The WARC Podcast

Mercado Libre is Latin America’s largest fintech and e-retailer. CMO Sean Summers joins WARC's Ann Marie Kerwin to discuss the importance of business impact, how the brand's creative makeover won them multiple Cannes Lions, building a culture of innovation, and what effectiveness means in the e-commerce space.

Guests:
Sean Summers, Chief Marketing Officer / EVP - Mercado Ads, Mercado Libre
Ann Marie Kerwin, Americas Editor, WARC

Supporting Resources:
Mercado Libre: Handshake Hunt https://www.warc.com/en/campaigns/mercado-libre-handshake-hunt-55893db2b5e54e0ab2a5dd9d11943261
Mercado Libre: Franco Returns, We All Return https://www.warc.com/en/campaigns/mercado-libre-franco-returns-we-all-return-0a13c404c8414ce7ae146fd017e38c56
Mercado Libre: Coupon Rain https://www.warc.com/en/campaigns/mercado-libre-coupon-rain-a86f034b027248fead5ac3c1b077b0e7

Chapters:
00:00 — Intro: Mercado Libre's Sean Summers joins the pod
01:52 — Mercado Libre's Approach To Marketing Effectiveness, ROI, and Market Share
03:26 — Balancing Short, Mid, and Long-Term Marketing
04:45 — Driving App Downloads, Loyalty, and Customer Lifetime Value
06:00 — Brand Investment and Long-Term Growth
08:07 — Earning C-Suite Trust with Marketing Metrics
11:45 — How Mercado Libre Win Cannes Lions
14:26 — Rethinking Creative Bravery
16:32 — How GUT Challenged Mercado Libre’s Brief
20:57 — Turning the Delivery Promise into a Brand Moment
24:48 — Marketing as a Core Growth Function
27:08 — The Do, Think, Feel Framework for Ecommerce Marketing
32:00 — How Every App Interaction Builds Brand Equity
34:42 — Social Commerce, Affiliates, and Live Shopping
37:44 — Gen AI in Performance Marketing, Creativity, and Operations

For 40 years, WARC has been providing the marketing industry with rigorous, unbiased evidence and expert effectiveness guidance. The WARC Podcast publishes a new episode every Tuesday and Thursday.

Subscribe to The WARC Podcast here: https://www.warc.com/en/warc-podcasts

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At the Insight to Impact event, WARC’s David Tiltman discovers how Mondelez’s insights team is using AI with Pam Forbus, examines the need for “marketing engineers” with Profound’s Matthew Huo, and goes deep on synthetic data research with Tracy Adams from the ARF and Keith Smith from the Marketing Science Institute.

This episode is sponsored by Profound. To learn more, go to tryprofound.com

Guests:
Pamela Forbus, Global Chief of Insights & Analytics, Mondelez
Matthew Huo, Product Marketing, Profound
Tracy Adams, Senior Director of Research & Insights, The Advertising Research Foundation
Keith Smith, Managing Director, The Marketing Science Institute
David Tiltman, Chief Content Officer, WARC

Chapters:
(00:00) Intro: Welcome to Insights to Impact
(02:29) Mondelez: Leading insights into AI’s future
(06:21) Mondelez: Breaking silos with consumer insight
(09:40) Mondelez: AI pilots, synthetic personas, and data foundations
(13:52) Mondelez: Synthetic personas and real consumers
(17:42) Profound: How brands appear in AI answers
(21:46) Profound: Creating original, specific content
(26:53) Profound: The rise of marketing engineers
(34:01) Profound: AI’s impact on marketing jobs
(37:24) The risks of synthetic research
(42:15) Bias, variability, and validation
(43:39) Why small prompt changes matter
(49:06) Matching validation to decision stakes

For 40 years, WARC has been providing the marketing industry with rigorous, unbiased evidence and expert effectiveness guidance. The WARC Podcast publishes a new episode every Tuesday and Thursday.

Subscribe to The WARC Podcast here: https://www.warc.com/en/warc-podcasts

Sign up to daily WARC News for free: https://www.warc.com/en/latest

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We're digging into new effectiveness research, including new thinking on brand coherence, the resurgence of 'ad awareness' and how to get the most out of sports sponsorships, recorded live at the IPA Effectiveness conference in London. Hosted by WARC's Anna Hamill.

