The Drum Podcast

Brand consultancies sit at the intersection of marketing, business and culture - but what does that look like in practice? We’re joined by FutureBrand's Sam Hollis to discuss the strategist’s role in shaping modern brands, the realities of agency life and why moments of industry upheaval can be an opportunity for clearer thinking.

Our guest this week, Pats McDonald, has reached the top of the strategy discipline, having worked for almost all of the world's biggest advertising groups. Now, those groups find themselves looking at a time of considerable upheaval as AI, consolidation and other factors remake the industry. So: What can the strategy department bring to this time of great change?Mentioned in the episode: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adn5290

We hear a lot about reactive, always-on social strategies - but what do they look like in practice? We're joined by Uncovered's strategy head Nina Landale to look at this year's Winter Olympics as a case study in the new world of influence.

Following the publication of WARC's Future of Media report - which predicts another blockbuster growth year for the marketing industry (with receipts rising by 9.1% to $1.3th) - we sit down with WARC managing editor Paul Stringer to ask where the money's really going and ask: growth for whom?

The death of craft, like the deaths of so many things, is declared with regularity. One culprit accused of killing it: social and the wider world of digital media. Our guests look into the data and the feelings of real creatives to ask: has social really killed craft?

Tusar Barik, a veteran of Silicon Valley via LinkedIn, joined the New York Times as SVP of marketing at the start of 2025 - a year in which the publisher has seen remarkable growth and profit amid turbulent times for publishers. Barik joins us to tell us how the Gray Lady is continuing to innovate at the spearhead of publishing.

We're joined by start Charlie Smith, the Grey copywriter-turned-composer behind three of this year's top Christmas ads. Smith give us a peak behind the scenes at how the ads get made - and the creative trends behind 2025's ad- and film-scores.

Today we bring you a taster episode of a sibling podcast from The Drum and Glow London, Slow The F*ck Down with Emma Harris. Harris is joined by Sophie Devonshire and Victoria Fox.