Our objective was to launch a new original series that would educate and entertain the marketing audience. We wanted to bring this audience helpful tips and takeaways so that they could become better at their jobs. But we didn’t want it to be solely informative - we wanted it to be inspiring and entertaining. We wanted it to reach viewers outside of our existing audience. No matter what company you work for, large or small, we wanted “Connections” to be a show that you wanted to watch and extracted value from.

In Spring 2021, the world was still at a standstill with COVID-19. Much of production was limited to Zoom calls and webinars. The sense of connection that you get from being in the office, at a concert, or on the road had been lost. Our objective was to bring it back. To connect with our audience. To connect with our guests. After all, making that connection is the essence of good marketing, so for us, that became the crux of our series and something that we were not only going to talk about on-air, but something we were going to do ourselves.

Our strategy at its core was simple: book some of the brightest minds in marketing, find a place or an activity that is unique to them for our on-site taping, and give them the platform to share who their personal and professional journeys. These guests do not have to be CMOs. They just have to have a great marketing story. We have featured CEOs, CMOs, Chief People Officers, and founders. We have interviewed small business owners and executives from major brands. But each taping - starting with the location - is unique to that guest. Laird Hamilton at his home in Hawaii. Mark Gainey running through the San Francisco woods. Carla Pineyro Sublett at a park in downtown Austin.

We did our first taping in April 2021 when most Americans were still in the process of getting their second COVID vaccine shots, so our initial challenge was on the booking front. How do you ensure a COVID-safe production when people are barely ready to leave their homes? We did not have time to wait. Our major marketing event of the year - also named “Connections” - was taking place in June 2021 so we needed to launch around that. We solved this by having a skeleton production crew - all fully vaccinated - and in numerous cases filming more than one episode at a time: two on the same day in San Francisco, four over the course of two days in Washington, D.C. That enabled us to get off to a fast start.

“Connections” was an instant hit with our audience. Boosted by launching around our marquee marketing event of the year of the same name, “Connections” started to get traction with viewers. Our first few guests set a high bar: Sara Varni of Twilio opening up about her son’s autism, Carla Pineyro Sublett describing her year-long trip around the world to reconnect with her family and herself, Dara Treseder on how her mother in Nigeria inspired to her to dream big. That set the tone for future episodes: Shaun White on the multiple surgeries he needed as a baby due to a heart defect, Michelle Crossan on a rough childhood in Glasgow. Now “Connections” has over 10 million views across around 20 episodes to date and has received rave reviews from viewers and guests.