Performance Marketing Unlocked

AI is not evil, so why do we project human characteristics onto it? This week's guest unravels the misconceptions of emergent tech in the marketing industry and addresses the non truths that flood the discussion around the future of tech and AI for brands and marketers. Software engineer, turned lawyer, now CEO of MDRx, Tom Grogan is uniquely positioned to advise the biggest brands on tech strateg...

Diversity as a topic comes up in most panels, events and was unmissable at Cannes. But what are agencies actually doing to challenge inequality when hiring new talent? The UK is the one of the worst western economies for equal access to opportunities and this week's guests are on mission to change that. Rob Jackson founded WYK; a digital marketing enterprise providing courses to underrepresented g...

No business likes to hear the word 'uncertainty'. But facts, figures and forecasts can help brands remain confident during times of crisis and unpredictable consumer behaviours. To provide marketers from brands and agencies with clarity for their own media planning, and their competitors', PMW delves into the IPA's Bellwether quarterly report which dropped first thing this morning, revealing where...

Performance marketing is overrated, said Duarte Garrido boldly to an audience of Performance Marketing Unlocked listeners... but why? From professional Chef to social media at Sky, Coca-cola and then Head of Omnichannel at Standard Chartered Bank, Garrido joins the podcast to unlock the brand to demand marketing approach. He teaches how to spend your media budget and prove its value, reveals the t...

For a festival that boasts of creativity, why is the presence of adtech and performance marketers bigger than ever before? In this extra bumper episode, we bring you three interviews: Snapchat, Jon Evans (host of the Uncensored CMO and CCO at System1) and Billion Dollar Boy. [04:54] Snapchat's Fintan Gillespie explains why e-commerce is broken and how AR can bridge the phygital gap. Fintan explain...

"AI is more of an enabling tool right now than it is a replacement for genuine human creativity," said Kantar's EVP, Creative and Media Solutions, Steve Silvers. For a topic that crops up in almost every talk at Cannes this year, no one seems that impressed. In the second part of PMW's Cannes Versus Machine three-part podcast series we unlock the technologies that have blown up in the last ye...

It's hot. There's rosé. A helicopter just landed on a catamaran. It can only be all the media leaders of the world gathering at Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity for its 70th year. PMW are covering the festival by delving into the relationship between advertising creativity and data led performance marketing. The Cannes Versus Machine series features a 3-part podcast series interviewing some of...

The IAB reported that the digital advertising industry accounts for between 3.5-4% of global carbon emissions – almost twice that of the aviation industry. It was this startling statistic that began PMW's investigation into how adland became such a significant polluter and most importantly uncovering why a sustainability mission is not only ethical, but solves a lot more for businesses than we thi...

Influencer marketing is coming of age. It's making its way through the stroppy teen years of regulatory issues and Kim Kardashian, and is now cementing itself as a serious – and lucrative – marketing channel. Scott Guthrie, Director General of the Influencer Marketing Trade Body (IMTB) warns of the deification of data, reveals why follower count is overrated, and explains the significance of the I...

"Never let a human do a machine's job," said Kate Cox, CMO of AI scale-up BrightBid. The questions marketers should be asking now isn't will AI take jobs, but what do we do with the time that is saved by AI? Kate saw the 2023 explosion of AI several years back, but explains why we're still in the efficiency stage, and what the real changes will look like in the coming years. In this episode, we ta...

How do you ask the Archbishop of Canterbury for your ball back? Well that's what this week's guest duo Tom Rainsford (Marketing Director, Beavertown Brewery) and Paul McEntee (CEO, PR agency Here Be Dragons) had to do. The marketing double act push creativity to its extremes – so how does this translate into performance marketing? In this episode, PMW's Joe Arthur and Lucy Shelley sit down with th...

“We ain’t in Kansas anymore.” PMW’s first episode of the rebranded podcast speaks to EA Games’ Global Marketing Strategy Manager, Perla Bloom. We unlock gaming communities and virtual spaces starting with the Barbie trailer and that foot clip.  We discuss how to surprise and delight huge fans, how easter eggs can work in marketing, and why NFTs are more than their ‘finance bro’ reputation. Pe...

