Mi3 Audio Edition

In 2018 Australian carmakers were collectively rattled. The consumer and competition regulator, the ACCC, dropped a bombshell on the auto industry in the form of the biggest mandatory product recall ever in Australia – 4.1 million faulty and potentially deadly Takata airbags in more than 3 million vehicles had to be replaced. The problem? Car owners were apathetic and entirely disinterested. Here’s how 23 car brands joined forces to head-off hefty ACCC penalties and deployed a media strategy that got spooked automakers to a 99.9% success rate. And a happy ACCC.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Yahoo’s new owners in Apollo Funds Management are backing Yahoo to the max – and the business is bolting. One of the earliest internet platforms is an entirely different beast today but what is Yahoo? Better question: ‘What isn’tYahoo?’ US giant Verizon sold the company to Apollo for $5 billion earlier this year and it’s been unleashed. Yahoo’s a search company, a digital publisher, a creative agency,  a demand- and a sell-side platform used by at least 20 local publishers, an email service used by five million Australians, and a specialist in the emerging market of Augmented, Virtual, and Mixed Reality (AR, VR and MR). “Yahoo is back,” Rachel Page, Yahoo’s GM of Sales, says. And while the Googles and Facebooks of the world are building soaring walls around their products, data and tech, Yahoo has taken a different approach: the community garden. Walled gardens have “some inherent challenges”, Vice President ANZ Paul Sigaloff says. “At Yahoo, it’s a very different approach. It’s about flexibility and collaboration.”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

NRMA Insurance was “tanking” before IAG CMO Brent Smart returned from New York and appointed Accenture’s The Monkeys, without a pitch, in an early Australian textbook execution of Les Binet and Peter Field’s work around the business impact of investing long-term in brand. Smart went further but was unwavering from the get-go – as were The Monkeys - about returning to “HELP" in late 2017, according to a redacted entry submission to the Effies seen by Mi3. A series of brand-led campaigns, spearheaded by The Monkeys, took out the Advertising Council’s Grand Effie Award last month for returning the ailing insurance company to category-leading growth. But just how bad were things at NRMA Insurance, and how and why did they return to a 20-year-old idea? Smart and The Monkeys’ CEO Mark Green and Chief Strategy Officer Fabio Buresti get brutally honest.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Most Australian mid-size businesses and up in Australia have hired very smart consultants, developed new business strategies and growth plans … and then seen most or all of the work shelved. “It’s about 90 per cent opportunity, 10 per cent frustration,” says Tightrope’s Managing Director Stijn De Vriendt, the former Strategy Director at Accenture Strategy. Tightrope is RyanCap’s new boutique strategy consultancy, which has a sweet spot positioned just below the big end of consulting and strategy advisors like Bain, McKinsey, Accenture and the big four audit and consulting giants. Typically they’re too big – and perhaps too expensive - for mature mid-tier companies grappling with business transformation programs and high-growth scale-up companies needing to go to the next level but lacking the internal horsepower to get there. Tightrope is pulling the best attributes from agencies and consulting firms to target digital pureplays – aka “the disruptors” – and helping them scale, as well as legacy bricks and mortar businesses – aka “the disrupted” – to help them go digital. But instead of just writing a report and leaving, Tightrope wants to do more. “We don’t just stop at strategy,” De Vriendt says. “We want to go beyond and develop prototypes, test those with customers, and help a client get ready to actually scale.” And Tightrope says the balancing act is already working.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Advertising legends Faie Davis and Sarah Barclay, creators of iconic ads from Yellow Pages’ “Not Happy Jan” to Singapore Airlines’ Singapore Girl have been inducted into the AWARD Advertising Hall of Fame. They’re the first two women ever to have made the list, even an agency – The Campaign Palace – was inducted before a woman made the hallowed halls. Joining them on the podium is Warren Brown, co-founder of BMF, crafter of brilliant ideas and raconteur extraordinaire – even with 20 per cent of his brain hacked out after a stroke. Here’s some fabulous tales and instructive views on the state of advertising today.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When the Big Bash League started on Network 10 in 2013, it was, well, not very big. But its audience skyrocketed by 370 per cent in the first year alone. “We know how to take a sport, bring it into the free to air landscape and grow it even bigger,” says Nick Bower, Sport Sales Director from 10 ViacomCBS. The network plans to do more of the same with the A-Leagues, and is adding the first ad slots to new streaming service Paramount+ to entice advertisers. “The only way to get access to that incredibly valuable and rich audience within that streaming service is through our football coverage,” Bower says. Ant Hearne, A-Leagues’ Chief Commercial Officer, reckons the challenge is one of conversion: There are 8 million football fans in Australia, but viewers compare the standard to the “incomparable” leagues in Europe. “The conversation has got more into what we’re not, rather than what we are,” he says – but he’s out to change all that.