The BroxtenDigital Show

About The BroxtenDigital Show

Your go-to advertising and marketing career podcast. Every other week, host Broxten Davis sits down with the agency leaders, CMOs and media executives who have already done it, and gets the advice they wish someone had given them earlier: how they got hired, what they look for when they hire, and the moves that got them promoted. Whether you are trying to break in, gain the skills or get ahead, you will leave every episode with something you can use this week.

Publisher

Broxten Davis

Category

business · education

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

9 Feb 2026

Latest episode

30 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

31 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   30 Oct 2026

   What An Advertising Creative Director Actually Does

   Advertising creative director, explained by a group CD: the ladder rung by rung, what he hires for, and why none of the ideas are yours. Nils d'Aulaire is Group Creative Director at Studio Resonate, SiriusXM's audio-first creative agency, and he has stood on every rung of the creative ladder: senior art director at a pharma agency, art supervisor, associate creative director, creative director, senior creative director, group creative director, with five years running his own agency in between. He studied film, not advertising, got his first design job by promising he would know Photoshop by the weekend, and quit an agency job to star in and score a feature film (The History of Future Folk) before coming back a level up. I asked him what an advertising creative director actually does all day, and his answer surprised me: the best creative directors are the ones who coax excellent work out of their team, and none of the ideas are theirs. We walk the rungs so you know how to become an art director and what comes after it, what he looks for when he hires (the portfolio is about a third of it), the five things he says can't be taught, his iced-coffee-in-the-interview hot take, and why your ideas are baby turtles trying to reach the ocean. Then the rapid fire: his first car, the best free learning resource, New York pizza, and what he would tell himself at 22. FREE: The BroxtenDigital Blog, the LinkedIn newsletter with the takeaways from every episode https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/the-broxtendigital-blog-7510050135746232320/ (https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/the-broxtendigital-blog-7510050135746232320/) Watch next: Breaking Into Advertising: What A Chief Creative Officer Screens For https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNNLgaNTxok (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNNLgaNTxok) CHAPTERS 0:00 Why an advertising creative director is on the show 0:33 What does an advertising creative director do day to day? 2:33 What are the rungs of the ladder before creative director? 3:23 How do you become an art director, and what does a senior art director actually do? 5:02 Art supervisor to group creative director: the whole ladder 6:16 Why should you not undervalue junior positions? Fall up, not down 8:45 What is the most valuable trait in a young creative? Hungry 10:11 How do you break into advertising without studying it? The Photoshop weekend 13:07 What did quitting his job to make a movie cost his career? 16:35 What does running your own agency teach you? 18:01 What does an advertising creative director look for when hiring? 19:36 Should you bring iced coffee to a job interview? 21:36 What can't be taught? Curiosity, grit, patience 22:13 How do you build a career around what you are good at? 23:38 How do you go from making the work to leading the people who make it? 25:10 Why are none of the ideas yours when you are an advertising creative director? 27:42 Why is creative so hard to measure? 28:24 What do you do when your idea gets killed? 30:03 Rapid fire: Nils asks what Gen Z is excited and cynical about 32:18 Rapid fire: first car, best free learning resource, best pizza 37:40 What would he tell himself at 22? Fake it till you make it, as yourself Connect with Nils: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ndaulaire/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ndaulaire/) Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/broxten-davis (https://www.linkedin.com/in/broxten-davis) Follow the show on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebroxtendigitalshow (https://www.instagram.com/thebroxtendigitalshow) Subscribe to get more actionable advice from the best in advertising & marketing: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyRzVW-NdwVH2heV7ES0JdA?sub_confirmation=1 (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyRzVW-NdwVH2heV7ES0JdA?sub_confirmation=1)

2. 

