Second Wind by AKA

Gully Flowers, Kerrie Finch, Jake Neske
  • 5.0 (3)
  • Marketing
  • Updated Biweekly

Second Wind is the show about how creative power is built. Hosted by Also Known As, Second Wind features candid conversations with the creative leaders, founders, CMOs, producers, and operators shaping modern creativity. We go inside the work, pressure, politics, pivots, and instincts behind ideas that change careers, companies, and culture. These are conversations about reputation, taste, production, leadership, reinvention, AI, in-house agencies, and how great work actually gets made. For creative leaders, producer buyers, brand builders, agency founders, and anyone trying to understand

  1. 11h ago ·  Video

    The Myth of the “Normal User” | David Vogel on AI, Accessibility & Designing for Real People

    Most products are designed for someone who doesn’t exist. The average user. David Vogel, Executive Experience Director at Hypersolid and former AKQA design leader, argues that the idea of a “normal” human has quietly shaped everything from schools and workplaces to digital products, customer experiences, and AI. The problem is that normal was never real. In this episode of Second Wind, David joins Gully Flowers and Kerrie Finch to explore why neurodiversity changes the way we think about accessibility, why crash test dummies reveal a deeper flaw in modern design, and why designing for edge cases often creates better experiences for everyone. The conversation also looks ahead. David explains why ChatGPT is only the earliest interface for AI, why brands should be careful about outsourcing customer relationships to AI platforms, and how intelligent experiences could reshape products, retail, and personalization over the next decade. In this episode• Why there is no such thing as a “normal” user • How ADHD and neurodiversity challenge traditional design thinking • What crash test dummies teach us about accessibility • Why designing for edge cases creates better products for everyone • Why ChatGPT is only the beginning of AI • How brands can embrace AI without giving away the customer relationship • What intelligent experiences could mean for the future of retail, work, and customer experience Guest: David Vogel, Executive Experience Director at Hypersolid Hosts: Gully Flowers and Kerrie Finch

  2. 2d ago ·  Video

    Why Brands Must Refound Themselves in the Age of AI | Craig Elimeliah, Code and Theory

    AI isn’t changing marketing. It’s changing what a brand is. In this episode of Second Wind, Craig Elimeliah, Chief Creative Officer at Code and Theory, introduces a concept we haven’t been able to stop thinking about since recording: brand refounding. For years, companies have talked about brand transformation. Craig argues we’re entering something much bigger. AI isn’t simply making marketers faster. It’s forcing organizations to rethink the foundations of how brands are built, governed and remembered. We explore why AI exposes disconnected organizations, why brand consistency becomes more valuable as content scales, why consumers are becoming dramatically harder to fool, and why creative leaders are increasingly responsible for shaping entire businesses, not just campaigns. In this conversation: • What “brand refounding” actually means • Why AI is exposing weak brand systems • The difference between brand transformation and brand refounding • Why speed, scale and brand no longer have to compete • How AI creates organizational memory instead of disconnected campaigns • Why creative leaders are becoming business leaders • The future of agencies, brands and creative operating systems • What every CMO should understand before investing in another AI tool Craig Elimeliah is the Chief Creative Officer at Code and Theory, one of the world’s leading digital transformation and creative technology companies. Throughout his career, he’s helped shape products, platforms and brand systems for many of the world’s most influential organizations. Second Wind is hosted by Gully Flowers and Jake Neske, founders of AKA. Each episode features candid conversations with the creative leaders, CMOs, founders and operators shaping the future of advertising, branding, design, AI and business. If you work in marketing, advertising, brand strategy, creative leadership, AI or digital transformation, this conversation will give you a new framework for thinking about what comes next.

  3. Jul 28 ·  Video

    Amazon Chief Brand Officer Jo Shoesmith on Leadership, AI & Creativity | Second Wind by AKA

    What does it take to lead one of the world’s biggest brands? Jo Shoesmith joins Kerrie Finch and Gully Flowers shortly after becoming Chief Brand Officer at Amazon to discuss leadership, AI, creativity, agency relationships, and why the best leaders never stop proving themselves. From Amazon’s leadership principles to building trust, influencing at scale, and preparing for a future shaped by AI, this is a practical conversation for anyone leading creative teams, brands, or businesses. In this episode: Becoming Amazon’s Chief Brand OfficerAmazon’s approach to leadership and trustHow AI is changing creative workWorking with agencies more effectivelyWhy great leaders prove themselves every dayBuilding influence beyond the creative department About Second Wind by AKA Second Wind by AKA features candid conversations with the creative leaders, founders, CMOs, producers, and operators shaping modern marketing, business, and culture. New episodes every other Tuesday. https://hey-aka.com/second-wind

  4. Jul 14

    Why Agencies Are Selling the Wrong Thing ; Anthony Reeves, Kohler

    AI is making execution cheaper. Brands are building stronger in-house teams. Holding companies are consolidating. Production companies are being pushed further downstream. So what are agencies still uniquely for? Anthony Reeves has spent his career inside some of the world’s biggest agency networks and brands. He has worked at WPP multiple times, held senior roles at Amazon and LVMH, and now leads Global Brand and Creative at Kohler. Anthony joins Gully Flowers to discuss why agencies cannot win on efficiency, Kohler’s line on synthetic people, why too much data can weaken a creative brief, how fear changes the work, and why AI may make brand more valuable rather than less. They also get into creative apprenticeship, why great talent clusters, the danger of becoming too comfortable, and Anthony’s book, Eat the Donkey. Follow Second Wind for honest conversations with the people shaping the creative business. Chapters 00:00 Why agencies can’t win on efficiency 00:39 Anthony Reeves 01:21 Moving to Kohler, Wisconsin 01:55 The job of a creative leader 02:36 Kohler’s line on synthetic people 04:14 How AI changed since Cannes 2018 06:01 Has more data improved the creative brief? 08:40 What happened to the holding companies? 10:14 What brands still need agencies for 12:44 Fear changes the work 14:01 How to lead creative teams 18:55 Why AI makes brand more valuable 21:18 Eat the Donkey 25:56 Advice for young creatives 28:19 Why great talent clusters 30:22 Reinvesting in people and brand 31:22 The danger of being downstream 32:40 A better North Star