Guests:
Orlando Wood, Chief Creative Officer, System1
Paul Simonet, The Whole Brained Marketer
Rory Natkiel, Founder of Box Count & Chair of the Sponsorship Effectiveness Forum
Claire Humphris, Chief Marketing Officer, British Cycling
Caitlin McRoy, Senior Sponsorship Manager at Sage
Nic Pietersma, Group Director of Analytics, Ebiquity
Anthony Jones, Head of Research, Thinkbox
Jane Christian, EVP - Analytics, WPP Media UK
Anna Hamill, Senior Editor, The WARC Podcast

Chapters:
[00:00] Intro: Live at the IPA Effectiveness Conference
[01:29] Creative coherence: putting brands back on top
[04:57] How the LLM model evaluates brand characteristics
[07:14] Coherent brand character: examples from Red Bull, Guinness, and Cadbury
[11:38] Brand coherence in an AI-driven world
[17:39] Why ad awareness deserves a closer look
[19:41] Ad awareness versus brand awareness
[23:27] Research findings: ad awareness, consideration, and causality
[28:00] Category differences and planning media to drive awareness
[34:45] The sponsorship effectiveness gap
[38:10] Sage’s approach: connecting sponsorship to broader brand goals
[40:18] Three practices for effective sponsorship measurement
[44:04] Long-term partnerships, flexibility, and creative platforms
[47:45] Lessons learned, and research resources

For 40 years, WARC has been providing the marketing industry with rigorous, unbiased evidence and expert effectiveness guidance. The WARC Podcast publishes a new episode every Tuesday and Thursday.

Subscribe to The WARC Podcast here: https://www.warc.com/en/warc-podcasts

Sign up to daily WARC News for free: https://www.warc.com/en/latest

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Live from the Insights to Impact event, Reddit’s Lore Oxford shares how to get the best insights from the platform, Kraft Heinz’s Doug Healy and Zappi’s Julio Franco share how to make marketers love research, and Newell Brands’ Delicia Cooney discusses the importance of human-centric insights in the AI era. Hosted by WARC's David Tiltman.

This episode is sponsored by Profound. To learn more, go to tryprofound.com

Guests:
Lore Oxford, Head of Insights Product, Reddit
Douglas Healy, Head of North America Insights, The Kraft Heinz Company
Julio Franco, Chief Customer Officer, Zappi
Delicia Cooney, Senior Insights Director, Newell Brands
David Tiltman, Chief Content Officer, WARC

Chapters:
00:00 — Intro: Live from Insights to Impact
02:21 — Reddit: What “insight slop” means
06:30 — Reddit: Curating data and building analysis frameworks
10:29 — Reddit: Trust, human perspectives, and the platform’s growing influence
12:43 — Reddit: How brands can listen and activate authentically
19:26 — Introducing Kraft Heinz and Zappi’s research partnership
20:26 — Kraft Heinz: Moving from overtesting to a learning philosophy
25:54 — Why research shouldn’t feel like a creative report card
29:51 — Kraft Heinz: Flexible testing, business impact, and lessons learned
42:12 — Newell Brands: Rethinking the insights function
47:10 — Newell Brands: Building a human-needs framework
52:17 — Newell Brands: Reframing existing research and choosing clarity

For 40 years, WARC has been providing the marketing industry with rigorous, unbiased evidence and expert effectiveness guidance. The WARC Podcast publishes a new episode every Tuesday and Thursday.

Subscribe to The WARC Podcast here: https://www.warc.com/en/warc-podcasts

Sign up to daily WARC News for free: https://www.warc.com/en/latest

Book a demo: https://www.warc.com/en/subscribe

The future of AI media still feels uncertain: a goldrush where no one knows where to dig. A new report from WARC Media examines whether fragmenting attention leads to a concentration of monetisation in the advertising market and consider what this might mean for the next era of AI media. WARC's Alex Brownsell discusses the impact with Debra Aho Williamson.

Chapters:
[00:00] — Intro: How AI Media Could Reshape the $1.3 Trillion Ad Market
[01:58] — Why WARC Is Measuring AI’s Impact on Advertising Investment
[03:30] — What Is AI Media? ChatGPT, Google, and Amazon as Ad Channels
[05:00] — Fragmented Consumer Attention and Concentrated Digital Ad Spend
[07:23] — Why Google, Meta, and Amazon Attract Advertiser Investment
[11:42] — Three Scenarios for AI’s Impact on the Advertising Market
[13:58] — Could OpenAI Become a New AI Advertising Leader?
[16:19] — Will AI Expand Digital Advertising or Replace Existing Channels?
[18:45] — Why Incumbent Platforms May Benefit Most From AI
[21:53] — How Consumer Behavior Will Shape the Future of AI Media
[22:45] — Why WARC Used Visual Storytelling for the Sightlines Report
[26:05] — Where to Read Sightlines and Hear the Report Presented

For 40 years, WARC has been providing the marketing industry with rigorous, unbiased evidence and expert effectiveness guidance. The WARC Podcast publishes a new episode every Tuesday and Thursday.

