With the demise of the cookie monster and the supreme reign of a few internet giants, a lot of brands placed their bets on building first party data. Is that really the way of the future, and can brands sustainably grow without a strong 1st party data strategy anymore?

“You’re Dead In 18 Months Or Less” - Scott Galloway's ominous predictions for CMOs last week brought about a slight disturbance in the force. In this episode, we discuss the argument made against CMOs as we know them, as well as arguments for their possible redemption.

As global consciousness of the world's climate challenges rises, the role of advertising is being increasingly scrutinized. With large fossil fuel companies still using our services to project a greener image, the reality is that decades of deception have made them questionable clients to support. In an effort to stop the support provided by advertising to the industry, Clean Creatives has been ramping up efforts to pledge our industry to move away from those contracts. Joe Cole tells answers our tough questions and shares how the initiatives has succeeded from idea to a massive movement that is now permeating the industry.

Social Media platforms are often put on the map by (young) generations, but ageing with them seems to prove a difficult exercise. Does that generational gap make it harder, and what might allow them more trans-generational success?

Strategic planning inevitably requires the ability to rationalize information, but does great strategy require the ability to think creatively about it?

If you had to launch an agency from scratch today, how would you do it? What strategy or approach would you use? How would you stand out from competitors? Would you try to stay small and niche, or try to create the next WPP? This week's question is courtesy of listener Ian Barnard.

On the heels of Twitter's catastrophic rebranding, we are joined by Co:Collective's Snr Strategy Director, Jessica Lehmann Ash, to discuss not only what went wrong there, but how and when to potentially get it right. Rebranding (or even renaming) should never be taken lightly, often costing valuable equity to companies, but as you'll hear on this episode, it doesn't mean there aren't valuable moments to go through the exercise.

Brand, performance, social, programmatic, CRM, influencer, sponsoring, media, creative... There is a myriad of specialties in the world of advertising, and marketers are increasingly expected to be able to navigate any of them. Is it possible for them to be good at both the long and the short of it?

Threads has taken the world of social media by storm last week, growing in ways we'd never seen before. To discuss the platform's launch, its impact on marketers (and on Meta's product teams!), we're joined by Grace Freeman, Strategy Director and social media expert at Barbarian. The chance to share our hopes and fears for a platform that is breaking all sorts of records.

Barbie has been taking the film industry by storm - and the marketing community has noticed! This week we're joined by Moshe Isaacian, Brand Strategist, to talk about what's great about this campaign, and how it may rekindle a flame that has been somewhat lost in entertainment marketing.

A couple of years ago, Freakonomics discussed research that show zero to negative correlation between advertising and market effects. Apparently, marketers have been wasting all this money for nothing. During this episode, Rachel and Shann discuss the merits of the findings, and whether it approached the question in a way that does (or does not) capture the value of advertising for brands.