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It was a pilot loyalty play expected to attract 2,000 blood donors that became a 90,000-strong advocacy army happy to make a humble brag about their charitable efforts – and it’s literally moving the needle. With 130,000 members now signed up since the official program launch in May, the savvy marketing initiative is now on track to deliver a 5 per cent uplift in blood collections overall in 2024. Australian Red Cross Lifeblood’s gift program was an unprecedented move for the government-funded agency requiring nuanced health and safety manoeuvring from its CMO, Jeremy Weiss. But it was a no-brainer to maximise return on his marketing investment – Weiss says it’s coming in at half the cost of incremental collections achieved through typical paid digital channels. The former Origin Energy, Latitude Financial Services and Telstra marketer unpacks how mobilising blood donors to be “walking billboards” is just one of the ways he’s applying consumer marketing smarts to meet Australia’s growing blood supply needs.

Marketers and agencies are ever stretched – and it’s damaging relationships. But ex-Hearts & Science MD turned industry consultant Wendy Gower thinks equalising the balance of power drives commercial upside via better briefs, honest feedback and genuine collaboration. She’s devised a workshop program to make it happen. Real estate firm Stockland reckons its working – as does its agency boss.

Publicis has all but locked in Australia’s biggest carmaker, taking on Toyota’s retail creative work with Dentsu Creative losing the long-term business. It is understood Saatchi & Saatchi will bring an AI strategy for creative and beyond already being deployed on the Toyota retail business in the US – one executive familiar with the move said Publicis promised “workhorse-style retail executions” across video, image and copy at scale via automation.