Subscribe to The WARC Podcast here: https://www.warc.com/en/warc-podcasts

Sign up to daily WARC News for free: https://www.warc.com/en/latest

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Strategy legends Suzanne Powers and Tom Morton left agency-land to build their own independent strategy businesses, discovering brands need new solutions to strategy problems outside of the agency model. They join WARC's David Tiltman to discuss what they've learned so far, the opportunities for strategists in going indie, and how to build a successful independent strategy proposition.

Guests:
Suzanne Powers, Co-Founder, All&
Tom Morton, Founder, Narratory Capital
David Tiltman, Chief Content Officer, WARC

Chapters:
(00:00) — Intro: Why more senior strategists are going indie
(02:07) — Why independent strategists are finding success
(04:30) — How to build a independent strategy consultancy
(05:27) — Reclaiming power and confidence
(08:21) — Value propositions for strategy beyond ad briefs
(10:56) — Is the independent strategy market becoming more competitive?
(13:09) — New opportunities in brand strategy consulting
(15:42) — Strategic planning for business pivots and growth
(18:57) — Making brand strategy Board-ready
(23:12) — How CMOs Can drive growth beyond advertising
(24:38) — Finding hidden strengths
(27:23) — Productized strategy vs. bespoke consulting
(31:37) — Using AI to improve marketing workflows
(35:44) — Why optimism matters for strategists

For 40 years, WARC has been providing the marketing industry with rigorous, unbiased evidence and expert effectiveness guidance. The WARC Podcast publishes a new episode every Tuesday and Thursday.

Subscribe to The WARC Podcast here: https://www.warc.com/en/warc-podcasts

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AI makes it easier to compete inside markets that already exist. That does not make strategy less important; it makes the search for new sources of demand more important. Erich Joachimsthaler, founder and CEO at VIVALDI, joins WARC's Lena Roland to discuss new 'demand spaces' for strategy.

Guests:
Erich Joachimsthaler, founder and CEO, VIVALDI; co-author of 'Brand Leadership: Building Assets in an Information Economy'
Lena Roland, Content Director, WARC

Chapters:
[00:00] Intro: Why strategists are moving upstream
[03:23] AI and the changing source of competitive advantage
[04:40] Finding growth beyond existing categories
[06:47] Demand spaces vs. traditional market segmentation
[09:23] Goodles: uncovering adult demand for mac and cheese
[11:29] Rhode skincare: building a brand around a simpler routine
[14:41] Demand-led portfolio strategy and product innovation
[16:59] Tesla: meeting demand for luxury and sustainability
[19:10] Where to compete vs. how to compete
[20:20] Figma: redefining design software through collaboration
[22:05] How to spot market shifts, workarounds, and new demand
[23:49] Liquid Death: brand differentiation and copycat risk
[27:32] How consumer needs, technology, and regulation create markets
[30:11] Sizing demand spaces and making the investment case

#business #marketing #innovation

For 40 years, WARC has been providing the marketing industry with rigorous, unbiased evidence and expert effectiveness guidance. The WARC Podcast publishes a new episode every Tuesday and Thursday.

Subscribe to The WARC Podcast here: https://www.warc.com/en/warc-podcasts

Sign up to daily WARC News for free: https://www.warc.com/en/latest

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How can strategy deliver measurable business value? Catherine Driscoll speaks with Martin Beverley (Ace of Hearts) and Baiba Matisone about value-based agency models, business-minded collaboration, timeless principles, and staying distinctive and evidence-led in an AI-shaped industry.

Guests:
Martin Beverley, Founder & Chief Strategy Officer, Ace of Hearts
Baiba Matisone, Brand & Creative Strategy Consultant
Catherine Driscoll, Commissioning Editor - EMEA, WARC

Chapters:
(00:00) — Intro: Strategy's Commercial Calue in 2026
(01:54) — Why Time-Based Agency Fees Undervalue Creative Strategy
(05:05) — Value-Based Pricing and Bespoke Agency Models
(06:02) — Four Agency Pricing Models: Outputs, Outcomes, IP and Equity
(09:40) — Systems Thinking for Client-Centered Strategy
(11:13) — How to Demonstrate the Business Value of Strategy
(13:16) — Helping CMOs Make the Case for Strategy to the Board
(16:08) — Applying Creativity Beyond Advertising
(20:23) — Timeless Marketing Principles vs. Industry Trends
(26:15) — AI, Critical Thinking and the Future of Strategy Skills
(28:40) — Why Brand Distinctiveness Matters More in the AI Era
(30:18) — Is the Future of Strategy Worth Being Optimistic About?