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The definition of what counts as personal information is set to change in Australia – with online identifiers even down to geolocation under review, alongside use of loyalty and credit card data – while the very definition of consumer consent is being primed for change by privacy lawmakers and enforcers. The upshot is that the fundamentals that have underpinned digital advertising’s tracking and targeting capabilities may be culled or significantly curtailed – and data privacy experts think Australia’s rules are set to be tighter than GDPR. Meanwhile, those that flout incoming law changes may find themselves open to class actions as well as regulatory punishment.  Lauren Solomon, CEO of the Consumer Policy Research Centre, former deputy New South Wales Privacy Commissioner Anna Johnston, Peter Leonard, professor of practice at UNSW's Business School, and Guardian MD, Dan Stinton, unpack what’s coming down the track for Australian brands, publishers, tech platforms and the media supply chain.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the middle of a global pandemic, the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age watched lifestyle content numbers boom. They dropped the quantity and boosted the quality of non-news content, embraced newsletters, and it paid off in spades. “The top of the homepage can be so grim,” Executive Editor Tory Maguire says. “But if we present [other content] properly to our audience, they’re really engaging with it.” The Australia’s editor, Michelle Gunn, saw the same. “People yearned for lifestyle content, rich storytelling, stories which took them away,” she says. “We saw a strong move towards weekends.” The West Australian saw a surge in readers, but also for its late TV show and morning radio audiences. “Some of the numbers we were seeing during live streaming of press conferences would rival traditional TV and traditional radio,” says Editor in Chief Anthony De Ceglie. All of which presents advertisers with new options now Australia is opening up.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Marketers have been smashed by the pandemic – but have emerged more powerful, with much bigger, broader remits, according to The Marketing Academy CEO, Sherilyn Shackell. The Academy has spoken with thousands of marketers over the last 18 months and finds greater numbers are becoming board members and CEOs. But they must now carry even greater weight under broader demands and silo-busting skillset requirements.  Agencies, however, are struggling to stem severe blood loss. Leaders must step up – because their people are burnt out and disillusioned – and new blood is in short supply. Shackell sees more in-housing incoming. Both agencies and brands, she says, underestimate the need for ‘soft’ skills around leadership and staff wellbeing at their peril. “If you don't look after that stuff, you're shafted.” See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The marketing and media world are rushing to get to market first with engagement metrics – or at least talk about them. But how is that playing out on the ground, and are brands ready? “Before you can go to market and thump the table and expect clients to buy to engagement, you need to be really clear about … the proof that engagement can deliver better results for brands,” says Foxtel Media’s Customer Engagement Director, Toby Dewar. Westpac brand, media and ad chief Jenny Melhuish says the bank is testing engagement and attention-based campaigns but agrees the metrics are yet to catch up with prevailing market sentiment. “The CPM metric is a rational one… we need to believe in the robustness of a metric, and currently, we don’t have a robust metric.” Either way, Saatchi & Saatchi CEO Anthony Gregorio says the creative is vital, whatever metrics people use: “If no-one is paying attention to your message, then it doesn’t really matter how good the media buy is.”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Professor Mark Ritson was right all along: “90 per cent of marketers fail to brief agencies effectively, and their failures begin with a total lack of strategy.” The headline findings of the Better Briefs Project and its research spanning 1,700 marketers and agencies make for grim reading. Marketers don’t even realise their briefs are mostly duds, yet agencies are “screaming for objectives”, according to report co-creators, strategists Pieter-Paul von Weiler and Matt Davies. Unless things improve, marketer tenures – and marketing and advertising’s standing within boardrooms – will continue to decline. But there are some very simple fixes. Applying them promises to repair the marketer-agency disconnect – and deliver advertising that moves the needle. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How a marketer’s budget is set is often doomed to fail, Pet Circle CMO Jon Wild says. Typically, it stems from a business’s growth target. “There’s an arbitrary increase to marketing spend and you’re told to go hit the target. Typically, you fall short in the first quarter, and it’s death by a thousand cuts for the remainder of the year.” That method is “set up for failure”, he says. Rather, growth should be function of the whole company – with marketing being one factor – working towards those targets. Budgets and spend is the last of eight steps detailed in a new book from Atomic212’s James Dixon and Claire Fenner on how to build an Effective Media System. “The place we want to get to is where we know for every dollar we spend on media, what we’re going to get back out,” Dixon says.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

