That's What I Call Marketing

Inside Saatchi & Saatchi. Sit down with the CEO of one of the most iconic agencies in advertising, a name that carries both weight and expectation, to understand how CEO Claire Hollands leads for today.This is a conversation about ambition. Not in the abstract, but in how it shows up in the work, in the culture, and in the relationship between agencies and clients.We get into how Saatchi & Saatchi is positioning itself around growth, why creativity still holds commercial power (even if the industry occasionally forgets it), and how agencies are rethinking their value, from billable hours to business outcomes.There’s also a clear view on where things are shifting: the role of AI, the reality of pitching, and why agencies need to be more deliberate about the clients they choose.Running through all of it is leadership, how you make decisions without perfect information, how you build a culture of high challenge and high support, and how you balance legacy with the need to move forward.What you’ll learn:Why agencies need to reposition themselves around growth, not outputsHow creativity still drives commercial performance and where it gets undervaluedWhat actually builds trust between agencies and clientsWhy most pitch processes are flawed and what better looks likeHow to think about agency value, pricing, and remunerationThe difference between growth brands and transformation brands and why it mattersWhat “high challenge, high support” looks like in practiceHow great leaders make decisions without having all the answersWhat AI is changing in agencies and what it isn’tWhy hiring for attitude and curiosity matters more than experienceTimestamps00:03:00 – Finding your people in the industry00:06:00 – Why account management sits at the centre of the agency00:07:00 – Building trust in client relationships00:12:00 – How decisions are really made at senior level00:15:00 – Culture, values, and collective ambition00:19:00 – High challenge, high support: what it means in practice00:23:00 – Managing pressure across career and family00:25:30 – Where the agency world is heading00:29:30 – The evolving agency model00:32:00 – The role and reality of pitching00:33:30 – What needs to change in pitch processes00:37:30 – Hiring for attitude, not just skill00:39:00 – What excites Claire about what’s nextAbout the podcastThat’s What I Call Marketing is a podcast for marketers who care about how brands grow, how advertising works, and how the industry is evolving through conversations with the people shaping it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Synthetic Research Explained, Understanding AI-Powered Audience Testing for MarketersWhat is synthetic research and how accurate is it really?In this episode of That’s What I Call Marketing, Conor Byrne sits down with Dr. Ben Warner, former Chief Data Adviser to the UK Prime Minister and co-founder of Electric Twin, to unpack one of the most talked-about developments in modern market research: synthetic audiences.This is not ChatGPT pretending to be a consumer. Synthetic research uses real-world survey data, behavioural modelling and large language models to create AI-driven audience simulations that allow organisations to test messaging, product ideas and strategy at speed before committing real budgets. If you work in marketing, insight, product, strategy or leadership, this episode will challenge how you think about research, risk and decision-making.⏱️ Timestamps00:00 – Introduction to synthetic research02:00 – From quantum physics to behavioural modelling03:35 – Why human behaviour is harder to predict than we think05:17 – The problem with traditional decision-making tools09:02 – What Electric Twin actually does10:00 – What a “synthetic audience” really means13:59 – Testing creative, messaging and propositions in real time15:06 – Accuracy vs traditional survey research17:00 – Real-world use cases across marketing and product19:02 – The danger of asking the “wrong” question23:06 – Democratising customer insight inside organisations25:00 – Where synthetic research fits (and where it doesn’t)27:00 – Innovation vs risk-averse organisations29:09 – The story behind the name “Electric Twin”In this episode, we cover:How synthetic audiences are built from real-world dataWhy traditional surveys can be slow, expensive and restrictiveHow AI allows teams to iterate research questions instantlyThe difference between testing ideas safely and making bold decisions blindlyWhy trust and validation matter in emerging AI toolsWhere synthetic research complements (not replaces) conventional methodsWhy this mattersEvery organisation says it wants to be “customer-centric”.But insight is often expensive, delayed, siloed or underused.Synthetic research introduces a new tool into the decision-making toolkit — one that allows teams to explore, iterate and pressure-test ideas before they go live.Whether you are a CMO defending budget, a product lead developing a proposition, or a strategy team modelling future scenarios, this conversation explores how AI-driven research could reshape how decisions are made.If you found this useful, share it with a colleague and subscribe for more conversations with marketing leaders shaping the future of the industry.🎧 Listen to more episodes of That’s What I Call Marketing 📌 Connect with Conor Byrne for more marketing insight🔗 Learn more about Electric Twin and synthetic audiences Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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