The WARC Podcast

By WARCBusiness Education How To Marketing

The WARC Podcast episodes

June 26 Live in Cannes: The new, old rules of brand growth
Bonsoir from Cannes Lions! On our last daily pod, we chat to Les Binet and Mel Arrow on the new /old rules of brand growth, Coinbase discusses brand building through crypto winter and finally, creative effectiveness themes with Gurdeep Puri and Emma de la Fosse. The WARC Podcast in Cannes is sponsored by Circana. Learn more at circana.com/warc
For 40 years, WARC has been providing the marketing industry with rigorous, unbiased evidence and expert effectiveness guidance. The WARC Podcast publishes a new episode every Tuesday and Thursday.
Subscribe to The WARC Podcast here: https://www.warc.com/en/warc-podcasts
Sign up to daily WARC News for free: https://www.warc.com/en/latest
Book a demo: https://www.warc.com/en/subscribe
1 hr 3 min
June 25 Live in Cannes: Building brands in the efficiency era
It's day 4 in Cannes. Today, 12x Cannes Lions winner Fernando Machado joins to discuss why creativity matters more than ever in the 'efficiency era', Mastercard shares the secrets of building brands with creators, and Kantar offers a new framework to avoid greenwashing. Hosted by WARC's Alex Brownsell. The WARC Podcast in Cannes is sponsored by Circana. Download the latest insights at circana.com/warc
Guests:
Fernando Machado, Chief Brand Officer, Chipotle
Kaveri Khullar, SVP - Marketing, Mastercard
Jonathan Hall, Managing Partner - Sustainable Transformation Practice, Kantar
Alex Brownsell, Head of Content, WARC Media
Rica Facundo, Managing Editor - APAC, WARC
For 40 years, WARC has been providing the marketing industry with rigorous, unbiased evidence and expert effectiveness guidance. The WARC Podcast publishes a new episode every Tuesday and Thursday.
Subscribe to The WARC Podcast here: https://www.warc.com/en/warc-podcasts
Sign up to daily WARC News for free: https://www.warc.com/en/latest
Book a demo: https://www.warc.com/en/subscribe
52 min
June 24 Live in Cannes: SURPRISE! and other ways to win
Bonjour! On day 3 in Cannes, we learn more about the power of surprise with Jon Evans and Adam Morgan, TNT Sports and Twitch take on Gen Z sports media trends, and finally, insights from new B2B buyability research with LinkedIn and ServiceNow.
The WARC Podcast in Cannes is sponsored by Circana. Download the latest insights today at circana.com/warc.
Guests:
Adam Morgan, co-founder, eatbigfish
Jon Evans, Host, The Uncensored CMO
Mike Minton, Chief Product Officer, Twitch
Adam Davidson, Head of Sales Strategy, TNT Sports / Warner Bros Discovery
Jim Lesser, Chief Brand Officer, ServiceNow
Mimi Turner, Head of Marketplace Innovation, LinkedIn
Chapters:
00:00 – Welcome to The WARC Podcast at Cannes Lions Day 3
01:20 – Ad Spend and Social Commerce: Circana’s Influencer Insights
01:56 – Cannes Lions Awards Update: Entertainment, Craft, Social & Creator
02:44 – Edelman Trust Barometer: Insularity and Brand Boycotts
03:45 – Sephora Case Study: Fandom, Women’s Sports and 12x Sponsorship ROI
04:43 – The Power of Surprise in Advertising
08:20 – The Extraordinary Cost of Dull: Why Most Ads Fail to Move People
13:05 – Short ‘Oh’ vs Long ‘Oooh’: Strategic vs Executional Surprise
19:58 – Tubi Super Bowl Stunt: Surprise as a Challenger Brand Growth Hack
21:39 – Gen Z Sports Fans: Twitch, TNT Sports and Creator-Led Leagues
27:29 – Athletes as Creators: Streams, Podcasts and New Sponsorship Models
38:08 – Women’s Sports and Athlete-Creators: Growing Audiences and Equity
44:12 – LinkedIn & WARC's B2B Buyability: 700-Campaign Effectiveness Study
48:46 – ServiceNow & Idris Elba: Building a Relatable B2B Creative System
For 40 years, WARC has been providing the marketing industry with rigorous, unbiased evidence and expert effectiveness guidance. The WARC Podcast publishes a new episode every Tuesday and Thursday.
