February, 2026.- In an industry that for decades has separated media buying from the creative process, Laurel Boyd joins BarkleyOKRP to break down the silos. With an enviable track record leading strategies for giants like Netflix, Chipotle, and Pinterest, Boyd understands that in today’s fragmented ecosystem, an ad is only effective if it respects and enhances the context in which it lives. For her, “Creative Media” is not a subsequent logistical layer, but a fundamental discipline that must be present from day one. Her appointment as EVP of Creative Media marks a milestone in the search for more human and intentional agency models, where technology and algorithms do not dictate the path but serve a higher creative vision.
In this exclusive interview with Roastbrief, Laurel delves into how true integration between strategy, media, and creative allows brands to react to culture in real-time with surgical precision. Boyd argues that success does not necessarily lie in chasing the latest trendy platform, but in deeply understanding the behaviors of communities and fandoms. Through this conversation, we discover why efficiency should never trump originality and how media professionals can transform from simple planners into true drivers of ideas. This is a necessary immersion into the future of advertising, where the medium and the message finally speak the same language again to generate business results that resonate deeply within popular culture.
You’ve often said that media shouldn’t be a distribution layer—it should be part the idea itself. What does “creative media” truly mean in practice, and how are you bringing that philosophy to life at BarkleyOKRP?
“Creative media” is about treating a media canvas as part of the idea, not just the place you put it. The way people use a platform, where they encounter it and what’s happening around them shapes how the idea should live there. So instead of forcing an idea into a placement, we look at how each channel actually works and create with that in mind. Maybe the idea responds to what’s trending, shifts based on location, or uses a platform feature in a way only that platform can.
The goal is always to make the media and the idea work together, with the same level of craft you’d expect from any strong creative concept.
This is a newly created EVP Creative Media role. What gaps in traditional agency models does this position aim to solve, and why do you think now is the right moment for this kind of integration?
The traditional model splits disciplines into silos and optimizes for efficiency over originality. When your job sits in a tight box, you lose the freedom (and desire) to explore, and exploration is where fresh thinking and ideas come from. Media becomes a routing exercise instead of a creative one.
Today’s landscape makes that impossible to ignore. People are scattered across platforms, and each one demands depth and intent. You can’t just drop an idea into a channel, you have to build for how people use it.
That’s why integration is so essential at this moment. When creative, media, and strategy think together from the start, you keep sight of the bigger picture: we’re here to make great advertising. The handoffs disappear, ideas stay intact, and teams have more room to experiment, test, and invent with partners.
This role is designed to champion that by making paid media feel more human, more intentional, and more connected to culture instead of a repeatable playbook.
You’re known for first-to-market activations and nontraditional media executions. How do you decide when to push into emerging platforms or unconventional partnerships versus using more established channels?
I always start by understanding what the partner can uniquely deliver. If there’s a capability, community, format, or behavior only they can unlock and it either scales or teaches us something valuable on a lean investment, then it’s worth exploring.
But innovation doesn’t have to mean chasing something brand new. Sometimes reimagining what already exists or finding a nuance in a familiar platform makes the idea land better with the audience.
BarkleyOKRP prides itself on having media, creative, and strategy in the same room from day one. How does that change the way ideas are born—and what impact does that have on cultural relevance and business outcomes?
Putting media, creative, and strategy together from the start changes everything. It surfaces opportunities early and while there’s still time to build in the right platforms and partnerships instead of scrambling later or missing them entirely.
Because everything is happening upstream and under one roof, nothing gets lost, diluted, or bent to fit another discipline’s process. There are no handoffs, competition over budget, and no retrofitting. Everyone is solving the same problem at the same time.
That leads to ideas that are more culturally precise and faster to market. Business outcomes are stronger because the work was designed intentionally from the start, not bolted together in stages.
Having led creative media work for brands like Netflix, Chipotle, and Pinterest, what lessons are you carrying forward into this next chapter, especially when it comes to building brave, culturally resonant campaigns?
Pop-culture and entertainment brands showed me how much impact you can make when you take cues from fandoms. With today’s media landscape so fragmented, people are gathering around the things they love, not the channels themselves. So the job isn’t to go wider, it’s to go deeper. It’s about using media as a way to meet people inside those cultural moments that matter to them, then bringing the brand’s story into media touchpoints in ways that feel fresh, thoughtful and genuine.
As you help cultivate a more creative mindset within the media discipline, what advice would you give to young media professionals who want to move beyond planning and become true idea drivers?
It’s always important to master the fundamentals because when you have a deep understanding of how they work, it’s easier to see where they can stretch. Also, make exploration a ritual. Keep meeting with new partners and maintain a collection of interesting tactics and opportunities. Even if something isn’t useful now, the right brief can turn a spark into something big.