10 ViacomCBS will headline its 2022 Upfronts by touting its credentials as a more diverse, full-service broadcaster with room to grow and a big hitting content slate straight out of the gates. I’m a Celebrity starts on January 3, with Survivor and MasterChef hot on its heels. After that, “you’re into that pattern of big franchises all year,” says Chief Content Officer Beverley McGarvey. “It’s about consistency, maintaining big brands, but also adding some fresh content and fresh shows.” The network is investing heavily in streaming service Paramount+, which McGarvey admits is “a hungry beast that you need to feed with lots of new shows all the time”. Key to the new 10ViacomCBS offering is its full suite: “Paramount+, 10Play, MTV, Nickelodeon… we don’t run those businesses separately,” Jarrod Villani, Chief Operating and Commercial Officer, says. “Bev and I have oversight over all of those businesses.”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dell tops US$94 billion in revenues, but it had been in a perpetual street fight on pricing for years and was losing margin with brand health metrics flatlining. With a new premium push it went large on brand, inviting Australia’s publishers to pitch their ideas. Around 150 publishers turned up, the response blowing away marketing boss Arjun Dueskar. Opting to go with 10ViacomCBS and MediaCom, the results have been “phenomenal” with double-digit growth continuing quarter on quarter since the start of 2020 and brand metrics rocketing. Now marketing is getting all the plaudits – and board backing to go harder on brand investment. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The QR code was once the daggy tech no-one wanted - but it’s now back, and even David “Kochie” Koch’s 87-year-old mother is using them. Five years of e-commerce development has been squeezed into the past 18 months, and Aussies haven’t been able to spend their money in lockdowns. “The economy is going to come out with a vengeance,” Koch, the host of Seven’s Sunrise and Pinstripe Media chair, says. People have money and they want to spend it. Forward bookings with Seven are “extraordinary”, Chief Revenue Officer Kurt Burnette says. “71 per cent of connected TV viewers use their mobile to look up related content… the time between being inspired and purchasing is shrinking,” he says. “All of these trends that are happening are making this the perfect storm.” Coles CMO Lisa Ronson says e-commerce sales have soared – and they don’t expect them to slow. Brands that aren’t ready will be left behind.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The second and final episode in our two-part series breaks down five of the six recommendations in the ACCC report to the Federal government on the Digital Advertising Services inquiry – the first recommendation was covered in Part 1 yesterday. On the mics again today for the follow up are Peter Leonard, Professor of Practice at UNSW Business School, advisor at law firm Gilbert + Tobin and principal of Data Strategies; Gai Le Roy, CEO at the IAB; Dan Stinton, Managing Director at The Guardian Australia and Kristiaan Kroon, Chief Investment Officer at OMG. Buckle in because as our experts say in this two-part series, apathy won’t work for the industry this time. It's no time to ignore the regulators.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Avoid reading another 200 page ACCC probe with this two-part series on the regulator’s final recommendations to the Federal Government from the Digital Advertising Services Inquiry. Google is squarely in the spotlight but as our panel of industry experts warn, what the ACCC is doing to Google is an early signal for broader industry. In today’s heavyweight line-up: Peter Leonard, Professor of Practice at UNSW Business School, advisor at law firm Gilbert + Tobin and Principal at Data Strategies; Dan Stinton, Managing Director at The Guardian Australia; Gai Le Roy, CEO at the IAB and Kristiaan Kroon, Chief Investment Officer at OMG. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Consider a few stats: The Discovery Channel, Turbo, TLC and Animal Planet are having their best ratings years – ever. Back catalogue episodes are booming: Video on-demand consumption of Friends is up 103 per cent. Fifty-six per cent of people have watched more food and cooking shows, and 70 per cent of them said they would keep watching more post-lockdowns. New viewing habits are here to stay. Brands with environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals can tap into this by targeting ads to those audiences. “If someone is going to sit down and watch an hour-long documentary on conservation, then they must be interested in that space,” Rebecca Kent, Discovery’s Senior Vice President of Transformation, says. “There’s lots of opportunity, I’m not seeing us capturing it yet.” Tim Christlieb, BBC Studios’ Director of Branded Services, says the era of a hidden sustainability web page are over. Meanwhile, when we’re all on video calls, all we can talk about is what we’re watching, Foxtel Media’s Daniella Serhan says. “We’re making it really easy for… brands to a part of that conversation.”