For 40 years, WARC has been providing the marketing industry with rigorous, unbiased evidence and expert effectiveness guidance. The WARC Podcast publishes a new episode every Tuesday and Thursday.

Subscribe to The WARC Podcast here: https://www.warc.com/en/warc-podcasts

Sign up to daily WARC News for free: https://www.warc.com/en/latest

Book a demo: https://www.warc.com/en/subscribe

Ad strategists are navigating two realities on AI: its benefit as a research tool, and the fear it may take their jobs. In the first of WARC's Future of Strategy series, Nikita Walia (U.N.N.A.M.E.D) and Joe Burns (Quality Meats) join Ann Marie Kerwin to examine whether AI is a strategist's friend, foe, or something in the middle, based on new data from WARC research.

Guests:
Nikita Walia, Partner & Strategist, U.N.N.A.M.E.D;
Joe Burns, Partner and Head of Strategy, Quality Meats Creative
Ann Marie Kerwin, Americas Editor, WARC

Supporting resources:
The Future of Strategy 2026: The future is hard to measure (Joe Burns) https://www.warc.com/en/article/the-future-is-hard-to-measure-1dbdbd7a20454b65b97470b36407f6e8
The Future of Strategy 2026: The skills strategists need to thrive in 2026 and beyond (Nikita Walia) https://www.warc.com/en/article/the-skills-strategists-need-c3a1888f29e6467299bf892259f1b7e1

The Future of Strategy 2026 (full report) https://www.warc.com/en/article/the-future-of-strategy-2026-d9afde10c3a948d789a91159ae7f23ce

Chapters:
(00:00) - Intro: The Future of Strategy 2026
(02:30) - AI Anxiety: Will AI Replace Marketing Strategists?
(04:57) - Using AI to Prototype and Stress-Test Strategic Ideas
(08:45) - Why Strategic Insight Is More Than a Polished Deck
(11:27) - Avoiding AI’s Legibility Trap in Brand Strategy
(15:26) - Building Brand Differentiation Beyond Advertising
(17:52) - How Strategists Can Lead Upstream Business Thinking
(21:26) - Bringing Strategy Into Early Brand Decisions
(24:07) - Aligning Agency Teams With AI and Shared Context
(27:04) - The Human Skills AI Can’t Replace: Client Relationships
(31:11) - Why Beauty Creates Commercial Value for Brands
(35:02) - Career Advice for Strategists: Look Beyond Marketing
(36:28) - Start a Business to Build Practical Strategy Skills

For 40 years, WARC has been providing the marketing industry with rigorous, unbiased evidence and expert effectiveness guidance. The WARC Podcast publishes a new episode every Tuesday and Thursday.

Subscribe to The WARC Podcast here: https://www.warc.com/en/warc-podcasts

Sign up to daily WARC News for free: https://www.warc.com/en/latest

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New research looks into unspoken qualities that different out-of-home formats convey, and the impact this can have on campaign effectiveness. WPP Media's Richard Kirk and Ocean Outdoor's Steve Bernard join Alex Brownsell to discuss why not all outdoor formats are created equal.

Guests:
Richard Kirk, EVP - Planning, WPP Media
Steve Bernard, Head of Insight, Ocean Outdoor
Alex Brownsell, Head of Content, WARC Media

Chapters:
[00:00] — Intro: The Hidden Powers of Out-of-Home Media
[01:47] — Meet the Guests: WPP Media's Richard Kirk & Ocean Outdoor's Steve Bernard
[02:10] — Media Signaling: How Channels Shape Brand Perceptions
[06:07] — Why Out-of-Home Advertising Needs Format-Level Research
[09:38] — Attention vs. Signaling: Two Measures of Media Quality
[12:16] — UK Digital Out-of-Home: Premium Formats and 3D Creative
[14:53] — How the Out-of-Home Signaling Study Was Conducted
[16:36] — Study Results: Premium OOH, Iconic Formats, and TV
[19:15] — Using Brand Signaling to Justify Premium Media CPMs
[23:20] — How Premium OOH Can Amplify Omnichannel Campaigns
[25:43] — What Signaling Research Means for Media Planners
[28:46] — Key Takeaways: Trust, Reach, and Attentive Signaling
[32:02] — Quality-Adjusted Reach: Planning Media for Business Outcomes

#marketing #advertising #mediaplanning #OOH

For 40 years, WARC has been providing the marketing industry with rigorous, unbiased evidence and expert effectiveness guidance. The WARC Podcast publishes a new episode every Tuesday and Thursday.

