That's What I Call Marketing

The Singles is back with Tracksuit, taking some of the biggest marketing stories in culture right now and putting them under a bit more pressure using real brand data.Because the interesting part is rarely just the campaign itself. It is what the campaign reveals about the category, the audience, and the way brands are trying to grow.In this episode, Conor Byrne is joined by Ed Parkin and Bella Harrison from Tracksuit to explore three very different examples of brands using culture, entertainment, and timing to build relevance.Lucky Saint shows how alcohol-free beer has moved far beyond Dry January, using Lime Bikes, London culture, run clubs, and moderation trends to position itself as a year-round brand for active urban consumers.Lego demonstrates why it remains one of the most culturally flexible brands in the world, turning the FIFA World Cup into entertainment before a ball has even been kicked, while continuing to stretch beyond the toy category into fandom, collectibles, and adult audiences.The conversation then turns to the latest Entertain or Die Report, looking at why entertainment is increasingly becoming a commercial growth strategy rather than just a creative ambition.The episode also explores:Why brands are now competing against Netflix, TikTok, creators, and sport for attentionThe shift from “salesmanship” to “showmanship” in advertisingWhy entertaining brands are outperforming commerciallyWhat brands like Currys, Compare the Market, Guinness Zero, and Lego are getting rightHow mental availability is built long before purchase moments happenIf you want a deeper understanding of how entertainment, culture, and brand growth connect together, this episode is packed with practical examples and real-world data.Listen to Paul Feldwick on That's What I Call Marketing here:Paul Feldwick on That's What I Call MarketingRead the full Entertain or Die report:Entertain or Die Report Find out more about Tracksuit:TracksuitListen to more episodes of That's What I Call Marketing:That's What I Call MarketingTimestamps:02:06 – Lucky Saint and the rise of moderation culture03:24 – Why Lucky Saint is so culturally aware05:05 – Lime Bikes, London culture, and timing07:08 – The functional drinks category shift08:45 – Alcohol-free beer becoming mainstream10:00 – Guinness Zero vs Lucky Saint11:18 – Winning locally before scaling nationally13:22 – Brand perception and category positioning15:00 – Lego and the FIFA World Cup campaign16:01 – Why Lego works across every demographic18:22 – Lego’s cultural timing advantage20:00 – Lego, fandom, and entertainment21:40 – World Cup advertising and brand competition22:15 – Entertain or Die explained24:00 – Why entertainment drives commercial growth25:35 – Future demand and entertainment26:17 – Gap hires a Chief Entertainment Officer27:09 – What makes brands entertaining29:00 – Brands that entertain us today31:00 – Why culture matters inside companies

We talk about personalisation as if it’s about the person. It isn’t. It’s about prediction.”That line sits at the centre of this conversation with James Taylor, CEO & Founder of A Particular Audience and once you hear it properly, it’s difficult to go back to how most marketing teams currently think about relevance. Because for years, personalisation has been framed as something close to one-to-one messaging. The idea that if we just had enough data, we could tailor every experience to the individual. It sounds right. It feels intuitive. And yet, in practice, it has largely disappointed.What James lays out here is a different way of understanding the problem.Not who the customer is — but what they are doing.Not static segments — but real-time signals.Not demographics — but behaviour.Drawing on his experience building AI-driven recommendation systems used by global retailers, he explains how the most effective ecommerce experiences are not built around people, but around patterns. Around the relationships between products, actions, and intent. Around what millions of other customers have done before you, and what that makes likely next. This fundamentally changes how you think about websites, search, media, and even creativity.Along the way, the conversation explores why so many early personalisation efforts failed, how Amazon and Netflix approached the problem differently, and why most retailers are still playing catch-up despite having access to the same underlying data.There’s also a more grounded thread running through it — the reality of AI in practice. Not the version you see in product demos or LinkedIn posts, but the version that still requires constraints, rules, and human oversight. The version that gets things wrong. The version that can be incredibly powerful, but only when properly understood.For marketers, there’s a useful tension here, on one side, the promise of hyper-relevance and automation, on the other, the discipline required to make it actually work.This episode sits right in that space.⏱️ Key Moments:00:00 – Why “you are not your demographic” changes everything02:15 – From investment banking to building AI products08:00 – The real meaning of personalisation (and why it’s been misunderstood)12:30 – Behaviour vs demographics: what actually drives relevance18:00 – Building a recommendation engine from scratch26:00 – Why most retailers still lag behind Amazon30:00 – How AI is changing marketing teams34:00 – The limits of AI (and why rules still matter)36:30 – “Personalisation is just good prediction”What you’ll take from this episode:Why most personalisation strategies fail to deliverHow recommendation systems actually work in ecommerceThe difference between explicit and implicit customer signalsWhy demographics are often a poor proxy for behaviourHow AI should (and shouldn’t) be used in marketing todayWhat marketers need to rethink about relevance and experience designBrought to you by TracksuitTracksuit is the always-on brand tracking platform helping marketers understand brand health, measure impact, and make better decisions over time.👉 https://gotracksuit.comListen / Follow That’s What I Call Marketing:🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7MXhujDpTzbSRRbyQFgdWp📩 Email: thatwhatswhatIcallmarketing@gmail.comSubscribe for weekly conversations with leading marketers.

