The first-ever CMO Awards, powered by Mi3, are now officially open for nominations. From demonstrating effective marketing strategy and business influence, to exhibitions of data-driven decision-making commercial impact and people leadership, this recognition program is all about showcasing the vital role marketing leaders play in delivering business growth.
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Auto market facing ‘the biggest catalyst for change this industry has seen … not everyone will still be there’: Marketers change tack, tactics, brand strategy
After a record sales year, Australia’s automotive sector is braced for change, with some brands potentially exiting as competitive pressure sharpens and regulatory changes force product and pricing shifts. BYD marketing boss Kate Hornstein, Kia marketing GM Dean Norbiato and BMW counterpart Alex McLean unpack what’s coming down the track. Meanwhile fresh analysis from Adgile shows share of voice winners and losers from TV-streaming mix switches.
Match & Wood secures Renault Group’s media account, replacing OMD
Match & Wood has been awarded the media planning and buying account for Renault Group following a competitive pitch process. The account transition from incumbent agency, OMD is scheduled for April.
Woolworths loses market share, grocery dollars in Victoria thanks to industrial action
Woolworths has experienced a significant decline in market share in Victoria, with a 6.6% drop recorded for December 2024 compared to the same period in 2023, as a result of industrial action by the supermarket giant’s industrial action
Sanitarium’s Weet-Bix campaign reignites nostalgia with Mary Fowler
Sanitarium Health Food Company has unveiled a new advertising campaign for its Weet-Bix brand, collaborating with agency 303 MullenLowe.
Empowerment is vital if marketing is to use AI to elevate its stature in business and the boardroom, says Infosys global CMO – and he’s worried they’re doing anything but
A step change in experience and effectiveness, not just efficiency, is what’s key to ensuring marketing departments harness AI to elevate their business impact and drive growth. Yet without better team empowerment and experimentation, that ability to match the disruptive power of AI with a rethink of how marketing gets done is at risk, argues Infosys global CMO, Sumit Virmani. In a wide-ranging interview with Mi3, the experienced B2B marketing leader talks about how he’s working to unleash AI’s potential by building team confidence, and finding ways of introducing new experience and effectiveness into strategy brand plays for the IT services giant including this year’s Australian Open.
Thriving in ambiguity and change: Former ABC director of audiences and marketer Leisa Bacon takes the stage as Creative Australia’s development and partners lead
Former ABC director of audiences and marketer, Leisa Bacon, is following up a decade-long stint with the public broadcaster by taking up the reins as Creative Australia’s executive director of development and partnerships. It’s a job uniting her passion for arts and culture with her extensive – and highly necessary skillset in stakeholder management – plus a willingness to take on transformative challenges. Because the appointment comes a juncture when the government body, which dishes out more than $250m a year to support Australia’s arts and culture community, reshapes its approach to funding and supporting one of the nation’s most persistently challenged industries post-pandemic.
80% of firms using the Australian Made logo believe it influences purchasing decisions
A recent survey conducted by the Australian Made Campaign Limited (AMCL) has revealed that 80% of businesses using the Australian Made logo believe it influences consumer purchasing decisions. The survey, which targeted licensees of the logo, found that 89% of these businesses believe the logo helps differentiate their products from competitors.
‘Marketers are buying this’: Pitfalls and ‘lies’ to avoid on junk user data, clean room matching, MMM, incrementality tests – and B2B tech: Melbourne Business School Associate Professor Nico Neumann
Nico Neumann is deep in the weeds on digital marketing attribution, market mix modelling [MMM] and incrementality testing – likewise the dangers of narrow audience targeting and junk user data – the latter a $20bn market in the US alone. The Melbourne Business School Associate Professor in 2019 published research proving that closing your eyes and randomly selecting male or female audience targets was more accurate than the data brokers and DSPs many advertisers buy from. Neumann claims a senior data broker admitted to him privately that they knew their data was crap, “but who cares? Marketers are buying this”.(Like Arielle Garcia, UM’s former US privacy lead who last year told Mi3 she had accessed her data profile from multiple third party brokers with laughable results, Neumann has downloaded his own, “and it’s hilarious”. You should do the same – we’ve got a URL in our Mi3 feature to test your profile segments).Neumann batted away claims his B2C audience studies were too broad and challenged widely held assumptions that niche segments and B2B were where precision targeting of online users actually works. Last year he ran tests with IT giant HP – a paper is coming – that sharply contests most B2B marketing plans and particularly so for tech sector practitioners. “No matter what we used, it was either equal to random targeting, or even worse,” says Neumann.First party data is better, per Neumann, but there are caveats, particularly around clean rooms and matches that can be bogus. He advises marketers to upload made up email addresses and see what they get back – hashed user ‘match rates’ may not be what they seem. His advice: stick with the first and second party data you can trust, but even then, don’t assume targeting will deliver better bang for buck.”I would even take a step back and ask, do you need to target that narrowly? There are very few cases where it makes sense … Why do you even need to exclude people and increase the cost, instead of just letting the content or message do that?”Neumann sees the explosion of market mix modelling and measurement approaches as “a good thing”. But there are market rumblings that the big platforms pushing MMMs risk skewing towards inherent model biases. Either way, Neumann’s working on a project to compare how all the main MMMs hitting the market actually perform.He urges marketers to question all models – and his advice for those emerging from business schools is the same as for seasoned CMOs: Hone fundamentals that will last a lifetime; don’t overspecialise in trends and fads. “Ask hard questions – and just test stuff yourself.”
‘Marketers are buying this’: Pitfalls and ‘lies’ to avoid on junk user data, clean room matching, MMM, incrementality tests and B2B tech – Melbourne Business School Associate Professor Nico Neumann
Melbourne Business School Associate Professor Nico Neumann’s original paper showed that targeting men or women via data brokers was less accurate than spray and pray, yet cost more. Last year he ran tests with IT giant HP that sharply contests most B2B marketing plans and particularly so for tech sector practitioners. “No matter what we used, it was either equal to random targeting, or even worse,” per Neumann, at least for probabilistic data. While first party data is better, there are caveats – and Neumann urges marketers to test out clean room matching systems by deliberately tainting some the hashed emails they feed into them. Next he’s planning to run the rule over the main market mix modelling platforms in market. In the meantime, he suggests marketers keep questioning what those models are telling them – particularly if everything seems to be working. If that’s the case, “you’re probably being lied to.”