Future Proof

In the latest episode of Kantar’s Future Proof podcast, Dr. Nicki Morley, Head of Behavioural Science and Innovation Expertise at Kantar UK, sits down with Barbara Schandl, Head of Insight at Mondelez Snack Futures Ventures, to delve into the dynamic world of venture initiatives. As two self-proclaimed 'Curiosity champions', they dive into the benefits of these programs and what valuable insights...

Join Dr. Nicki Morley as she sits down with Shafik Saba, Global Lead for Front-End Innovation at Haleon, to discuss the power of innovation in driving growth. Shafik shares his philosophy on innovation through design thinking, brand centricity, and building from strong foundations.  Discover the key to sustainable growth through innovation isn’t all about ideation and learn why loving your job, in...

2023 will be challenging as marketers navigate tough economic conditions, but it also presents a world of new opportunities. In this episode of Future Proof podcast, Jane Ostler, EVP Global Thought Leadership at Kantar, talks to Mastercard’s Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Raja Rajamannar about what he’s most excited about in 2023, including his view and prospects for Augmented Reality,...

What does 2023 hold for media adspend? Jane Ostler talks to GroupM’s new guru of market prediction, Kate Scott-Dawkins, to get her views on where the global ad market is going. Together they explore the reality of what a soft-landing for the global economy will mean for overall ad spend as well as individual channels.   Kate explains that while digital may appear to be to be struggling, it is in f...

We all know that great ads win awards but do they drive bottom line for the business that pays for them? In this episode of Future Proof, Jane Ostler talks to Amy Rodgers at WARC and Duncan Southgate from Kantar about new research into the complex relationship between creativity and profit. In particular, with many marketers being pushed to consider greater focus on performance marketing, she asks...

Jerry Daykin explains why inclusive marketing is, simply, better marketing. Jerry Daykin, Head of Global Media at Beam Suntory and WFA Diversity Ambassador, has recently written Inclusive Marketing, a practical guide to embedding true representation across the marketing process. In this episode, he talks to Valeria Piaggio, Global Head of DEI at Kantar, about how marketers need to think beyond the...

Ed Vaizey has been part of the UK’s cultural leadership for more than a decade, as a UK Government Minister, a member of the House of Lords, a director at the Tate, and now with his own show on Times Radio. Today he talks to Jane Ostler, EVP of Thought Leadership at Kantar, about pandemic TV viewing, the future of radio and TV, and how data is used. In particular, he explains how cultural institut...

Menopause is an increasingly hot topic as brands, politicians, celebrities, and influencers are driving the conversation to the top of the agenda. We have invited Lesley Salem, Founder of Over The Bloody Moon, a leading menopause support provider, to frankly discuss about our research into symptoms, the menopause in the corporate space and how brands should look at the menopause with insights from...

With prominent ad agencies advising their clients to pause advertising on Twitter, we talk with Nick Primola, Group EVP of the Association of National Advertisers, about brand risk, credibility and how advertisers perceive the recent decisions taken by Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk.  In this new episode Jane Ostler, EVP of Global Thought Leadership at Kantar, asks Nick what the social media platfo...

Sander Bosch from Heineken explains the role of attention measurement in planning and evaluating communications effectiveness. There has been a rise in interest around attention in the last few years. Our latest Media Reactions study reveals the majority of marketers believe that attention influences both creative and media effectiveness. Will it soon become a media currency? In this episode of Fu...

Ad pre-testing plays a central role in campaign effectiveness, making sure the ad creates an emotional connection, builds the brand, and meets sales objectives. But with media budgets shifting to digital, should brands simply rely on in-flight campaign optimisation to drive performance? In this episode, Duncan Southgate, Creative & Media Solutions Director at Kantar, talks with Robin Langford, Edi...

What happens when marketing academics disagree? How do marketing academics look at brand theories and how does that resonate between marketing practitioners? In this episode, Jane Ostler, EVP of Global Thought Leadership at Kantar talks with Felipe Thomaz, associate professor of marketing at Saïd Business School, about trust, lies and evidence in marketing. Together with Graham Staplehurst, Though...