How Brands Should Really Be Planning Christmas CampaignsWhat happens when you start planning Christmas… in April?In this episode of That’s What I Call Marketing, Conor Byrne is joined by Pete Markey (former CMO of Boots, Marketing Week Marketer of the Year) and Leanne Tomasevic (Insights Lead at Electric Twin) to explore how brands should approach Christmas advertising — using real-time synthetic audience insights.Instead of guessing what consumers want, this episode puts Electric Twin’s platform to the test live, revealing how marketers can simulate audience reactions, test ideas, and sharpen creative briefs months before campaigns go live.The result is a grounded, practical look at:What people actually want from Christmas ads in 2026Why emotional storytelling still matters (but needs reframing)The role of celebrities, music, and consistencyHow to balance commercial pressure with authenticityAnd how AI-driven research can speed up better decisionsIf you’re working on a Christmas campaign, brand strategy, or creative development, this is a genuinely useful watch.⏱️ Timestamps00:00 – The reality of planning Christmas in April01:10 – What Electric Twin actually does (synthetic audiences explained)03:00 – Why speed matters in modern marketing decision-making05:30 – Live demo: Understanding the mood of the nation at Christmas08:30 – What consumers really want this year (family, realism, restraint)12:00 – Gifting trends: practicality vs meaningful connection14:30 – The balance between storytelling and selling16:00 – What people want from Christmas ads now18:00 – Should brands use celebrities? (and when it works)21:00 – The role of consistency (Kevin the Carrot, John Lewis, Coca-Cola)24:00 – Realism vs escapism in Christmas creative27:00 – How agencies can use this to build stronger briefs29:00 – The most memorable Christmas ads and why they last32:00 – Should brands reuse ads instead of making new ones?33:00 – Why music is critical to Christmas advertising effectiveness35:30 – Final thoughts: faster insight, better decisions🎯 Key TakeawaysChristmas advertising isn’t about excess — it’s about connection under constraintConsumers want authenticity, not performanceCreative effectiveness improves when insight is iterative, not staticConsistency often beats novelty in building long-term brand memoryAI isn’t replacing research — it’s changing how quickly you can think🔗 Links & ResourcesLearn more about Electric Twin: https://electrictwin.comListen to more episodes: That’s What I Call MarketingPrevious episode with Dr. Ben Warner (Synthetic Research deep dive)🎙️ About the PodcastThat’s What I Call Marketing features conversations with leading marketers, CMOs, and industry thinkers — focused on how marketing actually works in practice.If you’re working on Christmas 2026 right now, get in touch with Electric Twin

The Singles is back with a new line-up from Tracksuit, looking at the marketing stories everyone is talking about In this episode joined by Bella & Ed we take a look at the data behind three very different moments McDonald’s shifts the conversation away from product and towards Gen Z employees, at a time when confidence in job opportunities for young people is low. It could easily have drifted into familiar employer-brand territory, but early signals suggest it is doing something more meaningful, with trust moving among younger audiences in a category where that is not easy to shift.KitKat finds itself at the centre of a global story after 12 tonnes of product are stolen, and instead of containing it, turns it into something participatory. Consumers are actively engaging, brands are joining in, and even a “KitKat” crypto coin spikes by 2000%. Most reactive marketing creates attention. Very little of it changes behaviour. This one starts to.Justin Bieber’s Coachella set works in a different way, stripping everything back and building the performance around YouTube. Nearly 6 million people stream it, and it splits opinion in a way that keeps it moving. It takes something familiar and presents it in a way that forces people to reprocess it, which is often where attention sustains rather than fades.Along the way, the conversation gets into why authenticity is showing up differently in production, how nostalgia actually works when brands get it right, and why participation is becoming more valuable than passive reach. 05:00 – McDonald’s: trust, Gen Z and employer brand 10:30 – KitKat: heist, participation and brand response 15:50 – Justin Bieber: YouTube, nostalgia and polarisation 20:30 – Nostalgia in advertising and brand memory 25:00 – Always-on tracking and what the data showsDon't forget to check out the new Entertain or Die report at TracksuitCOMING SOON - TWICM Training course will launch, stay tuned