    Why Agencies Are Selling the Wrong Thing ; Anthony Reeves, Kohler

  5. Jun 30

    Susan Credle on M&M’s, Allstate Mayhem, Brave Clients, and the Death of Populist Advertising

    Susan Credle has helped build some of the most famous advertising characters of the last 30 years, from the M&M’s ensemble to Allstate’s Mayhem. In this episode of Second Wind, she joins Kerrie Finch and Gully Flowers for a sharp, funny and unusually honest conversation about what makes creative work last. Susan talks about seeing brands as characters, how M&M’s grew from candy mascots into a comedic ensemble, why Mayhem worked because it was deeply strategic, and what great clients do that risk-averse ones often miss. She also gets into one of the biggest tensions in modern advertising: the gap between work that wins awards and work that reaches real people. From the rise of case studies to the decline of truly populist creative, Susan makes the case for work that does not need to be followed around and explained. This is a conversation about brave clients, fragile progress, creative leadership, the pressure of becoming one of the first female CCOs in America, and why the best work should make someone in the world say thank you.

    Susan Credle on M&M’s, Allstate Mayhem, Brave Clients, and the Death of Populist Advertising

  6. May 26

    Why Great Ads Feel Like Childhood Memories | Marques Gartrell, W+K

    Marques Gartrell is Co-CCO of Wieden+Kennedy New York, the agency behind work for Nike, McDonald’s, Delta, and Michelob Ultra. In this episode of Second Wind: how the Travis Scott meal started from a tweetwhy the Grimace Shake became internet folklorehow W+K made “Horizontal Breakfast” in 7 dayswhy brands are competing with childhood memorieswhat young creatives get wrongwhy Marques still keeps Photoshop openA conversation about culture, instinct, taste, speed, and making work people actually carry around with them. The best work stops feeling like advertising and starts feeling like part of someone’s life.

    Why Great Ads Feel Like Childhood Memories | Marques Gartrell, W+K

  7. May 12

    Andrew McKechnie on OpenAI, Apple, and Moving Creative Upstream

    Andrew McKechnie is Head of Business Creative Studio at OpenAI. Before that he was SVP and Chief Creative Officer at Verizon, where he ran a $3 billion marketing budget and built a 300-person in-house agency. Before that he was Global Head of Design Group at Apple. Across his career he has won a Gold Cannes Lion, multiple D&AD pencils, six straight Webbys, and an Emmy nomination. He sits down with Gully Flowers to talk about what happens when a creative decides the brief is too late, and the only way to do better work is to move upstream. They cover what the agency model got wrong, why it was an operating issue and not a talent issue, what a real in-house team is and is not, why physical craft matters more in the AI era, and what OpenAI's merch program reveals about modern brand building. A conversation for anyone leading creative work inside a brand, agency, or startup right now.

    Andrew McKechnie on OpenAI, Apple, and Moving Creative Upstream

  8. Apr 28

    Craig Allen on Old Spice, Skittles, and Protecting the Creative Weirdos

    Craig Allen wrote the Skittles spot where a man accidentally murders his family with rainbow candy. He helped make the Old Spice response campaign ; 286 videos in 36 hours, one every 7 minutes, until they broke YouTube. Then he left Wieden+Kennedy, asked Dan Wieden what to call his new agency, and got told every name was stupid. This week on Second Wind, the founder and CCO of CALLEN sits down with Gully Flowers and Kerrie Finch to talk about how to sell ideas that scare clients to death. Inside the episode: - Why the best risky ideas are “stupid smart” — and how to make a CMO feel dumb for not buying them - The real story behind the Skittles Touch shoot: explosives, cops, a $$$$ glass desk filled with hundreds of thousands of real Skittles, and one PA running through the shot - How a six-person writers’ room turned Old Spice into the fastest creative operation in advertising history - Why Dan Wieden made him put his own name on the agency (and why it changed how he works) - The case for fun as a strategic weapon, not a vibe - What independent agencies have to do now that the holding cos have stopped pretending to care about creativity Craig has won two Cannes Grand Prix, the Grand Effie, Best in Show at The One Show, two black D&AD pencils, an Emmy, and was once named one of the 50 sexiest creatives in the world by Creativity Magazine. We do not let him forget it. Second Wind is a Webby Honoree podcast at the intersection of creativity, leadership, and advertising. Hosted by Gully Flowers and Kerrie Finch of AKA. New episodes fortnightly. Leave a review if it landed.

    Craig Allen on Old Spice, Skittles, and Protecting the Creative Weirdos
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5
out of 5
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About

Second Wind is the show about how creative power is built. Hosted by Also Known As, Second Wind features candid conversations with the creative leaders, founders, CMOs, producers, and operators shaping modern creativity. We go inside the work, pressure, politics, pivots, and instincts behind ideas that change careers, companies, and culture. These are conversations about reputation, taste, production, leadership, reinvention, AI, in-house agencies, and how great work actually gets made. For creative leaders, producer buyers, brand builders, agency founders, and anyone trying to understand

Information

  • Creator
    Gully Flowers, Kerrie Finch, Jake Neske
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    41
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Gully Flowers, Kerrie Finch, Jake Neske
  • Show Website
    Second Wind by AKA

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