That's What I Call Marketing

Amir Rasekh, Managing Director of Nectar360, joins That’s What I Call Marketing to discuss customer insight, retail media, AI-powered measurement and how agentic commerce could change the way people shop.
This episode explains how retail media has evolved from loyalty data, targeted coupons and direct mail into a sophisticated, measurable channel spanning in-store, onsite and offsite media.
In this episode, we cover:
– Why customer insight remains the foundation of effective retail media
– How Nectar360 connects loyalty, insight and retail media in one customer-focused system
– Why brands hold retail media to a higher measurement standard than traditional channels
– How Nectar360 measures incrementality and multi-touch attribution across omnichannel campaigns
– How its AI-powered Pollen platform makes campaign planning, creative production and measurement faster
– What agentic commerce could mean for retailers, marketers and customer decision-making
– Why AI should support better human relationships rather than remove the people involved

Amir also shares early results from Pollen, including 2.5 times more incremental sales from omnichannel campaigns and evidence that retail media can influence the middle and upper parts of the marketing funnel, rather than acting only as a conversion channel.
The conversation also explores an important tension for marketers: technology can make retail media simpler, faster and more measurable, but clients still expect strong relationships, expertise and human judgement. A useful listen for marketers interested in customer insight, retail media, marketing measurement, AI in marketing, incrementality, omnichannel strategy and the future of commerce.
Timestamps
00:00 Introduction
01:27 Amir Rasekh’s career in retail and Sainsbury’s
04:34 Building an insight-led culture
05:00 What Nectar360 does today
06:06 Why retail media suddenly became so prominent
07:18 The fundamentals of retail media
08:52 Why measurement expectations are increasing
10:28 Introducing Nectar360’s Pollen platform
12:15 Are marketers rigorous enough when testing campaigns?
13:33 How AI accelerated retail media technology
14:21 AI audience building, creative scoring and production
14:38 Cutting creative production from weeks to 90 seconds
14:59 Early results from omnichannel retail media
16:10 Retail media as a brand-building channel
17:05 How customer shopping behaviour is changing
18:00 What agentic commerce means for retail
20:03 Will consumers shop through ChatGPT and AI agents?
22:16 Why physical stores still matter
24:00 How Nectar360’s teams are using AI
25:16 Building AI literacy across an organisation
25:47 Why clients do not want technology to replace people
26:04 Closing thoughts
That’s What I Call Marketing is the podcast for marketers who care about brand, B2B, creativity, effectiveness and the future of the profession.
Follow the show for more conversations with CMOs, marketing leaders, agency leaders, professors, authors, thinkers and practitioners.
Find more episodes at: https://www.thatswhaticallmarketing.com
This Cannes Sessions episode is produced in partnership with The Digital Voice.
Find out more at: https://www.thedigitalvoice.co.uk
That’s What I Call Marketing is where marketers come for real conversations about brand, B2B, creativity, effectiveness and the future of the profession.
Hosted by Conor Byrne, the show features conversations with CMOs, marketing leaders, agency leaders, authors, thinkers and practitioners about what good marketing looks like in practice.

Listen, follow and find more episodes at: https://www.thatswhaticallmarketing.com
Connect with Conor on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/conorbyrneirl/
If you enjoy the show, please follow, subscribe and leave a review. It helps more marketers find the conversations.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What does attention actually tell us about whether advertising is working?

Pete Wallace, Managing Director EMEA at GumGum, explains why clicks remain a poor measure of advertising effectiveness and how attention can help marketers connect media exposure with real brand outcomes.

Pete shares how GumGum combines contextual signals, attention data, time, device and creative performance to predict the mindset of an audience. He brings this to life through GumGum’s work with the BBC and Havas on *Celebrity Traitors*, where targeting and creative changed as tension and excitement around the programme developed.

We also discuss why there is no universal number of seconds that guarantees attention, how creative testing can reveal when branding should appear, and why advertising needs to respect the environment in which it appears.

The conversation then moves into privacy, the value exchange between advertising and free content, the problem with ad tech companies using the same language, and why marketers need to ask more difficult questions about the technology behind their media plans.

Pete also reflects on moving from agency life into ad tech and leading teams across Europe, Japan and Australia, where different cultures require different approaches to pitching, testing and decision-making.

