Planet Propaganda Appoints Dan Monarko to Develop Media Strategy for AI Age

Planet Propaganda Taps Media Veteran Dan Monarko to Build AI-Era Media Practice

Planet Propaganda has appointed Dan Monarko as chief media growth officer to spearhead development of a comprehensive media practice designed specifically for today’s rapidly evolving marketplace.

Monarko joins from BarkleyOKRP, where he served as SVP of media and growth under the agency’s MissionOne Media brand. During his tenure, he led media strategy and business development initiatives for a diverse portfolio of brands including Premier Protein, Dole, McCain Foods, Motel 6, and several others. His expertise has been particularly valuable for consumer packaged goods (CPG) and challenger brands competing in saturated markets.

Among his notable achievements, Monarko orchestrated the media strategy for the National Pork Board’s first major campaign since “The Other White Meat,” helping reposition the brand within a dramatically transformed consumer landscape.

Rather than continuing his career at a large holding company agency, Monarko chose to build something from the ground up at Planet Propaganda – a practice purposefully constructed for the AI era.

“Most agencies claim their creative drives results. Planet has the receipts,” Monarko explained. “Jimmy John’s ‘Freaky Fast’ didn’t just sell sandwiches – it became the operational DNA of an entire franchise system. ‘A Sub Above’ transformed Jersey Mike’s into America’s fastest-growing food chain. Duluth Trading evolved from a workwear catalog to a $600 million retailer. When creative delivers that kind of impact, media isn’t merely a line item, it’s a multiplier.”

Monarko argues that the traditional agency model, which functioned effectively when media was slower and more compartmentalized, has become outdated. “AI has compressed timelines, automated much of the mechanical work, and exposed how much of the process was built around structure instead of outcomes,” he said.

His vision for Planet Propaganda’s media practice represents a fundamental shift from the specialized roles – planners, buyers, programmatic leads, analysts – that have defined media organizations for decades. While this traditional structure created clear responsibilities, it also generated silos that hampered efficiency.

“AI doesn’t eliminate media expertise,” Monarko emphasized. “It eliminates the performance of it. The value now lies in understanding the system holistically – how components interconnect, how signals travel, how upstream decisions affect downstream outcomes.”

Planet Propaganda’s approach eschews legacy organizational structures in favor of a leaner team of senior, cross-disciplinary strategists capable of moving fluidly across channels and functions. These professionals engage with creative development as effectively as they handle platform strategy and data interpretation. The focus is on ecosystem fluency rather than specialized expertise.

The practical benefit is significantly increased speed. Creative teams receive near-instantaneous feedback on content performance, while strategy evolves continuously based on live data rather than retrospective analysis. Media plans target where attention actually exists and adjust dynamically when that attention shifts.

“You don’t win by trying to outmaneuver the platforms,” Monarko noted. “You win by providing them better inputs – superior creative, refined data, clearer objectives – and allowing them to function as designed. Much of the industry remains organized around attempting to outsmart systems that have already surpassed them in capability.”

For Planet Propaganda, the timing of this initiative is strategic. As clients reevaluate their media spending allocations and expected returns, the agency sees an opportunity to offer a model built for efficiency and adaptability rather than scale for its own sake.

The agency’s newly established media practice is currently available to both existing and prospective clients, positioning Planet Propaganda at the forefront of an industry-wide shift toward more integrated, responsive media solutions that can keep pace with technological advancement and changing consumer behaviors.