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When Covid hit, BWS went all out to help local suppliers, which already battered by floods and bush fires, faced risk of extinction. BWS ditched its pre-Covid plan and campaign went all out for localism, launching a competition for independent brewers, distillers and winemakers to get stocked across its 1,400 stores, creating a marketing template for local suppliers to lift and getting locals to vote for the brands stores would stock. The new plan “smashed it,” according to Head of Marketing Vanessa Rowed. The retailer had been hoping for a 5 per cent sales increase, but hit 20 per cent, delivering the “highest ROI of any campaign we’ve run”, according to Carat’s Bianca Falloon. As states plot routes out of lockdown, Rowed thinks localism is here to stay. Meanwhile, she says local brands can help solve the supply chain crunch looming large over Australia’s Christmas retail – and says the Covid “sprint” has permanently changed BWS’ marketing strategy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

John Wild, the Chief Marketing Officer for Pet Circle, invites his CFO to creative pitches and hires analysts with better data coding skills than the finance team. Why? So they can understand his job and buy into the creative messaging. “It’s incumbent on you to make [CFOs] your friend,” he says. “Make marketing look and smell very much like a financial output. Suddenly, when it comes to cutting costs, you’re not cutting costs, you’re cutting growth, you’re cutting customers, you’re cutting revenue.” Nicole McInnes, Director of Marketing at WW (formerly Weight Watchers), says she used to have “dark weeks” when she worked at eHarmony – when the time came to review media spend. “There is still a lot of misunderstanding in non-marketing executives on the effectiveness of some channels because they don’t have that data,” she says. Too many marketers don’t understand the basics of media and how to demonstrate media’s value, Atomic212’s James Dixon and Claire Fenner say. So much so, they’ve written a book – quite literally – on the topic.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SiteMinder is likely the biggest Australian tech company you’ve never heard of. The $1.1billion hotel booking system unicorn is headed for an IPO – so that will likely change. But what must also shift is Australia’s attitude to B2B marketing as the boring, rational sibling to B2C, says CMO Mark Renshaw. It’s where the smart money is headed, Renshaw reckons, and can teach FMCG marketers everything they need to know about going direct-to-consumer. Meanwhile, the former Leo Burnett Chief Digital Officer says in-housing is where it’s at – and that media and marketing guns can get a far “deeper” business education sitting within brand teams than agencies. He’s bucking the holdco consolidation model and working with specialists instead, and thinks ANZ’s top talent need no longer head oversees to pick up experience with global giants; the local tech scene provides far more opportunity to drive change than taking instructions from global HQ. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Most publishers are winding down print operations. David Jones is ramping up – since launching a print magazine five years ago it has seen consistent double-digit growth across each of its digital channels. “The customer is overwhelmed with choice,” David Jones Marketing Communications General Manager Georgia Hack says. So the retailer decided to curate and repurpose its existing branded content into print. “Yes, it is a printed magazine, but it also is a blog on our website. It's a pillar in our email content strategy. It's a pillar on social.” And it’s delivering. News Corp’s Managing Director of Commercial Content, Mike Connaghan, says the need for content can be draining. “All marketers face a chasm of content creation,” he said. “They need the content to fill those channels.” Naturally, News has a solution: David Jones works with its content agency Medium Rare, whose group content director Nick Smith says the secret to branded content success comes down to treating the consumer like a human being.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Launched by a former stockbroker and Booktopia’s CTO, Australian fintech Superhero has ripped up the start-up playbook and powered to massive growth off the back of out of home and TV. “To create big impact and really reach scale, brand awareness and credibility, fast... digital just is not going to get you there,” says marketing lead Rachel Hopping. With CommSec and the big four banks worried, she and Hardhat’s Dan Monheit are planning the retail investment and superannuation management platform’s next major push. With 12m Australian trading virgins to target, the plan is to go large – with an IPO more than likely.    