McDonald’s Australia is introducing the Shamrock Shake to the Australian market for the first time with a new campaign created in partnership with Akcelo and coinciding with St Patrick’s Day.
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The CMO Awards Podcast Ep 1: Former CMOs of Westfield, Audi, Kimberly-Clark reveal relentless financial scrutiny, growth intent and risk factors driving exec and board expectations of marketing
Welcome to the first in our CMO Awards podcast series, powered by Mi3. This limited-episode series dives into the key topics and issues making up how marketing as a function, and its leaders, contribute to growth. To do this, we’re engaging in a select number of conversations with industry luminaries, CMO Awards judges, former CMO50 winners, current and former marketing and customer leaders and more as we lead into, then recognise the winners of our inaugural CMO Awards on 7 May. This podcast is brought to you by platinum CMO Awards 2025 sponsor, Adobe. Kicking us off to talk about how marketing elevates its stature in the eyes of the CEO and board are three of this year’s CMO Awards judges: Former Westfield CMO and non-exec board director, John Batistich; former Audi chief marketing and customer officer and now non-exec director, Nikki Warburton; and executive and board recruitment partner and one-time Kimberly Clark CMO, Michele Phillips. All three have the unique ability to see it from both sides: As former marketers plying the trade, and now as non-executive board directors or in board and CEO-level recruitment. Channel and audience fragmentation, too much data, relentless transformation across organisations, dour economic conditions, ever-more pressure to prove marketing’s worth, too much efficiency while trying to find more effectiveness and ever-higher demands for technology competence – these are just a few of the things CMOs are navigating. For many, it can feel like they don’t have enough control of what’s happening to their function while they look to execute their craft with excellence. And admitting something was less than a success feels like certain doom. View it from the other side, however, and you get a rather different picture of what marketing needs to do to win respect. CEOs and Boards are needing to do more with less to find profitable growth, investor and financial markets are relentless, and business, cyber and market risk factors have multiplied. These execs want marketing leaders who can make hard and strategic choices, and judge them as much on what they choose to do as much as what they say no to. All while telling a realistic but progressive story of customer and market engagement. This series is hosted by Nadia Cameron, associate publisher and editor of marketing at Mi3, plus program leader for the CMO Awards.
Kathmandu secures apparel partnership with New Zealand’s Olympic Team
Kathmandu has signed on as the official apparel partner for the New Zealand Team for future Olympic and Commonwealth Games. The partnership is set for an initial four-year term, covering athletes’ training and village kits, as well as uniforms for opening, closing, and podium ceremonies.
Ampfibian campaign sparks 23% sales surge and 65% brand awareness bump
Australian caravan electrical safety brand Ampfibian has reported significant gains following a recent marketing campaign address the issue of unsafe, homemade caravan leads.
McDonald’s targets Sydney’s office workers with new out-of-home campaign via DDB, OMD
McDonald’s has unveiled a new out-of-home campaign in Sydney’s central business district, enticing office workers to take a break from their routines for a McDonald’s visit.
ACMA whacks Telstra with $626,000 fine for breaching Australian spam laws
Telstra has been fined $626,000 by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) for sending approximately 10.5 million non-compliant text messages. The investigation by ACMA revealed that Telstra sent 10,433,812 texts with improper unsubscribe arrangements over a 21-month period from 2022 to 2024.
‘Almost a guarantee for setting money on fire’: 1,000 marketers, agencies and BetterBriefs on broken creative ideation-evaluation, its crippling impact on effectiveness – and how to fix it
Four years after unleashing global research into the woeful lack of briefing expertise across the marketing and advertising industry, the co-founders of BetterBriefs, Matt Davies and Pieter-Paul von Weiler, have taken a plunge into creative ideation and found yet another whopping industry capability gap. Having canvassed more than 1,000 senior marketers and creative agency leaders across Australia, the UK and US – plus luminaries from the IPA, WFA, Saatchi & Saatchi, Beiersdorf, Nissan, Mastercard, AMV BBDO and others – the latest findings show a creative process that is flawed, stifling creative, failing to gain attention and costing marketers and agencies time, money, commercial effectiveness and a trusted relationship.
Australian ad spend declines as digital media shows resilience
Guideline SMI’s media agency data for January 2025 indicates a 5% decline in Australian advertising expenditure compared to the same period last year. This downturn is reflected across various media channels, although certain digital segments aligned with traditional media content have demonstrated growth.
CommBank and M&C Saatchi launch NYC-themed campaign for travel booking feature
CommBank, in partnership with M&C Saatchi Group Australia, has unveiled an experiential campaign to promote its Travel Booking feature available through the CommBank app. The campaign was staged at Melbourne’s Flinders Street, featuring an immersive walk-through billboard with a New York City theme. This initiative ran from 28 February to 2 March 2025.
‘It’s employee engagement, not marketing’: Optus’ Cam Luby on why telco chose dancing in the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade over diversity rollback, and the brand trust rebuild
Trump may see diversity as a “dangerous, demeaning and immoral” practice, but it’s the opposite for the team at Optus. While Meta and Google purportedly either pulled – or were ousted – out of parading at the 2025 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, Australia’s second-largest telco and 80 of its staff proudly made a second appearance at last weekend’s event. Perceived as an employee and grassroots community engagement exercise first and foremost, the Sydney World Pride partnership is one of the fewer, bigger alliances VP of consumer marketing, Cam Luby, sees as positively contributing to efforts to rebuild brand and reputation after being crowned Australia’s most distrusted brand last year. It’s also blessedly “not seen as a marketing program” internally, says Luby, even as the activation plays a key role on the journey to rebuilding trust and consideration.