In 2022 Aldi bounced back into the Global Top 100 Brands, having increased its value by 20% to $21bn. Aldi had the most effective UK Christmas ad last year and in is one of six brands to be nominated for Marketing Week’s UK brand of the year. Aldi is on the verge of taking over from Morrisons as the UK’s fourth biggest supermarket, it’s growth being far ahead of everyone else in a category that sa...

Staying profitable is more important in inflationary times. We discuss how to achieve this with Marketing professor, Mark Ritson Since he was a junior professor, Mark Ritson had one goal: to break through the narrow readership circles of academia and be read by everyone in the marketing industry. A goal he’s doubtlessly surpassed having won multiple awards for his column in Marketing Week. With ev...

Stephan Gans joins us to talk about Insights Transformation and how Consumer Insights can best organize to drive business value. Stephan Gans is the SVP, Chief Consumer Insights and Analytics Officer at PepsiCo, one of the world’s largest and best-known FMCG companies. He’s been in the business of understanding and predicting consumer behaviour for some time and leads the ongoing transformation of...

Graham Page is a Global Managing Director at Affectiva and leads Affectiva’s Media Analytics business, which is focused on the application of Emotion AI technology to content, media testing, and customer experiences. Together with Kantar’s Vera Sidlova, Global Director, Creative at Kantar - join Jane Ostler to discuss the issues with sustainability in advertising and why brands often get it wrong....

Belinda J Smith is CEO of Americas at m/SIX, as well as the Global Diversity Ambassador for the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA). Belinda is also a diversity activist and has led media and advertising in various organisations throughout her career. She joins Valeria Piaggio to discuss the issue of diversity and inclusion in the advertising industry, following the publication of the first Glob...

Patrick Collister is non-exec Creative Director at Ad-Lib, and Editor of Directory Magazine. He is also one of the few people to have had serious Creative Director roles in adland (Ogilvy) as well as in digital organisations (Google). So what has changed over the course of his career? Why do people keep harking back to the good old days – and what has happened to the funny ad? Jane and Patrick tal...

Shell’s purpose is to "power progress together with more and cleaner energy solutions." But how did that come about? What were the challenges for global VP of the Shell brand, Dean Aragón? How is the purpose embedded in the organisation? Dean shares his advice for establishing a purpose that doesn’t just become a side project, and how you can ensure success through people, partnerships and the per...

In Kantar’s recent Media Reactions study , it was revealed that ecommerce giant Mercado Libre is one of the most effective places to advertise in Latin America: it was seen as delivering the most ‘relevant and useful’ ads of all media brands in Argentina, Brazil and Colombia. What is the marketplace doing to help advertisers, and still satisfy consumers? Juan tells Jane Ostler and Alex Connock abo...

In this episode, we discuss the evolving world of advertising technology and digital retail with Alexis (Lex) Josephs, Vice President of Sales, Ad Tech Partnerships and Ad Operations at Walmart Connect . How does Walmart’s advertising business use the insights from their 150m weekly shoppers to deliver targeted advertising at scale? Lex discusses how the pandemic has changed the retail experience...

We speak to Tim Jones, Global Head of Research and Insights at Mirriad , an advertising platform that allows brands to seamlessly integrate with content. Tim tells Kantar’s Duncan Southgate about the current challenges for advertisers, including changing consumer viewing habits and limited reach via linear TV advertising, as well as targeting and measurement. He explains how the placement of produ...

It’s not easy to get a totally new product on supermarket shelves, but Nimble Cleaning Products – founded by Von Sy in 2015 – has managed to find its way into several major UK retailers, and retain its environmentally-friendly credentials. Von tells Dr Nicki Morley about the inspiration behind a cleaning product for baby bottles, the startup journey so far, the impact of COVID-19, and his 7-second...

As the popularity of adverts and “branded content” declines, and more people use commercial-free streaming services, there is a real opportunity for brands to get in front of audiences with “sponsored entertainment”, says Rupert Maconick, Founder and Executive Producer of Saville Productions in LA. He spoke to Jane Ostler about how brands can get excellent returns from a feature-length documentary...

You can’t sum up a continent the size of Africa in three words, says  Thebe Ikalafeng , founder and chairman of  Brand Africa . But vibrancy, entrepreneurship and resilience do spring to mind, and help characterise and connect this group of dynamic countries. Thebe tells Jane how Brand Africa was launched to inspire a ‘renaissance’ of African brands, and change the narrative around the continent,...