The Media Leader Podcast

Hosted by The Media Leader

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235

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Jun 2026

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The Media Leader is the leading source of analysis, data, opinion and trends in commercial media and advertising. Hosted by senior reporter Jack Benjamin, we speak to senior industry leaders and rising stars about the key challenges media faces as part of our mission to stand up for courage, inclusion and excellence in media. Find out more at uk.themedialeader.com and subscribe to our daily newsletter . ]]>

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June 15, 202659 min

Why brands need less channel planning and more ecosystem design — with Arena Media's Hamid Habib

Last week on the show, The Media Leader spoke with Thinkbox’s Elliott Millard about how brands can reconsider their cultural impact, and this week, we wanted to continue that conversation with an agency that bills itself as sitting right at the centre of culture.Hamid Habib is the managing director of Arena Media within Havas Village. Habib and Arena Media pride themselves on working on inventive campaigns that embed brands within culture and communities.Habib discusses what it means to work for a “cultural media agency”, how he has moved his clients away from channel planning and toward ecosystem design, and the overarching cultural changes he thinks every brand should be aware of. He and host Jack Benjamin also talk about why brands are underinvesting in gaming, and how AI is changing the role agencies play for their clients.Highlights:4:55: Arena Media's unique client proposition and why brands "grow when they move with culture".11:24: Less channel planning, more ecosystem design: Why the brand and performance dichotomy is not fit-for-purpose.18:00: Important cultural shifts this year: Bifurcation of media behaviours across generations, AI changing customer journeys26:32: Brands need a BANG: Breadth, authenticity, newness, granularity31:33: Zig when others zag: Why Reddit, gaming are underinvested channels45:06: Are agencies still relevant as automated planning, buying and creative becomes common?Related articles:How marketers should reconsider culture and short-term strategies — with Thinkbox’s Elliott MillardIs there still room for human creativity in the AI era?Charlie Hugill: Why the future of media is real, human and experientialPlayNet launches to connect gaming with online behaviour

June 8, 202642 min

How marketers should reconsider culture and short-term strategies — with Thinkbox's Elliott Millard

Ask marketers what they hope to accomplish and, as part of the effort to drive sales outcomes, these days, many will say they want their brand to contribute to and sit within culture But that begs the question: how do you define culture?There is a sense that culture is youth-driven and based on social currency – are you up to date on the latest trend? On what people are talking about right now? Are you speaking their language?But a new study presented at a Thinkbox event last week found that marketers might just be thinking about culture in too narrow a way, and a change in framing might cause them to rethink their media investment.Elliott Millard is the chief strategy officer at Thinkbox. He sits down with host Jack Benjamin to discuss how brands are advertising through macroeconomic adversity, and how they should reconsider how to best make a cultural impact through their advertising. Highlights:3:36: Adversity facing advertisers: Are CMOs actually embracing brand advertising again?10:32: Brands aren't doing short-termism the right way15:54: The media channels that are the biggest drivers of culture22:02: The cultural half-lives of online trends28:14: The power of predictability and the ability to plan reactivity38:07: Brand dynamics as a network effectRelated articles:Brands could double their media investment and still generate a profitable return, claims WPP Media reportThe cultural moments that will matter to media in 2026Go woke, go broke? Brands on the front line of the culture war

June 1, 202641 min

What the OOH industry needs to do to double its market share - with WOO's Tom Goddard

This week, from the 3rd to the 5th of June, the World Out of Home Organisation (WOO) is hosting its Annual Congress here in London.The event is expected to draw more than 700 attendees from over 37 countries, and The Media Leader is an official media partner of the conference, occurring during our inaugural OOH Week in Focus.Ahead of the conference, host Jack Benjamin sat down with the World Out of Home Organisation president Tom Goddard to discuss the state of the global OOH industry.The pair spoke about how OOH is working to become easier to buy, how it is improving measurement standards, and whether the media channel is telling the right story about itself to advertisers.Highlights:4:16: The World Out of Home Organisation's recent goals and priorities8:28: OOH's digital transformation and consolidation in ownership12:25: Investment in data and measurement and the need for connectivity and automation17:25: Regulatory headwinds and tailwinds21:34: Making outdoor creative again with trust as the North Star26:55: OOH as a sustainable medium32:17: How to double OOH's market share: make transactions 'frictionless', collaborate moreRelated articles:OOH reports highest-ever annual revenue in 2025The reinvention of OOH is acceleratingWhy measurable doesn’t always mean meaningful in marketingIs out-of-home under threat from global regulations?DOOH: The creative imperative