## In this episode, you will learn:

* Why attention can be more useful than clicks as a measure of advertising effectiveness
* How contextual advertising can predict consumer mindset without relying on personal identity
* How GumGum adapted targeting and creative during the BBC’s *Celebrity Traitors*
* Why every brand may require a different attention benchmark
* How creative attention data can improve branding and message placement
* Why advertising works best when it respects the surrounding content
* How marketers can test ad technology rather than accepting similar-sounding sales pitches
* What Pete has learned from leading teams across different international markets

## Timestamps

01:38 Pete’s journey from media agencies into ad tech
03:23 The difference between agency life and working in sales
05:33 What GumGum does and how the business has developed
06:00 Using data signals to predict consumer mindset
06:55 How GumGum worked on the BBC’s *Celebrity Traitors*
08:46 Why attention has always influenced media planning
09:25 Connecting attention to business and brand outcomes
10:21 How GumGum measures attention
11:15 Why there is no universal attention benchmark
11:23 Using attention data to improve creative execution
12:45 Matching advertising to the environment around it
13:34 Why brands are asking more questions about ad technology
14:33 Where GumGum fits within the modern media plan
14:40 Why marketers need greater digital and technical knowledge
15:12 Are marketers rigorous enough when testing media?
16:00 The problem with every ad tech company sounding the same
17:00 Why campaign learning needs to feed into future activity
17:42 Leading teams across Europe, Japan and Australia
18:23 How culture changes client expectations and ways of working
20:01 Balancing global consistency with local flexibility
21:23 What international markets can learn from one another

*The Cannes Sessions are brought to you in partnership with The Digital Voice.*
That’s What I Call Marketing is where marketers come for real conversations about brand, B2B, creativity, effectiveness and the future of the profession.
Hosted by Conor Byrne, the show features conversations with CMOs, marketing leaders, agency leaders, authors, thinkers and practitioners about what good marketing looks like in practice.

Listen, follow and find more episodes at: https://www.thatswhaticallmarketing.com
Connect with Conor on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/conorbyrneirl/
If you enjoy the show, please follow, subscribe and leave a review. It helps more marketers find the conversations.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

James MacDonald, Founder of Limelight, joins That’s What I Call Marketing to discuss programmatic advertising, building a global ad tech business, AI and why simplicity still matters for marketers today.

This episode explores the journey from Fleet Street advertising sales to modern programmatic technology, through a practical conversation about risk, reinvention, customer focus, remote culture and building technology that solves real problems.

In this episode, we cover:
– What Fleet Street taught James about sales, resilience and asking for the business
– Why helping people buy is more powerful than pushing people to buy
– How James identified the gap that led to Limelight
– Why programmatic advertising still needs simplicity, support and better execution
– How Limelight thinks about AI, interoperability and the importance of human judgement
– What it takes to build and maintain a strong remote culture across a global team

A useful listen for marketers interested in ad tech, programmatic advertising, AI in marketing, founder stories, sales, customer success, remote teams and building through change.

That’s What I Call Marketing is the podcast for marketers who care about brand, B2B, creativity, effectiveness and the future of the profession.

Follow the show for more conversations with CMOs, marketing leaders, agency leaders, professors, authors, thinkers and practitioners.

Find more episodes at: https://www.thatswhaticallmarketing.com

This Cannes Sessions episode is brought to you in partnership with The Digital Voice.

Find out more at: https://www.thedigitalvoice.co.uk

01:38 Starting out on Fleet Street
03:19 What early sales teaches you
04:35 From eggs to advertising
06:27 Helping people buy, not pushing a sale
07:04 Mentors, mistakes and learning through failure
07:11 Starting again and founding Limelight
09:31 Finding the right business partner
10:59 Identifying the gap in programmatic
12:00 Building the Limelight platform
14:00 Taking risks as a founder
15:59 Building culture as the company grows
16:42 Running a fully remote global business
18:17 What Limelight does
20:49 How people discover Limelight
22:16 Listening to customers and building the product
23:33 AI, human judgement and interoperability
26:05 Why simplicity matters in technology
That’s What I Call Marketing is where marketers come for real conversations about brand, B2B, creativity, effectiveness and the future of the profession.
Hosted by Conor Byrne, the show features conversations with CMOs, marketing leaders, agency leaders, authors, thinkers and practitioners about what good marketing looks like in practice.

Listen, follow and find more episodes at: https://www.thatswhaticallmarketing.com
Connect with Conor on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/conorbyrneirl/
If you enjoy the show, please follow, subscribe and leave a review. It helps more marketers find the conversations.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Julia Linehan, Founder and CEO of The Digital Voice, joins That’s What I Call Marketing to discuss Cannes Lions, the changing role of PR, AI search, trusted sources and why amplification matters for marketers today.