Subscribe to The WARC Podcast here: https://www.warc.com/en/warc-podcasts

Sign up to daily WARC News for free: https://www.warc.com/en/latest

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The US produces some of the most careful, literal commercials in the world. Is this 'vanilla' approach a creative failure? Or is it a structural necessity? Shann Biglione, author of 'The Vanilla Imperative: Why US Advertisers Are So Carefully Bland' joins WARC's Ann Marie Kerwin to discuss the nuances of US consumer psychology and why, in a nation as culturally loose yet ideologically polarized as the United States, playing it safe isn't a sign of creative cowardice but the only rational economic move to avoid alienating a fragmented market.

Guests:
Shann Biglione, Co-founder, Kumkuat AI
Ann Marie Kerwin, Americas Editor, WARC

Chapters:
00:00 Intro: Why US Advertising is so carefully bland
02:10 U.S. Ads vs. Global Ads: A creative gap?
03:52 Is bland advertising a result of fiduciary duties?
05:49 Why American ads favor literal, verifiable claims
08:20 American identity and the challenge of mass marketing
11:28 Cultural identity in US consumer audiences
13:44 Media fragmentation, algorithms, and US consumer Tribes
17:39 Nike, Liquid Death, and Yeti: Winning niche audiences
21:47 The 'stretch but don’t break' brand framework
23:34 The snap, overlap, and trip-wire tests for brand strategy
27:14 Screenshot and Boomerang tests for advertising campaigns
30:22 Protecting your brand core and exploring new flavors

#marketing #advertising #creativity #brandstrategy

For 40 years, WARC has been providing the marketing industry with rigorous, unbiased evidence and expert effectiveness guidance. The WARC Podcast publishes a new episode every Tuesday and Thursday.

Subscribe to The WARC Podcast here: https://www.warc.com/en/warc-podcasts

Sign up to daily WARC News for free: https://www.warc.com/en/latest

Book a demo: https://www.warc.com/en/subscribe

Video campaigns are 2x more likely to grow B2B market share and 1.7x more likely to deliver stronger ROI, according to new research from LinkedIn's B2B Institute and WARC. Amazon Business's Kate Rundell, LinkedIn's Vita Molis and LIONS Advisory's Imaad Ahmed join Anna Hamill to share insights from the research and practical applications for B2B marketing.

Chapters:
[00:00] Intro: Why video matters in B2B marketing
[02:34[ Methodology: 1,025 Award-Winning B2B Campaigns Comparing Video vs Non-Video
[05:03] How B2B Video Drives Market Share, ROI and Search Performance
[07:14] The “Video Paradox”: High B2B Video Effectiveness but Flat Investment Budgets
[09:35] Winning Over The B2B Buying Group
[12:34] Amazon Business's CMO on Using Video Across the Full B2B Marketing Funnel
[15:05] Creative Lessons: Designing Silent-First B2B Video and Proving ROI with Data
[16:34] Discoverable, Credible, Winnable: How Video Builds B2B Brand Trust and Recall
[18:35] Why B2B Marketers Underinvest in Video and Misjudge Business Buyers
[22:32] Use Cases For B2B Video
[24:40] Make Video Work Harder: Jobs-to-Be-Done and Journey-Led Planning
[27:22] The Future of B2B Video: AI, Hidden Buyers and CFO-Friendly Measurement

Supporting resources on WARC.com:
Unlocking the Value of Video in B2B: https://www.warc.com/en/article/unlocking-the-value-of-video-in-b-2-b-728926f28b29431c9493c568690fefea

#B2Bmarketing #marketing #advertising #videomarketing #media #B2B #marketingscience

For 40 years, WARC has been providing the marketing industry with rigorous, unbiased evidence and expert effectiveness guidance. The WARC Podcast publishes a new episode every Tuesday and Thursday.

