Soul & Science Mekanism

Jeff MacDonald is the Social Strategy Director here at Mekanism. A born teacher, we’ve been learning from him ever since he joined the Mekanism team in 2015 as our first Experience Designer.
Jeff has been named one of the 15 advertising executives leading the charge into generative AI by Business Insider and he’s our in-house AI guru. He currently works alongside strategists and creatives to bring as many innovative social firsts to clients like Adobe, AT&T, Cricket Wireless, Q-tips, and Lenovo. Jeff uses creative prototyping and social listening to inform the creation of experiences that bring people together for shared moments of wonder. Today we’re talking all about AI and what it might mean for the future of creativity, marketing, and much more.

In this episode you’ll learn:

Adoption of early tech including AI and generative content creation services is key to staying ahead of the curve

The long-lasting impression augmented reality, generative AI, and applications of Web3 technologies can have on your audience

How AI can work for us and help us bring even more humanity into our creative work
Brought to you by Mekanism.

Julia Perez, CMO at OWYN, is a New York born, Miami-based marketing executive with a deep understanding of high-growth, healthier-for-you food and beverage startups. With more than 10 years of experience working for brands like Red Bull, Hain Celestial, RSP Nutrition, and CORE Water, it’s actually kind of her superpower. Her continued success in the health and wellness space led her to the role of Chief Marketing Officer at OWYN, which stands for Only What You Need, a plant-based nutrition company best known for its ready-to-drink protein shakes. OWYN is currently the #1 best selling plant protein shake in the US.

In this episode you’ll learn:
How OWYN is cleaning up the sports nutrition industry with transparency, education, and an empowering messageWhere Julia stands on the Ozempic trend and how OWYN fits in Why you shouldn’t forget about the big picture when looking at segmented dataThe value of being an early adopter and in love with your industry
Brought to you by Mekanism.

Lisane Basquiat is an entrepreneur and growth champion in addition to being the older sister of artist Jean Michel Basquiat. After a successful corporate career in staffing and operations at financial institutions like American Express and Prudential, she decided to pivot her experience into helping shape individuals’ personal growth. She’s now the Founder and CEO of Shaping Freedom, a personal growth company that trains individuals to strengthen and amplify their personal power through internal congruence. With her family, she recently developed the King Pleasure exhibit, a retrospective on her brother’s art, which opened in Los Angeles after a successful run in New York City.

In this episode you’ll learn:
How maintaining the personal and professional balance is key to personal healthThe importance of organic team-building exercises to rebuild and internally scale an organizationHow to best handle a career pivot and transition to potentially see your personal growthHow she brought personal reflection, remembrance, and insight to the process of honoring her brother, Jean Michel Basquiat, through the new King Pleasure exhibit
Brought to you by Mekanism.

David Mogensen, VP of Marketing at Uber, oversees a global team of marketers responsible for building the Uber and Uber Eats brands across more than 70 countries. Before Uber, David held leadership positions at Google, YouTube, and BMW, giving him extraordinary insight into marketing, brand positioning, and advertising, which he shared with us.

In this episode you’ll learn:
In marketing, good communication is key. And internal communication is at least as important as external communication. Know the user, know the magic, and connect the two. It’s a Google mantra, but it works across the board.Good management is ultimately planned obsolescence. Set your team up to work so well, that they don’t even need you.Brought to you by Mekanism.

Ciara Anfield’s Harvard MBA education led her into marketing roles at big companies like JP Morgan Chase and Johnson & Johnson. Now in her 15th year at Sam’s Club, Ciara serves as the Chief Member and Marketing Officer for Sam’s Club where she oversees a broad portfolio of responsibilities that collectively make up Sam’s Club’s end-to-end member strategy.

In this episode you’ll learn:
It may sound simple, but by putting the customer first, you can accelerate every other part of your business. Connect in new and interesting ways and meet your customers where they are. Carve out the time to be strategic and methodical in your thinking. It’s all too easy to let the urgency of a big project move you forward without deeper reflection. Have the audacity. Take risks. Be bold. Marketing is one of the few places in a business where risks are welcome. After all, you’d rather have your marketing team take risks than your finance team. Brought to you by Mekanism.

Nate Checketts is the Co-Founder & CEO of Rhone, a premium men's performance lifestyle company founded in 2014, and the entrepreneurial spirit has been with him since childhood. Before the age of 30, Nate had founded four companies, including one of the first iPhone apps Mangia, whose patents were later acquired by the San Francisco 49ers. Nate’s interests have always been broad and ambitious, and over the years he’s learned that there’s more than one way to be an entrepreneur. But when sales and marketing attribution gets tough to decipher, he reminds his team that it’s all about the brand all the time.

In this episode you’ll learn:
Curiosity and wonder are powerful. Good entrepreneurs, no matter their experience, are always full of questions.Use data to find out what crucial subsection is missing in your market, and do your best to fill that gap. Product quality is number one for new customers. Gone are the days when you could get away with great branding, great advertising, and a mediocre product. When you spend your ad dollars the right way, performance gets much more effective over time.
Brought to you by Mekanism.