WPP’s Janet Levine on World Building and the Future of Modern Marketing

In this episode of Breaking Through the Mayhem, host Adam Katz sits down with Janet Levine, Head of Global Invention at Mindshare (WPP Media), to unpack her creative philosophy, career journey, and the groundbreaking concept she calls world building.

Janet shares how her lifelong curiosity evolved into a leadership mindset that blends imagination with structure. Over her 16 years at WPP, she’s held roles across media planning, client leadership, and creative strategy—each one contributing to her latest innovation: world building, a strategic framework for modern brand growth.

The conversation dives deep into:

• World building explained: Why enduring, evergreen brand ecosystems matter more than fleeting campaigns and moments.
  
• Modern growth mindset: How world building helps brands evolve beyond old-school thinking to reach new audiences and pull multiple levers of growth.
  
• Collaboration as fuel: Why innovation at WPP thrives on cross-team creativity—from data and commerce to audience and creative teams.
  
• Culture and speed: How understanding culture’s rhythm and striking with impact—not just speed—creates more meaningful brand moments.
  
• Leadership and confidence: How Janet built her voice over time, turning curiosity into influence and creating space for teams to expand her ideas.
  

Janet also reflects on the importance of mentorship, creative bravery, and the marketers she admires—from Vaseline’s award-winning cultural work to the enduring storytelling of brands like Snickers. Off the clock, she shares her deep love for Broadway and rap music, citing Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jay-Z as creative icons who, like her, master the art of storytelling and rhythm.

This episode offers a masterclass in modern brand strategy, combining curiosity, culture, and creativity to show how world building can reshape the future of marketing.

TRANSCRIPT

Adam Katz
Welcome back to Breaking Through the Mayhem here live in Adweek. I am so excited. Janet, what's up? How are you?

Janet Levine
Hi, thank you so much for having me.

Adam Katz
This is awesome. You want to tell everyone a little bit about yourself?

Janet Levine
Yeah, definitely. So I work at WPP Media. I have a dual role. In one part, I run global strategy for one of our biggest clients. And the other piece is I lead a group called Global Invention. So that is all around ideas and innovation and thought leadership.

Adam Katz
You know, it's interesting. When I hear that, obviously that means you're a very curious person. When do you think your curiosity started?

Janet Levine
My curiosity, I've always been a thinker for a lot of my life. I kept those thoughts a little bit more on the inside. So I think running dialogue in high school, in college, and I would have a lot of thoughts, but not exactly know how to channel it or maybe not having the right type of confidence to be truthful. And I would say as I started to really learn and gain a lot of momentum at work, I was put into scenarios that really boosted the confidence and it gave me the ability to take the curiosity out of my mind and actually put it down, penning it to paper but also taking it to big stages as well.

Adam Katz
I love that. I mean, getting to know you recently, you are extremely curious but also innovative and you're putting things out there now, which is super cool. I wanted to ask you a little bit about that. I got a chance to read about your work around the world. You know, what do you call it? What's the construct that you're working on? World building. And I thought it was unbelievable.

Janet Levine
world building.

Adam Katz
So I would love if you could tell us a little bit about this construct, why you feel it's so important, and how long you've been thinking about this.

Janet Levine
So world building is a construct that has been about three years old, though I will say without a doubt, my entire career has been channeled into that body of work. So while, you know what I mean, like sharpening it and putting it down on paper.

Adam Katz
You've been working on pieces of this mindset. Did you always have the name world building though?

Janet Levine
No, I mean, these are just perspectives that I picked up along the way, whether it's in media planning or being a client lead. It's just some of the observations that I made of the industry, of clients, of what was happening within the agency. And without realizing it, it started to form into something as big as world building. So you might want to know what world building is.

Adam Katz
Absolutely.

Janet Levine
So world building is all about the idea of you can't build a brand based off of things that are fast and fleeting and finite. And I categorize those things as campaigns and moments. To actually build a brand, it has to be done based off of things that are enduring and evergreen and endless. And if you think about it, worlds are what people care about because it's too easy to force attention. We can buy anything we want in this industry. It's much better if you can earn the attention of people and build worlds around what they care about. Then for brands, it's really about how do you provide a very clear role and a value exchange to people to help give them more of what they want within the world.

Adam Katz
Brilliant. And how have you been allowed to evangelize that throughout WPP? And when were you given kind of that confidence to put out this idea and move with it?