May 25, 202617 min

Why the United Nations is asking advertisers to protect the open web

Last month, the United Nations in partnership with the Conscious Advertising Network (CAN) launched an issue brief warning the integrity of the global information ecosystem is at a "crisis point".As Charlotte Scaddan, senior advisor on information integrity at the UN, explained: "Without swift action and guardrails, AI risks accelerating the breakdown of information ecosystem integrity."But advertisers, the UN believes, are uniquely situated to demand greater transparency and guardrails from AI companies as the likes of OpenAI turn to ad-supported business models to fund their exorbitant costs.At our Future of Brands conference last month, Scaddan and CAN co-founder Harriet Kingaby joined host and senior reporter Jack Benjamin to unpack the report and make a direct appeal to advertisers to "make information integrity a condition of AI uptake."Highlights:1:35: Toplines from the Strengthening Information Integrity: Advertising, Artificial Intelligence and the Global Information Crisis issue brief4:41: The power of advertisers in the global information ecosystem7:14: Why advertisers should care about media quality9:55: Concrete steps advertisers should take when working with tech platformsRelated articles:UN and CAN warn of AI-driven global information integrity crisisSocial media platforms linked to human trafficking, UN report findsUK to get ChatGPT ads imminently as OpenAI expands pilot to other territoriesTakeaways from the Future of Brands 2026: AI, culture and measurement take centre stage‘Are we monetising addiction?’ Ad industry faces reckoning following social media addiction lawsuit verdictMeta admits revenue from fraud and scam ads ‘might’ have accounted for 3-4% of total revenue

May 21, 20261 hr 3 min

Believe It or Not Ep. 6: Will AI end enterprise software businesses as we know them?

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 AI6:26: SaaSmageddon: Why AI is disrupting software businesses, with valuations collapsing20:17: Claude Cowork and its plug-ins33:32: How realistic is replacing everything with vibe coding? The ease of building personal software and how IT might change51:31: Second-order effects: What about safety and security? What about fixing bad code?55:07: Verdicts

May 18, 202632 min

How brands can win authority in LLMs - with Havas, Heineken and Publicis

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 learning11:58: Does GEO require bringing search, social and PR teams together? How agencies should reorganise15:29: The value of LLMs for audience insights17:17: The consumer trust issue when manipulating LLM results or placing ads in chatbots24:17: Brands' relationships with AI companies like OpenAI vis-à-vis GoogleRelated articles:Takeaways from the Future of Brands 2026: AI, culture and measurement take centre stageAI optimisation: The new channel brands can’t afford to overlookHavas Media Network launches ‘generative engine optimisation’ toolAgency groups’ AI platforms, explained

May 14, 20261 hr 3 min

Believe It or Not Ep. 5: Is AI sycophancy bad for business?

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 museum6:01: 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 know45:38: Second-order effects: commercial damage of wrong decisions; impact on psychology, communication standards; AI education1:00:58: Verdicts

May 11, 20261 hr 16 min

How outcomes measurement has changed the CMO-CFO relationship - with Nimmi Shah and Sameer Modha

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 fits9:24: The move to outcomes measurement as a "recepit", and how it's benefitted tech platforms23:58: Lantern, making TV show up in the nearer term, and the power of platform models36:37: 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 HillHow to make marketing indispensable to the CFO? Focus on incrementalityMarketers must take an ‘investor mindset’ to bridge the CEO-CMO gap, McKinsey advisesIan Whittaker: How brands can truly ensure their CEO, CFO and CMO work together

May 7, 20261 hr 3 min

Believe It or Not Ep. 4: Is AI turning the internet into a sea of slop or has 'churnalism' already made it sloppy?

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 wine6:58: Is AI useful for journalism? Oakes' experience using AI as an independent writer26:59: '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 trust59:56: Verdicts

May 4, 202633 min

Can retail media be a brand channel? With Tesco's Tash Whitmey

This week, The Media Leader is embarking on its first ever Retail Media Week in Focus.The fledgling channel has been having a moment. Investment in retail media has grown substantially – in 2025, adspend in the channel grew 17.5% year on year, according to the latest AA/Warc figures.Brands are seeking to join up the ends of the funnel by targeting consumers based on their shopping habits and measuring directly the link between ad delivery and outcomes within closed-loop retail environments.But, as attendees heard at The Media Leader's Future of Brands event last week, with growth has come some scepticism – is retail media overhyped? Is it just useful for lower-funnel activations? How is it being defined on media plans?One of the largest retail media players here in the UK is Tesco. Recently, The Media Leader reported that Tesco Media had launched new video ad inventory on its website and app as it looks to offer brand advertising opportunities to marketers.Tash Whitmey is the managing director of the Tesco Media and Insight Platform. She joined host Jack Benjamin recently via video call to discuss the latest innovations the company is making, the state of the retail media market and how Tesco sizes up to global competitors like Amazon, and whether shopping habits are changing amid macroeconomic turbulence.Highlights:4:36: What's driving growth in retail media?9:11: Innovations in retail media allowing movement up the funnel15:49: How does Tesco stand up against its competitors, many of which are global?24:57: Measurement standardisation needed27:23: How shopping behaviour is changing amid macroeconomic headwindsRelated articles:Tesco Media launches premium video inventory across website and appIs AI accelerating Google, Meta and Amazon’s dominance? Takeaways from Big Tech’s Q1Global partners with Sainsbury’s and Nectar360 on audio measurement trackingIf retail media networks want to talk like ITV, they have to act like ITV