This episode explores how brands, agencies and marketing leaders need to think about discoverability in a world where search, AI, content and credibility are all changing at pace.

In this episode, we cover:
– Why The Digital Voice describes itself as an amplification partner, not a traditional PR agency
– How AI search and LLMs are changing the value of trusted, published content
– Why consistency, repetition and clear messaging matter more than ever
– What it takes to plan properly for Cannes Lions and create real value from the week
– How Julia has built a fully remote team with strong culture, energy and trust
– Why Cannes needs to stay accessible for students, publishers, creators and smaller businesses

A useful listen for marketers interested in PR, brand visibility, AI in marketing, thought leadership, Cannes Lions, agency leadership and the future of discoverability.

That’s What I Call Marketing is the podcast for marketers who care about brand, B2B, creativity, effectiveness and the future of the profession.

Follow the show for more conversations with CMOs, marketing leaders, agency leaders, professors, authors, thinkers and practitioners.

Find more episodes at: https://www.thatswhaticallmarketing.com
Visit the Digital voice at https://www.thedigitalvoice.co.uk/
That’s What I Call Marketing is where marketers come for real conversations about brand, B2B, creativity, effectiveness and the future of the profession.
Hosted by Conor Byrne, the show features conversations with CMOs, marketing leaders, agency leaders, authors, thinkers and practitioners about what good marketing looks like in practice.

Listen, follow and find more episodes at: https://www.thatswhaticallmarketing.com
Connect with Conor on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/conorbyrneirl/
If you enjoy the show, please follow, subscribe and leave a review. It helps more marketers find the conversations.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the latest episode of The Singles, Conor is joined by Ed Parkin and Bella Harrison from Tracksuit to dig into four marketing stories where the headlines only tell part of the story.

The episode starts with the FIFA World Cup and what it could mean for soccer in the US. Major League Soccer still has a long way to go versus the NFL, NBA and MLB on awareness, but Tracksuit data shows consideration is already moving in the right direction. The conversation gets into younger audiences, affluent consumer skews, regional growth and why feeling “for people like me” matters so much in sports marketing.

Then it’s onto World Cup sponsorship. Coca-Cola, Adidas and McDonald’s show what decades of investment can do when brand associations compound over time, while Mengniu shows how sponsorship can still create warmth for a lesser-known brand.

The team also discuss Spotify’s temporary 20th anniversary logo, the backlash it received, and whether marketers sometimes overreact when a strong brand plays with its distinctive assets. With 88% awareness and very strong consideration, Spotify has more room to experiment than most.

BrewDog is next. Once valued at £2bn and now sold for £33m, it is a reminder that awareness can remain even when consideration, usage and preference are falling. The discussion also looks at James Watt’s new brand, Second Best, and whether founder-led challenger energy can travel from one brand to another.

Finally, the episode turns to the Irish National Lottery ad controversy, after its new work closely followed a New Zealand Lottery ad scene for scene. The question is not whether the insight worked. It did. The question is what happens when inspiration becomes imitation.

Tracksuit University is also featured in the episode, including how it helps marketers make the case for brand in a more finance-friendly way.
Get 20% off Tracksuit University with the discount code: That’s What I Call Marketing
Visit: university.gotracksuit.com
In this episode:
00:00 Introduction
01:24 Tracksuit University and making brand finance-friendly
02:48 The FIFA World Cup and soccer in the US
03:47 MLS awareness, consideration and growth potential
05:25 Younger audiences, affluent consumers and regional skews
06:49 Why relevance matters in sports marketing
09:02 World Cup sponsorship and long-term brand investment
13:00 Spotify’s 20th anniversary logo backlash
16:31 Why Spotify has earned the right to play with its assets
18:21 BrewDog’s sale and brand decline
20:01 Trust, relevance and the erosion of BrewDog’s core audience
21:01 Second Best and the future of founder-led brands
23:33 The Irish National Lottery ad controversy
26:45 Distinctiveness, copying and creative shortcuts
29:07 Tracksuit University discount details
That’s What I Call Marketing is where marketers come for real conversations about brand, B2B, creativity, effectiveness and the future of the profession.
Hosted by Conor Byrne, the show features conversations with CMOs, marketing leaders, agency leaders, authors, thinkers and practitioners about what good marketing looks like in practice.

Listen, follow and find more episodes at: https://www.thatswhaticallmarketing.com
Connect with Conor on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/conorbyrneirl/
If you enjoy the show, please follow, subscribe and leave a review. It helps more marketers find the conversations.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.