Shift Happens

Welcome to Shift Happens: The art, science, (and chaos) of modern marketing .  

Each episode unpacks the forces reshaping marketing—from AI and data to privacy, creative, and performance—and asks experts how they transform disruption into an advantage. 

Listen to all our episodes here: https://www.dacgroup.com/insights/podcasts/

Oh man, the future! Dan, Jenna, and Nasser are back to make sense of a year in which everything changed in digital... again. Grab yourself a frothy coffee and join our future-proofed trio as they dissect 2023, speculate what 2024 may have in store, and make questionable attempts at Australian and Welsh accents.

• The year in review: Excitement, frustration, jamón
• AI, AI, Oh! New possibilities in 2024
• What lies ahead for paid search practitioners?
• Goodnight, sweet AI startups
• GPTs: Bad name, revolutionary function

LINKS: DAC: "Predictions 2024" | ATTRIBUTIONS: "radio band.wav" by Paper Jam of Freesound.org

In the first part of DAC's AI Sunrise Series, the gang returns to discuss the topic on everyone's lips. Join Jenna, Dan, and Nasser as they explain what the dawn of AI means for digital marketers, businesses of all shapes and sizes, and the world in general. Along the way, they generate lifelike content about:

• The solipsistic world of AI-powered monocles
• Surprise! AI tools are already ubiquitous
• Adding value as actual human beings
• An imminent sea change in user behavior
• What does "efficiency" really mean, anyway?

LINKS: DAC: "What the AI paradox means for marketers" | DAC: "ChatGPT: Threats, opportunities… and a new challenger to Google?" | ATTRIBUTIONS: "radio band.wav" by Paper Jam of Freesound.org

And we're back! Our triumphant trio returns to reveal all about marketing's hottest topic: generative artificial intelligence. Find how "the most profound technological development since the internet itself" is set to reinvent, well, pretty much everything. Along the way, Dan, Nasser, and Jenna delve into topics definitely not suggested by ChatGPT, including:

• Neural networks and fighty robots: How does generative AI actually work?
• Player 2 has entered the game... Google Bard!
• The inevitable rise of "prompt engineering"

LINKS: DAC: "Microsoft vs. Google: The battle for AI supremacy is on" | ATTRIBUTIONS: "radio band.wav" by Paper Jam of Freesound.org

Some things never change, but SEO is not one of those things. Join Jenna, Nasser, and Dan as they check in on the sweeping evolution of organic search, explore Google's role therein, and ponder the future of one of digital's most traditional disciplines. Along the way, they click through into topics including:

• Counting in cubits and backyard pyramids
• Visualization, zero clickification, monetization
• Higher ranking =/= more impressions
• Create compelling content... but how?
• SEO has never been more SEO

LINKS: DAC: "4 recent SERP changes impacting organic ecommerce performance" | DAC: "Hey, BERT! Meet the Google AI set to change search forever" | DAC: "One year on, has BERT really changed search forever?" | ATTRIBUTIONS: "radio band.wav" by Paper Jam of Freesound.org

We're witnessing the most tumultuous era in the history of talent acquisition and retention in the marketing industry, and it's showing no sign of abating. Amid the churn, Jenna, Nasser, and Dan recruited Talentfoot founder and CEO Camille Fetter to reveal all about the Great Resignation, covering talking points including:

• Resistance to hybrid models and the reinvention of collaboration
• Is agency-to-client talent migration a thing of the past?
• Overpromoted and underperforming: The consequences of hiring frenzies
• The inevitable rise of pay transparency

LINKS: DAC | Talentfoot | ATTRIBUTIONS: "radio band.wav" by Paper Jam of Freesound.org

Fourth-quarter deadlines, postponed plans, and crippling anxiety about the year ahead—there's no mistaking The Most Wonderful Time of the Year™! Join Santa Sahlool, Dancer Temby, and Jingle Bells Watson as they recap an eventful year and look ahead to 2022, squeezing down chimneys including:

• The ever-changing definition of digital performance
• How to dovetail with Google's long-term vision
• Persuasion and precision: The future of digital media
• In-housing and the scramble for talent
• The Brand and the Influence: Tokyo Draft

LINKS: Forrester: "Predictions 2022: Agencies Face Enigmatic Twists On Talent And Creativity" | ATTRIBUTIONS: "radio band.wav" by Paper Jam of Freesound.org

Facebook's metaverse announcement sent shockwaves around the digital world—and not just because of Mark Zuckerberg's "unique" presentation. But what does it all mean for brands, marketers, consumers, and the world at large? Choose your avatar and join Jenna, Nasser, and Dan in the funnelverse as they dissect the implications, confront controversies, and tackle topics including:

• "The metaverse" or "A metaverse"?
• Fluff, vision, and positioning: The hallmarks of a land grab
• How the metaverse will make crypto cowboys richer
• AR vs. VR
• What should brands do to prepare?

LINKS: Shaan Puri: "Hot take: Everyone is wrong about the Metaverse" | Clive Thompson: "The Metaverse Is Already Here — It’s Minecraft" | DAC: "Podcast rewind: 3 lessons learned about digital transformation" | ATTRIBUTIONS: "radio band.wav" by Paper Jam of Freesound.org

We're back from our short summer hiatus to explore one of the marketing industry's most urgent issues: diversity. Listen in as Nasser, Jenna, and Dan are joined by LiveIntent CMO Kerel Cooper—an award-winning advocate for diversity in business, media, and technology—to dive into some of the topic's most important talking points, including:

• How diverse workforces drive higher performance (and make fewer mistakes)
• The blurred lines between personal and professional lives
• Diversity and the immigrant experience
• Pitfalls on the path to diversification
• Curiosity: The ultimate catalyst for change?

LINKS: DAC: "How diverse is DAC?" | DAC: "4 ways we're creating a more diverse workplace" | DAC: "Celebrating diversity and inclusion at DAC" | ATTRIBUTIONS: "radio band.wav" by Paper Jam of Freesound.org

Is B2B marketing really more challenging than B2C? The digital age has blurred the lines between the two, so we enlisted T-Systems' Head of Digital Marketing, Björn Radde, to reveal truths from one of Europe's most successful B2B operations. Join Nasser, Dan, and Jenna as they pick Björn's brain to reveal:

• Why B2B doesn't mean "boring to boring"
• The duality of B2B/B2C experiences
• How to reverse-engineer the sales funnel for major deals
• Why B2B sales will be insulated against the loss of third-party cookies
• How to nurture an effective B2B culture: Test, learn, and upskill

LINKS: DAC: "Why Google's new Customer Match is a great news for B2B marketers" | ATTRIBUTIONS: "radio band.wav" by Paper Jam of Freesound.org