Jason Sperling Girds His Loins for the Dead Ad Society

Little Black Book is the official media partner of the Dead Ad Society, the hungryman-founded award show that resurrects killed ideas.

Launched in 2024, this revival of hibernating concepts sees entered scripts being performed live by an improv group at the awards show. This year it will take place on September 18th at The Mint in Los Angeles after kicking off in New York City last year. A panel of judges crowns a winner, which is then brought to life by hungryman and a collection of companies – including Work Editorial, Sonic Union, ARC, Synapse and the Screen Actors Guild – that support the show with funding, time and resources. Last year's winning script was recently launched as a finished production for KUL MOCKS, a non-alcoholic beverage brand.

“We called it an anti-award show,” says Caleb Dewart, managing partner of hungryman. “It’s supposed to be wild. The scripts were performed live - a glorified table read. It was messy, imperfect, and that was the point. That’s the heart of it.”

Entries for this year’s show are open until August 15th, 2025 at 4pm PDT.

Little Black Book is catching up with this year’s jurors for honest conversations about the ideas that got away – the ones that died, came back, and the ones that stayed dead.
Up today is Innocean CCO Jason Sperling.

​​Check out previous entries to the interview series here.

LBB> Let's start with the obvious question: Is there an idea you’re still emotionally attached to, even years later?

Jason> When I was a student I did a campaign for Tower Records that was all about ‘xxx gets you money, money gets you music’ that showed the extent to which people did things to get money, like selling a seeing eye-dog or gold fillings. Also had a commercial for AOL in 2012 that involved a monster that eats villagers and throws them up when he hears them enjoying AOL in his stomach. Rupert Sanders was set to direct. Then, at the last minute AOL’s CEO suggested a new idea, where the old AOL stick figure mascot danced for 60 seconds. We walked away, the spot never made.

LBB> What did the death of it teach you about the business? Or about yourself?

Jason> Don’t get too married to ideas. And come up with enough great ones not to care about the death of a few.

LBB> What do you look for in a dead ad that makes you say, ‘This deserves to live’?

Jason> A braveness or audacity that makes it memorable, unexpected and worth telling a friend about.

LBB> How are you feeling about judging scripts in real time, in front of a live audience?

Jason> No different than what I do every day.

LBB> How will you approach judging a script that’s being performed live? Do you think the crowd will sway you?

Jason> A great presenter always helps. But I’m going to try to separate the work from people making funny voices or amping up the drama since we’re awarding ideas, not pitches (although a category for Best Pitch should be created).

LBB> Dead Ad Society is part award show, part séance. What’s your mindset heading into the room?

Jason> Gird my loins and prepare for anything.

LBB> What’s the most ridiculous reason an idea of yours was killed?

Jason> The global president of the company thought he had better ideas, so he challenged me to a shootout.

LBB> What’s your theory on why great ideas often don’t survive the process?

Jason> There are so many reasons. Some warranted, some not. But now with AI, I imagine that people will be resurrecting ideas all the time. It might be the unsaid irony of all this. We’re going to make an idea practically, but people are making spec work now with way more frequency than ever before.

LBB> Outside of this award show, have you ever seen a killed idea come back to life and succeed later?

Jason> Super Bowl 2017. Our Honda ‘Yearbooks’ ad was number two on the Ad Meter. It died two years prior.

LBB> Have you ever been the one to kill an idea - and regretted it?

Jason> I kill ideas all the time, typically in favour of another. Do I always get it right? Probably not, but I also acknowledge that and encourage creatives to fight for something if they truly believe in it. I don’t want regret to ever factor into any decision making.

LBB> If you had to hold a funeral for a dead idea, what song would play?

Jason> ‘Murder on the Dance Floor’ by Sophie Ellis Baxtor.