The Drum

This Week in Marketing: Andrew Tindall declares war on QR codes Mark Ritson on why synthetic customers still need real humans Sydney Sweeney exposes advertising’s gender divide The traditional CMO gets a makeover And more. #newsletter #marketing #media #advertising

Heather Barnett’s back to deal with your B2B agony This week: a plan, no strategy, and a diagnosis you might not want to hear. Hello, darlings. How are we? How’s B2B marketing treating you? Chin up, everybody. Yes, B2B marketing is hard, but it’s hard for everybody, so let’s not make a fuss. Heather’s got some lovely advice for all of you struggling souls, and this week she’s turning her attention to that most familiar of agonies: what happens when there’s a marketing plan to write and no strategy to speak of. Her diagnosis is bracing. Her bedside manner, unquestionable. Settle in, let Heather’s soothing wisdom wash over you, and watch above. Then get your questions in to relieve your B2B agony next time. Connect with Heather on LinkedIn https://lnkd.in/espr8_4N Heather Barnett, Reuben Webb

What does "good measurement" actually look like today? For Elizabeth Neubauer-Donovan, the answer comes down to one word: partnerships. Collaborate on data with the brands you already work with. Extend it across owned and operated channels. Layer in offsite data monetization. Think about how United's loyalty ties with hotels, Uber, and Lyft unlock growth beyond their own four walls. Consolidation isn't just a buzzword. it's partnerships, done right. 🎧 Listen to Episode 3 of The Basket Case, the podcast having fun with and making fun of commerce media, featuring Elizabeth Neubauer-Donovan's full interview. In partnership with QSIC. Watch the full episode here:  https://lnkd.in/eJnkJiab #BasketCasePodcast #Episode3 #Measurement #DataStrategy #Partnerships

As Search becomes more conversational, Molly Pritchard-Hughes, growth marketing manager at Monzo shares how the brand expanded beyond traditional keyword targeting to connect with richer, more conversational searches to unlock both scale and quality, qualified customers. Read the full case study 👉https://lnkd.in/eHK8RxF9 #Sponsored

More than half of shoppers think advertising in an AI tool makes a brand more likely to be recommended by it. THEY'RE WRONG. New Bazaarvoice research, co-authored by Kiri Masters, found that 54% of consumers believe advertising in an AI tool makes a brand more likely to be recommended by that tool. And 62% have already used AI to help them shop. So as AI becomes a bigger part of the shopping journey, what actually makes consumers trust the brands it recommends? In her new column, Masters explores why advertising may not be the shortcut brands think it is and what really matters when it comes to earning trust in AI. Read here: https://lnkd.in/eiWFWBwW

“Simply walking into a boardroom with a couple of crayons and a sketch pad isn’t good enough.” The CMO has never had a particularly static job description. But a combination of AI, changing customer behavior and relentless pressure to prove commercial impact is now forcing the role through a more fundamental rethink. That is the focus of the first episode of The Drum’s new three-part documentary series, The Great Marketing Makeover, hosted by Jen Faull, which asks what the next generation of marketing leadership looks like. Featuring: Natalia Ball, Mars; Cristina Diezhandino, Diageo; Jo Pettifer and Sabrina Rodriguez, Salesforce; Rafael Fernández de Alarcón, Telefónica; Claudia Calori, Philips, Darius Meadon, Mirakl; Sadira E. Furlow, Tony's Chocolonely; Benjamin Braun, Samsung Electronics Europe; Sir Martin Sorrell, S4 Capital Group; Fernando Machado, Chipotle Mexican Grill; Rob Reilly, WPP; Tim Hawkey, AREA 23; David Sandstrom, Klarna; Berit Block, Constant Contact; Tracy Yaverbaun, The Times; Zach Kitschke, Canva; and Jeff Leo Herrmann, Kantar. Watch episode 1 now on The Drum TV: https://lnkd.in/ePBe7bfG

What happens when creativity refuses to stay in one dimension? Together with Canon EMEA, we’ve gone back through five years of The Drum Awards winners to find 25 Campaigns You Can Feel – work that broke out of the expected, blurred physical and digital worlds and found new ways to make people stop, interact, participate and, importantly, feel something. There are brilliant ideas in here. But we’re not just interested in celebrating what’s already been done, we want to know where creativity could go next. Explore all 25 campaigns and consider this the beginning of the next chapter of Creative Futures: https://lnkd.in/e3iZTV86 #CreativeFutures #Sponsored

E.ON bring back Bob The Builder to fix Britain’s green skills shortage. The cartoon construction worker, complete with original voice actor Neil Morrissey, is being used to make the decidedly unglamorous issue of net zero skills a little more interesting. The UK needs to become greener to meet its 2050 net zero target, but there is a shortage of workers with the skills needed to install technologies such as solar panels and low-carbon heating. E.ON hopes Bob can get the public more engaged with the people and skills needed to build a cleaner energy system. _______________ Follow us for the latest brand and marketing news 🥁

Why is AI asking me research questions when it can just create synthetic versions of me? AI can generate synthetic research at incredible speed and scale (look below; it's just made 1000 ristons clones. But it still can’t replace real human experience. When Ritson received a survey last week from Anthropic, he laughed. But it showed him that AI still needs human feedback. The future is likely to be both synthetic and organic research, not one or the other. Read more: https://lnkd.in/emZKKSpD

Sweeney, the aspiring queen of cultural controversy, has done it again. Sorry just had to get involved. In my article for The Drum, I'm asking is this really about sport, the sexualization of women or a brand cashing in on the cultural backlash against the male gaze? Here's the gist of it.. full article here https://lnkd.in/e5UgRE95 Novig’s sports prediction market ‘Just Sports’ campaign featuring Sydney Sweeney has generated a huge amount of coverage since launching on September 9. Over the past few years, women’s sport has finally found the spotlight, and with it a wider conversation about acceptance, mental health and admiration for strong bodies. Cut to September 2026, and we’ve got Sydney Sweeney straddling naked on top of a basketball hoop, potentially undoing decades of hard-won progress. Let's watch the ad again. Is it even about sport? Fair enough, Novig (the market) only engages with sports. But it is not sports. And the ad is certainly not about women in sports. Is it even real sports equipment or parody? The campaign plays into a nostalgic zeitgeist: a time before the male gaze was problematized, when it was fine to enjoy a male space like sport, before women entered the locker room, and when Playboy played into the impression that the women in the pictures liked it too. Does Sweeney’s holding equity in Novig make it OK if she’s in on the joke? But is it really sex that sells here, or the particular zeitgeist Sweeney keeps tapping into? Is it the same playbook as American Eagle’s ‘Great Jeans’ campaign in 2025: blonde, blue-eyed Sweeney insinuating good genes via the jeans pun? Is Novig playing the same anti-woke nostalgia card: for a time when it was fine to appreciate balls and boobs without apologizing for it? It’s important for brands to see all cultural signals and decide which ones to act on. But what responsibility comes with playing into controversy and potentially harmful nostalgia? Cultural theorist Stuart Hall’s work on representation reminds us that ads don’t just reflect reality; they construct it. I've got a lot of questions clearly - you can read about all of them in the article but one thing, what ever this thing is, is true... ...The ad is culturally significant. It speaks volumes about where we are in culture and representation right now. It is the culture we are in right now. Thank you Dr. Bridget Dalton for an incredible chat and arguments for this piece. And John McCarthy ❤️ #sydneysweeney Novig #cultuturalinsights #culturalporn Image is promotional material from Novig for the campaign