Amy Lanzi on Steering Digitas Through the Demands of Modern Marketing

From airline data to agency boardrooms and long swims to leadership wins, Amy Lanzi’s story proves that the best career journeys don’t follow a straight line.

Sightly CEO Adam Katz sits down with Amy Lanzi, CEO of Digitas North America. Amy shares her unique path from yield management analyst at American Airlines to the top of the agency world, revealing how a foundation in data, customer experience, and relentless self-improvement propelled her career. She opens up about lessons learned from swimming long-distance, her earliest mentors (including her remarkable siblings), and the mindset that’s shaped her leadership style—equal parts grit, compassion, and a little spark.

The conversation dives into:

• How brands can move from transactional marketing to building lifelong relationships
• The overlooked data that could transform brand strategy
• Why the best agencies humanize with intelligence—and what that really means
• The realities of being a working parent and award-winning executive

From CEO challenges to personal mantras, this episode brings authenticity, energy, and wisdom in equal measure. Listen now.

TRANSCRIPT

Adam Katz
Welcome to Breaking Through the Mayhem, hosted by Adam Katz today through Sightly, we are so lucky to have the amazing Amy with us. Can you tell our audience a little bit about yourself and how you got to where you are today? And then we'll jump in and hopefully we'll have a great show today.

Amy Lanzi
Hi. Amy Lanzi, I'm the CEO of Digitas, part of Publicis Group. So a little bit about me and how I got here today. I would say the one thing that really got me here is that I'm actually much more of a quant than I am a qual.

I grew up, my first job was at American Airlines as a yield management analyst.And that's also basically trying to be a bookie, a little bit, right? You get routes, you get different airline routes that you figure out the load factor. And can I overbook them? What are the odds someone's going to show up? How much yield can I extract out of this flight.

And it was very much a, you know, quantify process. Now that's probably all done with AI. And so that's where I, you know, I'm really a finance analyst background. Then the thing that American did, which was genius, which is very telling about me is once you learn saber and you learn all the routes, they then have you go be a gate agent. So I worked Miami JFK for a month and I was gate agent. And that's where you learn what decisions you make that you don't think are in front of you impact the long tail and the promise and the importance of customer service.

So now you're suddenly the gate agent. I see Adam coming in. This gentleman is a super wizard executive flier. And I'm going to have to tell him he's not making his daughter's birthday party because we're overbooked.

And then you're calling the day of the departure crew, which was my crew back in Dallas. And you're.
like, I need you to figure this out.

And so it was very profound for me because I learned a couple of things.

Everything matters. You have to follow the data and you have to figure out how you serve the customers, both the most important and the first time traveler, because that impression matters.

So that's a little bit about me as a human and how I think in terms of the role of data.
And the role of making brands, brands that serve versus just trying to get that next transaction and how you grow with a consumer over time.

That's me. I've been in the agency business. I moved from American. I was recruited by a founder, at an agency that was eventually acquired by Omnicom.

That was around. He didn't want agency people. He wanted people that were analytics people. Or analysts. Or different types to build what he thought was the future.

Which was around customer experience. The role of the final mile. Which in the final mile at that time was decisions you're making in front of a shelf set at 7-Eleven, and why I might choose brand X or Y and all the things brand needs brands need to do to get that favorable position.

And also have that mental space so that I'm going to choose brand X over Y. And that's really a more of a consulting gig than anything else. So I grew up with that sort of it's about the business of the business and making consumers happy. And that's me. That's my story. That's my origin story.

Adam Katz
I don't even know where to go with that. I don't think I've ever met somebody that was in that world. And then all of a sudden, no, look at look at where you are today. What do you think inside of you drove you from that place to where you are today? Like, what was the qualities that kind of stood out to you that made you get here?

Amy Lanzi
You know, at first I was a competitive swimmer. And that is about a 500.

Adam Katz
Speed swimmer? Long swimmer?

Amy Lanzi
500 long, long distance. And that is really about a value. You're competing against yourself all the time. You are a part of a team, but it's about maxing out to shave time and to compete every time.

And so I feel like that set me up to always be bringing my very best. And doing my very best every time. You know a little bit of the concept of will to win. And how you do that.

Every time, you know, I say to my kids, you know, my daughter is a second year at UVA. Did you do your best? Did you do your personal best?

Because that is what I expect of you. Every time, not just sometimes, every time. So I think that experience really shaped that one. Two, I'm very curious as a human, our business has changed so much that you must be curious to stay ahead. And you must want to break the old way to get to the new way, right?