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Australia’s streaming market is already crowded. There are only so many people who can sign up to Netflix, Stan, Prime, Binge, Kayo and the rest. That’s before you get to affordability issues – and the audiences for advertisers have been dwindling. Enter AVOD: advertising-based video on demand, where users pay less (or nothing) to see fewer ads. “It will allow people to really target their audience in a way they’ve never been able to do before,” says Foxtel board director Mark Kaner. Foxtel Media CEO, Mark Frain, forecasts ad-supported streaming platforms will come to Australia “pretty quickly”. The future, he says, is lower ad loads – viewers won’t stomach 16 minutes per hour – but more innovation. Thirty second, 10 second, and even shorter ads are paying dividends in the US. Now the Australian market has to prepare for launch – and the return of eyeballs.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tasked with rewiring WPP’s media arm, GroupM Global CEO Christian Juhl is going a couple of steps further, attempting to redefine buying metrics and pressure suppliers – i.e. media companies, including Facebook and Google – to decarbonise. If media owners don’t play ball, will GroupM pull dollars? “We’ll certainly make that recommendation,” says Juhl. He thinks focusing on bigger, better global outcomes can make advertising a good place to be for agencies, brands and consumers – and the rewards will follow. Meanwhile, he says incoming ANZ boss Aimee Buchanan has pretty much carte blanche to make sure GroupM is top dog locally. Which means dethroning OMG. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Seismic shifts are underway in cross-media audience measurement, and the IAB is preparing for looming turf wars by becoming the one ring to bind them all. It’s axed Nielsen and pulled in Ipsos – and a return to panels – ahead of the end of cookies and incoming privacy changes. The new metric is set to be in market next year, at least in basic form. But in a country where size matters more than most, there will be pain for publishers, especially tagging laggards – even IAB buyer members are telling agencies to cool their boots on what is coming, and when. Meanwhile, there’s work to do on integrating the Iris metric with total TV measurement system, VOZ, not to mention audio, out of home and the rest, while bringing engagement and attention into play. IAB’s Gai Le Roy, Seven’s Nicole Bence, PHD’s Amelia Ward and Ipsos’ Heather White unpack the fundamentals of media measurement’s future. Next year should prove interesting.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Shirish Shrinet gets emails sending him offers and tutorials for make-up. There’s just one problem: he’s never worn any. “This is a classic example of customer experience vs customer expectations,” says Shrinet, SAP’s Senior Director in Customer Experience and Data Management. At some stage, because he bought his wife a present, he was categorised as female somewhere behind the scenes. Artificial Intelligence is changing this. Geraldine McBride, Founder and CEO of AI firm MyWave, says retailers need to shift away from: ‘I’m going to tell you what you should be buying or thinking’. “The world is still stuck in the old paradigm of ‘but I’ve got all the data and I can just enrich it’… that isn’t going to be sufficient.”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Optus is backing football (the big game, not the Australian version) to keep delivering customer growth and retention, particularly amongst immigrant Australians – but VP of Product Development for TV and Content, Clive Dickens, says Nine overpaid for the Champions League. He also has a dig at the naysayers at Seven who didn’t think 7plus could be delivered in nine months – including some of his staff, who subsequently left the building. While BVOD is booming, Dickens says display advertising will continue to “hit the floor” and publishers that can make subscription revenue pay will be those left standing. Which is why Optus aims to take a slice of what it forecasts will soon be a $4bn market with an aggregation play. The former SCA and Seven digital supremo thinks SubHub will help set Optus apart from big dog Telstra and the pack of hungry mobile virtual operators trying to nip its heels. But he’s not committing to numbers just yet. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Inghams literally put all of its eggs in one basket with Out-of-Home, exclusively using oOh!Media’s network of retail and street screens to launch ‘The Free Ranger’ chicken – and hit pay dirt. It was a big call. But using Quantium data to target free-range humans, it delivered a 30 per cent increase in The Free Ranger buyers – 72 per cent of whom were new to the brand. “They had not tasted it, they had not seen it, they had not heard of it. That’s the killer number,” Brandt said. “That’s extraordinary.” Bohemia CEO Brett Dawson says it’s now taking a data strategy from other channels and testing it with OOH. “And we’ve got the results… It’s real focus for effect. It’s quite new in the outdoor sector.” Bel Harper, Group Director of Product Strategy for oOh!Media, said the market is now starting to move – reporting a shift away from number of screens to proximity and volume to the store.