The B&E Show | March 10, 2026

It's been a week! Yesterday, Ad Age's A-List 2026 came out. We're here to celebrate the list and talk with the leaders at the top agencies.

We hopped in the 2 Minute Drill, with SPECIAL GUEST Justin Bajan, Co-Founder at Familiar Creatures. 3 Guys, 2 Minutes (x6 topics). Kofi stepped down from DoorDash, Ford gifted the Pope a Chicago Custom Ford, Disney did another crazy billboard, Delta & American Airlines had Media Reviews, the new Coca-Cola campaign was sick as h*ll, and Dakota Johnson and Olivia Dean did some cool things which Producer Ellie (Elisabeth McCarron) provided her expertise on.

Then we got into it with Senior Reporter at Ad Age Brian Bonilla! – longtime friend and supporter of the program. We appreciate his time when he's probably got hundreds of people trying to get some time on his calendar. He gave his insights on the Ad Age A-List 2026, the broader throughlines, but also some of the so-called "superlatives." We also talked about our high school superlatives. Brian was "Most Likely to Cover the Advertising Industry as a Senior Reporter at Ad Age," so I guess the prophecy is fulfilled.

After Brian, we smoothly transitioned to Aaron Starkman, Global Chief Creative Officer and Partner at Rethink – the agency that took home #1 Agency of the Year! He talked about what led to their success, their CRAFT process, and that they are generally a process-driven agency.

We then went to Mr. Greg Hahn, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer at Mischief USA – and he said the opposite! They are more focused on principles rather than process, and actually said they had no specific process. This juxtaposition between the #1 and #2 agency just goes to show that you have to do what rings true to you, and if you do that, you'll find success. The decade is halfway over, who will win Agency of the Decade? Geno says it's already been determined. Congrats to both of these agencies on their success.

We took some interest in design today. Snapple rebranded, and is going for a nostalgia play, while not being fully rooted in nostalgia as a new brand guide. But that's the inspiration. We spoke with EVP and Chief Design Officer at Deutsch, Adhemas Batista, and he gave us the lowdown on Snapple's new branding.

We spoke with the veterans, so we figured we should shine some light on the rookies of the industry. We spoke with 4 VCU Brandcenter students who sent a balloon to space to show their unique perspective. John Marenic, Josef Pellegrini, Noah McKee and Nick Luna created "Big Ideas Need Space."

That's all for today, catch you tomorrow ad family!