Subscribe to The WARC Podcast here: https://www.warc.com/en/warc-podcasts

Sign up to daily WARC News for free: https://www.warc.com/en/latest

Book a demo: https://www.warc.com/en/subscribe

2026 has been a challenging year for marketers, with constant upheaval forcing consequential decisions. Amid all this: the impact of the K shaped economy. WARC's Catherine Driscoll and Carat's Tony de Vizio join Anna Hamill to discuss marketing in economically challenging times, based on insights from WARC's recent report 'Marketing In The K-Shaped Economy'.

Guests:
Catherine Driscoll, EMEA Commissioning Editor, WARC
Tony de Vizio, Global Partnerships Director, Carat
Anna Hamill, Senior Editor - The WARC Podcast, WARC

Chapters:
[00:00] Intro: Marketing in the K-shaped Economy
[00:09] What Is the K-Shaped Economy? Setting the Marketing Context
[02:28] A Two-Speed Consumer Reality: Hermes vs Buy Now Pay Later
[03:09- How the K-Shaped Economy Changes Demand, Resilience and Marketing
[05:46] Top of the K: Affluent Consumers Driving Global Marketing Spend
[07:31] The End of the “Average Consumer” and What It Means for Marketers
[10:33] Mid-Market Brands in a K-Shaped Economy
[11:55] Redefining Value in Marketing: Beyond Low Price to Emotional Return
[14:07] Category, Occasion and Pricing Strategy in a K-Shaped Economy
[17:29] Marketing to Affluent Consumers: Luxury Lessons on Depth and Pricing Power
[19:27] Marketing to Pressured Consumers: Value, Dignity and Life-on-a-Budget
[22:00] How Technology Accelerates the K-Shaped Economy
[24:07] K-Shaped AI Adoption and Strategic Questions for Marketing Leaders

For 40 years, WARC has been providing the marketing industry with rigorous, unbiased evidence and expert effectiveness guidance. The WARC Podcast publishes a new episode every Tuesday and Thursday.

Subscribe to The WARC Podcast here: https://www.warc.com/en/warc-podcasts

Sign up to daily WARC News for free: https://www.warc.com/en/latest

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Brands are increasingly looking toward micro and nano creators for social cut-through. Marcus Yong, VP - Global Marketing at travel brand Klook, joins WARC's Rica Facundo to discuss how smaller creators can help target niche segments while still scaling for reach, based on frameworks from WARC's Pace Principle 2.0 research.

Guests:
Marcus Yong, VP - Global Marketing, Klook
Rica Facundo, Managing Editor - Asia, WARC

For 40 years, WARC has been providing the marketing industry with rigorous, unbiased evidence and expert effectiveness guidance. The WARC Podcast publishes a new episode every Tuesday and Thursday.

Subscribe to The WARC Podcast here: https://www.warc.com/en/warc-podcasts

Sign up to daily WARC News for free: https://www.warc.com/en/latest

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The gap between creative and media is closing, with large scale creative data and next-gen measurement tools combining to predict commercial outcomes, not just clicks. Boots' Peter Grant, CreativeX's Anastasia Leng and DAIVID's Ian Forrester join the pod to share the lessons from a pilot experiment at health and beauty retailer Boots, and what its taught them about the future of creative effectiveness. Hosted by WARC's David Tiltman.

Guests:
Peter Grant, interim media and marketing effectiveness director, Boots
Anastasia Leng, founder and CEO of CreativeX
Ian Forrester, founder and CEO of DAIVID

Chapters:
[00:00] Boots, CreativeX and DAIVID’s Real‑World Test
[03:55] Boots’ effectiveness journey
[05:49] 3,500 assets at scale: how CreativeX built creative observability for Boots
[07:43] What is a creative quality score?
[09:32] Inside DAIVID’s model: attention and brand recall metrics
[11:41] Human ground truth vs synthetic data panels
[12:52] Linking creative signals to real‑world commercial outcomes
[14:55] Results of the testing on Meta and YouTube
[17:22] Diagnosing boredom, confusion and underperforming creative at scale
[20:02] How Boots uses creative data to reinvest, not cut, media spend
[22:02] From one‑off analysis to always‑on optimization
[24:34] Feeding signals into GenAI and creator workflows
[27:26] Fixing long‑tail content waste in digital media
[30:18] Common language for creative and media teams
[38:06] Boots’ 18‑month vision: operationalized creative effectiveness

For 40 years, WARC has been providing the marketing industry with rigorous, unbiased evidence and expert effectiveness guidance. The WARC Podcast publishes a new episode every Tuesday and Thursday.

