The WARC Podcast

New research by PHD and WARC explores the scale, timeline and implications of agentic AI for the wider marketing ecosystem. PHD's Rohan Tambyrajah and WARC's David Tiltman join Anna Hamill to discuss the implications for marketing as decision-making increasingly evolves from human consumers to machine intermediaries, including the 'Four Modes' frameworks, and key recommendations to navigate this new dynamic.

Read 'From abundance to agents: How the delegation of choice is transforming marketing' on WARC: https://www.warc.com/en/article/from-abundance-to-agents-how-the-delegation-of-choice-is-transforming-marketing-dda80ff252d141c4bdb7211d230f407d

Guests:

David Tiltman, Chief Content Officer, WARC

Rohan Tambyrajah, Worldwide Chief Strategy Officer, PHD

Anna Hamill, Senior Editor, The WARC Podcast

Chapters:

[00:00 – Introduction: Agentic AI and the new customer journey

[02:18] – Defining the 'two audience problem': humans and AI agents

[02:47] – Why this agentic AI research matters for marketing

[04:47] – Utopia vs dystopia: The realistic business case for agentic AI

[06:34] – The abundance problem: fragmented attention and declining effectiveness

[07:00] – Delegation to AI agents: From discovery and planning to automated action

[09:30] – Which categories will agentic commerce disrupt first?

[11:49] – 'Four Modes' framework overview

[15:25] – Applying the 'Four Modes' framework by category

[17:26] – Diagnosing your category’s current mode and spot signals of shift

[20:15] – Developing human meaning and machine readability

[22:31] – Effective advertising in an agentic AI world

[25:02] – Balancing brand building, performance and agentic optimization

[33:26] – Category entry points and mapping the agentic customer journey


For 40 years, WARC has been providing the marketing industry with rigorous, unbiased evidence and expert effectiveness guidance. The WARC Podcast publishes a new episode every Tuesday and Thursday.
Subscribe to The WARC Podcast here: https://www.warc.com/en/warc-podcasts
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New research from WARC finds that social and creator marketing – for all its speed and cultural relevance – hits three structural ceilings that no amount of additional content or paid media can break through alone. Tackling these ceilings is key to sustained growth. Rob Brittain and Rica Facundo join WARC's Biprorshee Das to discuss Pace Principle 2.0, WARC's latest research on marketing effectiveness from Asia.

Guests:

Rob Brittain, Marketing Effectiveness Consultant and co-author of Pace Principle 2.0

Rica Facundo, Managing Editor - APAC, WARC and co-author of Pace Principle 2.0

Biprorshee Das, India Editor, WARC

Chapters:

[00:00] Introduction: WARC's Pace Principle 2.0 research

[02:39] What is a “social sprint”?

[04:16] Content virality is an outcome, not a growth strategy

[06:30] What is the difference between social strategy and emotional strategy?

[09:35] Why do broad emotional strategies outperform social?

[12:21] How should brands choose between micro creators and celebrity influencers?

[16:28] The three ceilings of social media (platform, cultural, self-sustaining)

[19:17] Aligning target market and creative strategy boosts effectiveness by 70 percent

[23:03] Moving from “always on” content to always relevant

[25:32] Social and creator campaign measurement

[29:42] Key Pace Principle 2.0 recommendations for marketing leaders


For 40 years, WARC has been providing the marketing industry with rigorous, unbiased evidence and expert effectiveness guidance. The WARC Podcast publishes a new episode every Tuesday and Thursday.
Subscribe to The WARC Podcast here: https://www.warc.com/en/warc-podcasts
Sign up to daily WARC News for free: https://www.warc.com/en/latest
Book a demo: https://www.warc.com/en/subscribe

How did ad agency economics become so challenging? Fee-cutting and low growth are part of the equation, but the roots of the issue go back decades. Ad industry analyst and author Michael Farmer joins WARC's David Tiltman to discuss his new book 'Madison Avenue Revisited' and offer his take on 30+ years of change to advertising business models, including the impact of dysfunctional client-agency relationships, increased creative workloads and AI.

