 10 seed accelerators in the U.S. last year at SxSW; it has spawned Pinterest-focused marketing firm Ahalogy and car-sharing service FlightCar, among others.

Alex Lubar joined McCann as North American CMO in June 2012 and played a key role in many account wins. His more recent focus has been on bringing the network's specialty groups together to book more integrated projects. "I encourage a flat structure that allows for versatile, ambidextrous thinking," he said. The result was the addition of a number of accounts that went far beyond creative scope to include CRM, social or other disciplines. Among those wins were Microsoft, Cigna, Reckitt Benckiser and Office Depot.

Dan Lucey has come a long way since his days as a persistent unpaid creative intern at agency Mad Dogs & Englishmen to lead BBDO's Footlocker, Red Stripe and Guinness accounts with creative partner Chris Beresford-Hill. Among their more notable work is the Footlocker campaign that ties in star athletes (quirky NBA players especially) in playful and creative ways. Look no further than the "Week of Greatness" or spots with the very bearded James Harden or All-Star Russell Westbrook promoting the latest Jordan sneakers.

If Luke Mansfield's track record as an electronics innovator is any indication, good things could be in store for PepsiCo. As former head of innovation for Samsung in Europe, he is credited with leading the team that created the highly regarded Galaxy S5. He joined PepsiCo in late 2014 and will be charged with pushing what one top exec called a "more holistic" agenda, as the company searches for beverage breakthroughs, or as Samsung might say, the next big thing.

At Lowe's Innovation Lab, neuroscience and behavioral-economics enthusiast turned marketer Kyle Nel churns out inventive customer solutions like the Holoroom, a home-improvement simulator, and OSHbot, a customer-service robot. It starts with a science-fiction story that his team and external partners bring to life through what he calls science-fiction prototyping. He is most proud of how the Lowe's Innovation Labs has broadened the company's outlook. "When you see the group mind of an organization start to evolve, it's pretty exciting," he said.

Following a tough few years, MediaCom began winning business in 2013 and is still going strong. So is Khartoon Ohan, who played a huge role in the turnaround. She joined in 2013 from Clear Channel Media and Entertainment, where she developed cross-platform programs and led client relationships with A-B InBev, American Express, Pepsi and many others. She has since helped MediaCom win new business from ADT, Tempur Sealy, A-B InBev and Direct General. "Relationships are everything," she said. "I'm honored to have earned my clients' trust."

Ellen DeGeneres's Oscar selfie may never have happened without Kendall Ostrow. While working for the comedian's daytime show, Ms. Ostrow advocated for Ms. DeGeneres to join Twitter. "It became my side project, running her social-media accounts while working my way up to try to be a producer on the show," Ms. Ostrow said. Now a member of United Talent Agency's digital team, Ms. Ostrow guides digital and social strategies for celebrities and brands like AT&T, which developed with Ms. Ostrow the first scripted series to premiere on Snapchat.

The summer after sophomore year at Boston University, Nicolle Pangis went to work as an intern at ABC, watching shows like "Good Morning America" and "The View" from behind the scenes. Today, she's making news as Global CRO of Xaxis, WPP's programmatic advertising technology arm, where she is responsible for a $750 million P&L. Earlier this year, she led the Xaxis side of the sale of the Open AdStream ad server to AppNexus.

South African native Brian Perkins oversees the third-largest brew in the U.S. And he's already making waves. Bud, which has been in a long-term sales slump, stirred debate in the beer industry with a Super Bowl ad that proudly declared the brand a "macro" beer. While it rubbed some craft brewers the wrong way, the ad has scored well with consumers, according to Ace Metrix. Mr. Perkins joined global parent Anheuser-Busch InBev in 2010. Before taking on Bud he was director-global innovations.

Kelli Ramey says she has the most fun job at tax-prep firm H&R Block. As VP-advertising and creative services, she experiments with presenting the brand in different lights. Her first project after joining the company in 2008 was "Dollars & Sense," which aimed to improve financial literacy among teens. Last year, she helped launch one of H&R Block's most memorable pushes—"Get Your Billion Back," featuring a green bow-tie-clad tax pro.

Reshma Saujani calls herself a "political and social entrepreneur." A lawyer and former New York City Deputy Public Advocate who was the first South Asian American woman to run for Congress, she now aims to empower girls. Ms. Saujani has been working to provide computer-science education to 1 million young women by 2020, in an effort to increase the ranks of women in tech, where today they hold only 25% of the jobs. "Years from now we will see 'code alumni' holding executive seats in tech companies," said Ms. Saujani.