Subscribe to The WARC Podcast here: https://www.warc.com/en/warc-podcasts
Sign up to daily WARC News for free: https://www.warc.com/en/latest
Book a demo: https://www.warc.com/en/subscribe
56 min
June 23 Live in Cannes: The effectiveness experts will see you now
It's day 2 at Cannes Lions! Today we're talking all things effectiveness with new research from Effie, EOS Products shares how it became a marketing effectiveness leader, we review 'effectiveness frenemies' session starring Byron Sharp vs Mark Ritson, and discuss new data on influencer effectiveness based on new data from Circana. Hosted by WARC's Ann Marie Kerwin.
Guests:
Carley Caldas, Senior Vice President, Marketing & Creative, eos Products
Juliet Heygarth, Chief Marketing Officer, Effie Worldwide
Emma Delserieys, Global SVP - Commercial, Circana
David Tiltman, SVP - Content, WARC
Ann Marie Kerwin, Americas Editor, WARC
Chapters:
00:00 – Cannes Lions Day 2: WARC Podcast Intro & Episode Overview
01:20 – Circana Message: Why Creative Quality Drives +30% Effectiveness
01:58 – Cannes Awards Round-Up: B2B, Creative Data, Craft & Entertainment Lions
02:49 – Reddit Research: Shoppers Double‑Check AI Recommendations with Human Consensus
04:06 – OpenAI IPO & AI Stock Market Fever: What It Means for Ad Revenue
04:46 – Effie “Outsmart, Outlast”: How Challenger Brands Break Through and Stay on Top
05:49 – EOS Strategy: Maniacal Consumer Focus on Habits, Language and Media
06:23 – Challenger Brand Playbook: Be Choiceful in Culture, Not Everywhere
08:41 – TikTok to Pack Copy: The EOS “Cooch Plus and Cream” Breakthrough Case
12:13 – Beyond Demographics: Effie Insights on Psychographics and Cracking Consumer Insight
13:04 – Small Teams, Big Impact: Empowerment, Trust and Fast Decisions at EOS
17:13 – Sustained Success: Effectiveness is Human, Consistency and Not Getting Bored
21:07 – Effectiveness Frenemies: Setting Up Sharp vs Ritson Live at Cannes Lions
23:56 – Five Things Sharp and Ritson Agree On: Mental Availability, Distinctive Assets, Mass Marketing
33:22 – Influencer ROI & AI Commerce: Circana on Creators as Demand Signals and Measurement
For 40 years, WARC has been providing the marketing industry with rigorous, unbiased evidence and expert effectiveness guidance. The WARC Podcast publishes a new episode every Tuesday and Thursday.
Subscribe to The WARC Podcast here: https://www.warc.com/en/warc-podcasts
Sign up to daily WARC News for free: https://www.warc.com/en/latest
Book a demo: https://www.warc.com/en/subscribe
45 min
June 22 Live in Cannes: Creative strategy in a changing world
It's Day 1 of Cannes Lions! Today, new research reveals that the top 10 ads preferred by AI versus humans are almost completely different, BYD’s extraordinary journey from homegrown China brand to global automotive giant, and lessons in localising global brands from Heineken. Hosted by WARC's Rica Facundo. This podcast is sponsored by Circana. Check out Circana.com/warc for more info.
Guests:
Sir Martin Sorrell, Executive Chairman, S4 Capital
Stella Li, Executive Vice President of BYD Company Limited and CEO of BYD Americas, Europe, Middle East and Africa
Siew Ting Foo, CEO, Soul for Profit Advisory
Tom Roach, VP - Brand Strategy, Jellyfish
David DuBois, Associate Professor of Marketing, INSEAD
Natasha Wallace, Chief Solutions Officer & MD, Jellyfish
Dana Katz, Heineken® Integrated Communication Director
Stephan Schwarz, Executive Creative Director, LePub Singapore
Rica Facundo, Managing Editor - APAC, WARC
Chapters:
00:00 – Intro: WARC Cannes Lions 2026 Special
01:17 – Retail Media Measurement with Circana Liquid Mix
03:11 – Creativity for Dual Audiences: Introducing Jellyfish & INSEAD Research
04:20 – Humans vs AI: How Ads Differ When Machines Do the Judging
06:32 – Emotional Storytelling vs Rational Signals in AI-Era Creativity
07:59 – Luxury & Premium Advertising: When AI Misreads Desire Cues
10:34 – Influence Mix, YouTube and Advocacy: Training the Models on Your Brand
13:21 – What Is Contextual Brand Architecture?