Microsoft Bing X ChatGPT plans to introduce ads into the generative AI search function. Whilst this maybe an obvious move, the speed of the announcement prompts questions around brand safety and suitability. From bans in Italy, to Wozniak and Musk getting cold feet, the PMW editorial team get behind the scenes of the news of the week in a bitesize episode. Read more at www.performancemarketingworl...

What does innovation really look like? Tech evolutions are hard to keep up with but sometimes the most creative uses are invisible. 'Loud' jacket-wearer Azlan Raj, CMO EMEA at Merkle and CMO UK&I at dentsu, dissects the brand and performance pendulum, argues what brand loyalty looks like for progressive brands and gets into the 'unsexy stuff' within innovations. He also talks about being bold for...

In the past year, Meta has cut almost 30% of its workforce, with  10,000 layoffs adding  to the 11,000 in November, and the 5,000 unfilled vacancies closed. Zuckerberg announced the restructuring as a 'flattening' of the organisation, removing low-priority projects.  This included its recent expansion of NFTs  within Facebook and Instagram, which launched testing less than...

What gets the attention of the top marketers in the UK? From sex toys to hedgehog brains, this episode unwraps performance marketing and what happened at PMW Unlocked, our 2 day event with 800 attendees. We begin with a recap from the editorial team at PMW, some 'jokes' from the Editor and a rundown of the biggest topics including ChatGPT, attribution and why advertisers' biggest competitors are d...

A 100-year-old german skincare brand like Nivea is about as risk averse as they come. So how does the Head of Digital convince their boss to try new channels? Adam Wright is this week's Attention Seeker discussing the resurgence of old school media channels, why big brands envy smaller brands and what Bezos did right with Amazon. We get into TikTok and the metaverse and why the need to be first is...

Shelter, the UK housing charity, made the news with its bold cost of living 'hacks' campaign satirising the government's 'stick-a-plaster-on-it' advice. "Marketing is a really powerful industry" and Helen Saul, Shelter's Head of Marketing, wants to do it for good, not for money. Helen talks through what the end goal was for the campaign, why employee advocacy is underrated and challenges anyone wh...

Who's getting the most attention at the Super Bowl... and why? The editorial team at PMW get behind the scenes of what makes a memorable ad when competing against 80 others that also spent millions. With insights from marketing experts, we discuss which predictions came true, who was missing at the Super Bowl and the secret to advertising success. If you enjoyed this episode, share with friends, l...

It took us a few days, several attempts and one broken keyboard to create this episode, all in the name of one of the biggest events in advertisers' calendar: the Super Bowl. Jon Evans, CCO at System1 and host of the Uncensored CMO podcast, becomes the podcast guest in the build up to the big match. Telling tales of his own marketing flops, we go through some of the biggest wins and mighty losses...

"Search is the most effective way to influence customer purchases with 41% saying that that would be the best way to reach them." Join the cost per mille high club as PMW launches the Performance Marketing Playbook for Travel Brands, the practical guide to marketing in travel for 2023 and beyond. Editor Robin Langford explains how tech is going to play a key role in the industry bouncing back...

You'd think that January would be the busiest marketing month for vegan, health and alcohol-free food and drinks brands, but no: it's the opposite. The GM UK for Australian-born healthy food and drink platform Soulfresh explains the difference between performance marketing for a big corporation and a small disruptive brand, why she had to take a road trip of billboards in the UK and how to get att...

Institute of Practitioners in Advertising’s (IPA) Bellwether report for Q4 2022 was released early yesterday morning with hot anticipation from the industry's brands, agencies and marketers. Providing a run down on budgets, spending and forecasts, the report detailed an optimistic outlook for budgets amidst recession concerns, with a U-turn on adspend previously reported in Q3. PMW's editoria...

With over 1.4 million Twitter followers, Cynthia Johnson is an expert in personal branding. A digital marketer by trade and Guinness World Record holder by dream, the CEO of Bell + Ivy explains why influencing isn't about the influencer, how she stole the Pope's Twitter handle and her guerrilla marketing approach. She discusses how she began a business that treats eating disorders remotely, and wh...

Let's begin 2023 with a rundown of the big players. PMW's editorial team discuss the New Year's revelations including the slow death of the Meta and Google duopoly, how Amazon Ads is bigger than Prime, and why businesses really can't ignore TikTok in their 2023 marketing spend. Plus, our top predictions for the year ahead. Subscribe to the podcast to keep up to date and register on our site: www.p...