Janet Levine
Definitely. So we launch annual thought leadership every single year at CES and that is usually a wonderful place for us to really start to debut things that we're thinking about for the industry. It could be for the present, it could be for the future. And so over the past three years, over time it has gotten bigger from a thought within a piece of content to actually the entire piece of thought leadership. And so… What does it look like? looks like thought leadership, of course, but also over time we've been able to build it into a process, into the operations, into how global operates in lockstep with local markets. We've channeled it into community strategies, into award-winning ideas. So what has started as the strategic stance has then unrolled into both the philosophy and the process.

Adam Katz
That's awesome. Do you ever think about how far you've come with this already?

Janet Levine
I do. I actually had a meeting with my strategy team today and no lie, this is literally what I said. I sitting there, I was watching them take the world building concept and they were applying AI to it and they were using it throughout the entire process. And I pinged the lead, but I also told the entire team. I said, wow, I feel so proud. Like this is what it's supposed to be is you lay a foundation for media and for strategy and you know it's right, but you hope that others can see it, but it's nothing without the rest of the team building into it. And that's why like world building is a, you know, team sport, we need other people to help build it and make it bigger and better. So that was a very big reflection moment for me.

Adam Katz
I'm doing something here. Janet is making big moves with world building. What do you think are the next steps of how you're going to use this construct, where you're going to take it, and kind of how you evangelize it more?

Janet Levine
Yeah, mean, it means different things to different brands. So different brands that we work with are in different stages. In general, though, there's a set of principles by which rural building was created, but we can't be flat-footed about it. So we're already thinking about what the 2.0 version of it is. And so, yes, it's all about taking these strategies and helping drive it into the plans and sharing with brands, because at the root, of it, world building is about modern growth. If we keep doing what we're doing in the industry, which is there's a lot of old school antiquated thinking, you're never going to be able to grow. World building is about saying we're going to turn the corner and look at many facets of not just media but marketing and we're going to modernize it so that brands can pull at different levers of growth. And it's different combinations for different brands. And that's how you can start to really advance it is by making it tailor fit for different brands, different categories.

Adam Katz
Have you ever thought about writing a book about it?

Janet Levine
Writing a book, wow, I mean that would be a big endeavor. You never know. Not at the moment.

Adam Katz
I can see you doing it. I know you also have this a lot of passion for obviously speed to market, real time marketing and putting brands in the center of things. And you've been doing a lot of this work for a long time. How do you kind of combine this new speed of market to world building and then also channel some of that learning as you move into the future?

Janet Levine
Yeah, so I spent a decade of my career studying the speed of culture and not just studying it, but understanding what culture is, understanding how it applies to different temple moments, different communities, and then figuring out how to execute it. The speed part is really critical, but if you think about it, everyone's trying to move quickly. There has to be difference makers when it comes to agility. And I spoke about it a little bit earlier, but if you really boil it down strategically, what does your brand stand for? Who are you trying to reach? And how do you add value, helps you assess should I be in this moment or not? The speed will be there, right? There are ways that you can use technology and AI. There are predetermined things that you can do to look at culture. But sometimes the speed is not enough, right? A lot of people hang their hat on like, yep, we could do it quicker. I care about the quickness, but also the impact that you make when you're striking in culture.

Adam Katz
brilliant. mean, and how do you get inside of WPP like when you're not on a brand or you're not working on something, how do you find yourself innovating with other people nowadays with how fast things are moving?

Janet Levine
Incredibly. It is amazing to connect in with creative commerce teams, with the data teams, with the audience teams. I find that even from a world building perspective, it's almost like a magnet, people are really drawn to it. But I love that hand raising to say great, there's different pieces of marketing that can advance with it. And as I said, I can't do it alone. I always love when other champions come through. And it also helps us take a greater look at what's happening across WPP and start to really unite things.

Adam Katz
How long have you been at WPP now?

Janet Levine
It has been almost 16 years. Sweet 16.

Adam Katz
That's unbelievable. What keeps you always excited?

Janet Levine
Yeah, WPP has given me a lot of opportunities to work in different roles. As I mentioned, I've been in media planning, I've been in comms planning, I've been a client lead, I've run that creative practice. So I think everything that I've done has built upon itself and I've been able to do it because WPP allows me to have non-linear thinking. If I wanna create a solution or I wanna team up with a group of people to do something really different, it's not discouraged ever in fact right there's a lot of the leadership who's like keep driving it keep making it bigger bolder sharper and with that type of backing there's just a lot of possibilities that can unfold.

Adam Katz
Love that. What else are you excited about seeing this week that has nothing to do with WPP?