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Returning to Australia after 20 years offshore, former Mars, Wrigley and Coke marketer turned Lion brand chief Anubha Sahasrabuddhe thinks the beer category has lost its way. Now “Lion is on the hunt” for new growth – and it’s looking beyond beer. The plan is to ditch tired tropes and brand positions that Sahasrabuddhe thinks are no longer reflective of Australian society – and harness the diversity and personalisation that craft beer has so successfully tapped. But Sahasrabuddhe isn’t about to throw out Lion’s heritage – and she’s no woke washer, blasting cancel culture for taking the fun out of beer ads, and pretty much everything else. Ironically, she’s aiming to be more New Zealand in Lion’s bid to better represent Australia, in that the Kiwis and the likes of Colenso are “not afraid to take risks, because otherwise you just get wallpaper.” She also tips her hat to rival CUB’s “tough decisions” in prioritising Great Northern over waning brands like VB. And for putting “chicks in ads – with clothes.” This one is refreshing.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Digital out-of-home is powering massive east coast growth for WA-based health insurer HBF following a series of campaigns that include JCDecaux’s digital assets. “Our national growth is at plus 55 per cent… [but] 84 per cent increase year-on-year on the east coast,” Head of Marketing Louise Ardagh says. The programmatic out-of-home (pDOOH) sector is starting to motor, says JCDecaux ANZ CEO Steve O’Connor. The firm will make five per cent of digital revenue from programmatic this year and aims to triple that by 2023. A quarter of Australian media agencies have tried programmatic OOH this year alone – and it’s on the cusp of hockey stick growth, per the IAB. “It’s not just experimentation, it’s embedded into their plans for the next couple of years,” says IAB CEO Gai Le Roy. JCDecaux Executive GM of Revenue and Strategy Operations, Cassandra Cameron, says value and speed are key factors in moving the needle: “We’ve been able to get campaigns live in as little as two hours from briefing.”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After the best part of three decades, iconic Australian brand Ampol is back from the dead with a massive relaunch across 1,900 fuel and retail stations and an emotive, unmistakably Australian campaign that’s landing with Aussies young and old. Chief Brand Officer Jenny O'Regan, Saatchi & Saatchi CEO Anthony Gregorio and National Chief Creative Officer Mike Spirkovski, plus Jason Smith, Client Partner at Ampol’s media agency iProspect, say the numbers are miles ahead of target as Australians reconnect with road trips and retro cool. O’Regan says the brand campaign is now flipping “grudge purchases” into road trip-fuelling technical product sales – for both drivers and their vehicles. Next up are alternative fuels, ‘net zero’ and electric vehicles. This one’s got plenty in the tank.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Brands with “purpose” in their DNA face the biggest fallout when they make a mistake: think Patagonia and Thank You. So where does that leave everyone else? New research from The Guardian finds purpose drives growth and keeps customers, and demand is climbing. The dairy industry is a major emitter – belching cows emit a shedload of methane – but it’s working to clean up what it can. Dairy Australia is taking an honest approach and targets “change-makers” in its comms – the 50 to 60 per cent of people who are socially conscious, who vote with their wallets and live their values. “The risk is greater if we do nothing and stay quiet,” says Amber Beaumont, Dairy Australia’s Communications Strategy Advisor. Mason Rook, The Guardian’s Commercial Director, says audiences can spot tokenistic gestures, so brands must walk the talk – or get called out. But ME Bank’s Head of Purpose and Customer Advocate, Scott Dare, says a no amount of purpose will cut it if the product is crap: “No-one will be interested.”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When data regulators come knocking, black box solutions from data brokers won't fix the compliance issues fast coming at brands. Meanwhile, publishers must avoid a repeat of the audience data heist carried out by ad networks and early programmatic players, reckons New York-based Nick Jordan, CEO of Narrative.io. The former Adobe and Yahoo exec urges the digital ad industry to step up with technical standards for post-cookie IDs to avoid unwittingly handing over everything to walled gardens, although he thinks Google may not actually retire the cookie. Plus, how Apple's privacy push "is all bullshit"; why publishers must "build a brand around their data" to make money from it; why transparency won't work without convenience; and what businesses paralysed by the paradox of ID choice should do next (hint: it's not 'do nothing').See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

