Episode 253 / Mikko Vesterinen / Valmet / Senior Manager, Digital & Data-Driven Marketing

You can have the best tech and innovation, but are you creating for and connecting with humans? If all you rely on is AI, you'll eventually lose human connections and your marketing will fail, says Carly Morris, Global Head of Acquisition & Growth at Microsoft Advertising. She's picked "people centric leadership in an AI evolution" as her shiny new object and we talk about: understanding the data beyond surface level creating environments where people can be creative and thrive why brands who put people first will eventually have the upper hand. "Data can be a starting point, a way to fill in the gaps." Learn more on the full episode. 

I don't want a team of people who are so frantic and actually being unproductive because they don't know actually if they're coming or going. Bee Craft, Head of Performance Marketing at Golfbreaks, has found the cure for frantic, noisy marketing environments: the scrum methodology. On the podcast, she explains: How applying structured two-week sprints to campaign planning brings down the stress and increases productivity levels Why scrums are great for accountability and transparency in marketing How it's not just about the data - but also very much about humans, on both sides of the marketing coin.  

"You need to fall in love with the why, right, not just the numbers, not just the data, not just the metric." On the latest episode of the Shiny New Object Podcast, Kiesse Lamour, Global Head of Media, Commerce at VML, tells us why marketers need to understand the bigger picture and move slower to deliver higher-quality work that actually brings better results, faster. Tune in to hear why too many marketers lose sight of the bigger picture, how to build a career people will remember for the right reasons, and how to avoid management by spreadsheet.

What purpose is your content serving? Sian Nicholas, Global Social Media Manager at Charlotte Tilbury, believes in asking "why?" over and over again to get to the bottom of effective data driven marketing. Tune in to hear: 🎥 why employee-generated content is becoming the most authentic format in beauty and beyond ✨ why every brief should start with asking "why?"  📱 how to stay ahead in social without trying to be everything to everyone Learn about employee-generated content as a form of marketing future in B2C on the latest episode of the Shiny New Object Podcast.

"We've got all this data, but who's to say people aren't just randomly searching for random things because we've got so many avenues to be searching for them?" Nick Cedar, Manager Media Strategy and Planning at SharkNinja, talks about why it's important to understand your audience more than it is to extract data that may not be giving you any relevant insights. On the latest episode of the Shiny New Object Podcast, find out: Why doing a good job as a leader means you've nurtured an independenth, thriving team How to find data that's a launchpad for ideas and not just a scorecard of what's happening The relevance of audience-centric data storytelling.  

Stop chasing clicks without meaning, says Pepe Gorbea, Global Head of Brands, Agencies & Sustainability Innovation at HP and Co-Founder. of StoryMaking4Good. Tune in to hear: • how co-creation turned Nescafé into a double-digit growth story in Mexico • why marketers must learn to listen and focus on the metrics that matter • how to link storytelling and sales  • why the future of advertising lies in community, not campaigns "I want to stop people skipping ads — because advertising can help communities thrive." Learn how co-creation drives both purpose and performance.

Stop logging numbers without insights, says Ruggable's Insights Manager, Kajal Patel, on the latest episode of the Shiny New Object Podcast. Tune in to hear: how to use customer segmentation that delivers results why predictive LTV should be your no 1 prioritisation tool Kajal's best investment to increase her productivity why numbers are useless without a call to action. "Data is the neck of the company, because it helps the head move in the right direction." Learn how to use it wisely. 

While AI is brilliant at reacting to a prompt, marketers need to remember that they want humans to react to their message. That's where human input will always provide value, says Secret Escapes' Interim Head of Brand and Marketing EU, Pete Durant. We catch up with Pete about AI vs social media and rapid growth, gaining perspective about work and life, focusing on actionable insights (not just data noise), and why his shiny new object is Meta's intent black box.  An episode twice as long as most of the most recent ones... and packed with great marketing thoughts!

The future of marketing may not just be shaped by the internet anymore. On the latest podcast episode, we speak about the under net with Jason Hartley, Head of Media Innovation and Trust at PMG. Jason explains how the infrastructure of the internet is now being used in a new way that's not really visible to us, introducing "invisible influencers" that make up what he's calling the under net. We talk about AI agents, the emergence of an over net as well, and using data but looking beyond it, to become a better marketer. 

Instead of being data driven, marketers need to switch to being wisdom led and search for human insights that help them predict consumer behaviour. On the latest podcast episode, Mark Cochrane, Head of Media Strategy at T&P, tells us why there's an important difference between data and wisdom. He's also discovered a much better way to brainstorm around audiences, than the old pen portraits - using AI audience agents. Learn how he does it and get top data driven marketing tips.