Subscribe to The WARC Podcast here: https://www.warc.com/en/warc-podcasts

Sign up to daily WARC News for free: https://www.warc.com/en/latest

Book a demo: https://www.warc.com/en/subscribe

Failing to usher buyers from discovery to purchase in the fewest possible steps is often seen as a setback. This belief misunderstands the consumer purchase journey, according to new research. Mindscope's Lea Karam and TikTok's Elias W. Bassil join WARC's Alex Brownsell to discuss the alchemy of customer consideration.

Guests:
Lea Karam, CEO & Founder of Mindscope
Elias W. Bassil, Regional Head of Business Marketing, TikTok METAP
Alex Brownsell, Head of Content, WARC Media

Chapters:
[0:10] – Introducing “The Alchemy of Consideration” with TikTok & Mindscope
[1:56] – Does Marketing Misunderstand the Consideration Phase in the Customer Journey?
[3:28] – Why Traditional Journey Models Are Broken
[5:51] – Reframing Decision-Making Beyond Funnel Thinking
[10:41] – What Is a Behavioral Pause?
[12:57] – Desire vs Need: Liking, Wanting, and Value Alignment in Consumer Choice
[13:42] – How Pauses Show Up on TikTok
[16:54] – The Cost of Forcing Narratives in the Consideration Phase
[18:18] – Short-Term KPIs vs Long-Term Brand Building: Rethinking the Attention Economy
[21:10] – The Four Forces of Consideration: Social, Cognitive, Contextual, and Emotional
[23:18] – Why Context Has Veto Power: Viewing Environment and Mental Availability
[27:44] – How Brands Can Improve Consideration Effectiveness

For 40 years, WARC has been providing the marketing industry with rigorous, unbiased evidence and expert effectiveness guidance. The WARC Podcast publishes a new episode every Tuesday and Thursday.

Subscribe to The WARC Podcast here: https://www.warc.com/en/warc-podcasts

Sign up to daily WARC News for free: https://www.warc.com/en/latest

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Effectiveness expert James Hurman joins to discuss the key ideas in his new book 'Future Demand', why performance marketing is plateauing, how brands really grow, and the nuances of building a dual measurement system. Hosted by WARC's David Tiltman.

Guests:
James Hurman, marketing effectiveness expert and author, 'Future Demand'
David Tiltman, Chief Content Officer, WARC

Chapters:
[00:00] Introduction to James Hurman’s new book 'Future Demand'
[03:21] Solving diminishing returns in performance marketing
[07:07] Explaining 'future vs current demand' with the 95–5 rule and Ehrenberg-Bass insights
[09:39] Why advertising doesn’t directly cause short-term sales
[11:18] How consideration sets drive 84% of brand choice
[13:20] Making marketing make sense to the C-suite
[16:19] Advertising’s true role is misunderstood
[22:38] Two jobs of advertising: brand building for future demand vs performance for current demand
[23:20] How to measure brand and performance impact
[27:15] Using emotional metrics as leading indicators
[31:10] How digital-first brands rebalanced brand and performance
[35:41] The 'two audience problem': why brands must be machine-readable and human-lovable

For 40 years, WARC has been providing the marketing industry with rigorous, unbiased evidence and expert effectiveness guidance. The WARC Podcast publishes a new episode every Tuesday and Thursday.

Subscribe to The WARC Podcast here: https://www.warc.com/en/warc-podcasts

Sign up to daily WARC News for free: https://www.warc.com/en/latest

Book a demo: https://www.warc.com/en/subscribe

Instacart's Laura Jones returns to share practical lessons from Instacart's brand transformation, including prioritising effectiveness, brand-first marketing strategy, partnerships, Instacart's chase to win a Cannes Lion and much more.

Guests:
Laura Jones, Chief Marketing Officer, Instacart
Ann Marie Kerwin, Americas Editor, WARC

Chapters:
[00:00] Introduction: Instacart’s marketing transformation project
[01:36] Building the Instacart brand: From performance-pnly to full-funnel marketing
[03:47] Balancing functional messaging and emotional storytelling
[05:24] Redefining marketing measurement: From last-touch ROAS to portfolio impact
[08:02] Explaining marketing effectiveness to the C-suite
[09:25] Scaling an in-house creative agency
[12:31] Instacart's 2026 Super Bowl campaign
[16:41] Brand-building partnerships: WNBA and Feeding America
[19:27] Brand stewardship: A new view on marketing effectiveness
[21:22] Embedding brand across product, CX and culture
[21:33] Learning from Cannes Lions and Raising the Creative Bar

For 40 years, WARC has been providing the marketing industry with rigorous, unbiased evidence and expert effectiveness guidance. The WARC Podcast publishes a new episode every Tuesday and Thursday.

