Ross Martin

This cerebral, sneaker-collecting poetry major became Viacom's brand innovator for the MTV generation. After nearly a decade in film, Martin was recruited by Viacom as head of programming for MTVU. There he founded what is now called Scratch, an in-house marketing laboratory that partners with megabrands to come up with fresh ways to reach millennials. "Young people are turning these companies into what they want them to be," he says.