CMOs, social media and why AI isn't everything with VaynerX's Avery Akkineni

Susan Coghill, who has been overseeing Australia's tourism marketing since 2019, on how the Come and Say G'day campaign localizes is marketing for the U.S., U.K., China and other countries, including by using local talent. She also updates us on broader tourism trends and how her organization views more people using AI to make travel plans. Plus, how Australia is leveraging wildlife conservationist and "Dancing with the Stars" star Robert Irwin.

Avery Akkineni, VaynerX's chief marketing officer, has tips for CMOs riding the social media lightning, and she tells us why VaynerMedia has not followed the whole industry into an AI rebranding.

Local advertising is one of the most effective methods for brands of all sizes to reach the audiences that matter most, and platforms like Locality's LocalX are becoming industry leaders by enabling advertisers to plan, buy and measure local broadcast and streaming in one intelligent workflow. LocalX was purpose-built for local advertising, and by using real-time insights and unified data, the platform empowers agencies and partners to maximize impact with confidence." At the end of the day, the reason we're targeting local is to drive a better outcome for our brand in a local community or local space," said Zach Mullins, chief strategy officer at Locality, on a special edition of Ad Age's Marketer's Brief podcast. "By creating unification at scale, we can do that much more effectively in local markets." Tune in to hear more about how LocalX works to combat the increasing complexity and fragmentation within local markets, advance the local ad-buying ecosystem, and the future the company sees for the local media market.

Debbie Woloshin talks about the brand's generative AI-powered styling tool

Linh Peters, now CMO at science-backed hair care brand Seen, talks about marketing as a growth engine

Chris Curtin arrived as chief marketing officer of Sam's Club in May just after the retailer, little sibling of Walmart, finished an agency review. But the veteran of Bank of America was familiar with his new agency, Publicis Groupe, from his old job. And he hit the ground running by overseeing a new holiday campaign starring Chris Pratt. Here, Curtin talks about what it's like coming in right after an agency review and just before Sam's Club's biggest season in retail, as well as how he's bringing finance and fintech experience to retail.

Blumhouse CMO Karen Barragan gives tips and tricks for Halloween marketing as well as the value of seasonal fans for expanding Blumhouses reach. She discusses the increasing mainstream attention on horror, beginning with Warner Bros. 2017 "It" campaign, and how brands can lean in. Plus, behind the scenes of the creation of the "Black Phone 2" and "Five Nights at Freddy's 2" marketing campaigns, and lessons from "Megan 2.0's" box office flop.

Zelle has tweaked its marketing strategy as it has looked to embrace being an emotionally resonant brand. Last month, it worked with its creative and strategic agency of record Pereira O'Dell to launch "When It Counts," a new brand platform that positions everyday payments as acts of care. It also marks a new level of maturity for the brand, which in 2014 saw Americans send more than $1 trillion across 3.6 billion transactions. Andrea Gilman, chief marketing officer at Zelle and Paze network operator Early Warning Services, discusses this change, Gen Z behavioral changes she's observed this year and Early Warning's AI approach, including how it used the tech in Zelle's latest campaign.

Athena Kasvikis is managing iRobot amid a turnaround more than 18 months after regulators nixed its acquisition by Amazon. But she's also been an entrepreneur who led Behave Bras to success on "Shark Tank." She brings classical Procter & Gamble marketer training to bear on Roomba, arguably the most iconic brand in robots, as interest in robotics and AI soars, in part thanks to Elon Musk. Here she talks on those things plus her outlook on CTV, data-based targeting, agency relations and how that "I, Robot" movie wasn't named after the company, or vice versa.

Meta's top marketer discusses the latest strategies digital advertisers need to know from search engines to social media. And he weighs in on agencies, automation and AI, in an industry worried about its future.