Math & Magic: Stories from the Frontiers of Marketing with Bob Pittman

Lisa Coffey: “ Radio personalities are the original influencers."

Chief Business Officer at iHeartMedia, Lisa Coffey has run the gamut in media sales. She started out as part of traditional media, at newspapers like USA Today and The Wall Street Journal and at the magazines of Time Inc. Then she made the jump to digital, first at LinkedIn and then spending a decade at Amazon before being named Chief Revenue Officer at LoopMe. Now she’s working across traditional broadcast radio along with podcasts, music, digital radio and live events. She’s currently leading the charge to transform advertising on broadcast and talks about collaborating with TikTok, setting shared goals, and how she's helped bring ‘Guaranteed Human’ to life at iHeart.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Strauss Zelnick: “Doing something from scratch, that’s challenging.”

After finding success from a young age at companies like 20th Century Studios, Vestron, and BMG Entertainment, Strauss Zelnick decided to go out on his own in his 40s. He founded Zelnick Media Capital and became CEO of Take-Two Interactive, the software company behind Grand Theft Auto. Together, they’re a $55 billion enterprise. He’s spent his career at the intersection of technology and media working across film, music, and home entertainment. Not to mention he holds an MBA as well as a JD from Harvard and is the author of Becoming Ageless: The Four Secrets to Looking and Feeling Younger Than Ever. He’s also a longtime friend of Bob’s who sits down to talk about what it looks like to operate on the business side of creative industries, the importance of developing talent, his outlook on the future of technology, and his own personal commitment to health and wellness.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mike Cessario: ”No investor was gonna write me a check for the concept.”

A skull-emblazoned design with a funny slogan is just not what people expect when they’re buying a healthy beverage. But that’s exactly why Liquid Death Founder and CEO Mike Cessario thought there was room for disruption. He didn’t think funny, cool, irreverent marketing should be limited to things that are bad for you. What if this approach could even help people make healthier choices? Now the healthy beverage company trying to “Murder Your Thirst” has expanded to soda-flavored sparkling water, iced tea, and energy drinks and it was valued at $1.4 billion in March 2024. Mike sits down with Bob to talk about how he got from inspiration, to concept, to funding an original order of 150,000 cans. He has great insights on both creativity and analytics, shares lessons from all the surprises and challenges he faced in becoming an entrepreneur and explains why he dislikes traditional marketing as much as most people do.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Math & Magic Returns March 19th

Join iHeartMedia Chairman and CEO Bob Pittman for a new season of Math & Magic: Stories from the Frontiers of Marketing. Bob is taking you behind the scenes of the biggest businesses and industries while sharing insights from the smartest minds in marketing, business and creativity. New episodes start March 19th. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

CEOs You Should Know: Chon Nguyen, CEO of Newgentek

Chon Nguyen started his career in the kitchen. As he shares on this episode of CEOs You Should Know, he became an entrepreneur but never left restaurants behind. Today he builds high-impact businesses at the intersection of technology and hospitality. He’s the founder of and CEO of Newgentek, an IT service provider offering a help desk, field services, technology infrastructure, and strategy for companies and restaurants without an IT department. He’s also the co-founder of FusionPrep, an iPad-based kitchen management platform used by restaurant operators to handle everything from food safety compliance to recipe management to operational checklists. On top of all that he’s a partner at Proper House Group, a restaurant group that has been recognized on the Florida Michelin Guide and with Bib Gourmand Awards. He’s been interested in technology since he got his first computer as a kid and talks about where we’re headed with automation and AI, how they complement each other, and why we’ll always need experts to rely on.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.