   16 Oct 2026

   Head Of Analytics Day In The Life: What An Agency EVP Really Does

   Head of analytics day in the life: an agency EVP on sixth grade math, better questions, and the data that actually changes a decision. Charity Taylor is EVP of Analytics at Publicis Collective, with 20+ years in automotive data before that at General Motors, J.D. Power, automotiveMastermind and S&P Global Mobility. She is not a data scientist. She has an undergrad and a master's in finance, and she will tell you that sixth grade math can take you really, really far. I asked her what a head of analytics actually does all day, and her answer starts before the data: what decision are we informing, what problem are we solving, and what would tell us to push the button. We get into how she earned an industry's trust at J.D. Power when every number was wrong in absolute, why she rewards Smokey the Bear instead of the firefighters, the bathroom mirror trick for building mastery, and the OMIT framework (Ownership, Mastery, Initiative, Teamwork) she uses to find exactly which leg of the chair broke. If you have ever wondered what a VP of analytics does, or whether you are technical enough to try, this one is for you. FREE: The BroxtenDigital Blog, the LinkedIn newsletter with the takeaways from every episode https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/the-broxtendigital-blog-7510050135746232320/ (https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/the-broxtendigital-blog-7510050135746232320/) Watch next: What Does A Marketing Agency Do? An Agency Founder Explains https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkrgG1QXXDA (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkrgG1QXXDA) CHAPTERS 0:00 Why a head of analytics is on the show 1:28 What does a VP of analytics do with a question before touching the data? 2:44 Is sixth grade math enough for data analytics? 3:24 Why are questions more powerful than answers? 4:51 What if the client's ask is different from what they need? 6:44 Should you trust someone else's interpretation of the data? 11:12 How do you present data so a client acts on it? 13:22 How accurate does data need to be? Every number was wrong 15:01 Head of analytics day in the life: from data ingestion to the C-suite 16:13 Head of analytics day in the life: a finance person leading the data ops team 18:17 Why reward Smokey the Bear instead of the firefighters? 19:30 How do you build mastery? Present it to yourself first 22:03 What is the OMIT framework? Ownership, Mastery, Initiative, Teamwork 25:43 How do you use OMIT with your manager? 29:52 Why is 'I don't know' the right answer? 32:59 What does a VP of analytics hire for? 35:28 How do you deal with fear and self-doubt at work? 40:16 Who gets to define success for you? Connect with Charity: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charity-taylor-autoanalytics/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/charity-taylor-autoanalytics/) Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/broxten-davis (https://www.linkedin.com/in/broxten-davis) Follow the show on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebroxtendigitalshow (https://www.instagram.com/thebroxtendigitalshow) Subscribe to get more actionable advice from the best in advertising & marketing.

3. 

   2 Oct 2026

   What Does A Marketing Agency Do? An Agency Founder Turned Consultant's Answer

   What does a marketing agency do? A founder who sold two agencies and hired them as a CMO on what clients pay for and how to get ahead inside one. Tim Kilroy has spent more than 25 years in and around agencies. He started three, sold two, sat on the client side as CMO of Karmaloop, and now coaches agency owners. I asked him for the advice he would give at every stage of an agency career, and he did not hold back (heads up, the language is not clean). The first half is for anyone working at a marketing agency or trying to get into one. Make friends with the people hired when you were. Your boss is probably not your mentor, so find one sideways and ask for information, never for help. Tim explains why the jump from team lead to director has almost nothing to do with how good a marketer you are, and the one-line note that lets you act without waiting for permission. The second half answers the question in the title from the owner's chair and the client's chair. What big brands actually want from an agency, why optimizing to one metric makes every ad look the same, and the story from his CMO years where the agency kept handing him best practices when he needed them to understand his customer. His line on it: your job is to give the client what they need, which is rarely what they asked for. We close on AI. Knowing which button to push used to make you better at this job. Tim's take is that it no longer does, and that even the most junior person on the team has a mandate to bring a better idea. Subscribe for a new video every Friday: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyRzVW-NdwVH2heV7ES0JdA?sub_confirmation=1 (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyRzVW-NdwVH2heV7ES0JdA?sub_confirmation=1) Watch next: Jobs In Advertising, Explained: Every Seat And Where To Start https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfz8t0r5-fQ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfz8t0r5-fQ) CHAPTERS 0:00 What does a marketing agency do? Meet Tim Kilroy 0:30 What advice would an agency founder give at every career stage? 0:49 What should you do first in an entry level agency job? 1:34 Why is your boss not your mentor? 3:15 How do you ask someone senior for help without asking for help? 4:08 How do you get promoted from team lead to director? 6:37 What does Extreme Ownership look like inside an agency? 10:58 Why does the school habit fail at work? 13:28 Why do new hires freeze instead of acting? 14:00 How do you take initiative without waiting for permission? 16:06 Why does nobody want to work with a passive teammate? 17:30 Is client retention a junior person's job? 20:07 What does a marketing agency do once AI runs the platforms? 21:01 What do big brands want from a marketing agency? 23:32 Why does every ad look the same? 25:42 What did his agency get wrong when he was CMO of Karmaloop? 32:48 What does a marketing agency do for a client? 34:08 Why do junior people have a mandate to have a better idea? 37:55 Why do most bad decisions in advertising come from fear? 38:45 How do you defend a decision that went wrong? 42:04 Where can you find Tim Kilroy? Connect with Tim Kilroy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timkilroy/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/timkilroy/) Tim's site: https://timkilroy.com (https://timkilroy.com) Tim's newsletter, Agency Inner Circle: https://agencyinnercircle.com (https://agencyinnercircle.com) Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/broxten-davis (https://www.linkedin.com/in/broxten-davis) Follow the show on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebroxtendigitalshow (https://www.instagram.com/thebroxtendigitalshow) Subscribe to get more actionable advice from the best in advertising & marketing. #WhatDoesAMarketingAgencyDo

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