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Publicis has all but locked in Australia's biggest carmaker, taking on Toyota's retail creative work with Dentsu Creative losing the long-term business. It is understood Saatchi & Saatchi will bring an AI strategy for creative and beyond already being deployed on the Toyota retail business in the US - one executive familiar with the move said Publicis promised "workhorse-style retail executions" across video, image and copy at scale via automation.

Rather than loading up its already substantial technology debt, ANZ Bank made a strategic decision at the start of the decade to take a (mostly) greenfields approach to ANZ Plus, its app-driven mobile banking service and the future direction of the bank. Increased competition from fintechs, a banking Royal Commission that was scathing of the sector, and customers demanding more control and transparency all factored into the decision. And that choice also allows it to utilise a 'next best action' platform – a cornerstone of real-time decision-making – to drive adoption and engagement, says the bank's marketing tech lead. The bet is now paying off – and attribution is up next. 

Louvre concerts broadcast in Roblox, athletes as creators, AI-powered posters of sporting heroes and 70-plus Nine broadcast channels integrated into a simultaneous reach-personalisation play are just some of the diverse ways Australian brands are activating around the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. But even with the dynamic toolbox of tactics in play this year, marketers at NRMA Insurance, Visa, Cadbury and Old El Paso are singing from the same hymn sheet on seeking opportunities that inspire community, authentic human connection, positive values and virtuous brand storytelling over pure sales targets. With under 30 days to what many perceive as a rejuvenated global sporting competition after the covid-crimped Tokyo Olympics, Mi3 takes a dive into the marketing plans of four very different well-known brands in Australia lining up alongside the sporting tournament to find out why they’re backing the games and what ROI they’re looking to achieve.

While the big agency groups aim to sew up top-end brands with end-to-end services, a new cohort of indies are flipping that model and touting tight, senior structures and “fractional” approaches that they say can scale and flex to suit the increasingly diverse business challenges facing marketers amid exploding remits. Supermassive, Pembleton and Bureau have all hit the market this last year with models they say does away with agency bloat and delivers specialist capability rather than square pegs in round holes – and don’t need retainers to stay afloat. Meanwhile as some small shops seek the safety of bigger groups as headwinds strengthen, these three see opportunity amid threat.

Big4 CEO Sean Jenner, says it’s all about respect. Getting the holiday park operator on the path to privacy by design has been an all-of-business ambition stretching from new tools, systems and processes to a cultural mindset that recognises customer data as something brands are given permission to utilise, not own. It’s a big job “eating the elephant”, as Jenner puts it, but necessary for businesses to ensure they’re not crippled by the transformative changes Australia’s new-look privacy legislation is expected to throw their way. The key is to recognise this is as much about humans and respect for data as it is about operational change, Salinger Privacy principal, Anna Johnston, says: “Privacy compliance cannot be seen as the job of just one person, it’s not a tickbox exercise, it can’t be automated ... You can’t avoid the privacy rules by applying some basic de-identification techniques and thinking you are now exempt." She outlines a seven-point plan every brand should now take.

Most of Australia's biggest banks, along with globals like Wells Fargo, Citibank, and Rabobank are betting large on Real-Time Interaction Management (RTIM) – also called real-time decisioning. It doesn't come cheaply: Forrester Research suggests average annual costs if circa $1.7m, sometimes running as high as $7m. But those investments are paying off – and some banks are generating returns into the hundreds of millions of dollars. Hence customers tend to pick and stick, with 80 per cent saying they are happy with their suppliers. Pega and SAS dominate – with the former in particular carving out Australia's addressable market. But there's also room for others in a category that extends into journey orchestration, personalisation, and cross-channel marketing – particularly as retail and consumer brands start to pile in.

Samsung Ads ANZ boss Alex Spurzem claims it has a million active users on its native FAST channels across 3 million ad-enabled smart TVs – and business is booming. Besides being a boon for ad inventory, its also enabled the ads business to offer advertisers insights into user's viewing habits across the smart TV ecosystem – though that does seem to contradict Samsung's insistence that its content offering sits outside the logged-in environment. Regardless, the oversight into Australia's shifting TV viewership has made Spurzem confident that streaming platforms have the upper hand in the battle with the legacy broadcast players, as tensions over prominence, measurement and currencies remain hot.

Australian ecommerce sales grew 4 per cent in the March quarter but China’s surging shopping apps, led by newcomers Shein and Temu, are outbidding rivals and pushing up digital ad costs globally. It’s partly behind retailers refocusing on loyalty programs and loyal shoppers for growth instead of more expensive customer acquisition via media channels – search and social particularly. Shein and Temu are both nudging $1bn in online sales each in Australia. According to March Quarter digital commerce data from Salesforce, luxury handbags, toys and consumer electronics were categories hit hardest while budget and mid-range handbags increased 7 per cent and health and beauty overall was pacing at a 12 per cent increase.  

Omnicom Media Group boss Peter Horgan claims diverse media budget allocation is over-indexing on engagement, ROI and acquisition versus mainstream buys. Yet adland can't seem to replicate that within its own ranks. Agencies appear to be stuck on the DE&I conversation and even then seem to be failing to get representation beyond junior ranks, leaving culturally-diverse talent short of role models and advocates. Proactively fishing beyond traditional talent pools would be a start. Horgan, Think HQ's Jen Sharpe, TBWA's Renata Yannoulis, Publicis' Pauly Grant, CulturalPulse' Reg Raghavan, TMS' Jacquie Alley, Kiranpreet Kaur Dhillon, Clemenger's Raj Tapper and Havas' James Wright weigh in on where we're at, where next – and an opportunity for publishers.