Last year was a record year for Anomaly, and a lot of it owes to Eric Segal, who leads much of the creative output of the agency's New York flagship office. Mr. Segal oversaw creative on Budweiser's beloved Super Bowl puppy ads and for Dick's Sporting Goods, among other work. Prior to joining the MDC shop, Mr. Segal was exec creative director at Grey New York, overseeing creative for the NFL, Mike's Hard Lemonade, and the TNT and TBS networks.

Saskia Sorrosa's responsibilities include brand strategy, advertising and events targeted at Hispanic, African-American, youth and international fans. Among her accomplishments was the NBA's first integrated marketing campaign targeted to bicultural, bilingual Latino fans. That 2009 effort led to a 34% increase in Hispanic viewership. She also helped launch the league's youth platform, called NBA Hoop Troop. Before joining the NBA, Ms. Sorrosa, a native of Ecuador, launched and managed Burson-Marsteller's Medellin, Colombia, office.

James Franco will star in a J.J. Abrams-produced adaption of the Stephen King novel "11/23/63." But the star-studded miniseries won't air on traditional TV. It'll premiere on Hulu as the streaming service's biggest original series to date. "With that show, people will come [to Hulu] who are traditional TV fans and discover other shows," said Beatrice Springborn. As head of Hulu's original programming, she straddles the line between traditional and digital entertainment; she's also the one blurring that line.

Jon Steinberg spent four years as president of BuzzFeed, where he helped grow the site into a $100 million business. For his next act, Mr. Steinberg is looking to grow the DailyMail's U.S. online advertising business. The U.K. paper's American website has an enormous audience, but ad revenue has lagged. "It's a Madison Avenue challenge, not a user challenge," Mr. Steinberg said. He hasn't wasted any time since taking on the new role. In less than a year, he's ramped up Daily Mail's native-ad business, introduced a buy-one-get-one advertising deal and steered its purchase of viral publisher Elite Daily.

Joshua Topolsky was at the cutting edge of digital publishing. He was editor-in-chief of two immensely popular tech sites—Engadget and The Verge—as well as helped establish Vox Media. Then he went to Bloomberg Media, the well-financed if byzantine media arm of Bloomberg L.P., to drag it into the digital era.

"There are weird things about Bloomberg," he said. "But on the media side there's a huge amount of experimentation. A moment is happening here."

Since Mr. Topolsky's arrival, the company has rolled out a politics site and a soup-to-nuts redesign of its main home page. It's also wooing the advertising community, which is taking notice of Bloomberg's new digital chops. "We're doing big, bold, even polarizing projects," he said.

In 2006, Mike Treon moved to Baltimore looking for a job. He soon found a home at Advertising.com, a young, AOL-owned startup, which was beginning to dabble in programmatic advertising. Mr. Treon, a computer information systems major, built an expertise in programmatic technology and watched as it developed into the fastest growing discipline in the ad industry. Today, he serves as VP-platform strategy at AOL Platforms, helping drive the company's booming ad-tech business.

"Greatness Awaits" is a tagline that forms the basis of the remarkable work that Ari Weiss has steered for Sony PlayStation at BBH, New York. But it could also easily describe what he has in store for his entire agency since he stepped into the role of chief creative officer in January. Under Mr. Weiss' leadership, the shop has produced award-winning multiplatform work for Sony PS, celebrated ads for Unilever's Axe such as "Susan Glenn" and more. His basic remit: to make the work "better and better" for all the agency's clients, which also include Newell Rubbermaid, Vaseline, The Guardian and Westin Hotels.

Xanthe Wells leads creative direction at Culver City, Calif.-based Pitch, which was acquired by Project Worldwide in August. Since she joined Pitch in January 2013, the agency—which counts among its clients Burger King's U.S. advertising, Pepsi, Maaco, Meineke and Bonefish Grill—has seen double-digit growth. Prior to Pitch, Ms. Wells spent seven years at TBWA in Los Angeles, where as creative director she led creative on Pepsi's Refresh Project, Diet Pepsi's Sofia Vergara effort and Kraft's "Let's get zesty" campaign.

Emily White has been called the next Sheryl Sandberg. Both women have held important positions at Google and Facebook. And like Ms. Sandberg, Ms. White has been tapped to mold an ascendant social network into a business—twice. Facebook-owned Instagram hired her in April 2013 to build its ad business and later that year Snapchat snagged her to do the same. Since then, Ms. White has overseen the rollout of Snapchat's first two ad units, its Discover publishing portal and a payments partnership with Square.

Will Wiseman's strategy and business development savvy might be traced back to an early career at accounting and consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. Since then he's been advising brands, but in an agency setting, first at Ogilvy and later at UM. He recently joined Omnicom's PHD as head of U.S. strategy, and he's already proven a key player in the shop's massive SC Johnson global planning win.