The WARC Podcast

Procter & Gamble is one of the world's biggest advertisers. Marc Pritchard, P&G's long-time Chief Brand Officer, joins WARC's Anna Hamill to share insights and lessons from almost 40 years in marketing at the CPG giant, including the enduring power of brand building, the evolution of media, adapting to the AI era, and how brand purpose and cultural insights delivered real business growth for its brands.

This episode is sponsored by Circana. Learn more about their AI-powered marketing mix solution LiquidMix at circana.com/warc.

Guests:

Marc Pritchard, Chief Brand Officer, Procter & Gamble

Anna Hamill, Senior Editor, The WARC Podcast

Topics covered:

[00:00] – Intro: P&G’s Marc Pritchard joins The WARC Podcast

[02:01] – Defining marketing effectiveness: P&G’s 'five-fecta' growth framework

[04:08] – P&G's brand-building fundamentals: the “who, what, how” model

[07:09] – From TV to AI: How media fragmentation is changing marketing

[07:51] – Media transparency and the missing sales attribution signal

[10:18] – Why retail media is reshaping commerce at P&G

[12:09] – How P&G is adopting retail media, algorithms and content flywheels

[15:01] – AI as a brand-building and accelerator

[18:32] – In-housing media, content and ad testing to speed up innovation

[21:38] – Inside P&G's culture of marketing effectiveness

[23:13] – Balancing content volume, quality and media spend

[29:51] – How brand purpose and cultural insights grew P&G's brands

[34:29] – How CMOs can navigate uncertainty around brand purpose

[36:42] – Marc Pritchard's career advice for young marketers


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
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What do the winning campaigns from the 2026 Cannes Lions for Creative Effectiveness tell us about successful marketing in 2026? WARC's Amy Rodgers and Effie Insight's John Bizzell examine the big narratives emerging from this year's winners, in a category that rewards creativity that has also met business goals.

Read the full report 'Creative Effectiveness Lions: Insights from the 2026 winners' here: https://www.warc.com/en/article/creative-effectiveness-lions-insights-from-the-2026-winners-c0d6c1492bb549a68c1e15dc36855364

Guests:

Amy Rodgers, Head of Content, WARC Rankings and Effie Insights

John Bizzell, Content Lead, Effie Insights

Bertille Toledano, Jury President, Cannes Lions Creative Effectiveness 2026

Jane Wakely, Juror, Cannes Lions Creative Effectiveness 2026

João Gabriel Fernandes, Chief Strategy Officer, almapBBDO

Chapters:

[00:00] – Introduction: Creative Effectiveness Trends from Cannes Lions

[01:30] – Inside the Cannes Lions Creative Effectiveness jury room

[02:23] – What Makes a Creative Effectiveness Lion Different

[05:09] – Cultural Intelligence in Action: Pedigree's Caramello and AXA's Three Words

[09:33] – How Creative Campaigns Drive Real Business Growth and Societal Impact

[12:20] – Turning Brand Assets into Interactive Tools: Vaseline, Ziploc, IKEA

[14:21] – Reimagining Social to Build Brands: Uber Eats, IKEA “You up?” and Tips for Future Entrants


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

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
Sign up to daily WARC News for free: https://www.warc.com/en/latest
Book a demo: https://www.warc.com/en/subscribe

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