Like inventing is really important and it's a luxury for us in our business. I like being on the agency side. I like helping clients see change and I like inventing new things to then bring into the market that we think will serve clients better and honestly, consumers.

So I would say you have to stay curious, be inventive, and also just bring your best self everyday. And do you know why not? Otherwise what's the alternative?

Adam Katz
You know, it's funny, I find Katie Ledecky to be one of the coolest athletes of all time, and I feel like I've heard her, if I remember correctly, answer a question about her personal best versus herself all the time. Like, does it get, like, boring in the pool by yourself? Like, what was that like? Because I, I can't even I can't even, like, swim half a lap.

So what was that like?

Amy Lanzi
Well, you should try it. It's actually really -

Adam Katz
How many laps is 500?

Amy Lanzi
20.

Adam Katz
20, right.

Amy Lanzi
But yes. It's actually meditative. So, you know, you're staring at a line and you're thinking, I actually was. I was a theater kid, too. So I would rehearse my lines

Adam Katz
While swimming?

Amy Lanzi
While swimming and like, so I mean, I still did.

Adam Katz
Where'd you grow up?

Amy Lanzi
In Texas. I grew up in Connecticut and then I moved to Texas and in middle school in eighth grade.

Adam Katz
Where in Texas?

Amy Lanzi
Houston. The Woodlands.

Adam Katz
Okay. Are you a Houston sports person or, you know.

Amy Lanzi
I'm an Astros fan. I'm an Astros fan because I got tickets if I got all A's. And I would take my dad. And he would say they were the worst seats, but he would say, these are the best tickets because you earned them.

Adam Katz
I love it. I'm not going to I'm not going to ask you what players were there just for your own sake.

Amy Lanzi
It was during the B time. But anyway.

Adam Katz
During the Biggio, Bagwell.

Amy Lanzi
That's right.

Adam Katz
Yeah okay. Yeah I can, I can go through that any day. I understand. That's cool. I love that. So, so kind of Amy Lanzi is like a mixture of sports analytics, grit and compassion. Is that the Amy Lanzi mix?

Amy Lanzi
I think so, compassion or empathy? I have, you know, I have lots of time and attention for people that deserve time and attention.

Adam Katz
I love that.

Amy Lanzi
And I have worked on putting myself in someone else's shoes so I can understand them more as a leader, as a partner.

Adam Katz
I mean, you've gone through it almost every job in the way to think about you as well. So it's so much easier to work with people when you've been through it all. Who's been like the best mentors to you and like, what are the pieces of leadership you're obviously been sharing some with? With the way you mentor your own kids and some of your father's quotes, which I love.

Amy Lanzi
Sure.

Adam Katz
Who have been some of the biggest mentors to you and some of the leadership things that you've learned.

Amy Lanzi
I am the youngest of four. And I would say my older siblings, by ten years, and I would say my older siblings have also shaped me. They're all incredible in terms of their professions. And each of them has shaped me in terms of mentorship. My oldest brother was in and still is, in sports marketing and talent management.

So I fell in love with that side of the business. And sort of understanding the interconnectivity that g oes on in the role of media there. And also he is incredible and has never made an enemy. And there is not a stranger in his life. He remembers everyone down to their children and their birthdays.

Adam Katz
That's so cool.

Amy Lanzi
Which is incredible again. My sister worked in software sales. She took a company public. She's, you know, incredibly talented and made me feel okay to be a strong woman in the workplace. And not to take it from anybody. And it's okay to have grace and to wear lipstick.

And then I would say my other brother, who was a trader, he was a quant times a million. And that you gotta bring it everyday because you will be replaced. So yeah, I would say those three and then this woman Sharon Love that I worked for for a long time at Omnicom, she was incredible about grace in the boardroom. She was one of the only female CEOs at Omnicom and really sort of established a Northstar and was a very empathetic leader as well.

So I learned quite a bit from her on how to be kind, but also precise.

Adam Katz
Wow, wow. I feel like, you know, so far in this episode, I like you're definitely keeping me on my toes because I typically have a million good questions and I'm like, wow, Amy, might have just finished the whole call in nine minutes? Or that's how good it's been. But now I'm learning a lot about you. I think when it comes down to it, we're hearing a lot about how you got here.

What are the biggest mistakes you think you've ever made?

Amy Lanzi
I think that's a good question. I would say young more. There was one client that I didn't take the page out of my older brother's book of an enemy, and I maybe made that person an enemy. And then later on, he's a grown up. I'm a grown up. And looking back, I'm like, I don't know if that was a good idea. So it was a reminder of and I was young at the time. But I think playing the long game is important because it's a long life. And you also the our world is very small and gets smaller and smaller.