BETA unblockers: Millennials are turning 40. They’re now B2B marketing’s key buyers – and they are making an entirely different set of decisions. A new global study from LinkedIn’s B2B Institute says 75 per cent of Australia’s professional workforce will be millennial “BETAs” by 2025. They’re B – blurring the work/home boundaries, E – evolving rapidly, T – tech natives, and A – activists in how they purchase. Marketers have been “obsessed” with this audience, Lara Brownlow, LinkedIn Australia’s head of agency and channel sales, but now they need to change tactics. Lucie Greene, a futurist, founder of Light Years and an author of the report, says influential BETAs will only buy relevant and aspirational brands. Words wont cut it, says Cisco ANZ director of marketing Ray Kloss – and if brands don’t walk the talk, they are probably toast. Samantha Cunliffe, managing director at Merkle’s DWA Media, says B2B branding has always been “a bit beige”. “Be bold. Don’t be beige.”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Marketing used to be the biggest driver of sales. Today, consumer behaviour is increasingly influenced by trust – which is corporate affairs’ turf. Meanwhile, Australian firms are realising just how far behind they have slipped to US and European headquartered competitors when it comes to environmental and social governance (ESG), and the sense of purpose employees and external stakeholders now demand of brands. Change is accelerating, warn global executive search specialist Anna Whitlam, Commtract’s Vanessa Liell and Australian Pork’s Andrew ‘Billy’ Baxter. Those that fail to quickly adapt “will just miss out…. and we are already seeing that.” But Australian brands appear live to the threat: demand is soaring for comms professionals that can build relationships internally and externally – “deep specialists” that can drive reputation and integrate with marketing to deliver growth – and balance risk with reward.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What happens when you get a top consumer goods marketer to leap from the biggest advertiser in the world, Procter & Gamble, to lead marketing at a bank? ANZ CMO Sweta Mehre joined ANZ four years ago from P&G and has driven a raft of reforms including a marketing masters program inside the organisation designed to build marketing team capabilities and deepen the understanding of how marketing contributes to commercial results. More people inside ANZ are now championing marketing and less see it purely as a cost centre. Sweta also has some views on inhousing agency services, market mix modelling and media that might surprise a few too. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After years in development, the first weekly top line consolidated VOZ market reports land 22 July. On July 23, Tokyo will host the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games. For 17 days, Seven says it will reach nine in 10 Australian homes. Suncorp CMO Mim Haysom spies a huge opportunity for Olympics sponsor AAMI to test the new linear and digital TV measurement service – and bespoke creative – in real time. Seven is also using Adgile Media for real time tracking. Kurt Burnette, Seven’s Chief Revenue Officer, says early data shows major advertiser gains. “We’ve seen that 18-24 adds 15 per cent incremental reach, and 25-39, 11-12 per cent. We’ve seen those good percentage numbers… there’s no set path for this.” OMG CEO Peter Horgan says it will fundamentally change the data underpinning TV planning.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The bar at John Singleton Advertising, later Singleton Ogilvy & Mather, was renowned in its prime. State of Origin and Australian and West Indies Cricket teams were named in the agency watering hole but there was a strict no drinking policy by day - you’d be fired. In this final episode, Singleton and his inner circle, Russell Tate and Mike Connaghan, lift the lid on Sir Martin Sorrell and recall how landing KFC changed their fortunes more than 20 years ago. They also argue why “Australian” still has legs.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

John Singleton, the troublemaking larrikin adman who’s turning 80 this year, was all but penniless when he returned to advertising in 1985. Then he and his lieutenants, Russell Tate and Mike Connaghan ultimately built a holding company worth close to $1bn. He was “impossible to follow” in a new business pitch but with Singleton’s old group now back firmly in British control after WPP acquired and delisted WPP AUNZ, the trio reflect on what was and what could have been (with some trademark swipes along the way).    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Former adtech insider and The Irish Times innovation boss Dr Johnny Ryan gave evidence before a US Senate Judiciary Committee in 2019 about how the global digital advertising industry was blatantly breaching consumer privacy and user data protection. Ryan is now spearheading a globally significant GDPR lawsuit against the international online ad standards body, IAB Tech Lab, as the fastest way to end real time bidding and behavioural targeting, worldwide. International reform of the entire digital ad industry is at stake. Here’s what you need to know and why Ryan wants to bring down online advertising as we know it, within two years. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The majority of 18- to 39-year-olds watch little to no TV – but while linear TV audiences are trending down, TV advertising is booming. Guy Burbidge, Managing Director of Val Morgan, says advertisers and agencies should prepare for the bigger boom that is unfolding: Cinema. “We’re heading into the best six months of content we’ve ever had, and I can’t put enough of an emphasis on that,” he says. Adding to that, most of that age bracket are desperate to get out. Research from The Owl Insights calls them The Great Escapers, the younger audiences looking for a space beyond home and the workplace – especially if those two are one and the same. “People are wanting to make up for lost time,” Matt Sandwell from The Owl Insights says. “They’re looking to make up for it by going big.”