18:53 – China’s Second Chu Hai Wave: How Chinese Brands Go Global with Soul
21:02 – From Price to Meaning: Explaining the Chu Hai Brand Growth Model
23:12 – Martin Sorrell on Geopolitics, China and the New Global Expansion Playbook
26:33 – BYD’s Globalisation Strategy: Localising Chinese EV Innovation for the West
29:22 – Speed, Agility, Emotion and Culture: What’s Next in the BYD Playbook
32:37 – Cultural Relevance in APAC: Heineken and Le Pub on “No Single Asia”
39:23 – Balancing Global Scale with Local Nuance
For 40 years, WARC has been providing the marketing industry with rigorous, unbiased evidence and expert effectiveness guidance. The WARC Podcast publishes a new episode every Tuesday and Thursday.
Subscribe to The WARC Podcast here: https://www.warc.com/en/warc-podcasts
Sign up to daily WARC News for free: https://www.warc.com/en/latest
Book a demo: https://www.warc.com/en/subscribe
46 min
June 18 Economic volatility stress-tests the global advertising market
The months-long closure of the Strait of Hormuz remains a serious test of global ad market resilience. WARC Media's Alex Brownsell and Kate Scott-Dawkins, Global President for Business Intelligence at WPP Media, join WARC's Anna Hamill to make sense of complicated dynamics for advertisers in 2026.
Guests:
Kate Scott-Dawkins, Global President for Business Intelligence, WPP Media
Alex Brownsell, Head of Content, WARC Media
Anna Hamill, Senior Editor - The WARC Podcast
Chapters:
00:00 – Intro: WARC Global Ad Spend trends
02:43 – Why ad spend is booming while consumers feel pessimistic
06:39 – Gulf crisis, oil prices & WARC scenario modeling for global ad growth
08:32 – Travel, auto and FMCG: categories most exposed to energy and inflation shocks
09:51 – Regional impact: Gulf, Latin America, Europe, SE Asia, US and China
11:00 – WPP vs WARC forecasts: cross-border advertising, AI investment and big media owners
13:40 – Inflation, pricing power and why the classic CPG playbook is weakening
16:50 – Generative search ads to 2030: search, social and retail media dominance
19:27 – AI gold rush: how advertising is funding big tech and AGI ambitions
21:28 – Future of retail media, AI-driven purchase journeys and resilient news publishers
For 40 years, WARC has been providing the marketing industry with rigorous, unbiased evidence and expert effectiveness guidance. The WARC Podcast publishes a new episode every Tuesday and Thursday.
Subscribe to The WARC Podcast here: https://www.warc.com/en/warc-podcasts
Sign up to daily WARC News for free: https://www.warc.com/en/latest
Book a demo: https://www.warc.com/en/subscribe
26 min
June 16 Advice for aspiring CMOs
Jim Stengel has spent his career shaping the practice of modern marketing, and helping aspiring CMOs to take the next step in their career. He joins WARC's Catherine Driscoll to reflect on what he's learned about leadership, creativity and growth from his conversations with hundreds of marketers, and to discuss what today's marketers can do to build influence, navigate change and create lasting impact at their brands.
Guests:
Jim Stengel, President and CEO of The Jim Stengel Company, Host of The CMO Podcast
Catherine Driscoll, Commissioning Editor - EMEA, WARC
Chapters:
00:00 – Intro: Welcoming Jim Stengel to The WARC Podcast
02:02 – How the CMO Role Has Evolved: Tenure, CEO Path, Comms
05:04 – Good vs Transformational CMOs: What Really Sets Them Apart
06:23 – Building Future-Ready Marketing Teams and Culture
09:20 – Bad Habits Holding CMOs Back (and How to Avoid Them)
13:17 – Lessons from Digital for Today’s AI Transformation
16:30 – Where to Start with AI: Strategy, Experiments, Ownership
18:34 – Brand as a Financial Asset: Inside the Multiplier Playbook
22:55 – Earning Influence in the C-Suite and with the CFO
25:56 – Where CMOs Should Focus Time for Maximum Growth Impact
30:27 – Curiosity, Learning Rituals, and the Power of External Inspiration
33:34 – Setbacks, Trust, and Tough People Decisions in Marketing Leadership
For 40 years, WARC has been providing the marketing industry with rigorous, unbiased evidence and expert effectiveness guidance. The WARC Podcast publishes a new episode every Tuesday and Thursday.
Subscribe to The WARC Podcast here: https://www.warc.com/en/warc-podcasts
Sign up to daily WARC News for free: https://www.warc.com/en/latest
Book a demo: https://www.warc.com/en/subscribe
41 min
June 11 How L'Oréal thinks about creator ROI
Beauty giants L'Oréal have built a new framework to quantify the impact of creators on marketing effectiveness. L'Oréal's Vas Kourakis and Meta's Maria Pavlova join WARC's Anna Hamill to discuss how the measurement framework came together, essential best practices, and what marketers can learn from their experience.