Adam Katz
You never know when you're going to see somebody.

Amy Lanzi
You never know. So that's one as something that I look back on and say, I shouldn't have done that. I would say two, I didn't start really being bolder. I wish I was bolder when first started because you are, it's like if there's people that are just in their career now. You kind of get the right to be bold because you don't know any better. It's hard to be bold as you get more mature in your career.

Because the risk is so much greater. And so when you're that first couple of years, be bold because you can be. So I was pretty bold, but looking back, I would have been more bold, if I was to tell myself my 22 year old self what to do.

Adam Katz
But in a lot of ways it feels like you're in your dream job.

Amy Lanzi
Right now. Yes.

Adam Katz
So like, did your mistakes really shape anything negative? It ended up becoming your dream job. So it's interesting.

Amy Lanzi
I would say that they keep me out of trouble in my dream job. How about that?

Adam Katz
I love that. I love that. So shifting more into our industry, obviously knowing how authentic you are and how much you care about personalizing things in your life. And for brands, how do you kind of think about that when you're working with brands today, what's your way of personalizing the experience, not making it feel like an assembly line, and especially with the size of Publicis, how do you kind of navigate that?

Amy Lanzi
It's a great question. It's a question we get often. Publicis Group is gigantic, but Digitas is not gigantic. And clients that I have, I'm fierce about their growth. So that's important because we're not you know, sometimes clients worry they get lost in the holding company shuffle, which is why agencies exist.

Which is an important point. Especially today, with a lot of changes that are happening in the marketplace. So that is important. I would say that with brands, especially in the world of AI and the transformation, particularly in search, what you are the answer for matters more than anything else. You have to stand for something: a set of brand, not purpose, but brand values.

What can I expect from this brand? What are you the answer for versus trying to be found? That is the shift -

Adam Katz
Very Interesting.

Amy Lanzi
That you need. You need to. I would say we talk to every client right now. Because the role of search AI, the role of social and creators, you need to really authentically have a point of view so that you can make those authentic connections with creators.

And you can authentically show up is the answer to how do I be the best mom or whatever that thing is, so that you can authentically hold that to be true, to be the answer for it.

Because consumers are more frivolous than ever before, and they're also not as loyal. So you need to always be there for them. I like thinking about making brands your best friend. They know you. They know what to tell you in terms of personalization.

Adam Katz
So humanizing a brand is critical?

Amy
Yeah, humanizing as well as being able to use intelligence. And this is where Digitas really plays hard using intelligence to predict that next need. So the brand is staying ahead of your next question. So you're the answer for that question.

Adam Katz
I love that. And in terms of doing that, what are brands you admire for the way they've been able to do this?

Amy Lanzi
I love the question on the brands that I admire. I would say one of the brands I admire, and it's a client of ours too, is Delta. I think Delta has done an incredible job here. In terms of and to my airline heritage, in terms of celebrating that they're 100, shaping the future of mobility, like the incredible work at CES, reframing the role of loyalty. Bringing in partners like Starbucks and Uber and others to really maintain that super fan base that they have.

But also be able to expand into the future around that. One of the other brands that I love.
that's not a client, but I think has incredible super loyal fans is Mini Cooper. I happened to be an owner of a mini Cooper. And it is just so well done. Everything they do is about mini, how you feel.

Adam Katz
Hopefully, hopefully you're pitching them right now.

Amy Lanzi
Yeah, I'm not, but if that is one brand that if you said, what is one of the brands you're most loyal to? It's a mini and it is incredible how through each comm, each car update, each invitation to come see the next set of minis is just incredibly well done. Because they really stand for that modern mobility in my mind with a little bit of fun flair. So that's one that I am a big fan of.

Adam Katz
And staying on the point of like brands that you feel loyal to, what do you think is like an underrated or overlooked data point that brands don't pay enough attention to today?

Amy Lanzi
Brands don't pay attention to what people buy outside of their own brand. Basket level data, if I did a deep dive in what you bought at your last grocery trip, I know a lot about you. And so brands -

Adam Katz
Do you?

Amy Lanzi
Brand need to not only, what did you buy. Like so if you bought you know, confectionery whatever else you bought is they're telling about you as a human. So then I can then think about more occasions, more moments, more things that will again can turn you into super dad status. Let's say if that's that, that's the authentic place this brand wants to live in.

Adam Katz
Well, you know, that's where I want to live.

Amy Lanzi
So yeah. So to me that's a really interesting underrated data point purchasing behavior in general. But of all the things, not just your products, it's a big world out there. And humans are complicated.