Laura Burkhauser, CEO of Descript, explains the surprising truth about what actually grows a product.Most marketing advice assumes growth comes from better targeting, smarter funnels, or stronger loyalty. Laura sees it differently.In this episode, we get into what actually drives product growth — and why some of the most widely accepted ideas in marketing and SaaS don’t hold up when you look at real behaviour. From why freemium often fails, to why loyalty doesn’t grow your business (but still matters), to what AI will and won’t change — this is a grounded, operator-level view of how products actually scale.If you work in marketing, product, or growth, this will likely challenge a few default assumptions.In this episode, we cover:Growth doesn’t come from loyalty — it comes from penetrationMost freemium models don’t work the way companies think they do“Target audiences” often aren’t real, connected communitiesAI will amplify creativity, not replace itCustomer care is one of the last real competitive advantages02:00 – What Descript actually is and who it’s for04:30 – Product vs product marketing: the career fork that shapes everything07:30 – Why big tech can slow you down (and what startups get right)10:00 – Moving from product leader to CEO — what actually changes13:30 – The freemium myth: why it didn’t work the way they expected15:00 – “Are we dating or not?” — a better model for product growth16:30 – How products actually get discovered (SEO, content, and reality)18:00 – Why most “target audiences” aren’t real communities20:30 – The shift from founder-led to customer-led companies22:00 – What customers are actually good at telling you (and what they’re not)24:30 – Why customer care is a competitive advantage (and why most companies cut it)25:00 – Loyalty isn’t growth — but it might be your moat26:00 – How to actually achieve penetration in a crowded market28:00 – The challenge of building a product for “everyone”30:00 – AI, content, and the future of podcasting — what’s real vs hype33:00 – Why most AI-generated content won’t work34:30 – The “Finding Nemo” moment AI still hasn’t had36:00 – Scaling a company without losing creativity37:00 – Why “intrepid” might be the most important mindset for modern teamsAbout Laura BurkhauserLaura Burkhauser is the CEO of Descript, one of the most widely used platforms for podcasting, video editing, and content creation. She has held senior product leadership roles at companies including Amazon and Twitter, and is known for her product-first approach to growth.Listen / Watch more episodes:https://www.thatswhaticallmarketing.com/Thanks to our partner on this episode the always on brand tracking dashboard TracksuitIf you enjoyed this, subscribe for more conversations with CMOs, founders, and marketing leaders on how growth actually happens.

Inside Saatchi & Saatchi. Sit down with the CEO of one of the most iconic agencies in advertising, a name that carries both weight and expectation, to understand how CEO Claire Hollands leads for today.This is a conversation about ambition. Not in the abstract, but in how it shows up in the work, in the culture, and in the relationship between agencies and clients.We get into how Saatchi & Saatchi is positioning itself around growth, why creativity still holds commercial power (even if the industry occasionally forgets it), and how agencies are rethinking their value, from billable hours to business outcomes.There’s also a clear view on where things are shifting: the role of AI, the reality of pitching, and why agencies need to be more deliberate about the clients they choose.Running through all of it is leadership, how you make decisions without perfect information, how you build a culture of high challenge and high support, and how you balance legacy with the need to move forward.What you’ll learn:Why agencies need to reposition themselves around growth, not outputsHow creativity still drives commercial performance and where it gets undervaluedWhat actually builds trust between agencies and clientsWhy most pitch processes are flawed and what better looks likeHow to think about agency value, pricing, and remunerationThe difference between growth brands and transformation brands and why it mattersWhat “high challenge, high support” looks like in practiceHow great leaders make decisions without having all the answersWhat AI is changing in agencies and what it isn’tWhy hiring for attitude and curiosity matters more than experienceTimestamps00:03:00 – Finding your people in the industry00:06:00 – Why account management sits at the centre of the agency00:07:00 – Building trust in client relationships00:12:00 – How decisions are really made at senior level00:15:00 – Culture, values, and collective ambition00:19:00 – High challenge, high support: what it means in practice00:23:00 – Managing pressure across career and family00:25:30 – Where the agency world is heading00:29:30 – The evolving agency model00:32:00 – The role and reality of pitching00:33:30 – What needs to change in pitch processes00:37:30 – Hiring for attitude, not just skill00:39:00 – What excites Claire about what’s nextAbout the podcastThat’s What I Call Marketing is a podcast for marketers who care about how brands grow, how advertising works, and how the industry is evolving through conversations with the people shaping it.

