Mi3 Audio Edition

Host: Andrew Birmingham - Editor - CX | Martech | Ecom A year after Mi3 Australia began its agentic AI research deep dive – dubbed Inside the Tornado – that first wave of febrile experimentation has given way to what feels like the beginning of a Cambrian explosion as businesses embed AI agents into core operations, and realise measurable gains in areas ranging from pricing optimisation to creative production. But as adoption accelerates, executives say attention is shifting from the promise of autonomous systems to the practical realities of governing them, understanding and controlling costs and ensuring they do not drift off course – because they will absolutely drift of course. Speaking with Inside the Tornado author, and Mi3 Tech editor Andrew Birmingham, T2 Tea marketing director Peter Randeria and Omnicom Oceania chief product officer Alex Pacey argue that the organisations moving fastest are not those taking the greatest risks, but those building the strongest governance foundations. Their message is clear: agentic AI can create significant commercial value, but success depends on the discipline to supervise it, redesign workflows around it and manage its rapidly growing economic footprint, as much as it requires corralling a still immature and rapidly evolving technology that even its developers sometime still struggle to understand.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Host: Paul McIntyre, Editor-At-Large Not all retailers are victims of scale. North America is pouring billions of dollars into retail media, largely sponsored search and digital screens, making giants like Amazon, Kroger and Walmart richer and other retailers chasing scraps. But luxury department store chain Holt Renfrew has carved out a higher-end niche in Canada, and its physical-plus-digital approach is pulling in new advertisers like Mercedes, as well as taking a larger share of endemic advertiser budgets as they bid to build brand and drive performance in a single hit. Demand for both physical and digital inventory is running hot, helped partly by Holt Renfrew’s retail media operation three years ago moving to its own P&L under trade marketing boss, Ashlee Nickel – whose 16 years at the firm also span merchandise, buying and vendor marketing. It means she speaks the merchandise team’s language as well as that of brands selling through the store. That’s critical to avoid “conflict”, says Sonder’s Jonathan Hopkins. “Media has been used as merch’s sweetie jar for decades, and that entrenched behaviour doesn't change overnight.” He argues retailers will increasingly struggle with their retail media ambitions unless they “create a cross-functional team with people from merch, marketing, finance, media,” all pulling in the same direction. Even then, he says, “give and take” is a pre-requisite. “Pick your battles would be my recommendation.” Since the shift from top line co-op to standalone, Holt Renfrew’s profitable media revenue has changed how every program is priced, packaged, and pitched to vendors. In all, it’s packing 245 distinct media formats, all evaluated by Sonder. It will soon have another – but given Holt Renfrew’s store environment makes even Apple’s look cluttered, a design challenge looms as the retailer mulls how to roll out a screen network that doesn’t damage that aesthetic. Sonder’s Angus Frazer isn’t worried – subtlety is key, he says. “Retail media is not an excuse to ignore CX. Done well, it's an opportunity to improve CX and deliver on broader business objectives.” I.e. “highly profitable commercialisation”. Trade marketing boss Nickel is now hunting more of them – in places where few retailers have thought to monetise. She’s already added in-store beauty carts and cafe menu takeovers to the inventory stack, and has brands queuing up for its in-store Montreal F1 Grand Prix weekend experience – and Holt Renfrew doesn’t even have an official partnership. “One of the biggest opportunities in the space right now is looking beyond the obvious,” says Nickel. “When you start thinking differently about the retail environment, there are often opportunities that don't fit within a traditional media place.” Outside of physical environments – and despite huge digital retail media spend, many are overlooking powerful channels – particularly email, say Sonder’s Frazer and Hopkins, leaving easy money on the table.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Host: Paul McIntyre, Editor-At-Large For the shopping public, Coles’ ‘Down Down’ has stuck like super glue for more than a decade – while loathed by adland’s elite. They’ll be mostly thrilled on what Horton – Down Down’s creator – figures is likely now in a rare and wide-ranging interview and podcast. Think rest and hibernation, not a Down Down burial.   Horton ran four winning election campaigns for former Prime Minister John Howard and is characteristically frank on the effect the Down Down campaign had on him and his Big Red agency – it spawned a new shop BRX with co-founders Bridget Cleary and Marty Hungerford - to snap the straightjacket it created for him and Big Red. BRX is now being circled by potential suitors.  Horton is the last old adman standing – at 74 he’s seen-off John Singleton and Mojo’s Mo and Jo. And while very uncool today, he remains adamant good jingles etch into consumer memory encoding faster than fancy, award- winning creative. It’s why he still warns on the warping dangers of advertising awards in the lead-up to the international Cannes gongfest in two weeks, proffering an ego-busting encounter with his then boss, Mojo’s Alan “Mo” Morris on why. "While you and all your mates are sitting around in a circle telling each other how good you are, your mum and dad are sitting at home singing my ads,” Horton’s recounts with a dense injection of Mo expletives. He’s never been the same since. But Horton casts wider than jingles and Down Down, to the “pseudo science” of attention metrics, “insecure” creatives and a pause-for-thought observation that the uncool craft of catalogue copywriting in the 80s and 90s has striking parallels to what works in social media today. It’s those craft skills, which BRX has captured, templated and automated, that is now partly why global holding companies and others are said to be circling. Here’s the thoughts - and confessions - of adland’s oldest creative.