Janet Levine
So I'm about to be on, just a guest. I'm going to go see a panel. And the topic is about creator AORs. I think it's just a fascinating piece because I think there's a lot of opportunity in the influencer space. It's too easy almost to be like, great, what type of influencers do I want to use and how to leverage it? I think when you start to look at the other side of the coin in creators, right, that is not to tie it to world building, but the world needs to be created somehow. People want to participate. They want two-way interactions, not just one way. So anyway, I'm really excited to hear that perspective.

Adam Katz
I love that. Who are some of the marketers that you respect and try to look out for when they're doing things out there?

Janet Levine
Like the brands are actual people?

Adam Katz
You take it how you want it.

Janet Levine
Let's see, well, I'd say one of my mentors is Cindy Gustafson of sin Who is the the CEO of Nutrafol and you know a lot of my early career? Was really you know she told me you have to know the rules to break the rules and so you know There's people that I follow like in their journeys of career to see like how they shape things and how they operate I think on the brand side I really like brands that have enduring platforms, meaning if you see an execution, let's just say Snickers, you know that the center of gravity is gonna be hangry. And so like everything that they do is very playful in that wheelhouse. Equally, I would say Vaseline is an incredible marketer. And I might be a little biased because I work on Unilever, but Vaseline has been a consistently brave, and bold marketer who is not just award-winning but drives business. This year at Cannes, they won a titanium lion. So that's one of the very few highest awards. And they did it by implementing not just world-building but a strategy of, if we're gonna go out and have influence, how do we reach many communities of many sizes? And they created Vaseline Verified, which is all about finding people out on social media who use hacks of Vaseline so it gets them to all different types of communities.

Adam Katz
That's genius.

Janet Levine
Yeah they layered in a social currency by badging that and it really took off so a consistently bold marketer and a very exciting win this year for them.

Adam Katz
I love that. You're coming down the stretch. I was thinking a little bit more about what kind of crazy question I can ask you. And I didn't want to overdo it to you.

Janet Levine
Okay.

Adam Katz
So let's think about this one. If you can go out to dinner with anyone that was not alive but not family, who would it be?

Janet Levine
They have to be dead?

Adam Katz
No they cannot be dead. And they can't be your family. Who would you pick?

Janet Levine
OK. This one's pretty easy.

Adam Katz
Wow, so I gave you a layup.

Janet Levine
I have to go slam dunk right? I would do Lin-Manuel I think he is one of the most creative geniuses that we have of our time transcending Broadway rap music he is a professional at his craft.

Adam Katz
How many times do you think I saw Hamilton?

Janet Levine
Is it more or less than how many times I have seen Hamilton?

Adam Katz
I would absolutely go less just based on that answer, but I've seen it a bunch too. I think it's, there's something so perfect about it. Like it's got like a, it's got all the right things going on. Are you that big of a Broadway fan?

Janet Levine
I love Broadway. I think that's a lesser known fact. really do. In particular, like musicals.

Adam Katz
What are your top five?

Janet Levine
I don't know if I can do top five. But I'll tell you, one other one that I love, it's a little bit older, is called Once. And with the original cast, and it is very music based with live instruments. And it was fantastic. But you know how some people have comfort TV? Hamilton's my comfort content

Adam Katz
So name five you like. They don't have to be top five.

Janet Levine
I like, okay, once, Hamilton. I'm trying to go through the library of things that I've seen. I don't know, I'm probably not gonna be able to do this on the phone.

Adam Katz
All right, cool. What would you say is a Broadway show you think I love that you'd be surprised by?

Janet Levine
Mamma Mia.

Adam Katz
Interesting. Now, I think Rent might be my favorite Broadway show of all time, you know? This might be a surprising one for the audience out there. is. And what about, like, give me an artist you love that people would be surprised by.

Janet Levine
I have to say, and you'll see why I like Hamilton, but growing up, this is super true and even now, I really loved, I became obsessed with rap music. That I could tell you the top five, yeah. But I used to record on a tape like Hot 97 or Power 105. But here's what I think it's really, really smart. I did have this conversation with someone once like, wait, you love like, Hamilton, you love rap, because I think they're on like a different level of wordplay.

Adam Katz
The mind just moves faster.

Janet Levine
And it's the storytelling.

Adam Katz
That's awesome. So who is your favorite rapper to close?

Janet Levine
I Think I gotta go Jay-Z. Best rapper alive.

Adam Katz
Jay-Z. It's interesting.

Janet Levine
You know he says that right?

Adam Katz
Yes, I'm Brooklyn, I'm aware. But I will say, I'm a Rent fan and also a Jay-Z fan. We have that combo. Well, thank you so much, Jennifer, for your amazing interview. You're the best. I'll see you soon.

Janet Levine
Thank you. Bye.