Guests:

Michael Farmer, Chairman and CEO, Farmer&Co; Professor of Branding and Integrated Communications at The City College of New York

David Tiltman, SVP - Content, WARC

Chapters:

[00:00] Introduction: Michael Farmer joins The WARC Podcast

[06:49] From 'Madison Avenue Manslaughter' to 'Madison Avenue Revisited'

[11:25] How ad agency workloads doubled while fees halved

[18:29] Why big advertisers are underperforming GDP

[23:44] Short-termism and the failure to brief for brand growth

[27:51] The key factors undermining advertising economics

[30:11] Artificial intelligence threatens advertising agencies

[32:28] 'Infinite creative' doesn’t equal brand growth

[35:18] Using AI to fund strategy and reinvesting in senior talent

[37:01] How hold-cos, commissions, and cheap CPMs undermined creative value

[40:29] Why do CFOs block long-term marketing investment?

[41:02] How AI can optimise the marketing mix for growth


For 40 years, WARC has been providing the marketing industry with rigorous, unbiased evidence and expert effectiveness guidance. The WARC Podcast publishes a new episode every Tuesday and Thursday.
Subscribe to The WARC Podcast here: https://www.warc.com/en/warc-podcasts
Sign up to daily WARC News for free: https://www.warc.com/en/latest
Book a demo: https://www.warc.com/en/subscribe

Just 29% of creator ads outperform the average brand ad. Research from System 1, WPP Media and Tiktok uncovers what drives attention, emotion and brand recognition across creator content. System 1's Andrew Tindall and brand strategist Eugene Healey join WARC's Anna Hamill to break down creator effectiveness hacks, how to brief creators properly, and why so many marketers are using the wrong metrics to measure success.

Guests:

Andrew Tindall, Chief Advertising Officer, System1

Eugene Healey, Brand Strategist and Content Creator (@eugbrandstrat)

Anna Hamill, Senior Editor, The WARC Podcast

Chapters:

00:00 - Intro: Welcome to The WARC Podcast

00:10 - How do creators build brands?

02:17 - Methodology of the WPP Media/TikTok/System1 creator research

04:09 - What really drives brand memory: engagement, deep engagement or creativity?

05:37 - How should creators and brands think about brand fit and long-term impact?

07:54 - What metrics should marketers prioritise in creator marketing?

13:55 - Characteristics of the most effective creator campaigns

16:27 - What creator content actually performs on social?

20:03 - 3x brand memory lift from early brand cues

22:43 - Briefing creators for authenticity and effectiveness

27:54 - Why you can’t outbrief a bad strategy in creator marketing

29:27 - What are social devices and what is the one thing marketers should do next?


For 40 years, WARC has been providing the marketing industry with rigorous, unbiased evidence and expert effectiveness guidance. The WARC Podcast publishes a new episode every Tuesday and Thursday.
Subscribe to The WARC Podcast here: https://www.warc.com/en/warc-podcasts
Sign up to daily WARC News for free: https://www.warc.com/en/latest
Book a demo: https://www.warc.com/en/subscribe

Uber's Lucinda Barlow offers advice for marketers on how to build a safe culture for creative experimentation, identifying strategic blind spots, making decisions in times of extraordinary uncertainty and how to localise a global brand. Hosted by WARC's Rica Facundo.

Guests:

Lucinda Barlow, Head of International Marketing, Uber

Rica Facundo, Marketing Editor - Asia Pacific, WARC

Chapters:

00:00 – Introduction to The WARC Podcast with Uber's Lucinda Barlow

01:14 – Uber’s growth and category creation

03:43 – What is 'smart' risk taking?

07:13 – Overcoming fear, hierarchy, and failure in marketing organizations

11:51 – Proving long-term brand impact

15:36 – Explaining marketing terms to CEOs and CFOs

17:28 – Why entertaining creative beats rational promos in brand building

19:41 – Inside Uber’s “Skip the Kung Fu” Hong Kong campaign

23:35 – How Uber localizes a global brand

28:06 – Uber Eats' World Cup campaign with Gordon Ramsey

28:30 – Why AI alone can’t replace human creativity


For 40 years, WARC has been providing the marketing industry with rigorous, unbiased evidence and expert effectiveness guidance. The WARC Podcast publishes a new episode every Tuesday and Thursday.
Subscribe to The WARC Podcast here: https://www.warc.com/en/warc-podcasts
Sign up to daily WARC News for free: https://www.warc.com/en/latest
Book a demo: https://www.warc.com/en/subscribe