Adam Katz
And you feel that what you're basically saying is sometimes brands only live in their own echo chamber.

Amy Lanzi
Yes

Adam Katz
And ultimately, by doing that, they're not showing up in places that can be opportunistic. It's a great point. I mean, if you hear me saying that in the market coming up, we may be we may be sounding similar. And shifting gears on you a little back to some of the purpose things that we were talking about earlier on about yourself.

I saw that you were recognized as a she runs it working mother of the year. How did that make you feel?

Amy Lanzi
Amazing. It was amazing.

Adam Katz
How do you like, balance all that? I've been thinking about it a lot myself.

Amy Lanzi
Sure. So yeah, I love this question. I think being a mom and or a parent has definitely made me a better employee. As well as a leader, as well as someone that can help brands grow.

It helps you have a much better set of decisions, I have a better decision making framework around time. You know this. You mentioned you have a four year old that sometimes you're like, I got to make bed time. And this is not that important. This is tomorrow's problem. That's not today's problem. And nothing is better than that as a way to help you make decisions. So that's one thing.

Adam Katz
So learning how to say no because you were a parent.

Amy Lanzi
What's that?

Adam Katz
Learning how to say no and prioritization.

Amy Lanzi
Yeah. Prioritization. And I would say to even my coworkers that don't have kids. My whole thing is everyone should have something else to do period. And the kid thing doesn't trump someone wanting to go to a class there. And it's important that you keep that as a decision you've made. And so therefore your children are more important than your coworker that doesn't have children but wants to go to a running club.

Those things are important too. I look at my calendar and I make decisions around giving everything equal time as much as I can. So sometimes. it's a balance of work. Your partner, your children and sometimes work takes over. But then, you know, you have to overcorrect so that you're, you know, my husband knows he's going to get more time or my children know they're going to get more time. And you can combine those things together.

But I do think if you're always

Adam Katz
Is this a mental thing you do or do you have an AI spreadsheet?

Amy Lanzi
Mental. No, it's a mental thing because. You know, and I think that you know, you have to of course you have to take care of yourself in that process. But the more you take advantage of one of those because we're always in the game of time and managing time, and the more you take advantage of one of those things, it will not grow. It will wither.

So you have to make sure you're figuring out how to feed all of those things. And that is something that when I became a mom and especially you ask about, she runs it. That's a really important thing about how you're balancing all those things together. And being fair to all the all of those parts, because we bring our whole selves to work.

Adam Katz
I love it. And in terms of, what other advice would you give to working parents to make them feel like they could be more comfortable in today's workplace? Because it's a pretty evolution that's changing every day?

Amy Lanzi
Sure. First of all, your job is to keep your children alive, right? So, like, cut the guilt right? Because, you know, like, one thing I always say to new moms in particular is like, your kids don't really remember anything before they're six. So it's okay. It's okay if you miss the thing.

There's a lot of activity that happens where you feel like you have to be there, but you have to look up and say, is this going to matter in five years? And I will say that since my, I have an 11 year old and then my daughter at UVA and then I have two older stepkids, boy, the long game really matters. And when I talk to them about the things that they remember, and what you know, they know that I was always be there for them. Period.

It wasn't that I missed the cookie party or whatever that one thing is. So try to think about those things. That is, I think, important. Also coming off of Mother's Day, it's like you're doing your best here and no one is perfect. There's no such thing as a perfect parent. There's no such thing as a perfect family. There's none of those things. So try to be in the moment. And because everyone is normal to a degree and you're all making your own normal.

Adam Katz
I love that, you know, it's interesting as we move into the future of obviously consumer connection and the way that we kind of marry purpose, employees, leadership, etc.. Don't you feel it's like the hardest time ever to be a CEO?

Amy Lanzi
I think it's hard because the new generation, I'm sure every CEO has said this. There's a couple of things. One, the new generation, the rising generation is different. I'm Gen X, they're different from how I was. And that's interesting to try to have empathy for them versus saying, well, when I was your age, I did this because that doesn't work. That's one.

We most likely are the last CEOs to have managed humans. We will probably be managing humans and agents. So that's a different way. That's a new frontier that we all need to figure out what that looks like. It'll be better for humans if we figure out how to free up their brains to do
all the smart things and knowledge based, versus the amount of work we have.

And how do you get that mix right? I think that is a very challenging thing for CEOs, but also really exciting because it's liberating.

