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Adopting AI is wrapped up in policy red tape for some brands, has become a test-and-learn exercise for a few, is a rudimentary or revolutionary personal ChatGPT experience for a handful, and a pipedream for many others. Whatever the actual take-up, AI’s lure was firmly in evidence at yesterday’s Google Marketing Live event as 700 marketers and agency execs turned up to hear Google's outline how AI will transform search advertising, creative development and measurement. Brands such as Les Mills, Officeworks, The Iconic, Canva and Virgin Australia were showcased for improving media ROI via Google’s latest AI-powered products and services. Heavy with hard commercial numbers, Google’s approach was a definite nod to the crunched economic climate and pressure all marketers are under to better prove out value and do more with less. The overriding message to advertisers is to stop waiting for change and start experimenting to make it happen.

Marketers are still focused on a growth agenda but they need to deliver that in a climate of tighter budgets and weak consumer spending, with the latest GDP figures the worst in three years. Hence a greater focus martech maturity and equipping teams with the skills and capabilities to do the best job possible with the tools provided. The problem is, those capabilities are sorely lacking. And as ecommerce softens, there's a heightened focus on building profitability by tackling issues like channel proliferation. Plus, two-thirds of marketers don't think their business has plans to deal with the privacy changes coming thick and fast. These are some of the key takeaways from this year's Arktic Fox and Six Degrees Executive's 2024 Digital Marketing and Ecommerce in Focus report and from the insights of digital and marketing execs from L'Oreal, Moose Toys, Latrobe University, Accent, and Property Dollar to gauge how the signals from the data are playing out on the street.

News Corp Australia has called on the Federal Government to implement a new legal framework that it says would hold the likes of Meta, TikTok and X to account for the harms their platforms cause in Australian society. Speaking at the National Press Club on Wednesday, executive chairman Michael Miller proposed a legal ‘Social License’ regime that would enforce tech monopolies to abide by Australian standards or else pack up shop. 

“A baptism of fire, start to finish, and a much broader role than I anticipated going in.” Funlabs CMO Oonagh Flanagan isn’t kidding. She has driven a booking system rebuild, with online bookings at the leisure operator more than doubling as a result. She has replatformed the websites, implemented four Salesforce clouds, digitally rewired the phone system and has just completed the first phases of a customer resegmentation program, shifting from bucketing people by demographics to attitudes. Now she’s planning to do something a little less technical: Spend money on free-to-air TV.

Former Carat and Dentsu Aegis Network ANZ boss Simon Ryan reckons the new breed of nimble holdcos can outmanoeuvre the old guard – and he’s still planning to run one globally, just as his old boss Jerry Buhlmann did, helming the business that bought the smaller one he co-founded, and then the bigger fish that snapped up Aegis. With private equity grafted muscle, Ryan reckons he’s skipped five years of scale grind – but still gets to act like an independent. Now he’s hunting acquisitions, with content and creative first off the bat. He thinks local media owners need a Kerry Packer-esque bruiser in the face of global platform onslaught as jumpy marketers pile into channels that claim a direct link to sales. Per Ryan it will likely get worse before – or if – it gets better.

Distinctive creative is key for marketers looking to cut through the digital noise, but with “most people not looking at the ads in the first place”, per Amplified Intelligence’s Dr Karen Nelson-Field, landing your message with consumers keeps getting harder. NAB marketer Michelle Martinis says that those willing to take creative risks will be rewarded, but that getting the boardroom to sign off requires some rigour – which so far has been paying off for the bank. Getting it right means understanding how attention plays out between platforms, and adjusting brand and creative accordingly, but with 85 per cent of ads copping less than 2.5 seconds of attention – and many much less, if any – that’s easier said than done. And if the brand doesn't immediately land, there's a risk of accidentally funding competitors' growth.

Australian consumers are getting exposed to data and privacy breaches more often, and they’re exhibiting more distrust in every company’s ability to protect their privacy as a consequence. Paradoxically, they’re the first to admit their behaviours online may not be the best, even as they level accountability – albeit in an imbalanced, bias way – firmly on the shoulders of organisations, says Honeycomb Strategy’s MD, John Bevitt. They’re also remain mostly unconvinced of the value they’re getting from exchanging their information for personalisation.

Through a new survey of more than 1000 individuals, the agency has gauged current consumer sentiment around privacy and data off the back of the whopper breaches to occur at Optus and Medibank. It shows consumers are not just speaking their disdain but taking action too, switching brands and irrevocably taking their trust away from those that misuse or inadvertently share their personal data and put their privacy at risk.

Honeycomb’s is a timely and worrying report given the targeting and personal data crackdown looming over marketers, advertisers, media and tech players through the Federal Government’s fast-tracked Privacy Act review, as well as the ACCC’s concerns around cross-company data sharing in its latest Digital Platforms Inquiry report. It’s a looming era of data scarcity, says Bevitt – and brands need to get creative to cope.  

Imposter syndrome: It’s a behavioural health phenomenon that sees some striving for perfectionism, and leaves others paralysed.

As scholars in The Marketing Academy program have learned, conquering professional doubts and fears and reframing – while still accepting and exhibiting vulnerability – is critical if you’re to work your way into executive leadership.

In the first of a new series of pieces featuring The Marketing Academy alumni, we ask: How have you brushed up against imposter syndrome and what have you done to try and overcome its effects?

Flush with triple-digital year-on-year growth and riding the wave of the wellness trend, Australian-owned sexual wellness product maker, Vush, has a strong runway ahead of it, says newly installed joint GM and marketing chief, Liana Lorenzato. And having earned her stripes in challenging advertising and category norms at Modibodi, the brand builder isn’t afraid of the challenge of another sensitive product to position in market.