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Google’s move late last week to delay by two years the end of third party cookies will likely see brand owners take their foot off the gas to end their reliance on privacy-challenged tracking. But Mi3’s panel of digital experts warn ferociously against it. First party data is king. Keep going. Here’s the complete what, why and what next on Google’s surprise move from top industry digital and data players. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Global CMO Aude Gandon is shaking up Nestlé’s marketing function. With change in the wind Antonia Farquhar, Head of Media, Content and Data, is swapping Sydney for Switzerland and the global media gig. She’s overseen a strategic shift in Nestle’s first party data push and launched its first retail outlets globally – and if local KitKat sales are anything to go by, Byron Sharp’s theories around mental availability are on the money. Farquhar has also honed personalisation strategies via direct-to-consumer channels and while she’s a big platforms proponent, thinks digital marketers neglect ‘legacy’ media and full funnel strategies at their peril. This year, Farquhar also launched a hybrid in-house agency; it’s fast and smart but Nestlé has no plans to take big, “polished” creative duties away from ad agencies just yet. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On average, a large Australian business can unlock $82m annual revenue from its owned media – physical and digital, according to Sonder. The biggest brands could theoretically book $500m. They won’t go that far, but banks, telcos, airlines and consumer packaged goods brands shouldn’t fear ‘tattooing the baby’ – putting other brands on their own, per the firm. But they must recognise the value they are giving away cheaply, or for free. “These organisations are sitting on incredibly powerful media channels, very often undervalued,” says Sonder co-founder Angus Frazer. “Websites, emails, gondola ends, in-store posters… in the connection economy, every medium matters and every medium has value.” Here’s how to unlock yours.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

ASX-listed ‘gig economy’ platform Airtasker ramped up after selling equity to Seven West Media, “one of the best moves in our history,” says CEO Tim Fung. But that deal ended in March and now he must repeat the trick – while trying to go global – without big media budgets. Fung’s backing Airtasker Listings, its latest iteration, to drive product discovery and power customer growth. So far it’s working, and the ‘long tail’ of local services is starting to wag the dog. But while demand is “exploding”, Australia’s skills crunch is driving up prices.  Fung urges Mi3 readers with skills to join the platform. Even he’s side-hustling for $500 a pop.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kellogg’s Australian Marketing Director Lucie Wolstenholme has never written humour into an agency brief but says it can do wonders for audience engagement – think Yellow Pages’ ‘Not Happy, Jan’ and BigPond’s ‘Too many rabbits in China’. “It’s a fine art to use humour without falling offensive or flat,” she says. Only a fifth of ads featuring women use humour, compared to more than half of ads featuring men, according to research from Are Media. ABC Radio host and comedian Wendy Harmer reckons 25 to 35-year-old men can’t be expected to write humour well for women. “You need that lived experience and relatability,” she says. Are Media’s Jane Waterhouse says humour delivers in spades: “We found that humour was three times more engaging than standard communication.”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Publishers are getting their backsides handed to them by agency groups because the agencies have moved almost entirely away from relationship-based decision making. They may not be leading negotiations, but the data natives are calling the shots.  According to media ecologist and MediaVillage founder, Jack Myers, perhaps only “small data” that unlocks relevant insight can save media sellers – at least those smart enough to stop trying to compete with Google and Facebook. Creative agencies, he says, need to get with the programme or risk dragging legacy media down entirely. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After three years throwing jabs at erstwhile rivals, Sir Martin Sorrell finally admits he couldn’t change WPP fast enough. He says public company structures doom the holdcos to failure, hobbling their ability to change direction at the requisite speed. Meanwhile, he blasts WPP AUNZ’s attempts to effect change, suggesting the London-controlled group will remain ‘’rudderless’’ if it fails to appoint a strong parochial leader. Naturally, everyone else gets a poke too as Sorrell graces Mi3’s 100th podcast, which probably isn’t suitable for the thin skinned.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Publishers and programmers believe audiences are more purpose-driven than ever and are pushing hard to reflect greater diversity within their slates. Yet "reach trumps morality every time" when it comes to buying TV ads, according to Innocean Australia CEO Jasmin Bedir. 10 ViacomCBS National Creative Director Michael Stanford and Eureka Productions Head of Entertainment Sophia Mogford on how changing the narrative will help brands keep customers.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.