Guests:
Vasileios Kourakis, Global Marketing Effectiveness Director, Loreal
Maria Pavlova, Marketing Science Manager - Agencies, Meta
Anna Hamill, Senior Editor - The WARC Podcast, WARC
Chapters:
00:00 – Why creator ROI now matters for beauty brands
01:49 – The industry gap: influencer spend without KPIs or ROI
03:40 – How L’Oreal and Meta built a shared creator taxonomy
06:10 – Fixing fragmented creator data with global standards
08:12 – The four dimensions of creator measurement
10:23 – Full-funnel creator ROI: from reach to sales
12:30 – L’Oreal’s dual learning structure: creator strategy and tactics
14:45 – Balancing MMM with rapid experimentation in creator campaigns
18:43 – Case studies: Kiehl’s Turkey and CeraVe Spain creator playbooks
21:04 – Building a culture of marketing effectiveness with creators
For 40 years, WARC has been providing the marketing industry with rigorous, unbiased evidence and expert effectiveness guidance. The WARC Podcast publishes a new episode every Tuesday and Thursday.
Subscribe to The WARC Podcast here: https://www.warc.com/en/warc-podcasts
Sign up to daily WARC News for free: https://www.warc.com/en/latest
Book a demo: https://www.warc.com/en/subscribe
29 min
June 09 Breaking down the nostalgia industrial complex
Nostalgia. Cultural déjà vu. Kidulting. Why are so many people desperate to escape the present? Welcome to our new sister podcast, This Is Contagious. In this episode, Contagious investigates everything from why adults are rebuilding their teenage bedrooms, to landlines for kids and the return of the iPod, and revealing why the past has become one of culture’s most powerful refuges.
If you work in marketing, you should almost definitely subscribe to Contagious IQ - an intelligence platform that helps brands and agencies supercharge their creativity by learning from the world's most impactful brands, campaigns and trends. Hosted by Contagious's Alex Jenkins, Chloe Markowicz and Katrina Stirton Dodd. For 40 years, WARC has been providing the marketing industry with
rigorous, unbiased evidence and expert effectiveness guidance. The WARC
Podcast publishes a new episode every Tuesday and Thursday.
Subscribe to The WARC Podcast here:
https://www.warc.com/en/warc-podcasts
Sign up to daily WARC News for free: https://www.warc.com/en/latest
Book a demo: https://www.warc.com/en/subscribe
39 min
June 04 Changing the playbook: Sports marketing's next era
With billions pouring into sports marketing this year, the stakes are high for brands. Ahead of the FIFA World Cup, and with more advertisers backing women's sports, We Are Social Sport's Joe Weston and Fuse's Matt Bailey join WARC's Anna Hamill to discuss the emerging trends in sports marketing.
Guests:
Joe Weston, Head Of Sport, We Are Social
Matt Bailey, Managing Partner, Fuse
Anna Hamill, Senior Editor, The WARC Podcast
Chapters:
00:00 – Intro: Why 2026 is a massive year for sport and sponsors
00:09 – Super Bowl to World Cup: The new stakes in global sports marketing
02:17 – Making sponsorships famous: Social-first sports activation strategy
04:10 – Mega platforms: UEFA Champions League, FIFA World Cup and long-term rights
05:43 – Asynchronous viewing: How to reach fans beyond live broadcast
07:37 – Culture as a brief: Tapping fandoms and social communities in sport
09:42 – Rise of athlete content creators: Players as media brands
11:49 – Athletes owning their narrative: Authenticity, IP and brand partnerships
14:12 – The boom in women’s sport: Why sponsors are rushing in
17:18 – Brand upside in women’s football: Audience growth and safer fan environments
21:49 – Innovation in women’s sport
22:48 – World Cup 2026: Big brand campaigns vs. “win the day” real-time content
27:10 – Creator-led World Cup: 24/7 content, fan hubs and algorithm playbooks
33:33 – Go big vs lots of little
For 40 years, WARC has been providing the marketing industry with rigorous, unbiased evidence and expert effectiveness guidance. The WARC Podcast publishes a new episode every Tuesday and Thursday.
Subscribe to The WARC Podcast here: https://www.warc.com/en/warc-podcasts
Sign up to daily WARC News for free: https://www.warc.com/en/latest
Book a demo: https://www.warc.com/en/subscribe
39 min

About The WARC Podcast

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