In this episode of That’s What I Call Marketing, Conor Byrne speaks with Andrew Tindall, Chief Growth Officer at System1, about his new publication/pdf The Creative Dividend. Built using global Effie case study data and creative testing from over 250,000 respondents, the research explores a simple but uncomfortable truth: most advertising fails to deliver profitable growth. Andrew explains why creativity has been undervalued in modern marketing, why many campaigns generate revenue but not profit, and why the industry’s biggest problem may actually be a lack of creative confidence. The conversation also explores the relationship between emotion, distinctiveness, media investment, pricing power and brand growth and what marketers should actually do differently. If you care about marketing effectiveness, advertising creativity, and long-term brand growth, this is a fascinating deep dive.Topics Covered• Why only 9% of advertising campaigns report profit growth• The concept of creative confidence• What the Creative Dividend actually means• Why distinctiveness beats differentiation• Why advertising cannot create loyalty• The link between emotion and profit• Why many campaigns are designed to fail• The tension between creative quality and media investmentTimestamps05:00 What The Creative Dividend is trying to solve06:32 Why global Effie data matters for marketing effectiveness07:17 Has creativity been undervalued in advertising?08:59 The crisis of confidence in marketing creativity10:16 Why many organisations see creativity as a risk11:21 The role of the client in protecting great ideas12:17 Why businesses avoid creative risk13:00 The shocking statistic: only 9% of campaigns report profit growth14:17 Are marketers measuring the wrong outcomes?15:21 The importance of pricing power in marketing16:45 How creativity enables brands to charge more19:16 What the “Creative Dividend” actually means21:00 The four drivers of creative effectiveness22:00 Why 83% of campaigns are designed to fail23:06 Why great creative fails without media support24:16 The power of long-term creative platforms26:00 Consistency vs freshness in advertising28:46 What surprised Andrew most in the research29:07 Why distinctiveness matters more than differentiation29:48 Why advertising doesn’t create loyalty30:00 Distinctiveness vs emotion: efficiency vs effectiveness31:41 Why emotional advertising drives profit32:44 Why revenue alone isn’t success in marketing34:00 The debate about gated content in marketing research39:00 AI, marketing knowledge and the future of learningLinks MentionedThe Creative Dividend (download the pdf): https://system1group.com/the-creative-dividendTracksuit https://www.gotracksuit.comThat’s What I Call Marketing Podcast https://www.thatswhatIcallmarketing.comGreen Hat Episode (gated content discussion): https://open.spotify.com/episode/72D5zXtNRzzNgdjYytRQdI?si=r2kbvHU3QqWVh6sM6na7wg OR https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/s3-ep39-the-b2b-power-shift-what-marketers-must-do/id1615415427?i=1000672178838

Synthetic Research Explained, Understanding AI-Powered Audience Testing for MarketersWhat is synthetic research and how accurate is it really?In this episode of That’s What I Call Marketing, Conor Byrne sits down with Dr. Ben Warner, former Chief Data Adviser to the UK Prime Minister and co-founder of Electric Twin, to unpack one of the most talked-about developments in modern market research: synthetic audiences.This is not ChatGPT pretending to be a consumer. Synthetic research uses real-world survey data, behavioural modelling and large language models to create AI-driven audience simulations that allow organisations to test messaging, product ideas and strategy at speed before committing real budgets. If you work in marketing, insight, product, strategy or leadership, this episode will challenge how you think about research, risk and decision-making.⏱️ Timestamps00:00 – Introduction to synthetic research02:00 – From quantum physics to behavioural modelling03:35 – Why human behaviour is harder to predict than we think05:17 – The problem with traditional decision-making tools09:02 – What Electric Twin actually does10:00 – What a “synthetic audience” really means13:59 – Testing creative, messaging and propositions in real time15:06 – Accuracy vs traditional survey research17:00 – Real-world use cases across marketing and product19:02 – The danger of asking the “wrong” question23:06 – Democratising customer insight inside organisations25:00 – Where synthetic research fits (and where it doesn’t)27:00 – Innovation vs risk-averse organisations29:09 – The story behind the name “Electric Twin”In this episode, we cover:How synthetic audiences are built from real-world dataWhy traditional surveys can be slow, expensive and restrictiveHow AI allows teams to iterate research questions instantlyThe difference between testing ideas safely and making bold decisions blindlyWhy trust and validation matter in emerging AI toolsWhere synthetic research complements (not replaces) conventional methodsWhy this mattersEvery organisation says it wants to be “customer-centric”.But insight is often expensive, delayed, siloed or underused.Synthetic research introduces a new tool into the decision-making toolkit — one that allows teams to explore, iterate and pressure-test ideas before they go live.Whether you are a CMO defending budget, a product lead developing a proposition, or a strategy team modelling future scenarios, this conversation explores how AI-driven research could reshape how decisions are made.If you found this useful, share it with a colleague and subscribe for more conversations with marketing leaders shaping the future of the industry.🎧 Listen to more episodes of That’s What I Call Marketing 📌 Connect with Conor Byrne for more marketing insight🔗 Learn more about Electric Twin and synthetic audiences