Rebel's Center of Creativity

All-new ep of an all-new poddie! It's the Center of Creativity, where we talk about the business of creativity and the identity of creatives, featuring hosts V Zhikhareva, Tim O'Shea, and James Dowd. 

Sam's twin sister Danielle joins us this episode to talk about the culture of drinking in the workplace. Then Sam peer-pressures James to drink. Classic. 

A follow-up to the last episode, except now we drink more and share stories. We thought it would be more fun & lively, but we got DARK. Enjoy!

Johnnie Walker Blue (ACD Jon Feld) joins the poddie to talk about entering agency life later in...life. Where most slow down and think about retirement, Jon decided to go high speed all day, every day, leading content strategy, content creation, and content other things like a damn champ, teaching us kiddos what hard work really looks like. Enjoy!

Rubes, Hammer, & James invite special guest CSO BJ Kito to talk about our shared love of having an inability to focus in life and...sorry, bird is outside the window. What was I writing?....Oh ya, the description. This poddie ep was all about the ins & outs of ADHD in life and the workplace, how we cope, and some savory stats from Sammy Rubes to make us sound less foolish. OH MY GOD, THAT CAR IS BLUE!!!!!

First in a series about making transitions in your career and breaking into new jobs amidst a questionable market, the team talks with VP of Accounts Sam Barrett -- who made the jump from Army Ranger to agency strategist, using his skills at kicking down doors to help brands grow. Makes total sense. Enjoy!

Hammer, Rubes, & James are joined for this poddie ep by Director of Digital Experience, Nate Szymanski to talk about crazy marketing stunts and how brands can maybe, possibly, hopefully go viral. Beyond that, what did they talk about? Who can remember?!?! We recorded this weeks ago and James forgot! Dummy. Oh well, enjoy!

Rebellion designer, Larissa Topalis, aka Weirdo Larry Topgolf, joins the poddie to derail us completely. We barely talked about marketing, but also rarely stopped laughing. Breaking from our norm, we focused this episode on data apps and the current state of dating in this weird world. Listen and enjoy!

In another poddie, Rubes conspired with the sinister sensation, Gail Zaharek, to talk about authentic brand advertising and the workplace. Meanwhile, James reminds everyone he's dumb by quietly taking an online quiz for way too long, creating great silent podcast content. Enjoy!

Recorded live in the Rebel Studio, Rubes, Hammer, & James hang out with guest Russ Martonis -- a writer, content creator, eater of food, and game-changing marketer for Amex and other major brands. The topic was supposed to be food marketing, but they goof around, drink Snoop wine, and play a random game to see who is normal (spoiler: none of these weirdos are normal). Enjoy the poddie!

Sammanz is back! The first-ever return guest! Why? Cause she made us. (This is to see if she reads these and gets mad at us for saying that) In this very special episode, we talk about the Pink Tax and how it's pure bullshit.  Pour your Snoop wine, relax, listen, learn, enjoy!

Rubes & James are joined by VP of Strategy, Mark Anderson, to talk about how brands leverage (sometimes foolishly) holidays to market themselves. From Guinness on St. Patrick's to Reece's on Halloween, hear all about how brands are winning (and losing) with their holiday marketing. As usual, little was planned, chaos ensues, drinks be drank. Enjoy!

Apologies. This was the most unhinged episode yet. Fueled on Four Lokos, we recorded 3 hours of stories and then cut out 2 of them to not embarrass our parents. These lost hours may be released in the future if you ask aggressively. Until then, experience gross energy drink expert Dr. Jones and his connoisseur-like deep-dive into the infamous brand story of Four Loko.

Paid media magician Julio Amaro joins Sammy Rubes & James to talk about tokenization vs representation, how brands sometimes try and fail to connect with different cultures, and how agencies fail to create true access to multicultural voices. Sam spit stats and James said he was afraid he'd say something culturally insensitive. Let's see how he did. Enjoy!

Sam & James dig into generational marketing with legend and VP of Marketing Strategy Craig Wilson. As three generations of marketers, the team digs into how brands and consumers have evolved over decades. It's so interesting that James finally shuts up to learn something. Enjoy!