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The kids are alright, mostly. The percentage of Australians who have only known a digital world is edging inexorably towards a majority, yet the digital experiences of government and business are still anchored in the messy transitional world of those who also remember a world of real things. To ensure they are delivering the best experiences, brands and governments need to take much more account of the changing relationship the community has with technology according to a report from R/GA. It's a world already familiar to executives we spoke to at Kit (part of CommBank's X-15 ventures) and Bendigo and Adelaide's Up Bank.

YouTube is out to prove its breadth of niche long-form content gets audiences more engaged than they might be elsewhere. It's hired Kantar to help make a solid case that this so called 'flow state' makes audiences more receptive to new information – i.e. advertising. And it's also making some bold claims about how YouTube reduces ecom returns. But Neuro Insight's Peter Pynta queries whether such macro level observations go deep enough, and importantly, whether they can really be applied to advertising. From those deciding where spend goes, the feedback was mixed. Buyers are not yet convinced that it translates to all-important advertising effectiveness – and some say YouTube's jamming in plenty of ads that might break that flow state.

CDP uptake may have slowed in the US and Europe in recent years, but the technology remains high on the shopping list for APAC CMOs as they look to better understand their markets through customer analytics and adjust approaches to digital marketing in a post-cookie world where regulators are more focused on issues such as privacy according to a new Forrester report.

Ditching Athena’s ‘Love us and leave us’ proposition wasn’t an option for the digital-first home loan upstart’s marketing chief, Sarah Sproule. But it appears most of the other marketing, product and customer value propositions have shaken up as the business broadens out from its price-based roots and makes a play for a diversified mix of customers. So far its working – and Sproule says the focus and KPIs are now way deeper than cost per acquisition, with marketing "on the hook all the way through to final conversion, which is settlement". She's firmly in "get shit done" mode – and with brokers now a key channel, B2B is next.

The blockbuster Google ads antitrust trial looks likely to end weeks early after the testy judge launched a series of attacks on the search giant’s witnesses yesterday. The inability of the tech giant's legal team – full of the most expensive big name lawyers corporations can buy – to match the Justice Department's case blow for blow left onlookers baffled.

KPMG is muscling up in its own brand and marketing masterplan in a bid to distance itself from PwC’s tax leak scandal, “create a bit of space between us and our competitors” and remind the market that the big four consulting groups “are not all the same”, according to Sudeep Gohil. Taking on the broadening remit for the firm as “partner in charge of brand and marketing”, Gohil remains a partner in KPMG’s Customer unit and was a former creative agency strategy director with US-based Wieden & Kennedy and ex-CEO at Droga5 ANZ before it died and was resurrected by Accenture Song in recent weeks after its rebrand of The Monkeys.

NIB and University of Tasmania are two Australian organisations that have begun squaring up to the sustainability reckoning coming to marketers, agency and media publishers as legislated climate reporting ratchets up a notch and Scope 3 emissions become front and centre. With media and marketing emissions estimated at a whopping 59 per cent of total group emissions at NIB, marketing this year adopted GroupM’s Project Alpha reporting tool to start accurately measuring and optimising campaigns with immediate double-digit reductions effect. At Uni of Tas meanwhile, 30 per cent-plus reductions just by tackling the low-hanging fruit of digital advertising optimisation – largely programmatic display and made for advertising sites. Meanwhile switching out clicks to conversion metrics not only won over the c-suite, it’s cementing the education provider’s global number one position for climate action with prospective students, and led to a 264 per cent increase in conversions in early campaign trials.

Seven's new structure raised more than a few eyebrows when it landed in June, as did the big name cuts that came with it. But despite new Television and Digital divisions appearing to erect silos, national TV sales boss Katie Finney says Seven's commitment to converged trading remains unchanged. In fact, she says little has tangibly changed across the sales structure, aside from PNLs and reporting lines – intended to streamline delivery for partners. She’s in market tasked with assuring advertisers and agencies that Seven is now better set to manage shifting market dynamics. But the restructure isn't all Seven has to address, in what has been a year marred by controversies and murky allegations. Finney says the business is taking on "the good, the bad and the ugly" from partners and staffers alike, while CEO Jeff Howard is taking a zero tolerance stance on bad behaviour.

Merry Boots GM James Smith came into the business as finance chief with zero marketing experience. But he could see over-reliance on social media for growth risked backfiring – and the power of a listicle article in The New York Times spruiking its rainboots as some of the best around gave the brand confidence affiliate marketing wasn’t just a dirty word or about discounting. Today, partnerships account for over 10 per cent of revenue in the US and high single-digits in the UK – one-third of total revenue for the business – and have proven a critical way of building not only brand discovery but credibility outside Australia, says Smith. Even as it steps into cashback offers to win over younger demos, he’s insistent there isn’t a reduced-price boot yet in sight.