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Host: Nadia Cameron, Publisher | Editor – Marketing They all work for cheeky challenger brands in their respective categories, they’re not afraid of doing unconventional things – and now they’ve all been recognised as top 20 CMOs of the Year for committing to innovative and distinctly different approaches to realising growth ambitions at hand. In this latest CMO Awards podcast episode, we’re looking at how marketers ‘break the mould’ by exploring three of our most compelling CMO submissions this year: amaysim’s Pete MacGregor (#7), Mountain Culture Beer Co’s Brad Firth (11th and SMB CMO of the Year), and Australian Pork’s Rob Farmer (#13). Each of these marketing chiefs shares how they’ve respectively been tackling ‘big M marketing’. For Farmer, it’s about bold brand decisions to get pork on the fork. To realise this, he’s leveraging the triumvirate of creative, commercial and science to challenge rusted-on cooking habits while also tackling confronting – and commonly misunderstood – perceptions of the industry head-on. For Firth, listening to research enough – but not too much – has led to unusually creative product innovations such as a fruit hazy, defiantly full-strength beer inspired by hallucinogenic insights and the consumer’s desire for enhanced experiences. The bold bet has paid off: Juice Trip represented 20 per cent of volume sales in its first year thanks to its talkability and differentiated approach. Over at amaysim, meanwhile, MacGregor is going all-in on AI creative to gain velocity, speed and differentiation in market, while pursuing simplicity and responsiveness inside the challenger telco brand. He’s also resetting the dialogue around what it means to be ‘courageous customer champions’, getting into the weeds of customer insight and strategy, then owning the fixes in a way that’s building connection and cultural buy-in.  For all three, ‘courageous marketing’ comes down to a belief in – and then being accountable to – the bold strategies they’ve set out to deliver. “There’s so much noise, there are so many inputs, there are so many opinions everywhere you turn. I find it really easy to start to second guess, see things watered down, and even just get distracted,” comments Firth. “So for me, a really courageous marketer is just one who sticks to the strategy, rides it, and then obviously learns from it.” Likewise, Farmer believes in “playing your own game”. “Having the confidence to stay focused on doing not what you would love to be doing because it's not in strategy. I think that that is the most courageous thing to do – hold the line, then hold it over the long term.” Equally, MacGregor backs conviction over consensus. “You’ve got to really back yourself, whatever role you have, as you’re in that role because someone believed in you and trusted you,” he says. “Know what your internal superpower is. If you really believe in someone, whether it be a strategy, idea of whatever it is, you have to really back yourself.”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Host: Nadia Cameron, Publisher | Editor – Marketing The Iconic CMO, Joanna Robinson, describes commercial marketers as “customer obsessed, commercially disciplined, always data-informed and strategically curious”. Former Naked Wines CEO and Unilever marketing leader, Paul Connell, says it’s about being highly accountable, “and also being someone who’s in for the business outside of their lane”. And TPG CMO, Bec Darley adds another all-important word to the list: Profit. “This is we know how much of the net cash that’s falling to the bottom line. Is it a term you’d expect a commercial marketer to have? Absolutely. Is it one we see a lot of? No … If marketing is truly to be seriously among our c-suite and board, understanding profit has to be part of the language of the commercial marketer,” Darley argues. There’s absolutely no doubt marketing leaders are being asked to be more accountable for commercial outcomes. Yet they continue to carry a ball and chain around their ankles: Marketing as discretionary spend on the P&L, and the first thing to be cut when times are tight. So how do you successfully reframe marketing as revenue, not cost, and ensure you’re fiscally responsible while pursuing the growth game? These three marketing luminaries joined us on the mics for an exploration of the strategies – formal and informal – they’ve pursued to embed an expansive mentality around marketing that beats those tired perceptions of marketing and brand investment as a lag on the balance sheet. From getting to the heart of unit economics, and truly understanding what creates value inside a business, to balancing the logic of brand – increasingly possible through tools like MMM and tech – with the magic and behavioural psychology informing why marketers do what they do, through to inviting CFOs and CEO into the pitch to see the power of creativity, these three provide a wealth of insight into how marketers win over stakeholders. We also explore key tenets of meeting the leadership team and board on their terms, from the language required to connect, to problem solving, plus tactics for structuring teams and capability to make the most of cross-functional ways of working.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.