The Media Leader Podcast

In a new mini-series, former Media Leader editor-in-chief Omar Oakes is joined by former Dentsu International CEO, now AI strategist Hamish Nicklin to argue over the nuances of AI development and its use in the creative industries.
In the series' final episode, the duo debate for and against the prompt: "Goodbye Salesforce and Adobe because AI will end enterprise software."
Taking the “for” side of the argument is Nicklin, while Oakes represents the “against” side, posing sceptical questions.
Nicklin argues that the ability of people to build their own software through vibe coding will undercut SaaS business models, which are becoming too expensive to compete.
Highlights:
1:05: Recent developments in AI: BuzzFeed's sale, Americans hate AI
6:26: SaaSmageddon: Why AI is disrupting software businesses, with valuations collapsing
20:17: Claude Cowork and its plug-ins
33:32: How realistic is replacing everything with vibe coding? The ease of building personal software and how IT might change
51:31: Second-order effects: What about safety and security? What about fixing bad code?
55:07: Verdicts

With the advent and adoption of AI search, consumers’ online research and discovery behaviours are shifting. How can brands win authority in this new space?
Last month at our annual Future of Brands conference, industry leaders convened in London to unpack the challenges facing brand marketers in a rapidly changing media ecosystem. One such nascent problem for marketers and their agencies: how brands are showing up in large-language models (or LLMs).
Laura Kell is chief data and product officer at Havas Media Network. Marcos Angelides is MD of L’Oreal Lab and head of AI operations at Publicis Media. Olya Dyachuk is global media and data director at Heineken.
The trio sat down with host Jack Benjamin to discuss early efforts in generative engine optimisation, how AI search is forcing agencies to reconsider team organisation, the importance of benchmarking how your brand shows up in LLMs, and what marketers need from AI companies as the likes of OpenAI embrace advertising.
Highlights:
2:05: Where brands and agencies are in their GEO journey: Benchmarking and auditing, testing and learning
11:58: Does GEO require bringing search, social and PR teams together? How agencies should reorganise
15:29: The value of LLMs for audience insights
17:17: The consumer trust issue when manipulating LLM results or placing ads in chatbots
24:17: Brands' relationships with AI companies like OpenAI vis-à-vis Google
Related articles:
Takeaways from the Future of Brands 2026: AI, culture and measurement take centre stage
AI optimisation: The new channel brands can’t afford to overlook
Havas Media Network launches ‘generative engine optimisation’ tool
Agency groups’ AI platforms, explained

In a new mini-series, former Media Leader editor-in-chief Omar Oakes is joined by former Dentsu International CEO, now AI strategist Hamish Nicklin to argue over the nuances of AI development and its use in the creative industries.
In episode four, the duo debate for and against the prompt: “AI sycophancy will run wild, and it will be bad for business."
Taking the “for” side of the argument is Oakes, while Nicklin represents the “against” side, posing sceptical questions.
While both Oakes and Nicklin agree AI sycophancy is an active problem for business leaders, Nicklin suggests that thoughtful prompting can help ameliorate concerns that chatbots are misleading you to try and keep you happy. These include giving the AI explicit permission to reject ideas and asking chatbots to give feedback as though it is for a third party as opposed to the user.
As Nicklin argues, subordinates can be sycophantic, too, and "sniffing out the bullshit" is already a core skill for business leaders. But Oakes asks: what happens when you "don't know what you don't know"?
Highlights:
2:12: Recent developments in AI: AI-generated music on Deezer, Los Angeles's AI art museum
6:01: What is AI sycophancy and does it mean bad ideas aren't getting killed?
16:52: Four tips for combatting AI sycophancy and making a chatbot a "critical friend"
34:44: How to "sniff out the bullshit" when you don't know what you don't know
45:38: Second-order effects: commercial damage of wrong decisions; impact on psychology, communication standards; AI education
1:00:58: Verdicts

Is there a more important relationship in our industry than that between the CMO and the CFO?
Given the macroeconomic environment – war, inflation, AI threatening to upend entire industries – how are the the interests of financial leaders changing as they relate to marketing?
Nimmi Shah is a consultant finance director for the media, marketing and PR industries and has worked with major agency groups.
Sameer Modha is the outcome measurement innovation lead at ITV, and one of the individuals spearheading the broadcasters’ in-development outcome measurement solution, Lantern.
The duo join host Jack Benjamin to discuss how financial pressures are having downstream effects on media investment, why outcomes-driven measurement has emerged as the way forward in the boardroom, and how AI is leading to new opportunities and new conundrums for marketers.
Is media still being spent on eyeballs? Or is it being spent on, as Modha puts it, "a receipt that says I got something that I can take to the CFO which will continue to justify my budget".
Highlights:
1:34: How CFOs are navigating volatile macro pressures, and where the CMO fits
9:24: The move to outcomes measurement as a "recepit", and how it's benefitted tech platforms
23:58: Lantern, making TV show up in the nearer term, and the power of platform models
36:37: Are platforms marking their own outcomes homework? How auctions work, and why "the machine knows better than you".
46:48: Implications of the AI cost push: Is AI generating value? Will OpenAI compete with Google?
1:05:19: What happens if finance and media decisions become automated?
Related articles:
How Lantern will bring outcome measurement to TV — with Sameer Modha and Matt Hill
How to make marketing indispensable to the CFO? Focus on incrementality
Marketers must take an ‘investor mindset’ to bridge the CEO-CMO gap, McKinsey advises
Ian Whittaker: How brands can truly ensure their CEO, CFO and CMO work together

In a new mini-series, former Media Leader editor-in-chief Omar Oakes is joined by former Dentsu International CEO, now AI strategist Hamish Nicklin to argue over the nuances of AI development and its use in the creative industries.
In episode four, the duo debate for and against the prompt: “AI is turning the internet into a sea of slop, and journalists are helping it happen."
In a change from prior episodes, taking the “for” side of the argument is Oakes, while Nicklin represents the “against” side, posing sceptical questions.
"Stories come from people," Oakes insists. But are most journalists well-funded and well-positioned to provide quality reporting today? Can AI be used to help journalists, or is it mostly just being used to produce slop?
Highlights:
1:00: Recent developments in AI: Esquire Singapore's 'interview', CTZN's AI-driven wine
6:58: Is AI useful for journalism? Oakes' experience using AI as an independent writer
26:59: 'Copy, paste, print': Have publishers devalued their own product and made it vulnerable to AI?
46:43: Second-order effects: Impacts on local news, failing business models, transparency and trust
59:56: Verdicts