Subscribe to The WARC Podcast here: https://www.warc.com/en/warc-podcasts

Sign up to daily WARC News for free: https://www.warc.com/en/latest

Book a demo: https://www.warc.com/en/subscribe

The biggest creative risk? Not being creative enough. System1's Andrew Tindall joins WARC's Ann Marie Kerwin to discuss the multiplier effect of creativity, how brands can be more creative, and why it's essential to marketing that truly moves the dial for brands.

Read The Multiplier Playbook research from WARC here: https://www.warc.com/en/the-multiplier-playbook-2026

Watch WARC's podcast on The Creative Dividend, a major new effectiveness study from System1 and Effie Worldwide, based on more than 1,200 Effie cases: https://studio.youtube.com/video/wH_tJ8xBfHA/

Guests:
Andrew Tindall, Chief Advertising Officer, System1
Ann Marie Kerwin, Americas Editor, WARC

Chapters:
[00:00] Intro: The multiplier effect of creativity
[01:52] Why future demand matters in brand building
[02:18] How advertising drives brand growth
[03:30] Why interesting, engaging creative beats narrow targeting
[06:33] Creativity’s impact on short-term sales vs long-term brand effects
[07:02] Emotional, distinctive, entertaining ads drive immediate response
[10:46] The real 'cost of dull' in advertising
[15:03] The Creativity Stack: distinctiveness, emotion, showmanship, and consistency
[18:30] Why distinctiveness is table stakes for profitable brand growth
[20:17] Showmanship in advertising: stopping the scroll
[22:30] Consistency in creativity: how campaigns wear in, not wear out
[27:01] Build, nudge, connect: a modern framework to replace the traditional funnel
[29:43] Distinctive brand assets
[33:46] Creative quality and media planning
[42:00] Why marketers should let effective ads run much longer
[45:10] Getting back to 'the big idea'
[47:30] Tightening the creative brief
[49:30] Why modern marketing feels overwhelming

For 40 years, WARC has been providing the marketing industry with rigorous, unbiased evidence and expert effectiveness guidance. The WARC Podcast publishes a new episode every Tuesday and Thursday.

Subscribe to The WARC Podcast here: https://www.warc.com/en/warc-podcasts

Sign up to daily WARC News for free: https://www.warc.com/en/latest

Book a demo: https://www.warc.com/en/subscribe

'How Brands Grow' is one of the most influential books in marketing, exploring rules of brand growth such as mental and physical availability, double jeopardy, and increasing penetration. Professor Byron Sharp, its author and director of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, joined WARC's David Tiltman at Cannes Lions to revisit its core principles and how they apply to today's marketing landscape.

Guests:
Byron Sharp, author, How Brands Grow; Professor of Marketing Science, University of Adelaide; Director, Ehrenberg Bass Institute
David Tiltman, Chief Content Officer, WARC

Chapters:
[00:00] Introduction: Prof. Byron Sharp joins The WARC Podcast
[02:40] Mental and physical availability: Where Byron Sharp and Mark Ritson align
[04:00] Inside 'How Brands Grow': Laws of brand growth explained
[05:20] The NBD-Dirichlet Model and Ehrenberg’s Law of Buyer Frequency
[07:15] Andrew Ehrenberg’s influence on marketing science
[09:30] Brand awareness and brand salience
[12:40] Why CMOs must know the laws of marketing science
[15:30] What brand image data really shows
[18:50] Navigating recession: Should brands cut advertising spend?
[22:10] Inflation, private label growth and CPG brand strategy
[26:00] Mental availability as a brand asset
[29:40] How small brands grow
[32:20] Differentiation vs distinctiveness
[36:12] Byron Sharp's advice on pricing power
[37:30] How does brand image differ from mental availability?
[40:16] How Ehrenberg-Bass laws work in disrupted and high-growth markets
[42:24] The future of marketing science & fact-checking hype

For 40 years, WARC has been providing the marketing industry with rigorous, unbiased evidence and expert effectiveness guidance. The WARC Podcast publishes a new episode every Tuesday and Thursday.

Subscribe to The WARC Podcast here: https://www.warc.com/en/warc-podcasts

Sign up to daily WARC News for free: https://www.warc.com/en/latest

Book a demo: https://www.warc.com/en/subscribe