I'm going to liberate you from some, so for Digitas, two years ago when I first started, I said everyone write down the things you do that you can't stand, that you do that you have to do. And then let's throw AI at that so that you can become incredible client service people and practitioners versus getting the report out or whatever those things are that are not really high value actions. So I think that's an interesting dynamic every CEO is, is, is working on. And what does it mean to be human in your organization? And why?

Adam Katz
That's an amazing thought process. Where do you spend the most time nowadays learning?

Amy Lanzi
When we are doing new pitches, that is a great time to also learn about the latest thing you may not have be doing on a current client is one. I am a voracious reader, so I spend a lot of thinking time to sort of see what are the trends in the world, you know, right now, coming off of the new fronts and up fronts, you can walk out of there with understanding the five things. So that's a nice summarized time in terms of being able to learn. But I definitely work hard to cast a wide net on the places to learn from, whether it's what consultants are pushing out, what our media partners are putting out in the market, what I'm seeing at the category level. So that I can put all those things together in a way that makes sense for the organization as well as for clients.

Adam Katz
What would be the song that you would pick if you were doing karaoke?

Amy Lanzi
That's a good one. I thought you were going to say my walk up song, because my walk up song is definitely David Bowie Under pressure. 100%.

Adam Katz
Got it. And how slow would you walk up to it? Would it be a fast walk? Slow walk? The way you would swim?

Amy Lanzi
Medium. You gotta own it. Yeah. For karaoke. I really like Fergalicious.

Adam Katz
Wow. Okay, I was not expecting. That was definitely not my expectation.

Amy Lanzi
Yeah, that's a good one. I also really like Meghan Trainor. That I think is "If I was you". I don't know what the name of the song is but it's "If I was you, I'd want to be me too" that one.

Adam Katz
Yeah, yeah, it's been popping up in my head because I was at, I've been watching, those karaoke events that were coming out recently. And it's just, it's just funny to me.

Amy Lanzi
I can throw in a Dolly Parton 9 to 5 too.

Adam Katz
I respect that. If you could go and I know a lot of people ask this in the world, but like, if you can go to to dinner with anyone alive, who would it be? Outside of your family.

Amy Lanzi
Anyone alive who would it be?. That's a really good question.

Adam Katz
Yeah. Had to throw the curveball because I would want to go to, everyone always asks me this. I'm like, I'd bring my dad back, so I just don't have a good play here. That's why I always ask it in a little bit of a new nuance. So next time

Amy Lanzi
You know what I like Michael Lewis. That would be a very interesting conversation because he's
an incredible writer and has really covered an incredible set of things that have happened that are not just finance, but are a confluence of finance and culture.

So I think he would be a very interesting person to spend time with.

Adam Katz
And if you had the ability to change a couple people's lives in seconds, would you go back to that airline and bring some of those people along with you? Is that like the place you would go first, knowing where you came from.

Amy Lanzi
Meaning that I would make, bring them into the organization now?

Adam Katz
Yeah, like, would you walk up to anybody in there and start hiring them? I feel like that would be a cool next move for you. Like go to Delta and say, hey, listen, I want a couple of your greatest people that you have dealing with customer service.

Amy Lanzi
I don't think I would hire from clients. I would, I've brought a lot of my friends over to Publicis Group already, like a lot of them.

Adam Katz
And how's that going?

Amy Lanzi
It's gone fine.

Adam Katz
I love that.

Amy Lanzi
There are a lot of people that had a similar background to me that I work with before at other agency and another holding company. So I've already done a little bit of that soft recruitment.

I would say I would probably go to places that are the opposite of agency to round out the team, maybe software, etc., so that you're getting some of that thinking also into the agency world.

Adam Katz
And in closing, what's something about you that you want to tell the audience that you don't think they would ever know outside of your love for fergalicious? But we'll use that as, throw that one.

Amy Lanzi
The audience probably doesn't know that I'm not a great driver. And when I first moved to New York, the Woman that I worked with, Sharon Love, she was convinced that everyone knew how to drive a stick, which they don't. And we had a car that I had to learn. I'm not a good driver to begin with, and then I had to learn how to drive this stick. And in the city, which is very hard.

And I might have burned to the clutch. And it broke down on the George Washington Bridge, and I created traffic. And I was listening to the traffic on ten, ten winds. And they're like, there's a breakdown. I'm like, that's me. This car, that's it. So that's a funny story. Most people don't know about me. They probably know I'm not a great driver, but they don't know I stopped traffic on the George Washington Bridge.

Adam Katz
Well, thank you so much for joining us on Breaking Through the Mayhem. You've created mayhem. And definitely come out in a better place. Thanks for joining us.

Amy Lanzi
Great, thanks. Thanks for having me.